Martina Jaureguy Updated on June 12 at 9:30 a.m.
Left-leaning world leaders and political figures across Latin America and Spain showed their support for ex Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner after the Supreme Court confirmed her conviction in the case known as “Vialidad.”
Former presidents Evo Morales (Bolivia) and Rafael Correa (Ecuador), as well as presidents in office like Lula Da Silva (Brazil), Gustavo Petro (Colombia), Luis Arce (Bolivia), Miguel Díaz-Canel (Cuba) and Xiomara Castro de Zelaya (Honduras) were among those who condemned the decision. Spanish party Podemos also criticized the decision, calling it a “dirty judicial war against popular leaders.”
On Tuesday, the Argentine Supreme Court upheld Kirchner’s conviction in the “Vialidad” corruption case. Kirchner was first sentenced in 2022 by a federal court, a decision that was upheld by the Federal Cassation Court last November. With the Supreme Court’s ruling, Kirchner has exhausted her appeals and her sentence can take effect.
Left-wing uproar
Correa said that presidents are “politically” responsible for what happens during their term and that “electors are the judges of this in the ballots, not the judiciary.” In a post on X, he said that the Supreme Court’s decision means that presidents are criminally responsible for anything that happens during their government, something he called an “absurdity.”
“Hang in there, Cristina! Beat us — if you can — in the ballot box,” he said in a previous post.
Evo Morales, who has also been banned from running for public office, said the conviction was “unfair” and a “political persecution to proscribe one of the people’s leaders.”
Morales compared the situation to a “new rendition of Operation Condor” in which “judges that are servile to oligarchies execute judicial coups against those who defend sovereignty and the majorities’ rights.”
Brazilian President Lula Da Silva said in an X post on Wednesday night that he had spoken with Kirchner on the phone earlier to express his solidarity and told her about “the importance of staying strong in these difficult moments.”
“I noticed with satisfaction the calm and determined way Cristina is facing this adverse situation and how determined she is to keep fighting,” Lula said.
The Lula Institute, a non-profit organization centered on Da Silva’s policies that aims to boost cooperation between Brazil, Africa and Latin America, had issued a communiqué earlier rejecting the decision. “Cristina Kirchner’s conviction is not just an internal issue for Argentina: it is a warning to all countries in the region about the risks to democracy and the rule of law,” they wrote.
In 2017, when Michel Temer was president, Da Silva was convicted on charges of money laundering and corruption. He spent 580 days in prison and was disqualified to run in the 2018 Brazilian presidential election, which ended with Jair Bolsonaro’s win. He was released in 2019. The Supreme Federal Court nullified all convictions against him in 2021 after finding serious biases in the money laundering case.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum expressed her “solidarity” with Kirchner during a press conference on Wednesday. “This is a more political issue, from our point of view.”
Honduras President Xiomara Castro de Zelaya also supported Kirchner, reposting a message on originally published by her husband and former country president Manuel Zelaya.
“The judicial and media persecution against [Kirchner] is not an isolated event: it is part of a ‘lawfare’ strategy in the continent against popular leaderships,” Zelaya said. “Her trial is an affront against the democratic will of the Argentine people.”
Luisa González, who ran for president in Ecuador this year with the support of ex-President Correa, said that “Argentine democracy no longer exists” after the ruling. She added that the judicial process was “filled with irregularities” and that it is “the most important political persecution since Perón went into exile.”
Colombian President Gustavo Petro also said he spoke to Kirchner. “My solidarity with her who is on her way to prison,” he posted on X, saying that Latin American progressive leaders have gone through coups d’etat, unfair judicial processes, and even incarcerations. “The change of policy where the far right and the right wing ascend to ruling states, in the centers of world power, encourages democratic ruptures.”
The Venezuelan Foreign Office issued a statement calling the ruling “illegitimate and illegal,” and said that it aims to “erase the adversary using colonial methods,” not only in Argentina but as part of a “geopolitical blow” against Latin America.
Other regional leaders from the same political spectrum did not comment on the ruling, such as Presidents Gabriel Boric (Chile), and Yamandú Orsi (Uruguay).
