HILLARY CLINTON has called Cristina Kirchner in a bid to repair the damage caused by a leaked diplomatic cable in which the US secretary of state personally questioned the Argentine president’s mental health.
A spokesman said Ms Clinton expressed her “regret” at the leak of the cable, in which she asked US diplomats in Buenos Aires to find out whether Ms Kirchner was taking medication to calm down and help her deal with stress. The request followed cables from Buenos Aires in which Ms Kirch-ner’s government was described as “extremely thin-skinned”.
The call was one of 11 Ms Clinton made to foreign leaders on Thursday as the US government tried to contain the fallout from this week’s publication of thousands of secret US diplomatic cables by the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks.
Ms Kirchner has not commented publicly on damaging cables relating to Argentina, which mentioned rumours about ministers in her government being linked to drug trafficking.
The cable in which Ms Clinton questions Ms Kirchner’s mental health is especially embarrassing for the two leaders, who were on first name terms at a press conference in Buenos Aires in March.
Ms Kirchner has in the past expressed her admiration for Ms Clinton, and revelled in comparisons between the two former first ladies when they were campaigning to become their respective countries’ presidents. Before her election in 2007, President Kirchner lobbied hard for high-profile meetings with Ms Clinton while on visits to the US.
But in one cable, Ms Clinton bluntly asked local diplomats: “How is Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner managing her nerves and anxiety? . . . Is she taking any medication? . . . How do Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s emotions affect her decision-making and how does she calm down when distressed?”
The cable went on to describe Ms Kirchner’s husband and predecessor, Nestor, who died in October, as “long known for his anger”. Other cables belittled the Kirchners’ diplomatic skills, and highlighted the growing number of corruption allegations swirling around them.
After two years of deep unpopularity, Ms Kirchner has staged a recovery in the latest opinion polls on a wave of public sympathy after her husband’s death.