Amado Boudou

Amado Boudou
Vice President of Argentina
Incumbent
Assumed office
10 December 2011
President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Preceded by Julio Cobos
Minister of the Economy
In office
8 July 2009 – 10 December 2011
President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Preceded by Carlos Rafael Fernández
Succeeded by Hernán Lorenzino
Personal details
Born 19 November 1963 (1963-11-19) (age 48)
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Political party Front for Victory
Justicialist Party
Spouse(s) Agustina Kämpfer
Alma mater National University of Mar del Plata
Center for Macroeconomic Studies of Argentina

Amado Boudou (born November 19, 1963) is an Argentine businessman and government policy maker who currently serves as the 35th Vice President of Argentina. He was also Minister of the Economy from 2009 to 2011.

On December 27, 2011, it was announced that Boudou would perform presidential duties until 24 January, 2012, while incumbent President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner undergoes surgery for thyroid cancer.[1]

Contents

Life and times

Early life and career

Amado Boudou was born in Buenos Aires, in 1963. He was raised in the ocean-front city of Mar del Plata and enrolled in the National University of Mar del Plata, where he received a degree in Economics, in 1986; described by acquaintances as a sociable type and fond of the electric guitar, he helped produce a number of rock concerts in Mar del Plata in his days as a student, including a festival attended by 15,000 spectators.[2][3]

Boudou attended graduate courses in economics and was awarded a masters degree in Economics by a private institution, the Argentine Macroeconomic Studies Center (CEMA), which is well-known locally for its support of neo-liberal and free market policies.[2] Boudou was then brought in as a salesman by Venturino Ehisur S.A. (a local santitation services company). Following his role in securing a number of lucrative hospital contracts for the company, he was named General Manager of their government contracts office, in 1992; the company closed, however, when one of its top municipal clients terminated the contract in 1995.[4] He then co-founded Ecoplata S.A., another santitation services firm, and acted as its project manager; Ecoplata was awarded sanitation contracts by the resort cities of Villa Gesell and Pinamar.[3]

Boudou entered public service in 1998, when he was named to the Comptroller's Office of the National Social Security Administration (ANSES) by Economy Minister Roque Fernández (a fellow CEMA alumnus),[2] and in February 2001, he was named that office's General Manager. The election of Justicialist Party candidate Juan Pablo de Jesús as Mayor of the sea-side La Costa District resulted in Boudou's appointment as Finance Secretary for the popular resort district, which the policy maker accepted.[3]

The Finance Secretary subscribed to the 2005 Federal Housing Plan promulgated by President Néstor Kirchner, a decision which made La Costa eligible for 486 low-income housing units. The contract, awarded to local builder Cantera FC in May 2005 for nearly US$10 million,[4] was followed by Boudou's return to the ANSES, in January 2006.[2] The Cantera FC contract resulted in an administrative debacle, however, when the builder abandoned the works in June 2007, having by then received over US$7 million in payments (for which the Mayor never initiated litigation).[4]

National policy maker

Returned to the ANSES by its Director, Sergio Massa, Boudou was named its Financial Director (a post second only to the director's in importance), and oversaw the voluntary conversion of several million private pension accounts to the ANSES' aegis when this choice was made available in December 2006. He was appointed its Director in October 2008, after Massa's promotion to the powerful post of Presidential Cabinet Chief.[4]

Boudou's appointment coincided with President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner's controversial decision to transfer loss-plagued private pension funds' assets of nearly US$30 billion to the ANSeS, citing the cost of subsidizing 77% of the funds' beneficiaries and the effects of the international crisis on the government's ability to obtain financing.[5]

Following the ruling Front for Victory's defeat in the June 28, 2009, mid-term elections, Economy Minister Carlos Rafael Fernández tendered his resignation to the President, effective July 7, and was replaced by the ANSES Director.[6]

Fallout from the international, 2008 financial crisis later forced the left-wing Argentine government of President Cristina Kirchner to seek domestic financing for growing public spending, as well as for foreign debt service obligations. These policies and ongoing capital flight put further pressure on the Central Bank's ability to finance debt service obligations, and the president ordered a US$6.7 billion account opened at the Central Bank for the latter purpose in December 2009, implying the use of the Central Bank's foreign exchange reserves, and drawing direct opposition from the institution's President, Martín Redrado; Redrado was ultimately forced to resign.[7]

Boudou presented a debt swap package on May 3, 2010, for the holders of over US$18 billion in bonds who did not participate in the 2005 Argentine debt restructuring prepared by former Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna.[8] These holdouts include numerous vulture funds which had eschewed the 2005 offer, and had instead resorted to the courts in a bid for higher returns on their defaulted bonds. These disputes had led to a number of liens against central bank accounts in New York and, indirectly, to reduced Argentine access to international credit markets.[9]

In October 2010 Boudou compared Candelaria de la Sota and Martín Kanenguiser, journalists from Clarín and La Nación, with the people cleaning the gas chambers during the Holocaust.[10] Kanenguiser requested clarification, but Boudou instead defended his statement.[11] His attack was condemned by the FOPEA (an organization of journalists), members of the legislature,[12] and the DAIA.[13] The DAIA accused him of trivializing the holocaust, and Congressman Eduardo Amadeo demanded his resignation;[13] Boudou later stated that this was a badly chosen metaphor.[14]

The Economy Minister announced his bid on December 20 for the office of Mayor of Buenos Aires as a candidate in the Front for Victory primaries ahead of the 2011 race; hoping to solidify his base among the country's influential trade unions, he made the announcement at the headquarters of SMATA (the machinists' and auto workers' union).[15] Ultimately, however, Senator Daniel Filmus was nominated on May 20.[16]

Boudou was nominated as running mate on the Front for Victory ticket of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner for the 2011 elections.[17]

References

  1. ^ "Argentina President Cristina Fernandez has cancer". BBC News. 28 December 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-16342685. Retrieved 28 December 2011. 
  2. ^ a b c d La Nación (Spanish)
  3. ^ a b c Amado Boudou: curriculum vitae (Spanish)
  4. ^ a b c d Perfil (25 October 2008) (Spanish)
  5. ^ Clarín (20 October 2008) (Spanish)
  6. ^ Clarín (7 July 2009) (Spanish)
  7. ^ Clarín (22 January 2010) (Spanish)
  8. ^ Los Andes (3 May 2010) (Spanish)
  9. ^ Clarín (12 January 2010) (Spanish)
  10. ^ Agresión de Boudou a periodistas (Spanish)
  11. ^ La agresión de Boudou a periodistas fue un agravio para toda la sociedad (Spanish)
  12. ^ Críticas a Boudou por la agresión a dos periodistas (Spanish)
  13. ^ a b Unánime rechazo al ministro (Spanish)
  14. ^ "Se trató de una metáfora inadecuada", dijo Boudou tras la agresión a periodistas (Spanish)
  15. ^ El Argentino: Boudou lanza su precandidatura a Jefe de Gobierno (Spanish)
  16. ^ "Filmus-Tomada, la fórmula kirchnerista para la Capital". La Nación. http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1375035-elecciones-en-la-capital-reunion-en-olivos-para-definir-candidatos. 
  17. ^ "Cristina eligió a Boudou como su compañero de fórmula". Clarín. http://www.clarin.com/politica/elecciones/elecciones_2011-candidato_a_vicepresidente-acto_Olivos-companero_formula_Cristina_0_505749697.html. 

External links

Political offices
Preceded by
Carlos Rafael Fernández		 Minister of the Economy
2009–2011		 Succeeded by
Hernán Lorenzino
Preceded by
Julio Cobos		 Vice President of Argentina
2011–present		 Incumbent