ARGENTINA: President Cristina Fernandez undergoes surgery for thyroid cancer as supporters hold vigil outside hospital
Record ID:
446787
ARGENTINA: President Cristina Fernandez undergoes surgery for thyroid cancer as supporters hold vigil outside hospital
- Title: ARGENTINA: President Cristina Fernandez undergoes surgery for thyroid cancer as supporters hold vigil outside hospital
- Date: 5th January 2012
- Summary: PILAR, BUENOS AIRES PROVINCE, ARGENTINA (JANUARY 04, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR OF HOSPITAL SECURITY OF HOSPITAL FERNANDEZ'S CARAVAN ENTERING HOSPITAL SECURITY AT HOSPITAL FERNANDEZ HOLDING SIGN SAYING: STRENGTH, CRISTINA IMAGE OF NESTOR KIRCHNER, LATE FORMER PRESIDENT AND HUSBAND OF FERNANDEZ FERNANDEZ SUPPORTERS OUTSIDE HOSPITAL FERNANDEZ SUPPORTER ROSA AGUIRRE HOLDING BANNER (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FERNANDEZ SUPPORTER ROSA AGUIRRE SAYING: "We have been holding vigil since yesterday, waiting for everything to come out well and supporting her. And what support, because we are all here with her to back her in everything." FERNANDEZ SUPPORTER EDUARDO TROTTA DRINKING MATE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FERNANDEZ SUPPORTER EDUARDO TROTTA SAYING: "We are waiting to know what's happening with the president. We hope everything turns out well. We making an effort so she will get better. I think the young people who are here today -- and who have been here all night and for two days -- I think this shows the country's support. Everyone is with Cristina." VARIOUS OF SIGNS AND BANNERS SUPPORTING FERNANDEZ VARIOUS OF PEOPLE JOURNALISTS OUTSIDE HOSPITAL VARIOUS OF FERNANDEZ SUPPORTERS
- Embargoed: 20th January 2012 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Argentina, Argentina
- Country: Argentina
- Topics: Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAAQ1R5HT2GOW2Z19H5CP2NQRJB
- Story Text: Argentine President Cristina Fernandez was being operated on for thyroid cancer on Wednesday (January 04) as her supporters lined up outside the hospital since the night before with signs saying "Strength Cristina."
Fernandez's helicopter touched down early in the morning for a surgery scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. (1100 GMT). Doctors say the 58-year-old president has a better than 90 percent chance of recovery.
The government last week announced her diagnosis of papillary carcinoma, detected during a routine medical check-up just before Christmas.
The diagnosis sparked sympathy in a country where Eva Peron, wife of former leader Juan Peron and known as Evita, is revered decades after dying of cancer at the age of 33.
Like Evita, Fernandez is loved for her efforts on behalf of Argentina's poor. Supporters, who rallied around Fernandez after the 2010 death of her husband and predecessor as president Nestor Kirchner, started congregating on Tuesday outside the hospital.
Among Fernandez supporters was Rosa Aguirre.
"We have been holding vigil since yesterday, waiting for everything to come out well and supporting her. And what support, because we are all here with her to back her in everything," Aguirre said.
Eduardo Trotta had stayed through the night and sat drinking mate on Wednesday morning.
"We are waiting to know what's happening with the president. We hope everything turns out well. We making an effort so she will get better. I think the young people who are here today -- and who have been here all night and for two days -- I think this shows the country's support. Everyone is with Cristina," he said.
Wildly popular among Argentines who benefit from her generous welfare spending, the president often gets bad marks from business leaders who say her interventions in the economy frighten off investment.
She is one of several left-leaning Latin American leaders to have cancer. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who underwent chemotherapy last year, speculated after the Fernandez diagnosis that the U.S. "empire" may have developed a way to give the illness to its political rivals.
Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo's lymphatic cancer is in remission and former Brazilian leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is being successfully treated for a tumor on his larynx.
A talented orator fond of glamorous clothes, high heels and make-up, Fernandez still wears black as she mourns Kirchner.
Many thought his death spelled the end of the couple's idiosyncratic blend of state intervention, nationalist rhetoric and the championing of human rights. But Fernandez won re-election in a landslide last October, helped by brisk economic growth fueled in part by hefty grain export revenues. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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