Nestor Kirchner

A kidnapping or a political stunt? The question is reverberating here in the mysterious case of Luis Gerez, a witness in a human rights trial who went missing last month and reappeared two days later, shirtless and in shock, saying he had been kidnapped, tied up, beaten and burned with cigarettes.

She is a senator and the chief advisor to her husband, who is no less than the president of Argentina. Some call her the real power in the presidential palace. She is certainly more stylish than he is, sporting a Jackie Kennedy-like designer collection and a shoe closet rivaling that of Imelda Marcos. And the heated rumor mill here suggests she wants his job. "This is the century of the woman," Sen.

Argentine President Nestor Kirchner is facing the biggest crisis of his four-year presidency just as he decides whether to seek reelection in October or back the prospective candidacy of his wife, a prominent senator. A scandal centering on a natural gas pipeline project prompted the president to fire two aides last month, while a third resigned and the government assumed direct control of a state energy regulatory body, Enargas.

President Nestor Kirchner has tapped his wife to take his place as the ruling coalition's candidate in October presidential elections, the government news agency said. Kirchner's wife, Sen. Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, is to announce her candidacy July 19 in her home city of La Plata, the capital of Buenos Aires province and home to a quarter of the country's voters. The president oversaw Argentina's recovery from the 2002 economic crisis, but his support has sagged in recent months.

Argentina's 'Suitcase-gate': In an article in Sunday's Section A about the Argentine woman whose discovery of a bag full of cash set off a major political scandal, the name of Argentina's former president and husband of the current president was given as Ferdinand de Kirchner. His name is Nestor Kirchner.

He doesn't have the innate charisma of Venezuela's populist president, Hugo Chavez, or the compelling life story of leftist struggle and sacrifice that Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva can claim. But the president of Argentina, Nestor Kirchner, is outdoing both leaders when it comes to willingness to play hardball with international bankers and corporate executives.

Fueled by a long-standing rivalry over who should lead South America, tensions between Brazil and Argentina escalated Tuesday amid reports that Buenos Aires was preparing to adopt a tougher approach toward its giant neighbor. Comments by Argentine officials this week disparaging Brazil's attempts to exert more international influence touched off a flurry of speculation that relations between the two nations were in a nosedive.

The larger battle may be over the future of Peronism, but it's the fight between the first ladies that has grabbed the headlines as Argentines go to the polls today. The mud-slinging campaign closed last week in an eleventh-hour frenzy of verbal volleys, with President Nestor Kirchner saying he would be "a prisoner of vested interests" during his remaining two years in office if his slate does not win big in the midterm legislative elections.

A few years ago, Carlos Menem, then president of Argentina, was famous for embracing all things American. One of his ministers said Argentina would be so closely allied to the United States they would have a "carnal" relationship. Nestor Kirchner, the current president, is more of a fighter than a lover. A week before his meeting with President Bush on Tuesday, in response to a question from the media here, Kirchner said if the two men boxed he would beat Bush "by a knockout."

Four angry generals, five miffed governors and a pair of missing oil paintings were not enough to prevent President Nestor Kirchner from commemorating the dead of Argentina's "dirty war" with two powerfully symbolic acts Wednesday that hit hard at the legacy of the country's former military dictators.