AQ regrets to share the news that former President of Argentina Néstor Kirchner passed away at his home in the southern Argentine town of El Calafate in Patagonia early this morning after suffering an apparent heart attack, the government reports. Kirchner, Argentina’s president from 2003-2007, and husband to current President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, had undergone two medical procedures to his heart in the past year. Reports stated that Kirchner was accompanied by his wife at the time of his death and that attempts to resuscitate him by medical personnel called to the scene failed.
Kirchner’s death marks the end of a career in which he became the name and face of the modern Peronist movement. Prior to assuming the presidency, Kirchner had served as mayor of Río Gallegos, capital of Santa Cruz Province, before becoming governor of the province from 1991 to 2003. Following his tenure as President, he was elected to be National Deputy of Argentina for the province of Buenos Aires for the term ending in 2013. He was also serving as Secretary General of the Unión de Naciones Sudamericanas (UNASUR) having been appointed to the post this past May.
Néstor Kirchner was 60 years old.
(Homepage photo taken June 15, 2010 and courtesy of Santiago Armas/Presidencia de la República, Ecuador)
