Former Argentine president Nestor Kirchner doing fine after surgery

[Judi Lynn]

Former Argentine president Nestor Kirchner doing fine after surgery
By the CNN Wire Staff
September 12, 2010 4:58 p.m. EDT

(CNN) -- Former Argentine President Nestor Kirchner was recovering Sunday after surgery on his heart, the country's state-run news service reported.

He is doing well and expected to make a full recovery, his doctors and officials said, according to Telam.

Kirchner, who is the husband of the country's current president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, and a powerful politician in his own right, underwent an angioplasty Saturday night after doctors found a blockage near his heart, the news service reported. They inserted a small stent.

The surgery marked the second time this year the former president went under the knife.

More:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/09/12/argentina.kirchner.surgery/index.html?hpt=T2

[Peace Patriot]

1. I'm glad he's doing well. Loss of Nestor Kirchner would be a blow to progressive forces in

Latin America. He is the one who--when the Bush Junta sent down its dictate that Latin American leaders "must isolate" Hugo Chavez--replied, "But he is my brother!"

Such an incredibly deep, resonating remark. It summed up all that had happened in Latin America over the last decade, with Latin American countries pulling together, cooperating, integrating and asserting their right to govern themselves, the creation of their identity as independent actors on the world stage, and their common devotion to social justice and peace. "But he's my brother!" Wow!

As president of UNASUR, Kirchner also played a vital role in defusing the trouble that Colombia's narco-thug pResident (pal of Bush Jr), Alvaro Uribe, was trying to cause in his final weeks in power (accusing Venezuela of 'harboring' FARC guerrillas). A peace accord between Colombia and Venezuela was the result. Kirchner will also be important to establishing UNASUR as a regional governing body, akin to the EU, in the context of a Latin American common market. Such a unifying organization is badly needed to counter U.S. corporate/war profiteer activities, and long history of often brutal interference, in the region. UNASUR was formally established, with all South American countries as members (and not the U.S.), in 2008--and was no sooner formalized than it played a critically important role in resolving the U.S.-organized/funded white separatist insurrection in Bolivia (with Chile's president, Michele Batchelet, as UNASUR's first president). This strong Latin American movement toward social justice, peace, integration and sovereignty does not depend on any one leader. It is pervasive throughout the region and has many leaders. But Kirchner has been an important one, as a highly respected president of Argentina and now as a regional unifier.