Nestor Kirchner has just passed

[sergio]

The money was sent by Chavez to line the Kirchner pockets. Presumably some of it was used for the Kirchner election fund. Such a nice man, Nestor Kirchner.

 

[earlyretirement]

Was it him/her that was connected to that guy who was caught in an airplane on the way to the US with a suitcase containing 800K in cash? Sorry if someone already posted that story here. I'm at work and don't really have the time to read all 100+ posts.

It might have been connected to an election in Guyana, not Argentina. I just can't remember.

Indeed. The Kirchners were in bed with ilk like Chavez. Actually I thought Christina would have had a better start as she talked about how she wanted to have better relationships with the international community. However after that incident.... it was a bad start.

It's hard to earn the respect of other respectable nations when you are in bed with the likes of Chavez.

 

[French jurist]

There were huge potential kickbacks and much prestige involved in building a bullet train, but none in maintaining existing rail lines operating.

Luckily, that harebrained project seems to have been shelved.

What ?! Kickbacks given by the French industry of the bullet train ?
They would neeevveeeerrrr do that

 

[gouchobob]

The money was sent by Chavez to line the Kirchner pockets. Presumably some of it was used for the Kirchner election fund. Such a nice man, Nestor Kirchner.

What always struck me about this is how the news of this was received in Argentina, some indignation but no real prospect that this was anything out of the norm. In most countries the revelation that the one's election campaign was being financed by a foreign power would certainly end that politicians career and in many end in a prison term. Obviously Argentina has a long way to go in cleaning up a thoroughly corrupt political environment.

 

[SaraSara]

Sara,

Like you I invested in Uruguay many years ago. I've sold much of the land I bought at good profits. Definitely Uruguay is a model in South America for how to conduct business and banking. Argentina's financial system is quite a disaster.

Uruguay is really simple to invest in and things run smoothly. Their banking, financial system and judicial system works well. The only downside is I just find it boring compared to BA.

Uruguay is orderly, and peaceful, and friendly, but it can also be terminally boring.

It is not as safe as it used to be: my country place in Colonia was burgled twice, while I was in my BA home. Very considerate of the burglars to wait until I was away..

 

[texxaslonghorn]

FYI, his wake is being broadcasted live on cnn.com right now.

 

[earlyretirement]

Uruguay is orderly, and peaceful, and friendly, but it can also be terminally boring.

It is not as safe as it used to be: my country place in Colonia was burgled twice, while I was in my BA home. Very considerate of the burglars to wait until I was away..

So true! Yes, it's a nice place to visit or go for the weekend or vacation but it's too boring for me to live long term. I owned a house in Punta del Este but I ended up selling it as I found I went less and the utility bills are sky high there. I sold at the peak so I feel fortunate for that.

And you are right.... lots of theft there. In Punta del Este my house got broken into twice. The thieves know which homes are owned by foreigners including Argentines and they know they are empty most of the time so just rob them. Even though there are alarms, they know they have a few minutes to loot the place. Not fun.

 

[sergio]

Opinion of a Bahia Blanca newspaper:

Sería improcedente ensayar a expensas de Néstor Kirchner, quien ya no está entre nosotros para defenderse, una nota fúnebre en donde compendiáramos todas las diferencias abismales que siempre separaron a la dirección de este diario de su figura y gestión. Ya habrá tiempo para hacer un resumen crítico de la administración que presidió por espacio de cuatro años. Hacerlo ahora, a vuelo de pluma, resultaría un ejercicio incompleto borroneado a las disparadas.
Baste decir que con el santacruceño se fue el único hombre público de la Argentina contemporánea que entendió el arte de hacer política como un puro conflicto y obró en consecuencia. El resultado que obtuvo está a la vista. Es de desear que ahora le toque a su mujer dar un golpe de timón capaz de aventar el clima de rencor y crispación que su marido --siempre extremista-- nos dejó como legado.

 

[earlyretirement]

Although I'm not a big fan of Nestor I think that it's important to note he did do some good things for Argentina as well.

Here is another link for a story.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/10/27/argentina.kirchner.impact/index.html?iref=allsearch


My biggest problem with the K's are their overwhelming drive to want to try to control the entire country. You must have a clear separation with Presidential, Judicial, Senate/Congress and they really tried dominating all of them or anyone else that spoke out against them including the newspapers.

 

[LAtoBA]

It's hard to earn the respect of other respectable nations when you are in bed with the likes of Chavez.

If by respectable nations you are referring to western nations, well now that's a matter of opinion and who you ask. I'm American and proud to be American but I'm not so naive as to not know that America has done a lot of not so respectable things right here in Latin America. As for Chavez, most of what people know about him stem from western media, which when it comes to Chavez is far from objective.

For me Chavez has been a huge disappointment but the US is partly to blame for his increasing totalitarian and dictatorial behavior in Venezuela. Attempting to orchestrate a coup isn't exactly respectable and certainly doesn't foment good will. Sorry I know off topic.