In a continent where corruption is practically a career track, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner still managed to stand out. In December 2022, an Argentine federal court found the sitting Vice President — yes, the sitting one — guilty of fraud for orchestrating a kickback scheme that steered 51 public works contracts in her home province of Santa Cruz toward construction magnate Lázaro Báez. In return, prosecutors argued, Báez funnelled the proceeds back to the Kirchner family. Many of those construction projects, built with public money by Báez's firm Austral, were never completed. Voters had apparently been paying for Argentina's most expensive unfinished holes in the ground. The court sentenced Fernández de Kirchner to six years in prison and banned her from holding public office. Báez, already serving 12 years for money laundering, received a matching six-year sentence for his role. Fernández de Kirchner, who had previously served two terms as president, declared the verdict a "judicial coup" — a phrase that sounds considerably less convincing when delivered by someone a court just convicted of fraud. She remained free pending appeal, because in Argentina, the wheels of justice turn slowly but the revolving door of public office spins at dizzying speed.