ZCZC
BFF-07
ARGENTINA-VOTE-FERNANDEZ,PROFILE
Moderate Peronist Fernandez closes in on Argentine presidency
BUENOS AIRES, Oct 26, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Alberto Fernandez has been a
discreet backroom operator throughout a long career in Argentine politics,
but all that could change after Sunday’s elections.
Little known outside Buenos Aires politics, the 60-year-old law professor
and Bob Dylan fan burst onto the international stage by trouncing President
Mauricio Macri in August primaries that were seen as a dress rehearsal for
the presidential election.
Opinion polls suggest a repeat performance on Sunday.
Fernandez’s biggest job in politics to date came when he was chief of
staff in Nestor Kirchner’s administration, and later in that of his wife,
Cristina Kirchner.
He left abrubtly in the first year of Cristina’s presidency, shortly after
she tried to introduce an export tax on grain producers that ignited a wave
of strikes and farmer protests in 2008.
The split, after which he became one of her fiercest critics, is offered
as evidence by Fernandez’s friends and supporters that he will be his own man
in the presidency and not a puppet of Cristina.
“Fernandez stopped Cristina Kirchner in 2008 and broke with her. She
couldn’t control him then, much less so now,” from her office in the vice-
presidency if they win Sunday, said political analyst Raul Aragon.
– ‘Liberal, progressive, Peronist’ – Lawmaker Daniel Filmus, education
minister in Nestor Kirchner’s 2003-07 government, sees Fernandez as a highly
intelligent operator “with whom you can discuss and exchange on a great many
subjects.”
A man “who under differing circumstances proved that he could work in
tandem with people of various profiles on medium- and long-term policies.”
Critics see him as a political chameleon, frequenting both the ultra-
liberal edges of Peronism and the milieu of left-wing populists like
Kirchner.
Fernandez sees himself as a “leftist liberal, a progressive liberal.”
“I believe in individual freedoms and I believe that the state must be
present when the markets demand it,” he said in an interview. “I am a
Peronist. I am growing the branches of progressive Peronist liberalism.”
After his crushing defeat of Macri, Fernandez took time out to visit
several leftist Latin American leaders, including Brazil’s former leader Luiz
Inacio Lula da Silva in prison, Uruguay’s ex-president Jose “Pepe” Mujica and
Bolivia’s Evo Morales.
– Reassuring markets –
In the final weeks of the campaign, Fernandez has strived to reassure the
markets, which have been spooked by the possibility of a return to Peronist
protectionism represented by Kirchner.
He is a trenchant critic of the International Monetary Fund and the
conditions it has imposed on its $57 billion bailout of Argentina, but has
dismissed the notion of a default.
Instead analysts say he is likely use his mandate to renegotiate the IMF
deal.
At the same time he has tried to calm ordinary Argentines, worried that
their savings are under threat. “We will take care of your dollar deposits in
the bank. You have no reason to be nervous,” he said at a rally last week.
On foreign policy it is clear he does not intend to go with the flow on
issues like Venezuela.
He said his presidency would adopt a position similar to that of Mexico
and Uruguay, which recognize Nicolas Maduro as president and are in favor of
dialogue with the socialist pariah.
Caracas under Maduro is not a dictatorship, he insists, but rather an
“authoritarian government.”
That runs counter to established policy under Macri, who was quick to
recognize Maduro’s opposition rival Juan Guaido as interim president,
aligning Argentina with around 50 other countries, including the United
States and most of Latin America.
– Private Life –
Music plays a big part in Fernandez’s life, to the extent that the Dylan
fan named his fluffy brown-and-white collie after the singer-songwriter.
“Dylan” has been somewhat less discreet than his master, having accounts on
Twitter and Instagram.
Fernandez has maintained a 30-year career as a law professor at Buenos
Aires University until recently.
Divorced, he has a 24-year-old son from his marriage which ended in 2005.
His son, Estanislao Fernandez, is a drag queen.
Fernandez lives with partner Fabiola Yanez, a journalist and actress, in
swanky Puerto Madero.
He plays the guitar, likes Argentine rock and has been known to compose
love songs and poetry. Like any Argentine, he’s a soccer fan, supporting
Argentinos Juniors, the club that spawned Diego Maradona.
BSS/AFP/ARS/0937 hrs