The Kirchners had been relaxing at their family home near the southern town of El Calafate when he suffered chest pains and was taken to a clinic.
Kirchner’s official doctor, Luis Buonomo, said the former leader, 60, had a cardiac arrest and “passed away.”
He was to receive state honors before a burial, with his body to be displayed Thursday in the presidential palace in Buenos Aires, labor minister Carlos Tomada said.
The flag outside the palace was lowered to half-mast Wednesday, and a message left by somebody on the gates read: “Courage, Madame President.”
Kirchner, a millionaire with a personal fortune of some 11 million dollars, was president of Argentina from 2003 until 2007, when his wife was elected to succeed him. Since May, he had been serving as head of the Union of South American Nations.
Kirchner had suffered cardiac problems in the past, and had two operations this cheap coach handbags year to unblock arteries.
His health problems ??and his loss in legislative elections in June 2009 that also ended his ruling party’s majority in Congress ??had led to widespread speculation that he was preparing to run again for the presidency in 2011.
Observers speculated Kirchner’s sudden death could throw the reigning president off course.
“Up to now,
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“Where will she find her inspiration now?” he asked.
But others predicted she would rise to the challenge.
Julio Cobos, Cristina Kirchner’s vice-president turned political rival, said he was confident she “has the necessary force and authority to govern” even as she mourns.
Nestor Kirchner’s predecessor, Eduardo Duhalde, called on all Argentines to support the president.
Tributes and expressions of shock also arrived from around the world.
US President Barack Obama stressed Kirchner’s “significant role in the political life of Argentina,” while Spain’s Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero expressed his “deep shock” and told Cristina Kirchner that “the love of the Spanish people will be with you at this time of deep sorrow.”
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez wrote on his Twitter account “What pain,
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The country ??which had been observing a holiday Wednesday for a national census ??reacted with shock to the news.
A senator for the capital Buenos Aires,
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Estela Carlotto,
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“I don’t know what Cristina is going to do. Now she rules the country, but all alone,” she said.
A political analyst, Rosendo Fraga,,NFL Jerseys China ,
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Nestor Kirchner met Cristina, now 57, when they were both university law students. They have two children: Maximo, 32, and Florencia, 19.,
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Headstrong and often irritable as president, Nestor Kirchner was best known as the figure who led Argentina as it was emerging from its 1999-2002 economic crisis which resulted in the largest sovereign debt default in history.
In 2006, he paid off his country’s outstanding 9.5-billion-dollar debt to the International Monetary Fund, and during his reign and that of his wife, Argentina saw strong growth, though its access to international capital markets remained crippled.