Argentine Supreme Court Upholds Six-Year Prison Sentence for Cristina Kirchner on Corruption Charges

The Supreme Court of Argentina has put an end to Cristina Kirchner’s political career. On Tuesday, the highest court upheld the six-year prison sentence and lifetime disqualification from holding public office issued by lower courts against the former president for a corruption case. The ruling prevents Kirchner from running as a candidate for provincial deputy in the upcoming elections on October 7, as she had announced, significantly disrupting the electoral campaign. The leader of the Peronist opposition is expected to be detained in the coming days. Due to her advanced age, 72, she is likely to avoid prison and serve her sentence under house arrest.

The conviction against Kirchner in the well-known Vialidad Case dates back to her years as president of Argentina, from 2007 to 2015. The judiciary found her guilty of harming the Argentine state by irregularly granting around fifty public works contracts to a businessman friend, Lázaro Báez, in the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz, the birthplace of Kirchnerism. According to the courts, Báez compensated her for “improperly obtained benefits” through dubious dealings with “the former president’s family businesses.”

The three judges of the court chose to dismiss all appeals presented and thus confirmed the ruling of the Appeals Chamber. It was a unanimous decision that broke an unwritten rule of the court, which aimed to avoid high-impact political rulings during election periods. The timing accelerated after Kirchner announced her candidacy for provincial deputy. Had she been able to compete, polls assured her a seat that would have protected her from arrest by granting her immunity.

The former president has five business days, ending next Wednesday, to appear before the Federal Oral Court 2 and be detained. She must establish a residence to serve her sentence.

“Justice. End,” celebrated Argentine President Javier Milei on social media just minutes after the judicial resolution was announced.

Kirchner heard the judicial decision against her from the headquarters of the Justicialist Party, surrounded by Peronist leaders and a crowd of supporters who broke into tears and erupted in insults and boos directed at the Court. After a few minutes, the opposition leader addressed the crowd. “This Argentina we are living in today continues to surprise us because just as this mismanagement by Javier Milei has imposed a stranglehold on wages, now the Justicialist Party adds a stranglehold on popular votes, a novelty,” she said at the beginning of her speech.

The former president accused the three Supreme Court judges of being a “triumvirate of embarrassing figures” that merely complies with orders coming from above, specifically “from concentrated economic power.”

Kirchner was aware that the ruling was a matter of time and had already anticipated it with defiant words towards the Court — “Being imprisoned is a certificate of dignity” — and towards the Milei Government: “I will be imprisoned, but the people will be worse off every day. There is no solution for the country with this policy,” she added.

Political Earthquake

The earthquake triggered by the Court disrupts the electoral landscape. Kirchner has been the central figure in Argentine politics for the last two decades, and the campaign looming in the province of Buenos Aires kept her at the forefront.

The ex-president declares herself a victim of judicial persecution ordered by political and economic groups. True to her style, she will fight until the end. She has few cards left. One is to appeal to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The other is to wave the banner of proscription to encourage citizen mobilization in her favor. In Peronism, the term proscription refers to the 18 years of forced exile of Juan Domingo Perón after being overthrown by a military coup in 1955. “What they are preparing is how to dismantle the popular and political organization that will arise because history shows that beyond proscription, the people end up organizing in self-defense,” Kirchner said on Monday. “The people always return,” she warned.

Social response anticipated the ruling. Streets around the Justicialist Party began to fill with Kirchner supporters from the early hours of the afternoon, and unions blocked several access points to Buenos Aires and La Plata in protest against the conviction of the leader of the Argentine opposition. “Corrupt Court” could be read on several of the banners displayed.

Peronism Unites Against the Court

Peronism has united against the judicial ruling. Even internal rivals, such as former Economy Minister Sergio Massa and former Buenos Aires Governor Axel Kicillof, have criticized the case for being riddled with irregularities. “This trial has systematically violated all the rules that the rule of law imposes on a process,” added former President Alberto Fernández in a radio interview, distancing himself from his former vice president.

The significant internal differences within Peronism are expected to resurface soon. The former president retained the support of a core group after the electoral defeat in 2023, but other leaders have raised their voices to demand leadership adapted to the new times, capable of understanding the social exhaustion that propelled Milei to power and providing answers.

The most critical voices believe that Kirchner’s detention is the death certificate for Kirchnerism. This progressive branch of Peronism was born after the 2001-2002 corralito crisis, thanks to former President Néstor Kirchner, Cristina’s late husband, and maintained its hegemony for 22 years despite attacks from allies and opponents. Without the presidential couple, Peronism is left orphaned and faces a long struggle for succession.

The impact of the conviction goes far beyond Peronism. Milei felt comfortable polarizing with Kirchner, his perfect nemesis. The disqualification of the former president comes amid negotiations by the ruling party with Pro, the party of former President Mauricio Macri, to compete with a united front in the legislative elections. The ruling announced on Tuesday opens up an unprecedented scenario.