ARGENTINA: Supporters of President Cristina Fernandez set up camp and hold vigil outside the hospital where she will have surgery for thyroid cancer and is expected to stay at least 72 hours

Record ID: 446783

  • Title: ARGENTINA: Supporters of President Cristina Fernandez set up camp and hold vigil outside the hospital where she will have surgery for thyroid cancer and is expected to stay at least 72 hours
  • Date: 4th January 2012
  • Summary: FERNANDEZ SUPPORTER, FRANCISCO AYALA (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SUPPORTER OF ARGENTINE PRESIDENT CRISTINA FERNANDEZ, FRANCISCO AYALA, SAYING "We are camping here because the president is going to have a cyst [sic] operation. And the idea is to be here supporting her, giving her strength, during this tough time she is going through. But we are confidant everything will go ok and we hope she feels the warmth and strength of the people."
  • Embargoed: 19th January 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Argentina, Argentina
  • Country: Argentina
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAAG5HAZ9XUH0CP12NF4CLC74GV
  • Story Text: As Argentine President Cristina Fernandez prepares for cancer surgery, dozens of her ardent supporters on Tuesday (January 3) set up a vigil and camp outside the hospital where she will be operated on the following day.
    Fernandez, 58, has a papillary carcinoma, the most common form of thyroid cancer, and is scheduled to undergo surgery here, at the Austral Hospital in suburban Pilar, at 8 A.M. local time Wednesday morning (January 4).
    Doctors say there is no sign the disease has spread and she has a very high chance of recovery and will not need chemotherapy or radiotherapy. The diagnosis was made public just one week ago.
    The president is expected to remain in the hospital for at least 72 hours as she recovers and supporters here say they plan to remain until she is released in good health.
    "We are camping here because the president is going to have a cyst [sic] operation. And the idea is to be here supporting her, giving her strength, during this tough time she is going through. But we are confidant everything will go ok and we hope she feels the warmth and strength of the people," said one supporter, Francisco Ayala.
    The supporters lined the entrance way to the hospital with signs and banners wishing the leader well.
    Fernandez's cancer scare comes less than a month since she was sworn in for a second four-year term after winning a landslide re-election in October.
    The medical prognosis for Fernandez is fairly optimistic seeing as the tumour appears to be contained and the type of cancer is highly survivable with 95 percent of patients living at least 10 years after detection.
    But her supporters say they are taking nothing for granted ahead of the operation.
    "We know that no surgery is easy. They can all have complications. So the idea to come together, the young people and people from different groups, is to show the president our support. We know that she already knows it, but it is so she isn't alone, and so she knows the people are with her and more than anything the young people who are the motor of change, we are here," Fernandez supporter, Angel Scifo said.
    The group's numbers outside the hospital slowly grew throughout the day Tuesday and organisers said they are expecting their numbers to swell as the surgery hour draws closer.
    Fernandez's already high approval ratings could get a further boost from public sympathy over her illness as they did following the death late last year of her husband and predecessor as president, Nestor Kirchner.
    Fernandez, a skilled orator fond of glamorous clothes and high heels, is one of several regional leaders to have cancer.
    Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Paraguay's Fernando Lugo both underwent chemotherapy recently while former Brazilian leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is currently being treated for throat cancer.
    Fernandez is expected to rest 20 days following the surgery and in her absence, loyal vice president Amado Boudou will sit in as president.
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