A native of La Plata, Buenos Aires, Fernández is a graduate of the National University of La Plata. She met her husband during her studies, and they moved to Santa Cruz to work as lawyers. In May 1991, she was elected to the provincial legislature. Between 1995 and 2007, she was repeatedly elected to the Argentine National Congress, both as a National Deputy and National Senator. During Kirchner's presidency (2003–2007) she acted as First Lady. Fernández was chosen as the Front for Victory presidential candidate in 2007.
In the October 2007 general election she obtained 45.3% of the vote and a 22% lead over her nearest rival, avoiding the need for a runoff. She was inaugurated on 10 December 2007, and was reelected to a second term in the first round of the October 2011 general election, with 54,1% and 37,3% over the second candidate. As a First Lady, and later President, she has become a fashion icon for women and a notable advocate for human rights, poverty awareness and health improvement.
Riding a wave of approval during a dramatic economic recovery from a 2001–2002 crisis, the Kirchners' FPV had prevailed enjoyed increasingly large majorities in Congress, reaching their peak following the 2007 general elections (with 153 Congressmen and 44 Senators, at the time). In March 2008, Kirchner introduced a new sliding-scale taxation system for agricultural exports, effectively raising levies on soybean exports from 35% to 44% at the time of the announcement. This led to a nationwide lockout by farming associations, starting on 12 March, with the aim of forcing the government to back down on the new taxation scheme. They were joined on 25 March by thousands of pot-banging demonstrators massed around the Buenos Aires Obelisk and in front of the presidential palace.
Protests extended across the country. In Buenos Aires, hours after Kirchner attacked farmers for their two-week strike and "abundant" profits, there were violent incidents between government supporters and opponents, to which the police was accused of wilfully turning a blind eye. The media was harshly critical of Luis D'Elía, a former government official who took part in the incidents, with some media sources and members of the opposition (notably Elisa Carrió), claiming he and his followers had disrupted the protest pursuant to the government's orders. On 1 April, the government organised a rally during which thousands of pro-government protesters marched through downtown Buenos Aires in support of the bill increasing Argentina's export taxes on the basis of a sliding scale; at the event, Kirchner called on farmers to act "as part of a country, not as owners of a country.
In April 2010, Chile's new president Sebastián Piñera was received in Buenos Aires on his first foreign tour abroad and reaffirmed the current strong ties between the two countries. following which Cristina Fernández attended the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington D.C., after which President Barack Obama thanked Argentina for its role in international stabilization and earthquake relief efforts in Haiti. Back in Buenos Aires, she received the President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev the first such visit in Argentina's history. Two days later, the Prime Minister of Vietnam Nguyễn Tấn Dũng arrived. On 19 April, she was invited to the bicentennary of the independence celebrations in Venezuela, where she was the main speaker in front of the National Assembly. She signed 25 trade agreements with Venezuela relating to food, technology and energy.
In May 2010, the President traveled to Spain for the European Union-Latin America and the Caribbean summit, where she was asked to compare the 2010 European sovereign debt crisis and the 2001 Argentine's default. Back in Buenos Aires, during the Argentina Bicentennial celebrations, Cristina Fernández did not participate in the military parade of 5,000 troops (which included delegations of Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Bolivia, etc.) on the 9 de Julio Avenue, which was considered a gest of contempt towards the Argentine Armed Forces.
In June 2010, her administration completed the debt swap (which was started by former president Néstor Kirchner in 2005) clearing 92% of the bad debt left from its sovereign default in 2001. Argentina external debt now represents 30% of the country's GDP, whilst the Central Bank foreign reserves reached $49 billion {USD}, more than the amount that was available when the decision to pay foreign debt earlier in the year was taken. Also in June 2010, she gave a speech at the International Trade Union Confederation (CSI) Global Summit, being held in Vancouver, Canada, where she asserted that "many Euro-zone countries today have applied the same policies that led Argentina to disaster (in 2001)", stating "it's an inescapable responsibility of the government to intervene in the financial system".
Later, she traveled to Toronto to attend the G20 Summit and spoke against the EU fiscal austerity plans fearing this would lead to a slow down in the global economy. French President Nicolas Sarkozy responded by saying that the Latin American representatives who reject the Eurozone adjustments do not know the "harrassment" to the Euro, to which Cristina Fernández responded that he shouldn't "question somebody" just because he doesn't "agree" with what they say and also clarified that Argentina is interested in the euro because parts of its reserves are held in euros and that she's "sure that Sarkozy does not have even one cent in Argentine pesos in his Central Bank". Later, while addressing the press, she added, "In Latin America we can give cathedra[clarification needed] about harassment and seizure. She also had a chance to speak with new British PM David Cameron.
On the morning of 27 October 2010, Nestor Kirchner died from heart failure at the Hospital Jose Formenti in El Calafate, Santa Cruz Province. He had required two coronary interventions earlier that year. On 7 February 2010, he developed problems with the common carotid artery and needed surgery. On 11 September, he was intervened because of coronary artery blockage and needed an angioplasty. Néstor Kirchner had a massive state funeral at the Casa Rosada.
Following the death of her husband, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner resumed activities and flew to Asia for the G20 Seoul summit. After her return she announces that the Paris Club agrees to debt talks without the International Monetary Fund intervention as proposed by Argentina since 2008. These negotiations will result in the settlement of the last portion of the sovereign debt defaulted in the 2001 crisis after the successful restructuring debts of 2005 and 2009. In November she also participated on the UNASUR Summit at Guyana after which will host the XX Ibero-American Summit at Mar del Plata.
The 2011 year was influenced by the general election that took place in October. The youth organization Cámpora increased its influence within the government, disputing offices and candidacies with the traditional hierarchies of the Justicialist Party and of the CGT. Cristina Fernández chose Daniel Filmus as her candidate for the office of mayor of Buenos Aires.[citation needed] On 21 June 2011, she announced that she would run for a second term as president. A few days later, she announced that Amado Boudou would run for the vice-presidency on her ticket. She personally chose most candidates for deputy in the Congress, favoring members of the Cámpora. She had highly publicized disagreements with Brazil, particularly regarding the trade quotas between the two countries. She also had a major dispute with the United States after seizing an American military airplane.
On 22 September, she addressed the United Nations. She supported the Palestinian request to be seated in the General Assembly of United Nations, blamed Iran for the 1994 AMIA bombing, and threatened to cancel flights from Chile to the Falkland Islands in order to advance Argentine claims of sovereignty over the Islands.
The 2011 election took place in October, and she won with 54.1% of the vote. On 27 December 2011, a presidential spokesperson announced that Fernández de Kirchner had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer five days earlier and that she will undergo surgery on 4 January 2012.
Fernández was born in Ringuelet, a suburb west of La Plata, Province of Buenos Aires, daughter of Eduardo Fernández (of Spanish heritage) and Ofelia Esther Wilhelm (of German heritage). She studied law at the National University of La Plata during the 1970s and became active in the Peronist Youth. During her studies there, she met her future spouse, Néstor Kirchner. They were married on 9 May 1975, and had two children: Máximo and Florencia. Néstor Kirchner died on 27 October 2010 after suffering a heart attack. On 27 December 2011, presidential spokesman Alfredo Scoccimarro announced that Fernández de Kirchner had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer on 22 December and will undergo surgery on 4 January 2012.
Fernández started her political career in the Peronist Youth movement of the Justicialist Party in the 1970s. During the period of authoritarian rule in the country, she and her husband left political life and practiced law in Río Gallegos. She picked up politics again in the late 1980s, and was elected to the Santa Cruz Provincial Legislature in 1989, a position to which she was re-elected in 1993.
In 1995, Fernández was elected to represent Santa Cruz in the Senate. She was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1997, and in 2001, returned to the Senate. Fernández helped with her husband's successful campaign for the presidency in 2003, but without making joint public appearances. In the 27 April 2003, presidential election first round, former president Carlos Saúl Menem won the greatest number of votes (25%), but failed to get the votes necessary to win an overall majority. A second-round run-off vote between Menem and runner-up Néstor Kirchner was scheduled for 18 May. Feeling certain that he was about to face a sound electoral defeat, Menem decided to withdraw his candidacy, thus automatically making Kirchner the new president, with 22% of the votes. This was the lowest number in the history of the country.
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