The day Cristina Kirchner appointed a British citizen to key positions in Security and Defense

The corrupt former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner signed during her administration the appointment of Natalia Laura Federman, a British citizen and daughter of a former press chief at the Embassy of United Kingdom in Argentina, to a highly sensitive position within the National Public Administration, with full access to strategic information of the Armed Forces.

The decision, which generated deep criticism from military sectors and allies, has been strongly questioned over the years for its risk to national security.

In 2009, Federman was appointed Undersecretary of Security and Human Rights, and later, in 2011, an administrative decision exempted her from the nationality requirement to enter the National Public Administration. During Cristina Kirchner's government, she also held the position of National Director of Human Rights at the Ministry of Security, a role that allowed her access to files and sensitive documentation related to the defense of the country.

Federman's appointment, niece of journalist and former leftist terrorist Horacio Verbitsky and daughter of Andrés Federman, sparked strong questioning, especially due to the seriousness of granting access to strategic information to a person with direct ties to the United Kingdom, in a context where diplomatic relations between the two countries were tense.

The complaint against Natalia Laura Federman

The situation even prompted legal actions. On November 19, 2012, the veteran of the Malvinas Víctor Eduardo Vital filed a criminal complaint before the Federal Court of First Instance of the Province of San Luis, accusing Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Nilda Garré, Aníbal Fernández, and Juan Manuel Abal Medina of Treason to the Fatherland, based on Article 214 of the Penal Code.

The complaint, which spans more than 20 pages, details Federman's British connections and those of her father, whom she describes as an “undercover agent and later official of the English embassy in Buenos Aires,” and also criticizes the background of her uncle, Horacio Verbitsky, from his participation as an officer in the leftist terrorist group Montoneros.

The text of the complaint starkly describes the impact of Federman's presence in the ministries of Defense and Security, even categorizing her as “a true Political Commissioner of the British Embassy,” responsible for measures that would have weakened border security and left unprotected the forces that defended the country in the Malvinas and against subversion.

The complaint also details maneuvers involving the displacement of more than 6,000 gendarmes to the Greater Buenos Aires area, with the aim of liberating the entry of drugs into the country, affecting the operational capacity of the forces in the northern part of the national territory.

Federman's appointment by the corrupt former president Cristina Kirchner continues to be seen as a controversial and inappropriate decision, exposing the vulnerability of national security to foreign influences.