Cristina Fernandez and Luis D'Elia: A Match Made in Hell

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez has taken an already explosive situation and aggravated it through a seemingly unholy alliance with Luis D’Elia.

City residents took to the streets last week with pots and pans in support of farmers whose tax revolt has paralyzed the country’s grain exports and caused food shortages. In her infinite wisdom, pro-government goons were sent out to confront protesters in front of the government palace. Of course the interesting thing was that the rain that arrived less than an hour later could have accomplished the very same thing without government created and sanctioned violence.

Leading the pro-government goon squad was no less than Luis D’Elia a former government official and close ally of the Kirchner Regime. As to be expected D'Elia denied any such connection saying he was moved to protest because of his visceral hatred for the oligarchy. Of course one must balance the fact that a night later Cristina seated him behind herself during a key speech she made defending higher export taxes on soy and other goods.

"A lot of Argentines just can't digest that much contradiction," wrote Eduardo van der Kooy, a Clarin newspaper columnist. In an editorial headlined “Bad Company” Argentina’s leading daily newspaper La Nacion noted that Cristina is risking her presidency by associating with D’Elia who is a throwback to former authoritarian traditions of using “shock forces” to control the opposition. "How can you tell the difference between the government and D'Elia if he is in charge of keeping public order with intolerably aggressive words and acts?" wrote La Nacion columnist Joaquin Morales Sola. The only official to rebuke D'Elia was the politically insignificant vice president, Julio Cobos.

The partnership of the Kirchners and D’Elia goes back to the 2001-2002 crisis when D’Elia first came to power as a leader of massive street demonstrations against the government. Nestor Kirchner then stepped into power in 2003 in part through forming alliances with leaders such as D’Elia. D’Elia would later go on to solidify Kirchner power by organizing government sponsored marches against companies that went against government price controls. It has been the style of both Kirchners to decree price control and tax policies then to enforce them with threats of boycotts and retaliation against business. Recently Shell was hit with massive daily fines for their initial refusal to lower gasoline prices to pre-October levels.

Nestor Kirchner named D'Elia deputy secretary for land reform during his administration only to fire him after he came out in support of the AMIA bombing (the worst terrorist attack in Argentine history). Interestingly enough media sources note that D'Elia still has an office in a government building to this day.

Fernandez says human rights, strong institutions and social programs are her central policies, but critics say she and her husband have centered power in the presidency, control congress and the judiciary and meddled with official economic data. In the capital, where support for the Kirchners is weak, D'Elia's role last week seems to have been to scare middle-class people who rallied in support of the farm strike.