Former Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, long accused of helping Iran to cover up its bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish center, has been sanctioned by the U.S. State Department for corruption.
Kirchner, who served as president of Argentina from 2007 to 2015 and later as vice president from 2019 to 2023, abused her position “by orchestrating and financially benefiting from multiple bribery schemes involving public works contracts, resulting in millions of dollars stolen from the Argentine government,” according to a statement by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on March 21.
The sanctions, which forbid Kirchner and her family members from entering the United States, do not involve the allegations concerning the 1994 AMIA (Argentine Israeli Mutual Association) Jewish community center terror bombing, which killed 85 people and injured over 300 more.
Kirchner is a political opponent of current Argentine President Javier Milei, a staunch ally of U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Last year, an Argentine court ruled based on confidential intelligence reports that Iran was responsible for planning the attack and Hezbollah for carrying it out.
In 2013, then-president Kirchner signed a memorandum with Iran under which local prosecutors could question the suspects outside Argentina. Critics claimed the memorandum ultimately served to absolve Iranian suspects of responsibility in exchange for strengthened economic ties between the two countries.
Kirchner was later indicted for an attempted cover-up in service of Iran. The case was ruled null and void by a federal court, which found no culpability on Kirchner’s part. An appeals court overturned the ruling and ordered Kirchner to stand trial.
Argentina’s Supreme Court denied an appeal by Kirchner and ruled in December that she is to stand trial, though a date has not yet been set.
The AMIA bombing was the deadliest terror attack in the Western Hemisphere until Sept. 11, 2001. It was part of a series of terror attacks against Israeli and Jewish interests in South America.
