Fernando de la Rúa
| Fernando de la Rúa | |
|---|---|
 | |
| President of Argentina | |
|
In office December 10, 1999 – December 21, 2001 | |
| Vice President |
Carlos Álvarez (1999-2000) None (2000-2001) |
| Preceded by | Carlos Menem |
| Succeeded by | Adolfo Rodríguez Saá |
| 1st Head of Government of Buenos Aires | |
|
In office August 6, 1996 – December 10, 1999 | |
| President | Carlos Menem |
| Preceded by | Jorge Domínguez |
| Succeeded by | Enrique Olivera |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
September 15, 1937 Córdoba, Argentina |
| Nationality | Argentine |
| Political party | Radical Civic Union/Alliance |
| Spouse(s) | Inés Pertiné Urien (m. 1970) |
| Children | Antonio, Fernando, Agustina |
| Profession | Lawyer |
| Signature |
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Fernando de la Rúa (born September 15, 1937) is an Argentine politician. He was president of the country from December 10, 1999 to December 21, 2001 for the Alliance for Work, Justice and Education (a political alliance of the Radical Civic Union and Frepaso). He resigned during the December 2001 riots.
Early life
Born to Eleonora Bruno and Antonio De la Rúa in the city of Córdoba, he attended the local Military Lyceum before entering the National University of Córdoba, from which he obtained his law degree at the age of 21. He received a gold medal on his graduation.[1] He married Inés Pertiné, a Buenos Aires socialite, in 1970, and had three children, including Antonio de la Rúa. De la Rúa became involved in politics at a young age, and entered public service in 1963 as an advisor to President Arturo Illia's minister Juan Palmero.[2]
He was elected senator in the March 1973 general elections, defeating the Peronist Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo in a ballotage. He was the only politician from the Radical Civic Union (UCR) who could defeat the Peronist candidate at his administrative division. The elected president Héctor José Cámpora resigned a few months later, as well as his vicepresident, leading to the call to new elections. Ricardo Balbín ran for president in the september general elections, with De la Rúa as candidate to vicepresident under his ticket. The UCR was defeated by Juan Perón by a landslide. De la Rúa was removed from the Congress during the 1976 Argentine coup d'état. He left politics, and worked as a lawyer for the Bunge y Born firm.
The National Reorganization Process ended in 1983. De la Rúa intended to run for president, but lost in the primary elections of the UCR to Raúl Alfonsín, who would be elected in the general elections. De la Rúa ran for senator instead, defeating the Peronist Carlos Ruckauf. He ran for re-election as senator in 1989 but, despite of his electoral victory, the electoral college voted for the Peronist Eduardo Vaca instead. He was elected deputy in 1991, and returned to the senate in 1993. President Carlos Menem, elected in 1989, wanted to amend the constitution to run for re-election in 1995, which was opposed by the UCR. Alfonsín signed the Pact of Olivos with Menem, negotiating terms to support the proposal. De la Rúa led the opposition to the pact within the UCR, but could not prevent the 1994 amendment of the Argentine Constitution. As a result, Menem was reelected in 1995.
Mayor of Buenos Aires
The constitutional amendment gave autonomy to the city of Buenos Aires, allowing it to sanction local laws and elect its own mayor. Prior to it, the mayor was appointed by the president of the nation. Fernando de la Rúa was the first mayor elected in this manner, defeating the previous mayor Jorge Domínguez. During his term of office he created or reformulated several institutions to fit the new status of the city, as required by both the national constitution and the recently approved constitution of Buenos Aires.
De la Rúa worked on the expansion of the Buenos Aires Underground. The first stations extended the Line D: Olleros was established in 1997, as well as José Hernández. Juramento was established in 1999, and Congreso de Tucumán in 2000. He also started the works to extend the Line B and establish the new Line H, which would be opened years later. Carlos Menem started to transfer the control and financing of the underground system to the city, but the 2001 economic crisis halted the process.
The former mayor Domínguez intended to expand the Pan-American Highway into Saavedra, a project resisted by the population. De la Rúa reformulated the project and built an avenue instead of a highway, which was accepted. The avenue was named Roberto Goyeneche. He also restarted a project to build a highway that linked the Dellepiane avenue and the Riachuelo, the Cámpora highway. He also established the first bikeway of Buenos Aires at the Libertador avenue.
Presidential elections
The Pact of Olivos diminished the electoral strength of the UCR, leading to the rise of the Frepaso. Both parties united in a political coalition, the Alliance, which defeated the PJ in the 1997 midterm elections. It was the first national defeat of the PJ since 1985. The parties held open primary elections for the 1999 presidential elections. Fernando de la Rúa stood for the UCR, supported by the whole party, including Alfonsín. Graciela Fernández Meijide, who had defeated Peronism at the populous Buenos Aires province, was the Frepaso candidate. De la Rúa won the primary elections by a wide margin, 62% to 38%. Carlos Álvarez, leader of the Frepaso, was appointed candidate for vice-president under De la Rúa's ticket.
Carlos Menem dismissed De la Rúa as a "boring" candidate. De la Rúa exploited that description in the TV ads, embracing it and setting a comparison with the glitzy style of Menem and the perceived political corruption of his administration. He also compared himself with the Peronist candidate, Eduardo Duhalde. He promised to solve the economic crisis with fiscal austerity and higher tax controls, hoping that it would produce lower interest rates, more foreign investments and a reduction of unemployment. He also promised to keep the Convertibility plan, established by Menem, that pegged the Argentine Peso one-to-one with the United States dollar.[3]
The 1999 presidential elections were held on October 24. De la Rúa defeated Duhalde by 48.4% to 38.3%, thus not requiring to hold ballotage elections. He was inaugurated President of Argentina on December 10, 1999.
Presidency
Domestic policy
In the first days of his presidency, De la Rúa sent a bill to the Congress to request the federal intervention of the Corrientes Province. The province had a high debt, demonstrations by piqueteros, and two interim governors disputed power. The proposal was immediately approved.[4] The interventor selected for the work was Ramón Mestre.
The Peronist unions opposed De la Rúa, and held seven general strikes against him. He sent a bill to the Congress to deregulate labor conditions, attempting to reduce the political influence of unions. This project was opposed by the PJ, and was changed from the original draft. It was finally approved, but Álvarez denounced that several legislators were bribed to support the bill. Álvarez resigned, and the political scandal divided the coalition. Several deputees that initially supported De la Rúa switched to the opposition. Alfonsín tried to prevent a breakup of the UCR.
The 2001 midterm elections were won by the PJ by 40% to 24%, that held then the majority of both chambers of the Congress. However, the abstention and the several forms of protest votes combined reached 41%, the highest in Argentine history, as a consequence of the popular discontent with both of the big parties.
Economic policy
The first minister of economy of De la Rúa was José Luis Machinea. The first attempt to solve the crisis was a raise in taxes and austerity policies, in January 2000. The deficit was reduced, but the crisis continued. He successfully negotiated a US$38 billion International Monetary Fund line of credit in December. Machinea resigned on March 2001, and the conservative Ricardo López Murphy became the new minister. Murphy announced a stricter austerity plan, with reduction on the budgets of health and education. His plan was rejected by street demonstrations and the Frepaso, so De la Rúa declined it. Murphy resigned after being minister for just 16 days.
De la Rúa appointed Domingo Cavallo, who had served under Menem and first established the Convertibility plan. He was supported by the PJ, Carlos Álvarez and the financial groups, but he was rejected by the rest of the UCR. Initially, Cavallo attempted to reduce some taxes and benefit the industries. The Congress approved a tax to the bank operations, and delegated certain tasks on the executive power. Unable to get positive results, Cavallo proposed a "Zero deficit" policy. It was resisted in the Congress, but De la Rúa managed to get approved. The Megacanje was a negotiation to delay the payment of foreign debt, in exchange of higher interest rates. There was a banking panic in November, and the government reacted by the "corralito", which prevented people from taking cash money out of banks. The corralito further damaged the economy. The IMF refused to send money, as Argentina had failed to stick to the "zero deficit" policy.
Riots and resignation
The financial crisis and the wave of capital flight led Cavallo to impose a limited account freeze on cash withdrawals on December 1, and four days later, the IMF, IADB and World Bank announced the cancellation of loan tranches of over US$5 billion.[5] The withdrawal limits led to growing popular unrest, moreover, and by mid-December, rioting had begun in a number of poorer urban neighborhoods. Amid repression of protesters and rioters that left 23 dead, one of the president's last acts in office was to ban extraditions for human rights violations.[6] De la Rúa was ultimately forced out of office, however, by the December 2001 riots, which took shape under the rallying cry, ¡Que se vayan todos! ("Away with them all!") – referring to the governing and political class.
Later life
De la Rúa was hounded by numerous charges and lawsuits in subsequent years, both relating to police repression during the riots,[7][8] as well as for his role in the Senate bribery case,[9] and for alleged irregularities in the 2001 debt swap.[10] He was indicted for homicide by Judge Claudio Bonadío in March 2007, though the ruling was reversed a year later. Accusations by Security Minister Enrique Mathov and Internal Affairs Minister Ramón Mestre that the president had ordered demonstrators at the Plaza de Mayo (in which five died) quelled, were ruled unsubstantiable by Judge Bonadío in April 2009.[8]
Public image
De la Rúa started to work in politics from a very young age. He was nicknamed "Chupete" because of this; the nickname was still used when he grew up. During the administration of Carlos Menem he was perceived as a serious and formal politician, in stark contrast with the the style of Menem. De la Rúa took advantage of it during the electoral campaign of 1999. When he became president and the economic crisis worsened, he was perceived instead as a weak and tired man, unable to react to the crisis. He was perceived as a man without leadership, and who could not make use of his presidential authority.[11]
Honours
-
Slovakia : Grand Cross (or 1st Class) of the Order of the White Double Cross (2001)[12] -
Portugal : Key of Honor to the City of Lisbon on November 15, 2001 [13]
References
- ↑ José Claudio Escribano (July 23, 2002). "Sereno y distante, De la Rúa cuenta por qué se fue" [Calm and focused, De la Rúa tells why he left] (in Spanish). La Nación. Retrieved February 7, 2016.
- ↑ Jorge Rouillon (October 30, 1999). "Palmero: "Será un presidente brillante"" [Palmero: "He will be a brillant president"] (in Spanish). La Nación. Retrieved February 7, 2016.
- ↑ Clifford Krauss (September 26, 1999). "Vote for Me, Declares Argentine, I'm Boring". The New York Times. Retrieved February 7, 2016.
- ↑ "El Gobierno decidió la intervención a Corrientes" [The government decided the intervention of Corrientes] (in Spanish). Clarín. December 16, 1999. Retrieved February 7, 2016.
- ↑ Clarín December 6, 2001) (Spanish)
- ↑ World Briefing | Americas: Argentina: Human Rights Extraditions The New York Times, December 25, 2001
- ↑ Es Más (March 8, 2002) (Spanish)
- 1 2 Clarín (April 8, 2009) (Spanish)
- ↑ La Nación (February 26, 2008) (Spanish)
- ↑ Clarín (July 10, 2006) (Spanish)
- ↑ "Little sympathy for Argentine president". BBC News. March 17, 2001. Retrieved February 7, 2016.
- ↑ Slovak republic website, State honours : 1st Class in 2001 (click on "Holders of the Order of the 1st Class White Double Cross" to see the holders' table)
- ↑ "O chefe de estado argentino, Fernando de La Rua, reencontrou-se hoje com o ex-presidente português Mário Soares (...)" (in Portuguese). Angop. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fernando de la Rúa. |
- Biography and tenure by CIDOB (in Spanish)
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by (none) |
Chief of Government of Buenos Aires 1996–1999 |
Succeeded by Enrique Olivera |
| Preceded by Carlos Menem |
President of Argentina 1999–2001 |
Succeeded by Adolfo Rodríguez Saá |
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