Argentina's new president, Alberto Fernandez, made a conciliatory inauguration speech in which he called for national unity and promised to defend democracy and human rights. But there were several troubling signs suggesting that his government may go in the opposite direction.
First, Fernandez was upstaged at his own inauguration by leftist populist Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the nation's former president and current vice president.
That added fuel to fears that she will be the power behind the throne in the new government.
Cristina, as she is commonly referred to in Argentina, sat right next to Fernandez during his entire inaugural speech. That's highly unusual: Normally, in Argentina and in any other country, vice presidents sit behind their bosses at major public functions.
But the image of her sitting side by side with the new president should not come as a big surprise to anyone.
First, Cristina Fernandez picked Alberto Fernandez as her presidential candidate, a masterful political move to attract moderate voters who would not have voted for her if she had run for president herself. In addition, the new president had visited Cristina's home recently _ and not the other way around _ to agree on the new government's key cabinet appointments, which was another sign of her clout.
Second, one of the few standing ovations during the new president's speech at the Argentine Congress came when he congratulated his vice president for her "generosity and strategic vision." A significant part of the newly elected Congress stood up and cheered more enthusiastically than they had for anything the president had said earlier. The crowd was obviously hers, not his.
Then, in a carefully choreographed scene, the vice president and the president walked together out of the chamber. The vice president walked next to the president until he stepped into his car on the street, making sure that the cameras would not capture him alone without her at his side.
Third, Alberto Fernandez's vows to fight corruption sounded somewhat empty after he emphatically proclaimed that "never again" will Argentina allow what he called a "contaminated justice system" and "media lynchings."
The president was clearly referring to the at least nine corruption cases against Cristina Fernandez, who, with her closest aides, has been charged with amassing a fortune during her 2007-2015 rule. There is widespread speculation in Argentina's political circles that Fernandez will find a way to exculpate his vice president.
Cristina is charged, among other things, with receiving tens of millions in bribes from businesspeople. In a separate case, police in 2016 found $4.6 million in cash at her daughter Florencia's bank safe box.
Fourth, the president's claim in his inauguration speech that he will defend democracy and human rights at home and abroad was contradicted by his latest actions and by the people he surrounded himself at his inauguration ceremony.
In recent weeks, Fernandez failed to denounce the electoral fraud by Bolivia's former authoritarian ruler Evo Morales, which was certified by two separate Organization of American States' electoral missions.
President Fernandez's highest-ranking guests at his inauguration included Cuba's ruler Miguel Diaz Canel, who presides over the hemisphere's longest-ruling military dictatorship, and Venezuela's powerful information minister, Jorge Rodriguez. The latter was barred from entering Argentina until Fernandez's inauguration and is banned from the United States and several other countries under international sanctions against the Venezuelan dictatorship.
Ironically, while championing the cause of the victims of Argentina's 1976-1983 military dictatorship, the new government is forging closer ties with Cuba and Venezuela, the hemisphere's oldest and bloodiest dictatorships. Venezuela's regime is responsible for about 6,800 extrajudicial executions between January 2018 and mid-2019, according to a United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Rafael Correa, Ecuador's former authoritarian populist president, who is facing major corruption charges, also was an honored guest at Fernandez's inauguration.
Judging from his inaugural speech, and from what I remember him saying when I interviewed him several years ago, President Fernandez is more moderate and pragmatic than his incendiary vice president.
But until I see clear signs that he _ and not his vice president _ is the one in charge, I will be skeptical about Argentina's commitment to democracy, human rights and the fight against corruption. Already, it's telling that the scene at Fernandez's inaugural speech did not match his stated intentions.
