Argentina Essay, Research Paper
Ian C
Report on Argentina
History, Problems and Future of Latin American Country
Table of Contents
Argentina Historical Highlights 3
Chapter 1: Economy 7
Chapter 2 – Governmental / Social Problem #1 9
Chapter 3 – Governmental / Social Problem #2 11
Chapter 4 – Current Relations with the United States 14
Chapter 5 – Regional Relations 15
Chapter 6 – Military 17
Chapter 7 – The Future 20
Appendix I – Maps 21
Appendix II – Tables (Part 1: Population) 24
Appendix II – Tables (Part 2: Geography) 25
Appendix II – Tables (Part 3: Economy) 27
Appendix II – Tables (Part 4: Military) 29
Appendix II – Tables (Part 5: Religion) 30
Appendix II – Tables (Part 6: Government) 31
Appendix II – Tables (Part 7: History) 32
Argentina Historical Highlights
Europeans arrived in the region with the 1502 voyage of Amerigo Vespucci. Spanish navigator Juan Diaz de Solias visited what is now Argentina in 1516. Spain established a permanent colony on the site of Buenos Aires in 1580. They further integrated Argentina into their empire following the establishment of the Vice-Royalty of Rio de la Plata in 1776, and Buenos Aires became a flourishing port.
Buenos Aires formally declared independence from Spain on July 9, 1816. Argentines revere General Jose de San Martin, who campaigned in Argentina, Chile, and Peru, as the hero of their national independence. Following the defeat of the Spanish, centralist and federalist groups waged a lengthy conflict between themselves to determine the future of the nation. National unity was established and the constitution promulgated in 1853.
Two forces combined to create the modern Argentine nation in the late 19th century: the introduction of modern agricultural techniques and the integration of Argentina into the world economy. Foreign investment and immigration from Europe aided this economic revolution. The investment, primarily British, came in such fields as railroads and ports. The migrants who worked to develop Argentina’s resources came from throughout Europe, but mostly from Italy and Spain.
Conservative forces dominated Argentine politics until 1916, when their traditional rivals, the Radicals, won control of the government through a democratic election. The Radicals, with their emphasis on fair elections and democratic institutions, opened their doors to Argentina’s expanding middle class as well as to elites previously excluded from power for various reasons. The Argentine military forced aged Radical President Hipolito Yrigoyen from power in 1930 and ushered in another decade of Conservative rule.
Using fraud and force when necessary, the governments of the 1930s attempted to contain forces for economic and political change that eventually helped produce the governments of Juan Domingo Peron. New social and political forces were seeking political power. These included the modern military and the labor movement that emerged from the growing urban working class.
The military ousted Argentina’s constitutional government in 1943. Peron, then an army colonel, was one of the coup’s leaders, and he soon became the government’s dominant figure as minister of labor. Elections carried him to the presidency in 1946. He aggressively pursued policies aimed at giving an economic and political voice to the working class and greatly expanded the number of unionized workers. In 1947, Peron announced the first five-year plan based on nationalization and industrialization. He presented himself as a friend of labor and assisted in establishing the powerful General Confederation of Labor (CGT). Peron’s dynamic wife, Eva Duarte de Peron, known as Evita (1919-1952), helped her husband develop his appeals to labor and women’s groups. Women obtained the right to vote in 1947.
Peron won reelection in 1952, but the military deposed him in 1955. He went into exile, eventually settling in Spain. In the 1950s and 1960s, military and civilian administrations traded power. They tried, with limited success, to deal with diminished economic growth and continued social and labor demands. When military governments failed to revive the economy and suppress escalating terrorism in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the way was open for Peron’s return.
On March 11, 1973, Argentina held general elections for the first time in 10 years. Peron was prevented from running, but voters elected his stand-in, Dr. Hector J. Campora, to the presidency. Peron’s followers also commanded strong majorities in both houses of the National Congress, which assumed office on May 25, 1973. Campora resigned in July 1973, paving the way for new elections. Peron won a decisive victory and returned as President in October 1973 with his third wife, Maria Estela Isabel Martinez de Peron, as Vice President.1
During this period, extremists on the left and right carried out terrorist acts with a frequency that threatened public order. The government resorted to a number of emergency decrees, including the implementation of special executive authority to deal with violence. This allowed the government to imprison persons indefinitely without charge.
Peron died on July 1, 1974. His wife succeeded him in office, but her administration was undermined by economic problems, Peronist intraparty struggles, and growing terrorism from both left and right. A military coup removed her from office on March 24, 1976. Until December 10, 1983, the armed forces formally exercised power through a junta composed of the three service commanders.
The armed forces applied harsh measures against terrorists and their sympathizers. They silenced armed opposition and restored basic order. The costs of what became known as the “Dirty War” were high in terms of lives lost and basic human rights violated.
Serious economic problems, defeat by the U.K. in 1982 after an unsuccessful Argentine attempt to forcibly take control of the Falklands/Malvinas Islands, public revulsion in the face of severe human rights abuses, and mounting charges of corruption combined to discredit and discourage the military regime. This prompted a period of gradual transition and led the country toward democratic rule. Acting under public pressure, the junta lifted bans on political parties and restored other basic political liberties. Argentina experienced a generally successful and peaceful return to democracy.
On October 30, 1983, Argentines went to the polls to choose a president, vice president, and national, provincial, and local officials in elections international observers found to be fair, open, and honest. The country returned to constitutional rule after Raul Alfonsin, candidate of the Radial Civic Union (UCR), received 52% of the popular vote for president. He began a six-year term of office on December 10, 1983.
In 1985 and 1987, large turnouts for mid-term elections demonstrated continued public support for a strong and vigorous democratic system. The UCR-led government took steps to resolve some of the nation’s most pressing problems, including accounting for those who disappeared during military rule, establishing civilian control of the armed forces, and consolidating democratic institutions. However, constant friction with the military, failure to resolve endemic economic problems, and an inability to maintain public confidence undermined the Alfonsin Government’s effectiveness, which left office six months early after Peronist candidate Carlos Saul Menem won the 1989 presidential elections.
As President, Menem launched a major overhaul of Argentine domestic policy. Large-scale structural reforms have dramatically reversed the role of the state in Argentine economic life. A decisive leader pressing a controversial agenda, Menem has not been reluctant to use the presidency’s extensive powers to issue decrees advancing modernization when the congress was unable to reach consensus on his proposed reforms. Those powers were curtailed somewhat when the constitution was reformed in 1994 as a result of the so-called Olivos Pact with the opposition Radical Party. That arrangement opened the way for Menem to seek and win reelection with 50% of the vote in the three-way 1995 presidential race.2
The 1995 election saw the emergence of the moderate left FREPASO political alliance. This alternative to the traditional two main political parties in Argentina is particularly strong in Buenos Aires, but as yet lacks the national infrastructure of the Peronist and Radical parties. In an important development in Argentina’s political life, all three major parties in the 1999 race espouse free market economic policies.
Argentina held mid-term congressional elections in October 1997. The opposition UCR-FREPASO alliance made major gains in the number of seats it held and deprived the Peronists of an absolute majority. The elections are widely seen as setting the stage for the 1999 presidential race. The government’s pro-market policies remain unchallenged, but continued high unemployment and growing public concern over corruption have hurt the government’s standing in public opinion polls.
Chapter 1: Economy
The biggest problem that the Argentina’s economy has is inflation. Inflation is when prices of certain item or items increase and continue to increase. High inflation causes prices to rise faster than people’s income can handle. This hurts the Argentina economy because high prices means that people cannot afford to buy things like food, clothes, furniture, and other accessories they need for their household and also to survive, as well as making foreign goods cheaper. In 1998, increasing investor anxiety over Brazil, its largest trading partner, produced the highest domestic interest rates in more than three years and slowed growth to 4.3%. Despite the relatively high level of growth in recent years, double-digit unemployment rates have persisted, largely because of rigidities in Argentina’s labor laws. The Mexican peso crisis produced capital flight, the loss of banking system deposits, and a severe, but short-lived, recession in 1995; a series of reforms to bolster the domestic banking system followed. Real GDP growth recovered strongly, reaching almost 9% in 1997.
When President Carlos Menem took office in late 1980’s to the early 1990’s, the country had piled up huge external debts on the Argentinean economy. Inflation had reached 200% per month, and output was plummeting. To combat the economic crisis, the government embarked on a path of trade liberalization, deregulation, and privatization. However, high inflation rates beginning in the early 1970s and lasting into the early 1990s coupled with the 1988-90 recession have cut into the nation’s buying power and necessitated sharp cutbacks in imports in order to bring about a more favorable balance of trade. In recent decades Argentina has experienced both inflation and recession. It carries a massive national debt, which nearly doubled after 1978 and by the late 1980s had virtually crippled the economy. Argentina’s economy has traditionally been based on agriculture, but the industrial and service sectors have also grown in importance in recent years. The inflation in the Argentinean economy was horrible and the unemployment in the economy for both male and female had increased. In 1995, the percentage for unemployment for males was 16.5%. The female unemployment is worst, at 22.3%. The average for unemployment for both female and male unemployment is about at 18.8%.3
In 1997, Argentina was ranked 9th for the lowest inflation worldwide, which include parts of Europe the Bahamas, and some parts of Africa. Success in fighting inflation will depend on how open the Argentina economy becomes and the general health of the economy in South America as a whole (i.e. Brazil, etc.), which means the Argentinean economy has to rely on its neighbors around them like Brazil, for example, because its Argentina’s closet neighbor’s to help them out if they need it.4
Chapter 2 – Governmental / Social Problem #1
In Argentina, there are two major government/social problems. The first is human rights.
Argentina has a history of human rights violations. The Human rights violations hurt Argentina in becoming a free country. The disappearance of citizens who disagree politically cause mistrust and turmoil in the Argentina government and hurt Argentina in its relations with other countries, like Brazil. Worldwide pressure has been applied because Argentina to mend its ways. The likelihood that human rights violations will be reduced is high because Argentina is striving to become a first world country like the United States.
The dirty war is over, and human rights are generally respected in Argentina. Still, human rights violations are still a real problem in this country. The fate of 30′000 “disappeared” during the dirty war is still unknown and the Government, shielding itself behind two laws that pardoned all those responsible for the tortures and killings, has no plans to investigate what their fate was. Children (teenagers now), taken away from the arms of their disappeared parents, continue to grow away from their real families, not knowing their true identity. Journalists are harassed for writing articles offensive to the government, and sometimes even beaten up or killed. Conditions in jails are inhuman, beatings at police stations commonplace, and disappearances at the hand of the police are not unheard of. Prisoners often stay in jail for years before being tried for their alleged crimes. There is at least one prisoner of conscience, Fray Antonio Puigjan?, who has been sentenced to twenty years in prison for his beliefs.
Fray Juan Antonio Puigjan? is a 71-year-old Franciscan friar. He was imprisoned in Argentina in 1989, after a highly politicized trial. According to the court, he was convicted because he “should have known” about a planned attack on a military base, even though no evidence or proof was presented as to this fact. Instead, his ideology and his religious beliefs were put on trial, and found guilty by the Tribunal that tried him. He is currently under house arrest after serving more than nine years in prison for a crime he did not commit. He suffers from arthritis and is frequently in great pain. 5
The struggle for human rights has found a strong ally in the person of Judge Baltazar Garzon, who is investigating the self-genocide committed in Argentina against people whose ideologies differed from the military’s. Spain’s General prosecutor, – a man of known right-wing biases – argues that Spain has no jurisdiction on this matter, and has appealed to the National Audience. The National Audience should decide soon if indeed Garzon has jurisdiction to investigate the disappearances. Meanwhile, former-disappeared and the families of the disappeared continue offering their testimony.
The Argentinean Supreme Court – most of whose members are closely associated to President Menem – has ruled that the amnesty laws preclude judicial investigations as to the fate of a disappeared woman. The ruling was highly criticized both by human rights organizations as well as by jurists and judges.
A number of Argentinean courts are investigating the fate of disappeared children. Among them, the son of Sara Mendez, a Uruguayan woman who disappeared with her 21 year old son. She was later liberated, without her child who remains missing.
The future is clouded for Argentina. The world is being swept up in an open economy. If Argentina does not change and provide basic human rights, they will be left out of the forward progress that the rest of the world is making in moving to a global economy. The “global economy” is more and more being based on open markets. Open markets only succeed when they are free make changes quickly to markets. Governments and societies that do not support basic human rights will not do will in the global economy.
Chapter 3 – Governmental / Social Problem #2
Another problem that Argentina is facing is that changing the culture and social fabric of Argentina from an agricultural, farming country to one that is more balanced in manufacturing and hi-tech in order to grow. Argentina is good when food demand is high in the area and the world. When it is not, Argentina has trouble keeping the economy good. When food production is down the country cannot meet its economic obligations to its own people and the rest of the world. The government is trying to bring manufacturing and hi-tech industry to Argentina. Success is dependant on many things like the education of the Argentina workforce, natural resources, and the general health of the economy in South America as a whole (i.e. Brazil, etc.).
A key development in helping Argentina meet its external payments is the dramatic growth in Argentina’s foreign trade since 1990. Foreign trade plays an increasingly important role in Argentina’s economic development. Exports currently represent less than 10% of Argentina’s GDP. This percentage should rise as Argentine export competitiveness improves–a result of increased productivity generated by new investments, diversification of export products and markets, and very low domestic inflation.
Grain output reached a record of over 60 million tons in 1998 as adoption of new technology and management practices significantly increased productivity. Fresh Argentine beef was exported to the U.S. market in August 1997 for the first time in over 50 years, and other export prospects improved tremendously.