beyondbrics

The news that the Argentina’s president, Cristina Fernández, is suffering from cancer of the thyroid gland has taken the country by surprise, perhaps even shock.

Fernández and her team have been quick to allay concerns by returning to work the day after the announcement. She met governors from the some of the country’s provinces and made statements about the economy. And the country’s markets seems to be responding well – its benchmark index, the Merval, had only fallen 1.4 per cent on Wednesday, in line with global markets.

Fernández will be operated on next Wednesday at the Austral hospital in Buenos Aires and will then take twenty days off for rest and recuperation. Her medical team emphasised that the president’s health is generally good and say her chances of a rapid recovery are very positive.

The Argentine newspapers are filled with pages on what the thyroid glands do and prognoses from different medical experts. All generally agree that Fernández has a strong chance of recovery – the figure most quoted is 90 per cent.

Even the country’s biggest selling newspaper, Clarin, which is embroiled in a bitter feud with the president, is generally sympathetic and points out that she is in good company, that three serving South American leaders have in the past few years been diagnosed with cancer and have, after treatment, gone back to work.

The Brazilian president, Dilma Rousseff , was treated in 2009 before she took office. The leader of Paraguay, Fernando Lugo, suffered from lymphoma but after chemotherapy last year was told the tumour had gone and was given the all clear. And the energetic president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, recently made his first working trip abroad after being treated for cancer in the abdominal area. Additionally, former president of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Rousseff’s predecessor, has been diagnosed with throat cancer.

Fernández will need three weeks off work during which time her vice-president, the former economy minister, Amado Boudou, will take control. However, that will be during the hot January summer when many thousands head out of Buenos Aires for the beaches or the mountains.

There has often been speculation about Fernández’s health after she cancelled appearances and trips abroad. Those were put down to high blood pressure and her spokespeople generally gave away little information, only saying that she was recovering well and would soon return to work.

Fernández earlier this month began her second term in office after a resounding election victory in October. She started energetically, pushing a number of controversial laws through parliament.

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