Ivan Briscoe is senior researcher at the Fundacion para las Relaciones Internacionales y el Dialogo Exterior (Fride), Madrid. He was previously editor of the English edition of El País newspaper in Madrid and also worked for the Buenos Aires Herald, the UNESCO Courier and in the field of development research.

Recent articles

A crucial round of elections finds Hugo Chávez's tumultuous revolution at a historic impasse, finds Ivan Briscoe in Caracas.

(This article was first published on 21 November 2008)

Last year, Time magazine made her the "Latin Hillary." It was a comparison which President Cristina Kirchner seemed to fancy, just as Germany was the country she wished Argentina to become. A few months later, bruised in the opinions polls and beaten in the convulsive struggle over farm taxes, she faced the press - for the first time in her presidency - and let it be known that Obama was her new idol. "I've never been as interested in a presidential election in the United States," she said.

A seething revolt over farm-taxes has polarised Argentina in the early months of Cristina Kirchner's reign. But, says Ivan Briscoe, the dispute exposes a deeper crisis as the unresolved tensions of Argentina's modern political history return to confront its leaders and people alike.

The Hispanic vote in the swing states, on a plate. This, in the kind of clumsily indiscreet code language that serves as competition for Obama’s vice-presidential slate, is what New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson regards as the key to Democrat victory. It is not hard to see that he wants the job: when asked directly, he recited the names of those undecided states, Colorado, Nevada and Florida, as if they were courses of a fine banquet.

This was a Monday morning under the gilded fronds and angelic chorus of the Casa de América, central Madrid. Ambassadors to Spain were there, as were the literati, the politically wired, and the media. Miguel Barroso, director of this excellent cultural centre and one of Prime Minister Zapatero’s closest friends, sat by Richardson’s side.

A cautious left outguns an intransigent right - just. But now José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's government faces an even bigger political test, says Ivan Briscoe