kirchners

After years of unquestioned authority, the Kirchners suffered an embarrassing defeat in a midterm election last June.

After six years in which the Kirchners have had Argentine politics in their grip, change is in the now-wintry air.

Indeed, a few businessmen who enjoy good relations with the Kirchners have done well in recent years.

Second, the Kirchners are once again trying to tie their detractors to Argentina's 1976-83 military dictatorship.

The Kirchners have been extraordinarily lucky that their time in power has coincided with a surge in Argentina's terms of trade (see chart).

The Kirchners' hopes of holding on to power at a presidential election due next year are threatened by their unpopularity.

Several centrist leaders did well in a repudiation of the Kirchners' populist economic policies.

For years those opponents have argued that the Kirchners' growth-at-all-costs strategy would catch up with them.

Despite the efforts of its first family, the Kirchners, Argentina retains a vigorous private sector.

And the Kirchners' refusal to settle with private creditors and their hostility to the IMF leave Argentina with few sources of credit.

The fortunes of Argentina's leaders have often been tied to global demand for the country's farm exports. The Kirchners are no exception.

Despite their overwhelming electoral defeat, it remains very unlikely that the Kirchners will do a quick 180-degree turn-about.

By declaring war on Argentina's most powerful opinion-former, the Kirchners are gambling with their political future.

The Kirchners maintain a majority in congress until December.

In fact all these things are happening already and the Kirchners must take some of the blame.

The Kirchners are now launching two new offensives.

With their own party riven by in-fighting , the Kirchners lost control of congress in mid - term elections last month.

Even after these sales, the Kirchners recorded a further 26 properties or plots of land on their books.

Pro-government media have painted both the Kirchners and Ms Bonafini as innocent victims of Mr Schoklender's alleged trickery.

The Kirchners also own 98% of Hotesur, a company whose main asset is Alto Calafate, another luxury hotel in the town.

Nowadays the Kirchners have few friends in the media.

In an election last year the opposition deprived the Kirchners of a clear majority in the Congress.

During that time neither of the Kirchners had jobs outside politics.

There is a third cost to the Kirchners' methods.

Mr Solanas, for example, openly supported the Kirchners' nationalisation of the pension system.

The Kirchners' grip on power has slackened since they lost an acrimonious wrangle over taxes on farm exports last year.

The Kirchners could have more oil if they stopped bullying Argentine business