Infamous Decade

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The Infamous Decade (in Spanish, Década Infame) in Argentina is the name given to the period of time that started in 1930 with the coup d'état against President Hipólito Yrigoyen by José Félix Uriburu.

This period was characterised by electoral fraud, persecution of the political opposition (mainly against the UCR) and generalised government corruption, against the background of the Great Depression. The impact of the economic crisis forced many farmers and other countryside workers to relocate to the outskirts of the larger cities, resulting in the creation of the first villas miseria (shanty towns).

It was also during the Infamous Decade that Argentina signed the Roca-Runciman Treaty with the United Kingdom, which assured the UK a provision of fresh meat in exchange of important investments in the field of transportation in Argentina, given certain economical concessions from Argentina, such as the control over the public transport in Buenos Aires to a British company. On the other hand, the trade isolationism of the world powers ultimately prompted the beginning of Argentine industrial development via import substitution. Economic policy became dirigiste (conservative but interventionist).

The Central Bank (BCRA) was created during this period. Writer and thinker Raúl Scalabrini Ortiz was a strong critic of British involvement in Argentina, whose prime example was the BCRA itself.

The poor economical results and the popular discontent led to another coup in 1943, by Arturo Rawson against acting president Ramón Castillo, putting an end to the Infamous Decade, yet conserving the oligarchy that governed the country.

[edit] Other uses

The 10-year-long presidency of Carlos Menem (two consecutive periods, 1989–1999) has been referred to as the "second" (or "new") Infamous Decade by strong critics of its neoliberalist policies and its perceived corruption, especially from the left wing. The period 1999–2001 under Fernando de la Rúa is sometimes included, as a continuation of those policies. ^[1]

[edit] References

• Década Infame at Todo-Argentina (Spanish)
• Portal Planeta's article (Spanish)
• ^  For the expression Década Infame applied to Menem's administration, see for example Clarín, Página/12, La Capital.