Cristina F. de Kirchner got 53.96% of the votes in the Argentine presidential election in late October. It is the highest figure since the 1983 election. Has she proved herself so well the first four years, or was there no competition in the election? Electoral fraud perhaps?
Her big electoral victory surprised some. Two years ago she was very unpopular after she introduced grotesque export taxes on agriculture items. Then it was less than 30 percent of voters who thought she did a good job.
Christina Kirchner succeeded her husband Nestor in 2007 as the country's first female president. After her amazing comeback she has now also become the country's first re-elected female president.
Many wonder how the economy works. Bankruptcy terms 2001. Then theyreceived an incredible 81 billion USD in aid and loans. The loans, the country has had very difficult to repay, to the lenders' great despair. When the economic crisis took place there were large demonstrations, and there was also deeper divisions in the society. Many still suffer from the crisis.
In 2010 the economy grew by almost 10 percent and it looks to be similar numbers this year. Inflation is officially at 10-12 percent, but some analysts say the real inflation rate is 20-25 percent. Many also believe that the authorities manipulate the figures on all sides and edges to make them look good.
Argentina is Latin America's third largest economy and it is super power in terms of agricultural products. Argentina is the world's largest exporter of soya products and the world's second largest exporter of maize. They exported soya products for 20 billion USD last year and it accounted for more than a quarter of export earnings.
What does all this mean for the population? What does it mean for the Toba Indians that Star of Hope supported for 30 years? I hope to come up with some sensible answers during my trip to Argentina starting next week.