- UNASUR general secretary Nestor Kirchner (L) talks to his wife, Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner as they pose for a family picture before the beginning of an extraordinary UNASUR summit in support of Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa in Buenos Aires on October 1, 2010 (JUAN MABROMATA/AFP/Getty Images)
October 27, 2010 (KATAKAMI / BBC) --- Argentina's former president, Nestor Kirchner, has died, after reportedly suffering a heart attack.
Mr Kirchner, 60, who had been operated on in September for heart problems, died in the southern Argentine city of El Calafate, local media reported.
His wife, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, is the current president of the country.
Mr Kirchner served as president from 2003 to 2007, and was being tipped to stand for election again in 2011.
He had remained a member of the Argentine congress and secretary general of the South American regional grouping, Unasur.
But he had been dogged by ill health and had undergone two major operations in 2010 alone.
In February Mr Kirchner had surgery to remove a blockage in his carotid artery, which carried blood from the heart to the brain.
He had a second operation in September, when routine tests revealed a blocked coronary artery.
Mr Kirchner was given an emergency angioplasty after complaining of numbness in his legs.
