RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Argentina’s Vice-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has called for a grand political agreement to solve the country’s mounting currency crisis, a move that was mostly met with incredulity among opposition politicians.
In a rare public statement issued Monday, October 26th, touching on a number of issues, Kirchner said that Argentina’s “bimonetary economy” – in which the public earns and spends in pesos, but saves and imports in US dollars – is unsustainable and must be fixed once and for all.
The ex-president, who led Argentina from 2007 to 2015, called for the nation’s politicians to work together to solve the problem, a suggestion that prompted incredulity from the opposition.
“The problem of the bimonetary economy, which is, without a doubt, the most serious that our country has, is impossible to solve without an agreement that encompasses all the political, economic, media and social sectors of the Argentine Republic,” said Cristina Kirchner in a post on her website. “Whether we like it or not, that is reality and with it you can do anything but ignore it.”
“Bimonetary politics is not an ideological problem: it is neither left nor right,” she declared.
The background to the vice-president’s comments is continued speculation about a potential devaluation of the peso. Government leaders, including President Alberto Fernández and Economy Minister Martín Guzmán, repeatedly denied the rumors last week.
As of Monday evening, Argentina’s unofficial black market exchange rate – the so-called “dólar blue” – stood at 190 pesos per greenback, more than double the official exchange rate, which is subject to strict currency controls.
In her text, the ex-president defended currency controls that were implemented during her time in office, before going on to describe the current devaluation chatter as “extortion.” Argentina’s financial instability must be solved once and for all, she argued.
“Can anyone seriously think that a country’s economy can function normally like that?” she asked rhetorically. “Argentina is the only country with a bimonetary economy.”
Figures from the opposition ‘Juntos por el Cambio’ coalition mocked the idea that the vice-president, a fierce critic of the Mauricio Macri administration that succeeded her in office, had the right to speak of political leaders working together.
“Dialogue is welcome if based on respect, and in the letter, it criticizes businessmen and the previous government before calling for an agreement,” said PRO party leader and former security minister Patricia Bullrich.
Defending the president
Kirchner penned the open letter to mark the 10th anniversary of her late husband’s death, former president Néstor Kirchner. In it she fiercely defended the current postholder, Alberto Fernández, whom she paired up with to win last year’s election.
Nevertheless, she did not refrain from hinting at her unhappiness at sectors of the government he leads, expressing dismay at “officials who do not officiate”.
Some analysts speculated that the phrase was a possible ultimatum, amid rumours of tensions between the Kirchnerite wing of theFrente de Todos coalition and other government officials, especially over foreign and economic policy.
Fernández de Kirchner then went on to dismiss rumors that the president was a “puppet” and that she was really running the show.
“As they have run out of the excuses, they had to move on to a second script: ‘Alberto does not govern,’ ‘The one who decides everything is Cristina,’” she wrote.
“The story of the “puppet President” was used with Néstor regarding Duhalde, with me regarding Néstor and now with Alberto regarding me.”
“In Argentina, the one who decides is the president. You may or may not like what he decides, but the one who decides is him.”
The former president also criticized business leaders for “mistreating” the president, citing those who had criticized the president at the recent IDEA Colloquium.
“The climax of this permanent and systematic mistreatment occurred a few days ago at a famous business meeting calling itself a place of ideas, at which while the president of the nation was speaking,” she wrote, accusing the businessmen of “attacking him simultaneously.”