Latin America is shedding its skin. This is how we perceive it on our TV and computer screens when we see the images of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner parade, responding haughtily to the accusation of prosecutor Luciani of being involved in aggravated corruption. According to her, she is being stoned because she chose to make history. And reason is not lacking. Argentina exhibited in the year of 1999 a 6% of poverty. Today, after 15 years of Kirchner government, it exhibits 20%. In other words, in the 23 years that have elapsed since 1999, 5.6 million poor people have been created. Of course, compared to the devastation in Venezuela, this record looks musty. But it is a real achievement considering that Argentina is a member of the Group of 20 that brings together the most prosperous economies in the world.
And this feat has been perpetrated while approximately US$3.5 billion has been plundered from the Argentine nation. Until now the whole world was convinced that he would get away with it.
However, this perception does not take into account the whirlwind of change that is beginning in Latin America. This change rides on the newly acquired conviction of civil society that the ruling elites throughout the region are incapable of responding to their aspirations for economic comfort and political stability. Therefore, it is thought that they should all go. This feeling of rejection is perceived in independent powers such as the judiciary. In the case of Argentina, the judiciary has been able to preserve its procedural independence, but too often it has stopped acting when it sees that the political winds are against its ability and mandate to establish order. But the post-COVID world is one of change and the Argentine people, despite the subsidies, have turned their backs on Cristina. And she is left alone.
Because these leaders who identify with the traditional Latin American left do not dominate the digital world in which they are immersed. They are the heirs of the Latin American caudillismo of the 19th century and as such they consider themselves invulnerable. But the digital gnomes record every movement of the leaders, whether public or private. And once something is written by any means, the message is recorded for history. No matter how hard you try to delete the text, it is saved on some server. And good prosecutors can access them so it’s impossible to evade justice. And she arrives when two events occur.
In Latin America, both conditions are present to a greater or lesser degree because as of COVID 19 the emperors were left naked and technology will continue to act in favor of the independence of the judicial system. We have already seen it in the Brazil of Lava Jato, we are experiencing it with Cristina in Argentina, the arrest of former attorney general Murillo Karam in Mexico for covering up the murder of 43 students eight years ago and with the possible prosecution of the president for embezzlement Pedro Castillo in Peru. But the prosecution of Cristina carries greater weight in hemispheric affairs because it is one of the nations with the greatest political weight in Latin America and one that until very recently was an example of a nation that took advantage of globalization to prop up its development. And because it has been one of the regimes of the so-called socialism of the 21st century with a greater fondness for doing business with sister regimes. Cristina’s trial could therefore affect her friend Luiz Inacio Da Silva who seeks to return to power in October this year.
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