Washington bars ex-Argentina president from entering US, citing corruption

WASHINGTON - The US on March 21 announced that Argentine former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and a former government minister are ineligible for entry into the country, after the two were designated for their “involvement in significant corruption”.

Ms Kirchner, a leftist former two-term president who ruled Argentina from 2007 to 2015, retains significant political influence at home and is an outspoken adversary of libertarian President Javier Milei, a backer of US President Donald Trump.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement that Ms Kirchner and former planning minister Julio Miguel De Vido “abused their positions by orchestrating and financially benefitting from multiple bribery schemes involving public works contracts, resulting in millions of dollars stolen from the Argentine government”.

The bar on entry also applies to immediate family members of the two, the statement said.

Mr Rubio said that Ms Kirchner and Mr De Vido both undermined “the Argentine people’s and investors’ confidence in Argentina’s future”.

Ms Kirchner served two consecutive terms as president from 2007 to 2015, and was vice-president from 2019 to 2023.

She has lost popularity in recent years as her legal challenges mounted. Late in 2024, a court upheld her conviction for doling out state contracts to a friend, carrying with it a six-year prison sentence and a lifetime ban from holding office.

Ms Kirchner has denied wrongdoing and was expected to take the case to the nation's Supreme Court.

In a Facebook post on March 21, she sought to turn the focus to Mr Milei and Mr Trump.

“You left your prints all over this,” Ms Kirchner wrote in the lengthy post, referring to Mr Milei.

She called for her supporters to march on March 24, a date when human rights are traditionally celebrated in Argentina to mark remembrance of the country’s 1976 military coup. REUTERS