IB HL History Mr. Blackmon

Skidmore and Smith: Outline and SFI: : From Skidmore and Smith pp. 68-113 All citations are from Skidmore and Smith unless otherwise noted

In other words, this is sort of a glorified book report

I. Struggle over Nationhood A. Major theme: type of government 1. Unitarians a. Supporters from b. Nationalize Buenos Aires, strip it of autonomy, and use it to eliminate trade barriers and permit greater foreign trade. 2. Federalists a. Supporters from the interior b. Nationalize Buenos Aires, divide customs receipts among all provinces, retain local political autonomy, especially the power to levy interprovincial tariffs to protect local industry 3. Federalists (but not the same as above) a. Supporters from Buenos Aires b. Opposed nationalization of Buenos Aires, keep customs monopoly, and support free trade. B. Caudillo 1829-1852 1. From the provinces, and a federalist (1) 2. Favored estancieros 3. Extended power over Buenos Aires 4. Used a terror squad, the Mazorca, to repress all opposition 5. Trade policies were protectionist C. Gen. Justo José de Urquiza overthrows Rosas in 1852 1. 1853 he promulgates a new federalist constitution 2. Buenos Aires refuses to join, and is defeated in 1859 3. In 1861, Buenos Aires again revolts, and this time wins D. Bartolomé Mitre becomes president 1. Followed by Domingo Sarmiento a. Paraguayan War (1865-1870) (1) Paraguayan dictator Francisco Solano López attemted to seize the Paranán River basin, provoking a war with Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay 2. Followed Nicolá Avellaneda (1874-1880) a. Gen. Julio Roca conquers the pampas, :”subduing or exterminating” (71) the indigenous population (1) Sort of an Argentine George Armstrong Custer b. 1880 Buenos Aires takes a status rather like Washington DC 3. Followed by Julio Roca IB HL History Mr. Blackmon Skidmore and Smith: Argentina Page 2

a. “The symbolism could hardly have been better: the Indian fighter presiding over the Europeanization of a South American republic.” (71) b. Influence of Herbert Spencer and Social Darwinism II. Overview: Economic Growth and Social Change A. Prosperity in the 1880-1914 era depended upon the ability to provide agricultural goods to Europe B. Argentina produces beef and grain for the growing European market. 1. They are aided by steam ships and refrigeration.. C. Argentina lacks capital and labor. 1. The British invest in railroads, docks, packing houses and utilities. 2. From 1857-1930, Argentina receives 3.5 million immigrants, 46% from Italy and 32 % from Spain. African and native American populations are very small. 3. This labor force is very fluid, esp. from rural to urban. a. Italians and Spaniards become colonists, tenant farmers, laborers, transport workers, processing plant workers, and service industry workers. D. Industry involved processing agricultural products. 1. Processors identify with the export economy E. Argentina’s “Golden Age” F. Integration into the world economy exposed Argentina to sharp fluctuations in world prices of agricultural products, which meant that the fate of its economy was decided outside its borders. G. Argentina also dependant upon the international scene financially 1. Argentina’s peso tied to the gold standard, which made for sharp variations in gold results 2. Foreign capital and foreign businessmen provided 35% of the capital between 1900-1929 3. Foreign capital was so prevalent that it become a target of the nationalists 4. Buenos Aires remains much more prospterous than the interior. Prosperity unequally divided 5. Rural estancieros prospered, tenant farmers struggled. 6. Urban growth creates large discrepancies in income s a target for the nationalists H. Nationalist protest 1. Ricardo Rojas rebels against European emphasis by pointing to native Americans and the soil– Martín Fiero, a poem about the gauchos --and Ezequiel Martínez’ X-Ray of the Pampas also objects to European dominance. 2. Working class culture produces a Spanish-Italian dialect, lunfardo, and the tango. IB HL History Mr. Blackmon Skidmore and Smith: Argentina Page 3

I. Argentina never developed a peasantry; land in the pampas was never given to small families, unlike the US in the Great Plains. 1. There is no potential peasant power base or peasantry with whom to form a coalition J. Wage laborers were numerous in cities, 1. development of parliamentary Socialist party, the anarachists (Federación Obrera Regional Argentina FORA). 2. In response to FORA strikes, gov’t passes a. La Ley de Residencia, allowing deportation of agitators. b. La Ley de Defensa Social made it easier to arrest labor leaders. III. The Political System: Consensus and Reform A. Dominant liberal politicians drawn from the landowning class, and monopolized instruments of power, including the army and elections (via vote fraud), 1. Controlled only party, Partido Autonomista Nacional) PAN 2. Key decisions made by informal agreement, or acuerdo. B. Radical Party emerges from three discontented groups: 1. (1) newly prosperous landowners, 2. (2) old aristocratic families from interior who did not benefit from export growth 3. (3) middle classes who are cut off from power. 4. They are led by Hipólito Yrigoyen; 5. they are committed to government economic poliices–they just want to share power C. Sáenz Peña Law extended vote to middle classes, leading to Yrigoyen’s election as President in 1916. D. Organized labor emerges as a genuine force. Post-War strikes wrack the nation 1918-19 over wartime inflation.. 1. The syndicalists called for a general strike, which led to the ultra-rightist Líga Patriótica Argentina. 2. Strikes mobilized upper- and middle-class fear of the proletariat: class warfare. a. Labor is suppressed violently. E. The Confederición General del Trabajo (CGT) is founded in 1930 1. The Socialists push political action in the 1920s, the Communists the labor movement, but the decade is not successful for either. F. Electorate enlarged again, including all 18 year old males. 1. Increased political participation made parties more important, whose vehicle is the Congress. 2. Reforms help the middle-classes since few immigrants became naturalized. 3. The Radicals employ machine politics to dominant the country; 4. Conservatives are disillusioned at limited democracy. IB HL History Mr. Blackmon Skidmore and Smith: Argentina Page 4

G. The Great Depression: 1. Argentina’s export earnings fell 34% in 1932, aggregate output fell 14% between 1929 and 1932, and immigration ceased. (Rock 220) 2. Nevertheless, Argentina was not hit as badly as many other Latin American countries. IV. The Military Turns Back the Clock A. Evolution of the military: The liberals of 1852 wanted a professional military that could crush the caudillos. 1. Professional schools were established in the 1870's, and in 1899, 2. German officers were brought in to teach the new technology. By 1910, promotion was by merit and mastery of the technology. 3. This opened up careers to middle-class officers, who identified themselves closely with the honor and autonomy of the military and who were often suspicious and scornful of the civilian leadership, whom they regarded as corrupt and inefficient. 4. The military could see itself as apolitical and as an agent of modernization. B. Yrigoyen is overthrown by the military, who are not, however, united. 1. Gen. Agustin Justo led a faction that wanted to return to pre-Sáenz Peña oligarchy; 2. Gen. José Uriburu led a faction that “wanted a hierarchical order based on social function . . . . a. Uriburu envisioned a ‘functional democracy’ where the elected legislators would represent functional (or ‘corporate’) interests, such as ranchers, workers, merchants, and industrialists.” (84-85) b. This “corporatist model” is heavily influenced by Mussolini 3. Justo emerged as a winner in 1932, and sought “to form a broad, national government that would give him the authority to respond to the socioeconomic effect of the world depression.” (85) C. The Military and the Great Depression 1. Justo’s initial response was quite orthodox: cut public spending, devalue the peso (1933) to ease pressure on foreign debt payments; increase tariffs to reduce imports, exchange controls. 2. Roca-Runciman Agreement 1932: Great Britain, responding to the crisis and pressure from the Empire, agrees to give preference to the Commonwealth in trading. This threatened Argentine exports to Great Britain. a. Roca-Runciman protected the level of Argentine beef exports to Great Britain, but on terms that gave most advantages to the British with preferential treatment in other areas. Roca-Runciman thus became very unpopular with nationalists. 3. The war led to the disruption of normal trading patterns–the continent was cut off by blockade, and the British redirected all resources into the war IB HL History Mr. Blackmon Skidmore and Smith: Argentina Page 5

effort rather than trade. 4. This led to Import-Substituting Industrialization. ISI attempts to promote the growth of consumer industry to replace manufactured products previously imported from abroad, such as textiles. a. Typically, this involves higher import tariffs to protect local industry, direct investment in companies, government companies, and favoritism to local companies.. (54) b. Among ISI’s weaknesses is the fact that the machinery needed to produce the consumer goods must still be imported (thus altering but not eliminating the dependency) and the fact that consumer demand will eventually hit a limit unless a more general prosperity increases the buying power of the bulk of the population 5. Loss of income from imports meant a fiscal revolution was necessary: Justo passed an income tax. Justo then seeks price supports for farmers (a policy similar to Brazil and the U.S.) \ a. “Supports were administered by regulatory boards (juntas), which were createc for grains, meat, cotton, wines, milk and other goods. Throughout the 1930s these boards performed like their counterparts in such countries as Brazil and the United States: financing production, puchasing surpluses, and seeking to promote price stability.” (Rock 223) 6. Finance Minister establishes a Central Bank in 1934, which pursued “quasi-Keynesian functions” and controlled the money supply by buying and selling securities, rediscounting, and changing the reserve requirements. (Rock 223) 7. Justo fails because a. (1) the working class made continuous demands through strikes and b. (2) political professionals remained committed to partisan interests 8. An example was his successor, Roberto Ortiz, who stopped vote fraud and thereby allowed the Radicals to gain control of Congress in 1937. a. Ortiz’ successor, however, Ramón Castillo, a conservative, returned to vote fraud, but only convinced everyone that the government was illegitimate. D. Politics influenced by World War II 1. Argentina was hostile to the Allies, especially the US and Great Britain 2. Argentina wished to maintain its “neutrality” which meant in practice selling foodstuffs to Britain while refusing to join the military effort. E. Dissident officers form the Grupo Obra de Unificación, or GOU. They seize power in 1942, claiming popular demand. 1. First provisional president Gen. Arturo Rawson 2. They dissolve Congress in 1943 and all political parties by 1944. IB HL History Mr. Blackmon Skidmore and Smith: Argentina Page 6

F. Gradually, the working class in Buenos Aires had changed into one that was primarily native Argentine, literate, and mobile. 1. Their sense of class consciousness rose greatly. These worker felt shut out from the political system that existed since all parties, including the Radicals and even the Socialists, were geared toward an electorate created by Sáenz-Peña, where half the adult population could not vote. 2. Therefore, none of the parties had a legitimate working class base. G. Juan Domingo Perón changes that. 1. A member of GOU, he becomes Secretary of Labor in 1943, from which position he sought a base of popular support among the working classes. 2. He is assisted in this effort by his mistress, later wife, Eva Duarte Perón a. Working as a radio commentator, she publicized Perón’s reforms 3. ‘Collective bargaining was carried out under Perón’s auspices. Wage demands were satisfied, and workers were kept on the job. Should a union choose to take matters into its own hands, picket lines were dispersed and workers replaced. For this sacrifice of independence, unions won wage and salary increases in virtually all segments of the economy, including white-collar, agricultural, and maritime. Perón’s most dramatic device was the ‘thirteenth month’ of wages, a Christmas bonus.” (Adams) 4. Both his supporters and her audience saved Perón’s career when opponents made their move in 1945. a. On October 10, amid increasing demands for a return to civilian government--and even calls for Perón to be executed--Perón was forced to step down from all three of the posts he had acquired or created. He was Minister of War, Secretary of Labor and Social Welfare, and Vice President. b. Perón’s power, it was clear to many, far outstripped that of the president, his benefactor, who was indecisive and politically weak next to this master puppeteer of the masses. c. On the night of October 11, with his enemies calling for his head either figuratively or literally, Perón resigned. He did so, however, on a national radio hookup orchestrated by Eva”. (Adams) d. Eva organized massive street demonstrations while Perón was imprisoned. When newspapers called the demonstrators, descamisados, Perón embraced the term. e. The demonstrations reach such proportions that the government caved in and released Perón, restoring him to his offices. f. The stage was set for Perón’s election as President in 1946 (1) Receives 54% of the vote (2) US openly opposed his election V. Perónism and Perón A. Perón begins by implementing corporatist principles. IB HL History Mr. Blackmon Skidmore and Smith: Argentina Page 7

1. The term “Justicialismo” is coined (1948) to describe Perón’s philosophy. a. The term comes from the words “justice” and “social” (Crassweller 227) I b. t was thought of as a philosophy harmonizing the claims of the individual with those of society and of spiritual values with material values. (227) c. It proved to be a very flexible concept 2. Perón’s central core of support was similar to Uriburu’s, except that labor is a full partner to the military and the industrial managers. B. State-directed Economic Policy: 1. A Five Year Economic Plan is begun, and a. he creates the Instituto Argentino de Promoción del Intercambio or IAPI, which is given a monopoly over the export of agricultural products. b. IAPI bought agricultural products at low prices, then sold them abroad to fund industrialization. c. Perón begins to reduce foreign business interests, as promised, reorganizing the Central Bank, nationalizing the British owned railroads, nationalizing the telephones (from ITT) and French owned docks. d. He paid off the entire national debt in 1947. 2. Strikes were encouraged, which Perón settled in workers’ favor; real wages rise sharply, labor’s share of national wealth goes up 25%, and the standard of living goes up (88) 3. Owners of capital and esp. landowners pay the cost, since IAPI bought their products at artificially low prices. C. Evita creates the Eva Perón Foundation from whence she distributed benefits to the descamisados personally. 1. Evita also organizes the Partido Peronista Femenino (Women’s Peronist Party). 2. Women are given suffrage 3. Eva was also given control of the labor movement, and of the national press. 4. As Minister of Health, Eva instituted campaigns against malaria and tuberculosis. D. 1949 marks the beginning of crisis. 1. Prices for Argentina’s exports drop, inflation increases shaprly, and drought hurts the export sector. 2. Prices for imports rose. 3. IAPI’s policies had been intended to keep food prices in the cities low, but had also discouraged production. 4. Perón responds by orthodox stabilization policies: “tight credit, reduced IB HL History Mr. Blackmon Skidmore and Smith: Argentina Page 8

government expenditures, and tough limits on wage and price increases.” (90) E. The crisis of 1949 not only brought stabilization but a toughening of political control. 1. The constitution was amended to allow him to be re-elected, and women were granted the vote. 2. He is re-elected in 1951, with Evita mobilizing women for him. 3. He becomes more authoritarian with the expropriation of La Prensa. F. In 1951, Evita fell with cancer; although she fought the disease fiercely, she finally succumbed in 1952. 1. In my opinion, this is a blow from which Perón never recovered; his political instincts simply weren’t good enough. G. 1954: Peronist radicals launch an anticlerical crusade: 1. “divorce is legalized and all parochial schools were placed under the control of the ministry of education.” 2. Anti-Church demonstrations are organized and some cathedrals even burned. H. This is a serious mistake–there is much too little to gain by attacking the Church, and it helps form a rallying point for Perón’s enenies in the military. 1. [As a minor but lurid point, which is not in Skidmore and Smith, his 14 year mistress did not sit well with the Church either; he should have at least waited until her quincé] I. The anticlerical crusade leads to a coup by the military in 1954: Perón is forced to resign and leave the country. 1. Perón was gone but Peronismo was not defeated. VI. The Military Stewardship A. A hard-line anti-Peronist government under Gen. Pedro Aramburu emerges. La Prensa is restored, there is a crack down on unions. The Peronistas retaliate, and the government executes Peronist leaders. 1957 saw more violence and repression. B. Civilian government returns with the election of 1958, an economics professor and leader of one wing of the Radical Party. 1. The wings were the Popular Radicals or UCRP, led by Ricardo Balbín, who were violently anti- Perón ist, and 2. The Intransigent Radicals, or UCRI, who were more flexible with regard to the Perón ists. 3. In order to win, he had to cut a deal with the Peronists. 4. This leaves the problem of how he will repay, and with what political coin, he will repay them for their support VII. The Failure of Developmental Reformism A. The Frondizi Government 1958-1962 wanted to “accelerate industrialization while also stimulating agricultural production, thereby boosting export earnings.” IB HL History Mr. Blackmon Skidmore and Smith: Argentina Page 9

(94) 1. This would require a shift from consumption to investment. B. Politically, as economically, Frondizi faced contradictions. 1. He took power only with the help of the Peronists, but the military forced him to put Alvaro Alsogaray as finance minister, whose position involved “dogmatic free enterprise” and rigid” IMF-style monetarism (95) C. Frondizi signed oil exploration and production contracts with foreign companies in order to reduce Argentina’s dependency on imported oil (and thereby use the revenue for other investment), but this angers the nationalists. 1. Slow growth returns in 1961 and inflation slows. 2. A steel complex is built in 1960 and oil self sufficiency is achieved. D. However, Frondizi also faced a severe balance of payments crisis, and turned to the International Monetary Fund for (IMF) help. 1. The IMF demanded “a huge devaluation, stiff controls on credit, cuts in public spending, tough wage limits, elimination of subsides on public services, and dismissal of redundant public employees.” (94) 2. One cannot pursue economic development while retrenching in the face of foreign investors 3. Consequences of Frondizi’s “shock treatment” a. Real income for workers drops, b. real income for agriculture rose: justicialismo in reverse. c. Workers reject Frondizi. d. Small businessmen are hurt by the credit controls (larger firms involved directly in export are happy). e. Farmers do not expand production as Frondizi hoped E. In 1962, the Peronists win 35% of the vote, causing the military to annul the vote. But the Radicals quarrel among themselves. The military intervenes again and Arturo Illia is elected President. He is unable to achieve much, the Peronists grow in power. 1. Arturo Illia’s policies: are a failure; by 1965, inflation, a large government deficit, low investor confidence, and opposition by labor left him in poor shape. VIII. The Bureaucratic-Authoritarian Solution A. Gen. Juan Carlos Onganía leads a coup and sets up a Bureaucratic - Authoritarian regime. 1. Politicians are dismissed, and alliances formed with technocrats and foreign investors. B. The root of Argentina’s economic problem is an agricultural sector which cannot satisfy both domestic demand and export demand. 1. A two year wage freeze is announced in 1967 while a gradual program was implemented. 2. The plan breaks down in 1969 due to labor opposition. IB HL History Mr. Blackmon Skidmore and Smith: Argentina Page 10

3. 1969: 4. The army fires on strikers in Cordoba. C. Political Violence: 1. The military indulged in “clandestine torture and execution,” 2. the Revolutionary Left resorted to “kidnapping and assassination.” 3. Argentina was now in the midst of a civil war D. The Revolutionary Left developed as a force, with the goal of traumatizing the nation as a prelude to revolution. 1. One organization is the Trotskyite (later Guevarist) People’s Revolutionary Party, or ERP, which saw itself as an international movement aimed at American imperialism. 2. Another organization is the originally Peronist Montoneros, which was more Eastern and urban based. a. In 1970, Aramburu was kidnaped and murdered by Montoneros 3. Membership was overwhelmingly student or young professionals, middle- class, with a high proportion of women. (Rock 353-4) 4. The Montoneros attack union leadership in 1973. 5. Both groups finance themselves by kidnappings and bank robberies (one kidnapping netted $14 million) (Rock 363) The military, police, and foreign executives are seen as the enemy. E. The military strikes back. 1. “Subversion” is defined as any protest against authority. 2. The number of los desaparecidos (the disappeared ones) increases. F. The civil war is compounded by rising inflation in the early 1970s 1. Proposed economic plan: a. (1) one time wage increase b. (2) price freeze c. (3) two year wage freeze d. (4) policies to improve workers’ real incomes G. Political Failure 1. The Onganía regime was clearly a failrue. a. Country is more polarized than ever before 2. Onganía is replaced by Gen. Roberto Livingston a. Livingston faces rising inflation (from 7.5% to 34.7%) b. Rioting in Córdoba leads to a coup which removes Livingston 3. Gen. Alejandro Lanusse becomes President 4. Lanusse allows elections, in which the Peronist candidate, Dr. Héctor Cámpora, received 49% compared to Balbín’s 22% 5. The generals believe that Peron, whom they saw as essentially conservative, was the only hope of countering the Left. IX. The Perónists Back in Power A. 1973 saw a return of Juan Domingo Perón, who the military saw as essentially IB HL History Mr. Blackmon Skidmore and Smith: Argentina Page 11

conservative and who they hoped could end the civil war. The the revolutionary left rejected Perón, violence was very high, and Perón was 77 years of age 1. Perón outlawed the ERP 2. By 1973, progress was being made, with agricultural prices high. The OPEC price hike hurt, but not critically since Argentina was largely self sufficient. But Perón approved a bonus at the end of 1973 which undermined his policies. He then died in 1974. B. The president now becomes Isabel Perón (a former night club dancer). Her advisers urge her on to a crack down on the left, leading to strikes. Inflation reached 335% in 1975. 1. Isabel Perón’s chief financial adviser was José López Rega a. Rega urged her to purge her cabinet and crack down on the Left. b. Unions negotiated a new wage settlement in 1975 with a 100% pay increase (1) Isabel cancels the incrrease then,, facing massive strikes, reinstates them c. In the meantime, a bitter war between the Leftists and the military continues 2. The economy collapses a. Inflation reached 335% in 1975 b. Isabel is forced to adopt tough IMF rectification policies in 1976 c. Violence intensified. d. The military overthrows Isabel in March 1976 X. The Military Returns A. Bureaucratic - Authoritarian coup d’etat in 1976: 1. First governments led by Gen. Jorge Videla (1976-81) and 2. Gen. Roberto Viola 3/81-12/81 B. The Dirty War: The military sets out to destroy the Left, which is rather broadly defined. 1. The guerrillas all wanted a violent overthrow of the government and the establishment of a revolutionary socialist regime 2. Membership was predominantly middle class or university students 3. The guerrillas had failed to expand their popular base as well. 4. The number of desaparecidos reaches 10,000 to 20,000. 5. Due process is abandoned, hit squads roam the country. 6. By 1978, the guerrillas have been crushed. a. One lesson is that determined and united elites can defeat a guerrilla movement, especially if they have the tacit support of much of the middle class [think generational conflict here] C. Economics Minister José Martínez de Hoz is a firm believer in neoliberal market economics (cf the Chicago Boys in Chile) 1. CGT is abolished, IB HL History Mr. Blackmon Skidmore and Smith: Argentina Page 12

2. strikes banned, 3. taxes indexed, 4. industry denationalized, 5. tariffs reduced, 6. internal subsidies dropped, 7. foreign investment sought. D. Winners would be 1. agriculture , 2. banks and 3. financial institutions, E. the losers 1. urban labor and 2. small businessmen. F. The weakness of his policy is that he overvalued the peso in order to attract investment 1. (dollars invested into pesos, then reconverted to dollars at an overvalued rate). G. This attracted investment but disrupted foreign trade (Rock 373) 1. Export revenues fall, but any hint of devaluation would bring investment crashing to a halt. 2. Beginning 1980-81, that is exactly what happened–a crash. H. Economic problems leads the generals into foreign adventure. 1. The military had always “imposed its power and silenced internal divisiveness by the primitive tactic of threatening or waging war, first against domestic ‘subversives,’ then against Chile [over the Beagle Channel] and now against Britain [over the Falklands Islands]. . . . . 2. By 1982 the maneuver had gained a . . . status as the . . . Doctrine of Permanent War. Repression, persecution, terror, and war itself ahd become ‘legitimate’ tools of policy. This authoritarian, virulently anti- communist, chauvinistic mentality had its roots in early twentieth-century conservative clericalism and conservative nationalism.” (Rock 376) I. Gen. chooses to go to war over the Falklands. 1. He believed that the British were not committed to defending the islands and that victory would be swift and cheap, 2. he believed that he would have the support of the U.S. since he had warm relations with the Reagan Administration, and 3. that the invasion would be very popular at home. J. The invasion was popular. 1. But for the British public, the issue was the right of the Falklanders to choose democracy over autocracy (the issue was very timely for the Thatcher government, which was unpopular). 2. Reagan proved to be warmer towards Thatcher than Galtieri (we speak the IB HL History Mr. Blackmon Skidmore and Smith: Argentina Page 13

same language, after all). K. The British sink the Argentine cruiser Belgrano, lose the Sheffield to an Exocet missile, land on the islands, and there their professional, well-led forces rout the conscript defenders. 1. 7,500 surrender at Port Stanley. L. The war completely discredits the military, especially since only the Air Force fought well. 1. The generals are exposed. 2. Public support turns to rage and disillusionment. M. Losing the Falklands War did not make the economy any better. 1. Inflation rose 200%, 2. real income dropped 25%. 3. Nominal take home value of the minimum was 1,000,000 pesos, or $19 4. Anti-government protests increase. 5. Galtieri resigns and elections are scheduled. XI. Transition to Democracy A. Radical candidate Raúl Alfonsín is elected President 1. First problem is the prosecution of its own military for crimes against humanity 2. Second problem was inflation 3. Third problem was establishing a viable political base. B. Alfonsín’s greatest problems are curbing his military and trying to deal with the unions in the face of massive economic problems. Ultimately, he cannot overcome them. C. Alfonsín attempts to bring his military to justice. 1. Groups and individuals who fought for justice included the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, 2. Adolfo Pérez de Esquivel (who received the 1980 Nebel Peace Prize) and 3. Jácopo Timerman 4. Mass graves were found, and interviews with men like Gen. Ramón Camps who said that he was proud of his role, 5. that “On the orders of the highest military leadership, no one told the truth so as not to affect international economic aid.” (Rock 385) 6. A later interview admitted responsibility for the kidnap and death of 5,000. 7. He claimed that they were not “persons, but subversives.” (Rock 393-4) 8. The military’s Documento Final was unrepentant, avoiding the issue of why those arrested were not brought to trial. a. “Implicitly condoning the torture and the mass executions, the paper was little more than an apologia for the terrorist state.” (Rock 386) 9. A national commission published Nunca Mas, a. which showed that “the victims, a third of whom were women, had IB HL History Mr. Blackmon Skidmore and Smith: Argentina Page 14

belonged to all social classes and many were plainly innocent of any substantive links with guerrilla organizations. . . . .[T]he repression and massacres had been calculated policy and in many cases a source of personal gain, since the homes of the detainees were frequently looted.” (Rock 395) b. Videla was given a life sentence, c. Viola 17 years. D. In order to meet payments on $50 billion in debt, President Raúl Alfonsín is forced to seek loans from the IMF, which requires austerity programs. 1. Inflation soared to 627% in 1984 and 700% in 1985 anyway E. He turns to the Austral Plan which established a wage-price freeze that created a new currency 1. In 1985, CGT called for strikes to protest the Austral Plan. 2. By 1989, prices would reach 100% inflation per month, 3. output plummeted, 4. GDP shrank. F. Inability to control the economy dooms Alfonsín G. Perónist candidate in 1989 wins 47% of the vote and takes office as president 1. Menem’s Economics Minister, Antonio Ermán González, imposes a draconian austerity program. a. He lifts price controls, allows the exchange rate to float, b. slashed export and import taxes, c. removed restrictions on foreign trade, and d. transferred all bank accounts into 10 year bonds, which effectively confiscated the savings of the middle classes. (110) e. This triggers a recession which ends the hyperinflation. f. The next step was to break from Peronist traditions and g. privatize companies like Aerolíneas . 2. New Economics Minister Domingo Cavallo (1991) extends privatization and restructures the national debt with the IMF and the World Bank. a. Inflation dropped from 4900% in 1989 to 4% in 1994, and growth reached 6% by that date. b. But the cost is impoverishment of the middle classes, and unemployment. H. Concerned over restlessness amnong the military, Menem issued sweeping pardons and takes steps to placate the military 1. The Dirty War remains a painful question I. The constitution was revised in 1994, changing the term to 4 years and allowing one reelection. 1. Menem was reelected in 1995 J. He promotes a “Common Market of the South,” MERCOSUR, involving IB HL History Mr. Blackmon Skidmore and Smith: Argentina Page 15

Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay. K. Menem also aligns his foreign policy with the US

Works Cited

Rock, David. Argentina: 1516 1987. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987.

Skidmore, Thomas E. and Smith, Peter H. Modern Latin America. 4th Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.