Dante Caputo
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Dante María Caputo (b. Buenos Aires, 25 November 1943) is an Argentine academic, diplomat and politician, who served as foreign minister to President Raúl Alfonsín.
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[edit] Academic activity
Caputo graduated in political science at the University del Salvador in Buenos Aires in 1966. In 1972 he gained a doctorate in Sociology in the University of Paris. Between 1968 and 1972, he had various posts at the Organization of American States. In 1973 he was appointed as an investigator at the Di Tella Institute and for six years he headed the centre of investigations on state and administration.
Caputo taught at the universities of Buenos Aires, del Salvador, Paris, Quilmes and La Plata
[edit] Minister of Foreign Affairs of Argentina (1983-1989)
During the government of Raúl Alfonsín (1983-1989) Caputo served as Minister of Foreign Affairs (canciller) of Argentina and was the only minister to serve throughout the President's term in office.
In this position:
- He signed the 1984 Peace and Friendship Treaty with Chile which ended the Beagle Channel conflict, in the course of which Caputo took part in a famous television debate with Peronist Senator Vicente Saadi [1].
- He was one of the promoters of the Grupo de Apoyo a Contadora, which later took the name of Rio Group, for joint and multilateral action by Latin American countries in order to preserve peace and democracy in the region.
- He was one of the leaders of the Cartagena Group with the object of taking joint action by indebted countries towards the creditors of the foreign debt.
- During his period in office, accords were agreed with Uruguay and Brasil which formed the basis of Mercosur.
- In 1988 he presided over the 43rd General Assembly of the United Nations.
[edit] Political actividad and public service
Durin the Falklands War in 1982 Caputo was the principal advisor to Raúl Alfonsín in order that he did not back the military conflict.
At the end of his term as foreign minister, Caputo was elected as a national deputy in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies and he served as vice-president of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
In 1992 Caputo represented the OAS and the United Nations in Haiti as a special envoy. In 1993 he was appointed the UN Secretary General's representative to Haiti, as a sub-secreatary of the UN, and negotiated an agreement to allow democratic transition on the island.
Having been a member of the Radical Civic Union (UCR), Caputo had joined the centre-left party New Space (Nuevo Espacio) in 1995. He served as vice-president of the FrePaSo coalition from 1996 on behalf of New Space. In 1997, he was once again elected a deputy. He left New Space after personal differences with Carlos Raimundi and in 1998 joined the Popular Socialist Party, remaining as vice-president of FrePaSo until 2000 [2]. In 1999, he attempted to be the FrePaSo candidate to be Mayor of Buenos Aires, but lost to Aníbal Ibarra who went on to win.
In 2000, Caputo joined the government of Fernando de la Rúa who had won the Presidency at the head of the UCR-FrePaSo Alliance in 1999. Caputo became secretary of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation, resigning in February 2001.
Between June 2001 and September 2004, he directed the Regional Project on democratic development in Latin America of the United Nations Development Programme.
He is a member of the Council of the Permanent Assembly for Human Rights of Argentina and is sub-secretary of the Organization of American States.
[edit] Publications
- El rol del sector público en el cambio de la sociedad argentina entre 1930 y 1958. Doctoral thesis. Sorbonne. París. 1972
- El proceso de industrialización argentino entre 1900 y 1930. Institute of Latin American Studies. París 1970
- El poder militar en Argentina (1976-1981). In collaboration. Verlag Klaus Dieter Vervuert. Frankfurt. 1982
- Así nacen las democracias. In collaboration. Emecé. Buenos Aires, 1984
- Democratic culture and governance. Unesco-Hispamérica. 1992
- América Latina y las democracias pobres. Ediciones del Quinto Centenario. Madrid 1992.
- Frepaso, alternancia o alternativa, with Julio Godio. Editor. Buenos Aires. 1996.
- Argentina en el comienzo del tercer milenio. In collaboration. Editorial Atlántida. Buenos Aires
- La democracia en America Latina, 2004, PNUD, (Editor)
- Contribuciones al debate de la democracia en América Latina, 2005, PNUD, Santillana.
[edit] References
- ^ Veinte años del primer gran debate transmitido por la televisión argentina: Dante Caputo y Vicente Saadi
- ^ Ex-canciller Caputo joins socialism, Clarín, 1998-02-13
[edit] External links
- Los debates prohibidos de América Latina, by D. Caputo, at Project Syndicate.
- Dante Caputo: Official biography by OAS
| Preceded by: Peter Florin |
President of the United Nations General Assembly 1988–1989 |
Succeeded by: Joseph Nanven Garba |
