Tens of thousands of supporters gathered in Buenos Aires' Plaza de Mayo on Wednesday (June 18) as former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner began serving a six-year house arrest sentence for corruption, delivering a defiant audio message promising her political return.

"Dear Argentines, we will return," Kirchner declared in the recorded message played to crowds of Peronist supporters who filled the streets with drums, flares, and banners.

Kirchner, who served as president from 2007-2015, began her sentence after Argentina's Supreme Court last week upheld a 2022 conviction related to a fraud scheme involving public projects in Patagonia. The ruling also imposed a lifetime ban from holding public office.

In her message, Kirchner framed her imprisonment as politically motivated, taking aim at current libertarian President Javier Milei's government. "They can lock me up, but they cannot lock up the entire Argentine people," she said. "We are not the ones who are afraid; they are."

The former president, who retains about 20% voter support according to polls, claimed authorities won't allow her to compete in elections "because they know they'll lose."

Kirchner remains Argentina's most prominent politician of recent decades, though her leftist populist policies sharply divide public opinion. She continues to wield significant influence over the opposition Peronist movement, Argentina's dominant political force over the past half-century.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (JUNE 18, 2025) (PARTIDO JUSTICIALISTA HANDOUT - Access all)

1. SUPPORTERS OF FORMER ARGENTINE PRESIDENT CRISTINA FERNANDEZ DE KIRCHNER GATHERED IN THE PLAZA DE MAYO

2. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FORMER ARGENTINE PRESIDENT, CRISTINA FERNANDEZ DE KIRCHNER, SAYING: [AUDIO MESSAGE CONTINUES OVER DIFFERENT SHOTS OF KIRCHNER SUPPORTERS DURING RALLY]

"Dear Argentines, we will return. Moreover, we will return with greater wisdom, greater unity, and greater strength. From whatever trench I find myself in, I will continue to do everything in my power to be there with you, just as you have always been there for me. We will do it because we have something that they (Javier Milei's government) will never have, nor will they ever be able to buy, no matter how much money they have. We have people, we have memory, we have history, and we have a homeland. We will return, Argentines, we will do it again, a thousand times over."

3. WHITE FLASH

4. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FORMER ARGENTINE PRESIDENT, CRISTINA FERNANDEZ DE KIRCHNER, SAYING: [AUDIO MESSAGE CONTINUES OVER DIFFERENT SHOTS OF KIRCHNER SUPPORTERS DURING RALLY]

"Today is the time to show that we will defend democracy with the same tools we used to build it, without violence but with courage. Without fear, but with absolute clarity about the historic moment that all Argentines are going through, with love."

5. WHITE FLASH

6. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FORMER ARGENTINE PRESIDENT, CRISTINA FERNANDEZ DE KIRCHNER, SAYING: [AUDIO MESSAGE CONTINUES OVER DIFFERENT SHOTS OF KIRCHNER SUPPORTERS DURING RALLY]

"The real economic power knows that this model has no future. It knows that it is falling apart, and that is why I am in prison. However, there is something that everyone must understand, even those in positions of economic power: they can lock me up, but they cannot lock up the entire Argentine people. We are not the ones who are afraid; they are."

7. WHITE FLASH

8. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FORMER ARGENTINE PRESIDENT, CRISTINA FERNANDEZ DE KIRCHNER, SAYING: [AUDIO MESSAGE CONTINUES OVER DIFFERENT SHOTS OF KIRCHNER SUPPORTERS DURING RALLY]

"They know why they won't let me compete (in the legislative elections in the province of Buenos Aires) because they know they'll lose. That's why, at this stage, it's essential to organize ourselves to identify what the real problem is in our country, which is essentially an economic model that benefits a few individuals at the expense of many."

9. VARIOUS OF FERNANDEZ SUPPORTERS APPLAUDING AFTER SHE FINISHED HER SPEECH