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ARGENTINA | 02-04-2019 16:11

'Suspicious': Marcos Peña questions Florencia Kirchner's trip to Cuba

Cabinet Chief Marcos Peña describes Florencia Kirchner's departure from Argentina as "suspicious", as pressure mounts for the former "first daughter" to return to Argentina.

Florencia Kirchner's ongoing stay in Cuba continued rattling feathers in Argentina on Monday, with President Macri's Cabinet Chief Marcos Peña also weighing in.

"Leaving the country and not returning prompts more than a little suspicion", Peña said during an interview with the A24 news channel in which he also downplayed any threat to Macri's leadership of the Cambiemos (Let's Change) coalition in the face of unimpressive pre-election polling numbers. The Macri government faces reelection in October.

"As political leaders, we need be exemplary when it comes to the Judiciary", Peña said when asked about Florencia, who must return to Argentina tomorrow according to a court order.

Peña was indirectly criticising Florencia's mother, Senator Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who has blamed the courts and the media for allegedly persecuting her daughter and causing her health problems. The former head of state-cum-senator returned from Cuba last week to visit Florencia, whose medical records she published on Twitter.

"I feel that by politicising a judicial matter, we move further away from the possibility of getting to the truth. If she (Florencia) is at peace and did not commit any crimes, then all the legal guarantees are in place for her to present herself to the courts", Peña said.

"If there are grounds for her to feel that she has been falsely accused, she should be able to prove so and she has all the legal resources available to do it", he added.

President Mauricio Macri's right-hand man said Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner had "stepped all over the democratic institutions" of Argentina "in terms of her discourse, her rhetoric, her messages, her actions, and that speaks poorly of her, not the rest of us".

NO DOUBTS ABOUT ELECTIONS

Peña also downplayed the threat to President Macri's leadership. "There was never a plan B", he said.

"We have her many hypothesis and conjectures but the natural option is for Mauricio Macri to lead the reelection project on behalf of Cambiemos", he clarified.

The Cabinet Chief, one of Macri's longest standing colleagues in government, recognised the "many people who are struggling" but insisted the Macri administration "had not caused the poverty and inflation" which is plaguing the country.

-TIMES/PERFIL

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