Eduardo Duhalde
| Eduardo Duhalde | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 50th President of Argentina | |
| In office January 2, 2002 – May 25, 2003 | |
| Vice President | None |
| Preceded by | Adolfo Rodríguez Saá |
| Succeeded by | Néstor Kirchner |
| 30th Vice-President of Argentina | |
| In office July 8, 1989 – December 10, 1991 | |
| President | Carlos Menem |
| Preceded by | Víctor Hipolito Martínez |
| Succeeded by | Carlos Ruckauf |
| Governor of Buenos Aires Province | |
| In office December 10, 1991 – December 10, 1999 | |
| Preceded by | Antonio Cafiero |
| Succeeded by | Carlos Ruckauf |
| Personal details | |
| Born | October 5, 1941 Lomas de Zamora, Greater Buenos Aires |
| Nationality | Argentine |
| Political party | Justicialist |
| Spouse(s) | Hilda de Duhalde |
| Profession | Lawyer |
Eduardo Alberto Duhalde (Spanish pronunciation: [eˈðwardo alˈβerto ˈðwalde]; born October 5, 1941) is an Argentine politician, lawyer and professor of public law, who also was President of Argentina from 2002 to 2003.
Biography
Duhalde was born in Lomas de Zamora, in the Greater Buenos Aires. He graduated as a lawyer in 1970. He became intendent of Lomas de Zamora in August 1974, but left government three years later during the National Reorganization Process military coup. Democratic rule was restored in 1983, and Duhalde was elected intendent once more. Duhalde told in 2010 at the Noticias magazine that a coronel sought his support for a possible coup against the newly elected president Raúl Alfonsín, which Duhalde would have denied and reported directly to Alfonsín himself.
Vice presidency and governor
In 1987 he became a member of the Argentine National Congress and became vice-president under Carlos Menem from 1989 to his resignation in 1991. In 1991 he won the first of two terms as governor of Buenos Aires.
1999 elections
He ran for president in 1999, after a failed attempt by Carlos Menem to run for a third term, but he was defeated by Fernando de la Rúa. Duhalde came in second place with 37% of the vote. De la Rúa's government would face an economic crisis and the 2001 riots, resigning two years later. De la Rúa considered that Duhalde organized a coup d'état against him[1] Rodolfo Terragno, De la Rúa's Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers, thought instead that the crisis was the exclusive result of keeping the peso-dollar parity despite of the costs generated by it.[2]
Presidency
After de la Rúa's resignation, due to the economic crisis and the December 2001 riots, Duhalde was appointed President of Argentina by the Legislative Assembly on January 2, 2002.
Initially to serve for a few months, until the chaotic situation of the country could be controlled, Duhalde stayed in office during more than one year. During this time, he confirmed the default of most of the Argentine public debt, and ended peg of the Argentine peso to the U.S. dollar. The latter measure triggered inflation, but at the same time helped pave the way to the substitution of imports (which could hardly be afforded with a more expensive dollar), and hence the renewed growth of national industry. The reduction of national industry effected during the 1990s (consequence of the affordability of imports made possible by the artificially low foreign currency exchange), combined with the austere economic policies put into place in the late 1990s and early 2000s in order to service the foreign debt and satisfy foreign creditors, had resulted by 2003 in a poverty rate of slightly over 50%. However, massive discontent followed the "forced pesification" of the dollar deposits at an exchange rate of 1.40 pesos, after Duhalde had said that people who had deposited dollars would receive dollars, in what is now a famous reference in Argentine political culture. Duhalde managed to stabilize the turmoil and, under some political pressure, called for elections six months ahead of schedule.
Carlos Menem, former president, wanted to run for the presidency in the 2003 election, and Duhalde wanted to prevent him from being president again. For this purpose, he sought other candidates that may defeat Menem. Some of these potential candidates were Carlos Reutemann, José Manuel de la Sota, Mauricio Macri, Adolfo Rodríguez Saá, Felipe Solá and Roberto Lavagna, but none of those negotiations bore fruit. Finally, he chose Néstor Kirchner, governor of Santa Cruz Province, who was mostly unknown by the public. To harm Menem chances even further, the 2003 election used a variant of the Ley de Lemas for a single time. This way, Menem and Kirchner (and Rodríguez Saá, uninvolved with them) did not run for primary elections, but faced each other directly in the open election. None of the three candidates ran for the Justicialist Party, but for special parties created for the occasion. Menem defeated Kirchner in the elections, benefited by the lack of popular candidates, but gave up running for a ballotage, fearing that he may lose this special election.[3]
After the presidency
Duhalde was succeeded by Néstor Kirchner on May 25, 2003. After a while, however, Kirchner became increasingly distanced from Duhalde. Duhalde's wife, Hilda Chiche Duhalde, ran a heated campaign for the National Senate representing Buenos Aires, against Kirchner's wife, Cristina Kirchner, for the October 23, 2005 legislative elections.
Duhalde announced on December 23, 2009, his intention to run again for the Presidency.[4] For this end, he organized Federal Peronism, with members of the Justicialist party opposing Néstor Kirchner. Although the president was Cristina Fernández de Kirchner at that point, Néstor Kirchner remained a highly influential figure in Argentine politics; Kirchner died in October 2010.
Duhalde confirmed his strength among centrist and conservative Peronists as the 2011 campaign unfolded by narrowly defeating Rodríguez Saá in a Buenos Aires Federal Peronist primary in May, though both men remained front-runners for their party's nomination in August.[5] He adopted the Unión Popular ticket, a historic neo-Peronist movement which never ran as such in a presidential race, and formally announced his candidacy for the presidency on June 9, choosing Chubut Governor Mario Das Neves as his running mate.[6] [7]
Bibliography
- Mendelevich, Pablo (2010). El Final. Buenos Aires: Ediciones B. ISBN 978-987-627-166-0.
- Fraga, Rosendo (2010). Fin de ciclo: ascenso, apogeo y declinación del poder kirchnerista (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Ediciones B. ISBN 978-987-627-167-7.
References
- ↑ "Duhalde constantly said that we should change the president; something he did with me and repeated with Adolfo Rodríguez Saá, victim of the second civil coup." (De la Rúa) - Mendelevich, p. 255
- ↑ "It is easier to believe that Duhalde plotted against De la Rúa, something false, than understanding that De la Rúa dug his own grave by keeping that economic policy" (Terragno) - Mendelevich, p. 254
- ↑ Fraga, p. 19-21
- ↑ "Duhalde confirmó que será candidato a presidente en 2011". Clarín. 2009-12-23. Retrieved February 26, 2011.
- ↑ "Duhalde beats Rodríguez Saá in dissident PJ primaries by narrow margin". Buenos Aires Herald.
- ↑ "Eduardo Duhalde officially launches presidential campaign". Buenos Aires Herald.
- ↑ "Duhalde ahora será candidato por Unión Popular". ADN Mundo.
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eduardo Duhalde. |
- (Spanish) Official Website. Presented in Spanish
- (Spanish) Extended bio by CIDOB
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Víctor Martínez |
Vice President of Argentina 1989–1991 |
Succeeded by Carlos Ruckauf |
| Preceded by Antonio Cafiero |
Governor of Buenos Aires Province 1991–1999 |
Succeeded by Carlos Ruckauf |
| Preceded by Adolfo Rodríguez Saá |
President of Argentina 2002–2003 |
Succeeded by Néstor Kirchner |
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