WikiLeaks: US sought information on Kirchers' mental health

Nov 30, 2010, 11:16 GMT

Madrid - The US State Department requested detailed information on the mental and physical health of Argentine President Cristina Fernandez and her late husband, the former president Nestor Kirchner, WikiLeaks documents showed Tuesday.

The excerpts from secret US diplomatic documents leaked by the whistleblower website at the weekend were published by the daily El Pais.

Washington requested the information in late 2009, prior to Nestor Kirchner's death last October.

'How does Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner deal with her nerves and her anxiety?,' was one of the questions asked. The State Department also wanted to know how stress affected her decision-making, whether she took any medication, about her work methods and political vision.

Washington also requested information about Nestor Kirchner, asking questions about his gastro-intestinal disease and his alleged fits of rage.

Another leaked document, however, dismissed allegations about the couple's precarious mental health as 'speculation.' The diplomat who signed it described the Kirchners as always having been 'acid, so impervious to outside advice and even so paranoid in relation with power.'

Cristina Fernandez had better relations with the George W Bush administration than with the Obama administration, the documents reveal. She even accepted to help the United States in its attempts to reduce tension with Bolivia, El Pais said.

The documents described the Kirchners as the 'ruling couple.' Nestor Kirchner was believed to pull many strings behind the scenes, despite his wife being the president.

El Pais was one of five newspapers to gain advance access to more than 250,000 US documents leaked by Wikileaks.

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