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Argentina

• About four times the size of Texas

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Health & Education

• Physician available ratio:– 1/376 people

• Literacy– Rate: 97.1%

Economy

• Unemployment rate: 16.3%; substantial underemployment

• Per capita income: $11,200

• Exports: $29.5 billion• Primary partners

– Brazil, European Union, United States

• Imports: $13.2 billion• Primary partners

– European Union, United States, Brazil

Civilization and Barbarism

• 19th Century:– Urban vs. Rural– Federal vs. Unitarian

• Contemporary view– A City and a Nation

• Argentina: 88% urban• City:

– Culture, cosmopolitan, modern, dynamic

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Rural

• Striking contrast to the urban setting– Living standards– The pace of life– And expectations

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• Land extremely rich• Produces a large share of the world’s

grain and cattle

Economy

• Late 19th Century – Land of Promise– Ended with the Great Depression

Economy

• 1990’s• Neoliberalism

– Brief progress– Inefficient and costly state enterprises were

privatized (except the petroleum industry)– One dollar = one peso Argentina

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Dependency

• The collapse of the Mexican peso• Economic crises

– Russia and Asia

Early 2002

• Crisis• A foreign debt of $142 billion• Declining export revenues• High unemployment• IMF refusal to help

Politics

• Authoritarian Governments• The Military

– Since 1930• Seized power 6 times

– Encouraged by civilian leaders• Carapintadas

Politics

• Five changes between December 2001 and March 2002

María Elena de Perón

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The Dirty War

• Assassination of President Pedro Aram Buru by the monomers (a left wing guerrilla group)

• Military responded– Combat subversive uprising– Call 1973 elections

March 1976

• Verge of – economic collapse– Guerrilla warfare spreading

• Military take over (again)

The Dirty War

• 1976-1982• 10,000 – 30,000 disappeared• Torture, denial of basic human rights• Censorship• Death squads• Fear

Labor movement

• The most effective in the continent– Labeled as leftist and subversive– Destroyed by the military

Opposition to the military

• Las Malvinas (Falkland Islands)• To unite the country

– Nationalist sentiment– Read 63

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Latinomericanization

• U.S. and Europe supported Great Britain• Argentine

– Recognizes its Latin American context

Alfonsín

• Attempt to put the military leaders on trial• Military claim special status

– Non civilians

Carlos Menem Carlos Menem

• 1990 Pardon of former military junta members

• 1992: – Commission to deal with the problem of the

children of the disappeared– The Grandmothers of Mayo– Cross-generational genetic analysis

• Eduardo Massera– Arrested on charges of kidnapping

• Retired military admits to his part in pushing drugged prisoners out of planes over the South Atlantic Ocean

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Menem

• Charges of corruption• 21 ministers appointed to 9 positions in his

first 18 months• Adopted neoliberalist model

The cost of neoliberalism

• 1991: Brief economic spur• Thousands of public sector workers lost

their jobs• A third of the population lived below

poverty level.

Menem

• Changes the constitution to remain in power

• Re-elected in 1995• Wanted to stay even further

1999: Radical Party

• Fernando de la Rua• Recession• Rising employment• Foreign debt:

– 50% GDP

Economic Turmoil:2002

• De la Rua loses power• So do, three other presidents• Economy in shambles

– Provinces began to issue their own currency– Barter– Massive migration – Crime rates rose

Néstor Kirchner

• May 2003• Impeach Supreme Court• IMF• 2005: Announces a debt settlement:

– 30 cents per dollar

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Néstor Kirchner

• Has withstood IMF’s demands• Has moved away from Washington’s free

trade agenda• New partners:

– Chávez– Mercosur

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