Arcaya & AsociadosThink TankAugust 16, 2007EVENT: Presidential candidate Senator Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and running mate Julio Cobos launched their campaign on August 14. SIGNIFICANCE: The launch coincided with a series of scandals that have undermined the government's image among its middle-class constituency. ANALYSIS: The launch of the presidential campaign of Senator Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and her running mate, Mendoza Governor Julio Cobos (expelled from the opposition Radical party after joining the government ticket), has been marred by a new scandal that threatens to touch both members of the government and its closest allies: • On August 4, a Venezuelan businessman named Alejandro Antonini Wilson entered the country with nearly 800,000 dollars, undeclared, in his suitcase, on a private flight chartered by Argentine state oil company Enarsa and in the company of Enarsa's president, representatives of Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA and three members of the Argentine Planning Ministry, including the head of the roads concessions division, Claudio Uberti. • Antonini, who has apparently entered Argentina twelve times this year, arrived two days before a visit by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez; the case was not reported until several days later. • Uberti, known as an important nexus between Buenos Aires and Caracas, in particular for Planning Minister Julio de Vido (who had earlier pressed for him to be named ambassador to Caracas), was sacked on August 9...
Descargar análisis completo (pdf. 76 kb)
