A tough year for Latinas of the left in Latin America

 

(My new American Thinker post)

Let’s add former president Cristina Fernandez to the list of “Latinas of the left” in huge political trouble in Latin America.    

We learned that Argentina will reopen the 1994 case of the bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires.

Frankly, it’s the right thing to do.  This is a summary from Daniel Politi:

The original case was filed by Alberto Nisman, the prosecutor whose mysterious death in 2015 convulsed the country.

Three judges on the Court of Cassation, Argentina’s highest criminal appeals court, voted unanimously to reopen the criminal complaint, which accused Mrs. Kirchner and her foreign minister, Héctor Timerman, among others, of sealing a deal with Iran to cover up the role Iranian officials were said to have played in the bombing of the Jewish community center, which killed 85 people.

 

An appeal to the Supreme Court by Mrs. Kirchner is possible, but legal experts say it could face challenges because the Court of Cassation did not issue a final ruling on the case, but rather called for a new investigation.

“Of course we are going to appeal,” said Alejandro Rúa, Mr. Timerman’s lawyer. “This case has been plagued with violations of constitutional guarantees. And if we run out of local instances of appeal, we are going to the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights.”

In reality, this may just be the beginning of other worse charges of corruption.  She also will have to answer for massive corruption involving public works.   

I believe that this is more damaging for two reasons.   First, it’s more recent.  Second, it has to do with pocketing money or taking care of friends, a couple of issues that have many in Argentina referring to the former president with names that I can’t repeat here.

Another “Latina of the left” is already out of power – i.e., Dilma Rousseff.  She was impeached and removed last summer as president of Brazil.

The third Latina is President Bachelet of Chile.  She faces a few corruption problems of her own, but she is not likely to be forced out of office.  

Her biggest mistake was messing with Chile’s economy, the envy of Latin America.  She had to please the anti-Pinochet left and ended up getting the middle class angry at her.  After all, why mess something that works?   

What do these ladies have in common?  They governed as left-center presidents who ended up betraying all the promises of transparency and decency they made.

Let’s hope 2017 brings down a few of their lefty brothers in Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ecuador.

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.