Thursday, May 5, 2011

'I ask all Argentines to join me in this epic transformation,' CFK says

During an emotional speech in the inauguration of the new “Néstor Kirchner Community Integration Centre” in San Martín, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner made a call to all Argentines, “so they can join this epic transformation” that her administration is leading.

With tears in her eyes, Fernández de Kirchner recalled all the promises she kept after winning the election, and thanked the crowd, which was mostly composed of young people.

Some people in the crowd began chanting that she should stay in power for ten more years. "I don't think I'm strong enough for that!" she replied.

“Don’t cry, we need to be Strong,” she told a girl who was weeping close to the stage, apparently moved by her speech. 

The most emotional moment for the President, however, came when she recalled her husband’s last birthday, who was visited in the Olivos Presidential Residence by the Mothers and Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo. During the celebration, a young man, whose parents had disappeared during the dictatorship, asked the former president to take a photo with him and his wife, since “he didn’t have one with his parents.”

“Now it’s just me, but I’m still strong to keep working,” she said.

“When young people get involved, change is inevitable,” she said, and recalled those who disappeared during the infamous “Night of the pencils” in 1976, when the military dictatorship kidnapped and tortured several high school students in La Plata. 

“The power of transformation is in the hand of the younger generations” she said, adding that “there’s enough commitment” in the population in order to keep working.

The President gave her speech while visiting the brand new Community Integration Centre in Villa Zagala, in the Greater Buenos Aires area of San Martín.

She was joined by Buenos Aires Governor Daniel Scioli, Social Development Minister Alicia Kirchner and Justice Minister Julio Alak. 

The community center has been named “Néstor Kirchner” in honour of the President’s late husband, who passed away last October.