Recent History

Argentina: Recent History

During the greater part of the 20th century, government in Argentina tended to alternate between military and civilian rule. In 1930 Hipólito Yrigoyen, a member of the reformist Unión Cívica Radical (UCR), who in 1916 had become Argentina’s first President to be freely elected by popular vote, was overthrown by an army coup, and the country’s first military regime was established. Civilian rule was restored in 1932, only to be supplanted by further military intervention in 1943. A leading figure in the new military regime, Col (later Lt-Gen.) Juan Domingo Perón Sosa, won a presidential election in 1946. He established the Peronista party in 1948 and pursued a policy of extreme nationalism and social improvement, aided by his second wife, Eva (‘Evita’) Duarte de Perón, whose popularity greatly enhanced his position and contributed to his re-election as President in 1951. In 1954, however, his promotion of secularization and the legalization of divorce brought him into conflict with the Roman Catholic Church. In September 1955 President Perón was deposed by a revolt of the armed forces. He went into exile, eventually settling in Spain, from where he continued to direct the Peronist movement.

Following the overthrow of Perón, Argentina entered another lengthy period of political instability. Political control continued to pass between civilian (mainly Radical) and military regimes during the late 1950s and the 1960s. Congressional and presidential elections were conducted in March 1973. The Frente Justicialista de Liberación, a Peronist coalition, secured control of the Congreso Nacional (National Congress), while the presidential election was won by the party’s candidate, Dr Héctor Cámpora. However, Cámpora resigned in July, to enable Gen. Perón, who had returned to Argentina, to contest a fresh presidential election. In September Perón was returned to power, with more than 60% of the votes.

Gen. Perón died in July 1974 and was succeeded as President by his widow, María Estela (‘Isabelita’) Martínez de Perón, hitherto Vice-President. The Government’s economic austerity programme and the soaring rate of inflation led to widespread strike action, dissension among industrial workers, and demands for the President’s resignation. In March 1976 the armed forces, led by Gen. Jorge Videla, overthrew the President and installed a three-man junta: Gen. Videla was sworn in as head of state. The junta made substantial alterations to the Constitution, dissolved the Congreso Nacional, suspended all political and trade union activity and removed most government officials from their posts. Several hundred people were arrested, while ‘Isabelita’ Perón was detained and later went into exile.

The military regime launched a ferocious offensive against left-wing guerrillas and opposition forces. The imprisonment, torture and murder of suspected left-wing activists by the armed forces provoked domestic and international protests. Repression eased in 1978, after all armed opposition had been eliminated.

In March 1981 Gen. Roberto Viola, a former member of the junta, succeeded President Videla and made known his intention to extend dialogue with political parties as a prelude to an eventual return to democracy. Owing to ill health, he was replaced in December by Lt-Gen. Leopoldo Galtieri, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, who attempted to cultivate popular support by continuing the process of political liberalization initiated by his predecessor.

In April 1982, in order to distract attention from an increasingly unstable domestic situation, and following unsuccessful negotiations with the United Kingdom in February over Argentina’s long-standing sovereignty claim, President Galtieri ordered the invasion of the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) (see chapter on the Falkland Islands). The United Kingdom recovered the islands after a short conflict, in the course of which about 750 Argentine lives were lost. Argentine forces surrendered in June 1982, but no formal cessation of hostilities was declared until October 1989. Humiliated by the defeat, Galtieri was forced to resign, and the members of the junta were replaced. The army, under the control of Lt-Gen. Cristino Nicolaides, installed a retired general, Reynaldo Bignone, as President in July 1982. The armed forces were held responsible for the disastrous economic situation, and the transfer of power to a civilian government was accelerated. Moreover, in 1983 a Military Commission of Inquiry into the Falklands conflict concluded in its report that the main responsibility for Argentina’s defeat lay with members of the former junta. Galtieri was sentenced to imprisonment, while several other officers were put on trial for corruption, murder and insulting the honour of the armed forces. In the same year the regime approved the Ley de Pacificación Nacional, an amnesty law which granted retrospective immunity to the police, the armed forces and others for political crimes that had been committed over the previous 10 years.

General and presidential elections were held on 30 October 1983, in which the UCR defeated the Peronist Partido Justicialista (PJ), attracting the votes of many former Peronist supporters. Dr Raúl Alfonsín, the UCR candidate, took office as President on 10 December. He promptly announced a radical reform of the armed forces, which led to the immediate retirement of more than one-half of the military high command. In addition, he repealed the Ley de Pacificación Nacional and ordered the court martial of the first three military juntas to rule Argentina after the 1976 coup, for offences including abduction, torture and murder. Public opposition to the former military regime was reinforced by the discovery and exhumation of hundreds of bodies from unmarked graves throughout the country. (It was believed that 15,000–30,000 people ‘disappeared’ during the so-called ‘dirty war’ between the former military regime and its opponents in 1976–83.) President Alfonsín also announced the formation of the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons to investigate the events of the ‘dirty war’. The trial of the former leaders began in April 1985. Several hundred prosecution witnesses gave testimonies which revealed the systematic atrocities and the campaign of terror perpetrated by the former military leaders. In December four of the accused were acquitted, but sentences were imposed on five others, including sentences of life imprisonment for Gen. Videla and Adm. Eduardo Massera (they were released in late 1990). In May 1986 all three members of the junta that had held power during the Falklands conflict were found guilty of negligence and received prison sentences, including a term of 12 years for Galtieri.

In late 1986 the Government sought approval for the Punto Final (‘Full Stop’) Law, whereby civil and military courts were to begin new judicial proceedings against members of the armed forces accused of violations of human rights, within a 60-day period ending on 22 February 1987. The pre-emptive nature of the legislation provoked widespread popular opposition but was, nevertheless, approved by the Congreso Nacional in December 1986. However, in May 1987, following a series of minor rebellions at army garrisons throughout the country, the Government announced new legislation, known as the Obediencia Debida (‘Due Obedience’) law, whereby an amnesty was to be declared for all but senior ranks of the police and armed forces. Therefore, under the controversial new law, of the 350–370 officers hitherto due to be prosecuted for alleged violations of human rights, only 30–50 senior officers were now to be tried.

In the campaign for the May 1989 elections, Carlos Saúl Menem headed the Frente Justicialista de Unidad Popular (FREJUPO) electoral alliance, comprising his own PJ grouping, the Partido Demócrata Cristiano (PDC) and the Partido Intransigente (PI). On 14 May the Peronists were guaranteed a return to power, having secured, together with the two other members of the FREJUPO alliance, 49% of the votes cast in the presidential election and 310 of the 600 seats in the electoral college. The Peronists were also victorious in the election for 127 seats (one-half of the total) in the Cámara de Diputados (Chamber of Deputies). The failure of attempts by the retiring and incoming administrations to collaborate, and the reluctance of the Alfonsín administration to continue in office with the prospect of further economic deterioration, left the nation in a political vacuum. Although Menem was scheduled to take office as President in December, the worsening economic situation compelled Alfonsín to resign five months early, and Menem assumed the presidency on 8 July.

In early 1990 the Government introduced a radical economic readjustment plan, incorporating the expansion of existing plans for the transfer to private ownership of many state-owned companies and the restructuring of the nation’s financial systems. In August Erman González appointed himself head of the Central Bank and assumed almost total control of the country’s financial structure. Public disaffection with the Government’s economic policy was widespread. Failure to contain the threat of hyperinflation led to a loss in purchasing power, and small-scale food riots, looting, industrial action and demonstrations became more frequent. In January 1991 the Minister of the Economy, Antonio Erman González, was forced to resign following a sudden spectacular decline in the value of the austral in relation to the US dollar. He was succeeded by Domingo Cavallo.

In October 1989 the Government issued decrees pardoning 210 officers and soldiers who had been involved in the ‘dirty war’, as well as the governing junta during the Falklands conflict (including Gen. Galtieri) and leaders of three recent military uprisings (including Lt-Col Rico and Col Seineldín). Widespread public concern at the apparent impunity of military personnel further increased after a second round of presidential pardons was announced in late 1990.

In gubernatorial and congressional elections, held throughout 1991, the Peronists performed well. The success of the Peronist campaign was widely attributed to the popularity of Domingo Cavallo. Economic measures implemented by him included the abolition of index-linked wage increases and, most dramatically, the implementation of the ‘Convertibility Plan’, which linked the austral to the US dollar, at a fixed rate of exchange. This initiative soon achieved considerable success in reducing inflation, and impressed international finance organizations sufficiently to secure the negotiation of substantial loan agreements. In October the President issued a comprehensive decree ordering the removal of almost all of the remaining bureaucratic apparatus of state regulation of the economy, and in November the Government announced plans to accelerate the transfer to private ownership of the remaining public-sector concerns. Continuing economic success in 1992 helped to secure agreements for the renegotiation of repayment of outstanding debts with the Government’s leading creditor banks and with the ‘Paris Club’ of Western creditor governments. The October 1993 elections to renew 127 seats in the Cámara de Diputados were won convincingly by the ruling PJ party.

An unexpected development in November 1993 was the return to political prominence of former President Alfonsín. While UCR opposition to Menem’s presidential ambitions had remained vociferous, several opposition leaders, notably Alfonsín, feared that the UCR would be excluded from negotiations on constitutional reform, which was to be voted on at a national referendum scheduled for late that year. Consequently, Alfonsín entered into a dialogue with the President, resulting in a declaration, in November, that a framework for constitutional reform had been negotiated, apparently in return for Menem’s postponement of the referendum and acceptance of modified reform proposals. In December the UCR national convention endorsed the terms of the agreement, which included the possibility of re-election of the President for one consecutive term, a reduction in the presidential term (to four years), the abolition of the presidential electoral college, the delegation of some presidential powers to a Chief of Cabinet, an increase in the number of seats in the Senate (Senado) and a reduction in the length of the mandate of all senators, a reform of the procedure for judicial appointments, the removal of religious stipulations from the terms of eligibility for presidential candidates, and the abolition of the President’s power to appoint the mayor of the federal capital. The need for constitutional reform was approved by the Congreso later in the month. Following the convening of a Constituent Assembly in May 1994, a new Constitution was promulgated in August.

Menem’s campaign for re-election in 1995 concentrated on the economic success of his previous administration and, despite the increasingly precarious condition of the economy, was sufficiently successful to secure 50% of the votes at the presidential election of 14 May, thereby avoiding a second ballot. José Octavio Bordón, the candidate of the Frente del País Solidario (Frepaso—a centre-left alliance of socialist, communist, Christian Democrat and dissident Peronist groups) was second with 29% of the votes, ahead of the UCR candidate, Horacio Massaccesi, who received 17% of the votes. However, Frepaso won the largest share of the 130 contested seats in the Cámara de Diputados at legislative elections conducted concurrently, and significantly increased its representation in the Senado (as did the Peronists), largely at the expense of the UCR. Menem was inaugurated as President for a second four-year term on 8 July.

Meanwhile, the Government’s ongoing programme of economic austerity continued to provoke violent opposition, particularly from the public sector, where redundancies and a ‘freeze’ on salaries had been imposed in many provinces. In March 1995 the Government presented an economic consolidation programme aimed at protecting the Argentine currency against devaluation and supporting the ailing banking sector, which had been adversely affected by the financial crisis in Mexico in late 1994 (the so-called ‘tequila effect’). Subsequent austerity measures adopted by provincial governments, together with a dramatic increase in the rate of unemployment, provoked widespread social unrest in the city of Córdoba and in the province of Río Negro in 1995.

In 1996 public disaffection with the Government was reflected in the PJ’s poor performance in the first direct elections for the Mayor of the Federal District of Buenos Aires, as well as in concurrent elections to the 60-member Constituent Assembly (which was charged with drafting a constitution for the newly autonomous Federal District of Buenos Aires). In July the Government was again undermined by the resignations of the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Defence, whose parliamentary immunity was to be removed to allow investigations in connection with the illegal sale of armaments to Ecuador and Croatia. More significant was the dismissal of Cavallo as Minister of the Economy following months of bitter dispute with the President and other cabinet members. Roque Fernández, hitherto President of the Central Bank, assumed the economy portfolio. Cavallo became increasingly vociferous in his attacks against the integrity of certain cabinet members, and, in October, as Menem launched a well-publicized campaign against corruption after the discovery of wide-scale malpractice within the customs service, he accused the Government of having links with organized crime.

Industrial and social unrest increased in 1996 and 1997, owing to widespread discontent with proposed labour reforms, as well as reductions in public expenditure and high levels of unemployment. General strikes, organized by the Confederación General de Trabajo (CGT), the Congreso de los Trabajadores Argentinos (CTA) and the Movimiento de Trabajadores Argentinos (MTA), received widespread support in August and September 1996. In October relations between the Government and the trade unions deteriorated following the submission to the Congreso of controversial labour-reform legislation. In December, owing to legislative delays, President Menem introduced part of the reforms by decree, although a court declared the decrees to be unconstitutional in the following month. In May 1997 violent protests erupted across the country as police clashed with thousands of anti-Government demonstrators who had occupied government buildings and blockaded roads and bridges. In July some 30,000 people demonstrated in the capital to protest at the high level of unemployment, then estimated at more than 17%. A general strike in August, organized by the MTA and the CTA, was only partially observed, however.

At the mid-term congressional elections in October 1997 the UCR and Frepaso (who formed an electoral pact, the Alianza por el Trabajo, la Justicia y la Educación—ATJE, in order to present joint lists in certain constituencies) together won 46% of the votes and 61 of the 127 seats contested. In contrast, the PJ won 36% of the vote and 51 seats. The PJ thus lost its overall majority in the Cámara de Diputados (its total number of seats being reduced to 118), while the UCR and Frepaso together increased their representation to 110 seats. More significant was the PJ’s poor performance in the critical constituency of the province of Buenos Aires, where it received only 41% of the votes, compared with the ATJE’s 48%.

A presidential election was held on 24 October 1999. The ATJE candidate, Fernando de la Rúa, ended 10 years of Peronist rule, winning 49% of the votes cast. The PJ contender, Eduardo Alberto Duhalde, secured 38% of the ballot. (Menem had been barred by the Supreme Court from contesting the presidency, despite attempting to amend the Constitution in order to stand.) The ATJE also performed well in concurrent congressional elections, winning 63 of the 130 seats up for renewal, while the PJ secured 50 seats and Acción por la República, led by Domingo Cavallo, won nine. The ATJE’s total number of seats in the Cámara increased to 127—only two short of an absolute majority—in contrast to the PJ, whose representation was reduced to 101 seats. De la Rúa took office as President on 10 December. Later that month the new Congreso Nacional approved an austerity budget that reduced public expenditure by US $1,400m., as well as a major tax-reform programme and a federal revenue-sharing scheme.

In April 2000 the Senado approved a controversial major revision of employment law. The legislation met with public criticism and led to mass demonstrations by public sector workers and, subsequently, to two 24-hour national strikes organized by the CGT. Later that year the Government came under intense pressure after it was alleged that some senators had received bribes from government officials to pass the employment legislation. In September the Senado voted to end the immunity that protected law-makers, judges and government ministers from criminal investigation in order to allow an inquiry into the corruption allegations. The political crisis intensified on 6 October when Carlos Alvarez resigned as Vice-President, one day after a cabinet reorganization, in which two ministers implicated in the bribery scandal were not removed. One of these, former labour minister Alberto Flamarique, who was appointed presidential Chief of Staff in the reshuffle, resigned later the same day. The other, Fernando de Santibáñez, head of the state intelligence service, resigned in late October. Earlier that month the President of the Senado, José Genoud, also resigned after he too was implicated in the bribery allegations.

The economic situation continued to deteriorate in 2000 and 2001. In November 2000 thousands of unemployed workers blocked roads throughout the country to demand jobs, welfare programmes and improvements in standards of living. In the same month the country was paralysed by a 36-hour national strike, organized in response to the Government’s proposed introduction of an IMF-backed economic recovery package that included a five-year ‘freeze’ on federal and provincial spending. Additional measures included a reform of the pension system and an increase in the female retirement age. In December the Congreso approved the reforms and, later in the month, the IMF agreed a package, worth an estimated US $20,000m., to meet Argentina’s external debt obligations for 2001.

The resignation of the Minister of the Economy, José Luis Machinea, precipitated another political crisis in March 2001. The announcement by his successor, Ricardo López Murphy, of major reductions in public expenditure, resulted in several cabinet resignations. As a consequence, in late March a second reshuffle occurred, in which Domingo Cavallo was reappointed Minister of the Economy. In June Cavallo announced a series of measures designed to ease the country’s financial situation. The most controversial of these was the introduction of a complex trade-tariff system that created multiple exchange rates (based on the average of a euro and a US dollar); this was, in effect, a devaluation of the peso for external trade, although the dollar peg remained in operation for domestic transactions. As Argentina’s debt crisis intensified and fears of a default increased, a further emergency package, the seventh in 19 months, was implemented in July. A policy of ‘zero deficit’ was announced, whereby neither the federal Government nor any province would be allowed to spend more than it collected in taxes. In order to achieve this, state salaries and pensions were to be reduced by 13%. Despite mass protests and a one-day national strike, the measures were granted congressional approval at the end of July. Nevertheless, the economic situation continued to deteriorate. There were protests against the austerity measures in August and following the introduction of one-year bonds, known as ‘patacones’, as payment to 160,000 public sector workers. Meanwhile, the Government encountered difficulties in effecting economic policies: negotiations with the opposition Peronists, who controlled the majority of Argentina’s provincial governments, towards a ‘zero deficit’, were repeatedly stalled in late 2001.

The poor state of the economy contributed to the ATJE’s poor performance in the legislative elections of October 2001. The PJ won control of the Cámara de Diputados and increased its lower-house representation to 116 seats overall. In comparison, the ATJE obtained 88 seats. In the Senado, which for the first time was directly elected by popular vote, the PJ increased its majority, winning 40 seats, while the ATJE secured 25 seats. The elections were marred by a high percentage of spoiled ballots (21%—in some provinces the number of spoiled ballots was higher than that for the winning candidate) and a high rate of abstention, about 28%, in a country where voting is obligatory.

In December 2001, as the economic situation deteriorated and the possibility of a default on the country’s debt increased considerably, owing to the IMF’s refusal to disburse more funds to Argentina, the Government introduced restrictions on bank account withdrawals and appropriated private pension funds. These measures proved to be extremely unpopular and resulted in two days of rioting and demonstrations nation-wide, in which at least 27 people died. On 20 December Cavallo resigned as Minister of the Economy and, following further rioting on the same day, President de la Rúa submitted his resignation. The newly appointed head of the Senado, Ramón Puerta, became acting President of the Republic, but was succeeded two days later by the Peronist Adolfo Rodríguez Saá. He, in turn, resigned one week later after protests against his proposed economic reforms (including the introduction of a new currency and the suspension of debt repayments) resulted in further unrest. On 1 January 2002 the former Peronist presidential candidate and recently elected Senator for the Province of Buenos Aires, Eduardo Alberto Duhalde, was elected President by the Congreso Nacional. He was Argentina’s fifth President in less than two weeks. (The President of the Cámara de Diputados, Eduardo Camaño, was acting President from 31 December 2001 to 2 January 2002 following the resignation of Puerta as President of the Senado.) On 3 January Argentina officially defaulted on its loan repayments, reportedly the largest ever debt default, and three days later the Senado gave authorization to the Government to set the exchange rate, thus officially ending the 10-year-old parity between the US dollar and the peso. In the following month the Government initiated the compulsory conversion to pesos of US dollar bank deposits in order to prevent capital flight. This process of ‘pesofication’ led to many lawsuits (amparos ) being brought by depositors against financial institutions in an attempt to recover their losses. However, in October 2004 the Supreme Court ruled that the ‘pesofication’ was not unconstitutional, thereby effectively ruling against future amparos .

Nevertheless, in February 2002 the Supreme Court had ruled that the restrictions imposed on bank withdrawals (the corralito ) were unconstitutional. Some accounts were freed from the restrictions but, in order to forestall the complete collapse of the financial system, the Government imposed a six-month ban on legal challenges to the remainder of the bank withdrawal regime. Numerous bank holidays were also decreed to prevent another run on the banks and a further devaluation of the currency. A constitutional crisis ensued as the Congreso initiated impeachment proceedings against the unpopular Supreme Court Justices (see below). Later that month the Government signed a new tax-sharing pact with the provincial Governors, linking the monthly amount distributed to the provinces to tax collections, as recommended by the IMF. However, in late April Jorge Remes Lenicov resigned as Minister of the Economy following the Senado’s refusal to support an emergency plan to exchange ‘frozen’ bank deposits for government bonds, despite an uncompromising message from the IMF that no further help would be available unless drastic reforms were forthcoming. He was replaced by Roberto Lavagna (the sixth Argentine economy minister in 12 months).

The economy achieved mixed progress during 2002. While the number of deposits in Argentine banks increased, Argentina still defaulted on a US $805m. loan instalment to the World Bank in November, thus jeopardizing the country’s last remaining source of external finance. The situation was aggravated by disagreements between the Minister of the Economy and the President of the Central Bank over the corralito restrictions. Public anger against the Government and at the state of the economy did not subside, and in June two people were killed and dozens more injured when protesters demanding jobs and food clashed with the police. The following day thousands of anti-Government protesters marched in front of the Congreso building, and teachers and public sector workers went on strike.

In the latter half of 2002 congressional efforts to impeach the Supreme Court Justices for incompetence were repeatedly frustrated. The Cámara de Diputados failed to achieve quorum to begin the impeachment debate on five occasions but, in October, and after calls from the IMF for political consensus between the judiciary and the legislature, the impeachment bid was voted down in the Cámara. Nevertheless, later that month one Supreme Court judge resigned. Contentious decisions taken by the Supreme Court included ruling against the corralito , pay and pensions reductions for public sector workers and public utility price increases.

President Duhalde’s announcement, in July 2002, that the presidential election would take place six months earlier than planned, on 30 March 2003, was intended to reduce political pressures on the Government during its ongoing negotiations with the IMF. In November 2002, following negotiations between the Government, legislators and provincial Governors, agreement was reached to postpone the presidential election until 27 April 2003. Internal rivalries within the ruling PJ, most notably between Duhalde (who supported the candidacy of the Santa Cruz Governor, Néstor Carlos Kirchner) and former President Carlos Menem, resulted in a bitter argument regarding the election of a Peronist candidate. Eventually, in late January 2003, the PJ congress voted to allow all three Peronist aspirants (namely Menem, Kirchner and Adolfo Rodríguez Saá) to contest the presidential election, despite a court order (obtained by Menem) ordering that a primary election be held. Menem had been the subject of a number of scandals in 2001 and 2002. In June 2001 he was placed under house arrest on charges of arms-trafficking; however, the charges against him were dismissed in November. He also refuted allegations that, while President, he had accepted a payment of US $10m. to suppress evidence of Iranian involvement in a bomb attack on a Jewish social centre in Buenos Aires in 1994 that had killed 86 people. Menem declared that the money was compensation that he had been awarded for his imprisonment during the military dictatorship and accused the Duhalde Peronist faction of attempting to sabotage his bid for a third presidential term.

At the presidential election on 27 April 2003 Menem obtained the largest share of the popular vote, with 24% of the votes cast, followed by Kirchner (representing the Frente para la Victoria—FPV—faction of the PJ), with 22% of the ballot. Ricardo López Murphy of the centre-right Movimiento Federal para Recrear el Crecimiento alliance came third with 16% of the ballot. The third Peronist candidate, former President Adolfo Rodríguez Saá, representing the Frente Movimiento Popular/Partido Unión y Libertad alliance, was narrowly defeated by Elisa M. A. Carrió of the Alternativa por una República de Iguales (ARI—later renamed the Afirmación para una República Igualitaria), who won 14% of the votes cast. As no candidate had secured the majority of votes required by the Constitution, a run-off ballot between the two leading candidates was scheduled for 18 May. However, faced with the very likely possibility of a decisive protest vote against him, on 14 May Menem withdrew his candidacy from the election. Kirchner was thus elected by default. He was sworn in as President on 25 May.

Upon taking office, the new President faced the problem of strengthening his relatively weak popular mandate, in order to fulfil his electoral pledges to address Argentina’s severe social and economic problems. In his inauguration speech, Kirchner pledged to put the needs of the Argentine people before the demands of the IMF. He immediately announced a series of popular measures, which included the replacement of several high-ranking military and police commanders, the opening of an investigation into allegedly corrupt practices by several Supreme Court Justices (which prompted the resignation of the President of the Supreme Court in June) and increases in pensions and minimum wages. He also announced a programme of investment in infrastructure, particularly housing, intended to lower the high unemployment rate. Kirchner’s new Cabinet included five ministers with previous government experience; most notably, Roberto Lavagna, the Minister of the Economy in the previous administration, retained his post. Lavagna had been widely credited with averting hyperinflation and a possible collapse in the financial system in 2002.

President Kirchner’s increasing popularity in 2003 successfully translated into significant gains for the PJ in the legislative elections that were held during the latter half of the year, which resulted in a working majority for the PJ and its allies in both the Cámara de Diputados and the Senado (of 127 and 41 seats, respectively). Gubernatorial elections, also held during the second half of the year, further consolidated Kirchner’s position; by December the PJ controlled 16 of the country’s 24 provinces (including the Federal District of Buenos Aires). Moreover, the corruption inquiry within the Supreme Court resulted in the removal of four Justices, including the Court’s President, Julio Nazareno, all of whom were considered to be hostile to the new President. However, a fifth Justice and ally of Kirchner, Antonio Boggiano, was charged with misconduct in October 2004 (he was dismissed from the Supreme Court in late September 2005). This impeachment process prompted the Kirchner Government to consider a radical reform of the Supreme Court with a view to reducing its size and remit.

Notwithstanding President Kirchner’s pledges to improve social provisions, from 2003 frequent demonstrations against high levels of crime and unemployment continued to cause disruption across the country. Loosely organized groups of protesters, known as piqueteros , became increasingly radical during this period, erecting roadblocks and occupying both private and public institutions to demand jobs, redistribution of money and an end to a perceived culture of impunity. In April 2004 the federal Government announced a three-year anti-crime initiative; however, the plan failed to quell popular protests throughout the year.

In October 2004 the judges investigating the 1994 bomb attack in Buenos Aires issued a final report acquitting all Argentine suspects, owing to lack of evidence. However, the report severely criticized failures and procedural irregularities by the Menem administration, the judiciary, the intelligence services and federal judge Juan José Galeano, who had led the original investigation. Criminal investigations were subsequently initiated against Galeano, Carlos Corach (Minister of the Interior under Menem) and Hugo Anzorreguy (the former head of the Argentine intelligence service). In February 2005 Galeano was suspended from his post for six months by the Supreme Council of Magistrates (by 16 votes to one). Furthermore, in the same month the special unit of the Attorney-General’s office investigating the bomb attack accused Menem of obstructing inquiries into the possible role of Argentine nationals. In July President Kirchner formally accepted that successive Governments had failed adequately to investigate the bombing and, on occasion, had sought to withhold relevant information; it was widely understood that this announcement would enable victims of the atrocity to receive state compensation. In August Galeano was dismissed from his post after the Supreme Court upheld two of 13 misconduct charges against him. In December 2004 Menem returned to Argentina from self-imposed exile in Chile after charges of financial impropriety against him were dropped. On his return he announced his intention to stand for re-election to the presidency.

At mid-term elections to the Congreso, held in October 2005, President Kirchner’s FPV faction of the PJ secured a resounding victory over the faction of the party led by former President Eduardo Duhalde, Peronismo Federal. Following the ballot, the FPV bloc controlled 118 of the 257 seats in the Cámara de Diputados, compared with 31 held by Duhalde’s faction, while the PJ bloc as a whole had 33 of the 72 senatorial seats. The UCR controlled 36 seats in the lower house and 11 in the Senado. The two PJ factions were bitterly divided throughout the electoral campaign, a division most evident in the hostile campaigning of Duhalde’s wife, Hilda Beatriz González, and Kirchner’s wife, Cristina E. Fernández de Kirchner, who were both elected as Senators for the Buenos Aires metropolitan area. President Kirchner declared the legislative election results to be a clear endorsement by the electorate of his Government, and in the following month he effected a major cabinet reshuffle, in which the ministers for the economy, foreign affairs and defence were replaced by ministers believed to be more closely aligned with his policies for regional integration and negotiations with the IMF.

In early July 2007 it was announced that Cristina Fernández de Kirchner would stand as the FPV candidate instead of her husband in the presidential election that was scheduled to be held on 28 October. The launch of Senator Fernández’s campaign later in July was overshadowed by a number of allegations of corruption affecting the Government, notably the resignation of the Minister of Economy and Production, Felisa Miceli, following judicial investigations into the discovery of a large quantity of cash in her office. (Miceli was replaced by Miguel Peirano.) In the following month airport customs officers discovered nearly US $800,000 in cash in the suitcase of Guido Antonini Wilson, a Venezuelan businessman who was travelling from Venezuela to Argentina on an aircraft chartered by the state-owned company Energía Argentina, SA (ENARSA). Opposition parties accused the Government of illegally importing the money in order to fund Fernández’s election campaign and demanded the resignation of the Minister of Federal Planning, Public Investment and Services, Julio De Vido.

In spite of these set-backs, Fernández won a decisive victory in the presidential election held on 28 October 2007, securing 44.9% of the votes cast, according to preliminary results, thereby avoiding the need for a run-off ballot. No candidate succeeded in unifying the opposition: Elisa Carrió of the ARI, representing the Coalición Cívica, obtained 23.0% of the vote, while Roberto Lavagna (who had resigned as Minister of Economy and Production in November 2005), leading the Concertación para Una Nación Avanzada (UNA)—a coalition consisting primarily of members of the UCR and of anti-Kirchner Peronists—received 16.9% of votes cast; Alberto Rodríguez Saá (brother of Adolfo Rodríguez Saá), also representing an anti-Kirchner faction of the PJ, received 7.7% of the ballot. The participation rate was put at approximately 74.1%. Following the concurrent partial elections to the Congreso the FPV legislative bloc emerged with 120 seats in the Cámara de Diputados and 42 seats in the Senado, thereby gaining an overall majority in the upper chamber, while the UCR’s representation was reduced to 24 and eight seats, respectively. President Fernández was sworn in on 10 December. Her Cabinet retained seven members of the outgoing administration; one notable absence was that of the recently appointed Peirano, who was replaced as Minister of Economy and Production by Martín Lousteau, hitherto head of the state-owned Banco de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. (Lousteau, however, resigned in April 2008 and was replaced by Carlos Rafael Fernández.)

Despite public expressions of regret (in 1995 and 2004) by the heads of the navy, the army and the air force for crimes committed by the armed forces during 1976–83, issues concerning the ‘dirty war’ remained politically sensitive in the early 21st century. In January 1998 Alfredo Astiz, a notorious former naval captain, was deprived of his rank and pension after he defended the elimination of political opponents during the dictatorship. In the following month the Swiss authorities revealed that they had discovered a number of Swiss bank accounts belonging to former Argentine military officials, including Astiz and Antonio Domingo Bussi, then Governor of Tucumán. It was rumoured that the accounts contained funds stolen by the military regime from Argentines who had been detained or ‘disappeared’. In July 2001 Astiz was arrested at the request of an Italian court on the grounds of his involvement in the murder of three Italian citizens during the ‘dirty war’. He was released the following month. Astiz also remained the subject of extradition requests by the French and Swedish Governments. (In 1990 Astiz had been convicted in France, in absentia , and sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and in 2007 Astiz was convicted of the same crime, again in absentia , in an Italian court.) In April 2000 a mass grave was discovered in Lomas de Zamora, containing the remains of about 90 victims of the ‘dirty war’. In July 2001 Videla was arrested, pending an inquiry into his role in ‘Plan Condor’, an alleged scheme among right-wing dictators in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Bolivia to eradicate leftist political opponents living in exile during the 1970s. In September he was ordered to stand trial for the abduction of 72 foreigners who were taken as part of ‘Plan Condor’. In July 2002 the former dictator Gen. Galtieri was arrested, along with at least 30 others, on charges relating to the kidnapping and murder of opponents during the ‘dirty war’. Specifically, the charges concerned the torture and murder of 20 members of the left-wing Montoneros guerrilla group in 1980. In September 2002 he was imprisoned, along with 24 other former military officers, pending trial. (Galtieri remained under house arrest until his death in January 2003.) In March 2003 the Congreso approved legislation repealing the Punto Final and Obediencia Debida laws (adopted in 1986 and 1987, respectively); however, the new legislation was not retrospective and would not affect those who had already received an amnesty. In June Gen. Videla was arrested in connection with the abduction and illegal adoption of children whose parents had been ‘disappeared’ during the dictatorship and placed under house arrest. As many as 300 infants born in special holding centres during the ‘dirty war’ were believed to have been abducted by the military and police. In late 2003 further arrests were made in connection with the alleged kidnappings, including that of former President Reynaldo Bignone, former army chief Lt-Gen. Cristino Nicolaides, former navy chief Vice-Adm. Rubén Oscar Franco and Alfredo Astiz. In March 2004 two former police officials were convicted of facilitating the illegal adoption of one such infant in a case that was seen to set a precedent for further possible prosecutions. In October the Supreme Court ruled that the state should pay compensation to Susana Yofre de Vaca Nervaja, who fled Argentina after her husband and son were killed by military personnel during the ‘dirty war’, as exile of this nature was equivalent to illegal detention. This ruling was widely expected to set a precedent for claims for compensation to be brought by others, thought to number between 10,000 and 50,000, who also fled Argentina during the years of military rule.

In 1996 a criminal investigation was begun in Spain regarding the torture, disappearance and killing of several hundred Spanish citizens in Argentina during 1976–83. A parallel investigation was initiated into the abduction of 54 children of Spanish victims during this period. In October 1997 Adolfo Scilingo, a former Argentine military official, was arrested in Madrid after admitting to his involvement in the ‘dirty war’. However, he later retracted his confession, claiming it was given under duress, and contested the jurisdiction of the Spanish courts in this affair. His appeal was rejected in November 2004 and in April 2005 Scilingo was convicted of crimes against humanity, including the torture and murder of 30 prisoners; he was sentenced to 640 years’ imprisonment. The Argentine Government expressed its approval of the verdict. During 1997 a Spanish High Court judge issued international arrest warrants for several other Argentine officers, including Adm. Massera and Gen. Galtieri. Following further investigations, in November 1999 international arrest warrants on charges of genocide, terrorism and torture were issued for 98 of those accused. In December the Spanish magistrate Baltasar Garzón issued international arrest warrants for 49 people, including former military presidents Videla and Galtieri, effectively confining them to Argentine territory. However, in January 2000 a federal judge refused to extradite them.

In July 2003 President Kirchner revoked a decree, issued by President de la Rúa in 2001, which had prevented the extradition of Argentine citizens suspected of human rights violations. Courts in Spain, France, Germany and Sweden have all since sought the extradition of former Argentine military personnel for crimes—including murder—committed against their citizens. In the following month the Senado approved legislation that would allow the annulment of the Punto Final and Obediencia Debida laws, and ratified a UN Convention that ostensibly removed all constitutional limitations on human rights prosecutions. In August 2004 the Supreme Court ruled, in reference to the assassination in Buenos Aires in 1974 of Carlos Prats (the former head of the Chilean army) and his wife, that crimes against humanity have no statutory limitations. In June 2005 the Supreme Court voted, by seven votes to one, to annul the Punto Final and Obediencia Debida laws. In September 2006 Miguel Etchecolatz, a former senior police officer, was sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted on charges of murder, torture and kidnapping during the ‘dirty war’. However, the day before he was sentenced an important witness in the case, Jorge Julio López, went missing. Many people, including the Governor of the Province of Buenos Aires, Felipe Solá, expressed fears that López’s disappearance was linked to his testimony, and was intended to deter others from giving evidence in future cases.

In August 1991 Argentina and Chile reached a settlement regarding claims to territory in the Antarctic region; however, the sovereignty of the territory remained under dispute, necessitating the signing of an additional protocol in late 1996. In December 1998 the Presidents of the two countries signed a new agreement on the border demarcation of the contested ‘continental glaciers’ territory in the Antarctic region (despite the 1991 treaty); the accord became effective in June 1999 following ratification by the Argentine and Chilean legislatures. In February 1999, during a meeting held in Ushuaia, southern Argentina, President Menem and the Chilean President, Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, signed a significant defence agreement and issued a joint declaration on both countries’ commitment to the consolidation of their friendship. Relations between the two countries were strained in mid-2004, however, following President Kirchner’s decision to reduce exports of gas to Chile by some 25% in order to meet a critical shortfall in stocks for domestic consumption. The Chilean Government claimed that this violated an agreement signed in 1995. Following the election of Michelle Bachelet Jeria to the Chilean presidency in January 2006, a bilateral group was established to resolve more effectively any future disagreements over energy matters. Nevertheless, in July the Government of Chile reacted angrily to Argentina’s decision to introduce a surcharge on motor fuel sold to vehicles with foreign licence plates. The Argentine Government claimed the move was an attempt to deter foreign car owners from taking advantage of lower petrol prices there. In spite of this, in December the two countries announced the formation of a joint military force, the ‘Cruz del Sur’, which would participate in UN peace-keeping operations.

Full diplomatic relations were restored with the United Kingdom in February 1990, following senior-level negotiations in Madrid, Spain. The improvement in relations between Argentina and the United Kingdom prompted the European Community (now European Union, EU) to sign a new five-year trade and co-operation agreement with Argentina in April. In November Argentina and the United Kingdom concluded an agreement for the joint administration of a comprehensive protection programme for the lucrative South Atlantic fishing region. Subsequent agreements to regulate fishing in the area were made in 1992 and 1993. The question of sovereignty over the disputed islands was not resolved. The results of preliminary seismic investigations (published in late 1993), which indicated rich petroleum deposits in the region, were expected further to complicate future negotiations. Although a comprehensive agreement on exploration was signed by both countries in September 1995, negotiations on fishing rights in the region remained tense. In 1996 the Argentine Government suggested, for the first time, that it might consider shared sovereignty of the Falkland Islands with the United Kingdom. The proposal was firmly rejected by the British Government and by the Falkland Islanders, who reiterated their commitment to persuading the UN Special Political and Decolonization Committee to adopt a clause allowing the Islanders the right to self-determination. Relations between Argentina and the United Kingdom improved in January 1997 when the two countries agreed to resume negotiations on a long-term fisheries accord. Moreover, in October 1998 President Menem made an official visit to the United Kingdom, during which he held talks with the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, on issues including the arms embargo, defence, trade and investment. Notably, Menem paid tribute to the British servicemen who died during the 1982 conflict, while he also appealed for an ‘imaginative’ solution to the Falkland Islands sovereignty issue. Earlier in 1998 relations with the United Kingdom had been strained by the presentation of draft legislation to the Congreso on the imposition of sanctions on petroleum companies and fishing vessels operating in Falkland Island waters without Argentine authorization. In late 1998 the United Kingdom partially lifted its arms embargo against Argentina. In July 1999 an agreement was reached providing for an end to the ban on Argentine citizens visiting the Falkland Islands and for the restoration of air links between the islands and South America, with stop-overs in Argentina to be introduced from October. In September Argentine and British government officials reached an understanding on co-operation against illegal fishing in the South Atlantic, and naval forces from both countries held joint exercises in the region in November. In August 2001 Tony Blair became the first British Prime Minister to make an official visit to Argentina; however, the issue of the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands was not discussed. In May 2005 the inclusion of the Falkland Islands as an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom in the draft EU constitution provoked vociferous complaints from the Kirchner Government.

Argentina was a founder member of the Southern Common Market, Mercosur (Mercado Común del Sur), which came into effect on 1 January 1995. Mercosur, comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, removed customs barriers on 80%–85% of mutually exchanged goods, and was intended to lead to the eventual introduction of a common external tariff. The effects of economic recession and the devaluation of the Brazilian currency in January 1999 provoked a series of trade disputes within Mercosur during that year, particularly between Argentina and Brazil, the two largest members. However, a document, known as the ‘Buenos Aires Consensus’, signed in 2003 by President Kirchner and his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio (Lula) da Silva, agreed to study the creation of common institutions for resolving trade disputes, in addition to the eventual establishment of a Mercosur legislature.

From 2005 relations between Argentina and Uruguay were strained owing to the latter’s decision to allow the construction of two pulp mills on the Uruguayan side of the River Uruguay by Botnia of Finland and Ence of Spain. The Argentine Government opposed the project on environmental grounds, although a World Bank study released in April 2006 concluded that the mills posed no threat to the environment. Argentina, however, demanded an independent assessment (the mills were partly financed by the World Bank) and ecological groups from Argentina erected roadblocks across bridges spanning the river. Following the failure of bilateral negotiations in April, Argentina filed a complaint with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands, claiming that the mills violated the Statute of the River Uruguay signed by both countries in 1975.An initial finding by the ICJ in July dismissed Argentina’s demand that the construction be halted, ruling that it would not cause irreversible damage to the environment. In September, however, the ongoing dispute prompted Ence to cancel its plans for a mill at the location in question, although construction of the Botnia plant continued. Also in September, a three-member arbitration panel appointed by Mercosur ruled that Argentina had failed to adhere to the trade agreement’s free trade clauses by not preventing the ongoing roadblocks, although it also ruled that it had not done so intentionally. A final ruling by the World Bank, concurring with Uruguayan claims that the project met all international environmental standards, was dismissed by Argentina in October, and prompted further roadblocks across the bridges. At the end of November Uruguay asked the ICJ to intervene in the dispute by compelling Argentina to end the blockade of the bridges; however, the ICJ rejected the request in January 2007. In April, as a result of mediation by King Juan Carlos of Spain, representatives from both countries signed an agreement declaring their willingness to reach a resolution to the dispute. The inauguration by President Tabaré Vázquez of Uruguay of the Botnia mill in September provoked large-scale demonstrations by Argentine protesters; later in the month it was reported that the two sides had reached an agreement whereby the mill would delay starting production until after the presidential election in Argentina. In mid-November Vázquez authorized the plant to begin operations, and subsequently ordered the temporary closure of the border between the two countries in anticipation of violent protests.

Citation: Recent History (Argentina), in Europa World online. London, Routledge. Retrieved 09 January 2009 from http://www.europaworld.com/pub/entry/ar.is.4