Halcones y Condoritos

El corresponsal de La Nación en los EEUU comenta aquí este artículo de Mark Falcoff: Argentina on Kirchner's Time.

It would be wrong to characterize Argentina, however, as falling within some sort of Venezuelan sphere of influence. Argentina is not--and never will be--Bolivia, much less Ecuador or Nicaragua. There is no doubt the Argentine president is running his own show--and running it well, according to his own lights. His style is authoritarian and opaque: he has never held a cabinet meeting, refuses to receive ambassadors, has purged the Supreme Court, makes uninhibited use of government money, taps telephones, and characterizes all forms of dissent or disagreement as illegitimate. Of the country's two great dailies, one is clearly an official organ of the government. Some journalists working for what remains of the independent media have received threats. Businessmen who contemplate contributing to the campaign funds of opponents find their taxes suddenly subject to an audit. Congress has ceased to play much of an active role in government, even though Kirchner's party has a majority in both houses. The president has access to huge amounts of off-budget money which he is using to build his own political machine. Some of this is not new, of course, but it is disturbing nonetheless in a country where democratic institutions have tended to be fragile and where corruption, cronyism, and patronage have been the principal tools of government. The issue here is not whether or not Kirchner remains president, but rather what kind of a country he will bequeath when he finally quits the scene.

El asunto no son los tiempos de Kirchner sino los tiempos post-Kirchner.