THE conviction of Vice-President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner on charges of fraud has been condemned by several other Latin American leaders as being just one more example of “lawfare” — a scheme where due process is manipulated by right-wing elites to attack their political opponents, as happened with Lula in Brazil and Fernando Lugo in Paraguay, among several other examples.

After the decision was handed down on December 6, Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canal said that the verdict was a “politically motivated judicial process,” Bolivia’s President Luis Arce stated that Fernandez de Kirchner was the victim of a judicial coup and his Mexican counterpart Amlo said that he had “no doubt she is the victim of a right-wing political vendetta.”

Here in Argentina, trade union leaders criticised the ruling which was the subject of wall-to-wall coverage in the press and on TV and, for a few days, even took Lionel Messi and the World Cup off the front pages.

Yet otherwise, the reaction was strangely muted. In a country where trade unions and social movements can get people onto the streets in numbers that their British counterparts can only dream about, there was no immediate mass reaction in support of the beleaguered vice-president.

There were protests in front of the court building in Buenos Aires, but not to the extent that might have been expected.

“Cristina,” as she is universally referred to by friend and foe alike, is the most high-profile and divisive figure in Argentinian politics.

Twice-president of Argentina, she is the first sitting vice-president and the first woman to be convicted of a criminal offence while still in office.

Those that support her and the Peronist movement do not believe, or want to believe, that she is guilty of any offence, while her opponents are equally convinced that she is guilty as charged.

It is fair to say that there is a general mistrust of politicians, a sentiment summed up by the rallying cry of protesters during the explosion of popular unrest in 2001 when they demanded “que se vayan todos” — “they should all go.”

The judiciary is arguably held in even lower esteem. In a system where judges are political appointees, the potential for patronage is always apparent. The latest research by regional consultancy firm Latinobarometro shows that distrust of the judiciary is widespread across Latin America, with barely 25 per cent of those surveyed having any faith in it.

Out of 18 republics covered in the poll, Argentina ranks second-lowest, with a level of trust that barely reaches 16 per cent.

Fernandez de Kirchner’s conviction is for “illicit association.” She was found guilty of arranging for 51 public works contracts in the state of Santa Cruz, where her late husband and former president, Nestor Kirchner used to be the governor, to be awarded to a company belonging to Lazaro Baez who is a family friend and business associate.

It is alleged that there was no proper bidding process and that some of the works were never completed. Unsurprisingly, Fernandez de Kirchner has vigorously denied the charges and announced that she will appeal, a process that will probably take up to two years in Argentina’s notoriously slow judicial process.

She has also fiercely criticised the probity of the judges, even though they were Kirchner appointees, and previously described the entire process as a judicial firing squad.

Fernandez de Kirchner enjoys immunity from prosecution as long as she holds political office.

Some of her more high-profile supporters had been urging her to run for president in elections scheduled for the end of 2023, but following her conviction, Fernandez de Kirchner unexpectedly announced that she would not stand for any political office next year and would concentrate instead on clearing her name.

The move has caused consternation in the ruling Frente de Todos coalition, though there is ample time for her to change her mind.

Supporters of Fernandez de Kirchner and the government who maintain that there are continuing Establishment plots to undermine an elected administration were given ample evidence to support their claim when, days before the guilty verdict was announced, it was revealed that a cabal of senior judges, a former intelligence agent, public officials and two executives from the virulently anti-Kirchner media group Clarin held a clandestine meeting at the palatial lakeside estate of Tottenham Hotspur football club owner Joe Lewis in Patagonia.

All expenses, including the use of a private jet to take the participants to and from Buenos Aires, were met by Clarin.

Details of the meeting were released on leaked Telegram messages, and it was revealed that false invoices were used to protect the identity of the participants.

Although there was nothing inherently criminal about the encounter, there was clearly a conflict of interest in such a powerful group of individuals, some of whom had been involved in sensitive cases against senior government figures, meeting in secret.

When news of the event became public, even elements of the right-wing press that had hitherto tried to ignore it were forced to admit that it had been, at best, naive and by allowing it to be leaked, downright stupid.

Despite the well-publicised differences with his deputy, President Albert Fernandez (no relation) has publicly supported Fernandez de Kirchner and has brought into question the integrity of the judiciary.

Nevertheless, these are difficult times for his government and for Argentina. The euphoria of the football team’s success in the World Cup will be short-lived and do nothing to alleviate the worst poverty figures in decades, as well as the perennial problem of inflation that, if not kept below 6 per cent for December, will reach 100 per cent for the year.

An extractivist, export-based economy centred on fracked gas, genetically modified soya and the scaling-up of lithium mining has brought environmental destruction, popular protest and deepening dependency.

The enormous debt inherited from the disastrous right-wing administration of Mauricio Macri has left limited room for economic manoeuvring, but unless the government can turn it around, the possibility of another authoritarian right-wing government being elected next year cannot be dismissed, whether Fernandez de Kirchner stands or not.