Cristina Fernández de Kirchner was the charismatic leader of Argentina’s populist left for decades, elected twice as president, serving from 2007-2015, and again as vice president from 2019-2023. A fierce critic of Argentina’s current libertarian president Javier Milei, she was planning a comeback. Her plan to run for a seat in the legislature would have given her immunity from the many criminal corruption cases filed against her. But this month Argentina’s judicial system has intervened to put a stop to her plan.
On June 10, Argentina’s Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision sentencing Kirchner on charges of embezzling public funds. She will spend a six-year term under house arrest (rather than time in prison, owing to her age), wearing surveillance ankle monitors and unable to hold public meetings with her long-time political supporters. She will also have to return some $530 million to the state in asset restitution.
In a separate case, known as the Cuadernos “notebooks” case, Kirchner has been accused of leading an illicit association engaged in receiving millions of dollars in bribes. This case, based on notebooks allegedly written and kept by a chauffeur for a former official in the Federal Planning Ministry, goes to trial in fall 2025.
Kirchner additionally faces criminal charges for seeking to cover up the Islamic Republic of Iran’s role in Argentina’s deadliest terrorist attack, the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center, in which 85 people were killed and hundreds more wounded.
The prosecutor in the AMIA bombing, Alberto Nisman, believed Kirchner sought to obstruct the case against senior Iranian officials for whom there were international arrest warrants and INTERPOL red notices. In 2015, Nisman filed a legal complaint naming Kirchner, among others, based on thousands of legally obtained wiretaps. Days later, he was murdered in his apartment. In January 2025, a new investigation by an Argentinian judge has reopened the case.
Kirchner faces a long list of other criminal charges that are winding their way through the courts, based on allegations of kickbacks for government contracts and money laundering operations, also including her late husband, her son and close associates.
The United States designated Kirchner for corruption in March 2025, rendering her ineligible for entry into the United States. In the future, she may also face asset freezes for any property in the US, under the Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act.
The US Congress in 2023 passed a law calling for the President to designate Kirchner for corruption. Senator Ted Cruz noted that she has both stolen from Argentina’s citizens and “undermined American security interests in the region by placing Argentina’s institutions at the service of Iran’s global terrorism campaign.”
Kirchner continues to deny any wrongdoing and blames her woes on her political opponents, saying she is being persecuted.
The Argentine people have had to wait for years to see Kirchner’s corruption addressed. But her political career appears to be over. And she will no longer be able to shop for gold bracelets at Bulgari. Instead, she will have to wear surveillance ankle bracelets, courtesy of Argentina’s judicial system.
