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29 March 2024

Widowed Argentine president thanks supporters

Published
By AFP

Grieving Argentine President Cristina Kirchner voiced thanks Monday for the overwhelming support she felt as thousands attended the funeral of her husband, ex-president Nestor Kirchner.

"Part of me has gone with Nestor Kirchner," the president, in black, said in a short message to the nation on television and radio.

Cristina Kirchner said that "at the most painful moment of my life," she was grateful for "the tremendous and formidable show of affection" for her husband at his funeral service.

"I want to thank especially the thousands of young people there who sang in their grief, but then marched with joy, for him and for the country; I want to tell them that, in their faces, I saw his back when I met him" at university in La Plata, the president said, breaking down in sobs.

Argentina observed three days of national mourning through Saturday, following Nestor Kirchner's sudden death from a heart attack that stunned the nation. He was 60 and had formed a 35-year power couple with his wife.

Many wondered how the widowed president would cope, given the huge influence her husband played behind the scenes of her administration and his role as leader of Argentina's ruling party.

Nestor Kirchner, who was president from 2003 to 2007 before clearing the way for his wife's election, was widely believed to have been preparing to stand once again for the presidency in 2011.

But many of Cristina Kirchner's close aides, including Foreign Minister Hector Timerman, said she was likely to run for re-election in 2011 as the Peronist candidate. But she has yet to officially announce her candidacy.

"We used to say it could be either her or him. Now it is certain to be her," Timerman told CNN on Friday. "Cristina is going to be the candidate of the Argentines and will be the winner of the elections, I have no doubt."

Late Sunday, the Argentine president called Dilma Rousseff to congratulate her on her victory to become Brazil's first female president.

"Welcome to the club" of women leaders, she said.