.gif)
December 2001 riots (Argentina)
Encyclopedia
The December 2001 uprising was a period of civil unrest and rioting in Argentina
, which took place during December 2001, with the most violent incidents taking place on December 19 and December 20 in the capital, Buenos Aires
, Rosario and other large cities around the country.
uprising against the government of President Fernando de la Rúa
, who had failed to contain the economic crisis that was going through its third year of recession
. Since 1991, the Argentine peso
was at a fixed exchange rate
with the US dollar
. The 1-to-1 rate had been instrumental to overcome the chronic hyperinflation
bursts of the late 1980s, but almost entirely deprived Argentina of control over its monetary policy, and a sudden revaluation of the dollar in 1997 ended up harming export
s, which were the only important source of foreign currency at the time.
De la Rúa's economic policies suffered a severe blow in March 2001 when Economy Minister José Luis Machinea
resigned from office. He was briefly replaced by the then-Defense Minister Ricardo López Murphy
, who himself was forced to resign following negative reception to his shock program. After only two weeks in office, López Murphy was replaced by Domingo Cavallo
, who had previously served as Economy Minister between 1991 and 1996, and who was widely credited to be the man that took Argentina out of hyperinflation.
Cavallo took to administer the country's economy, establishing new taxes and special agreements with certain sectors of the Argentine industrial establishment. He also took to restructure Argentina's massive foreign debt in an operation known locally as the megacanje ("mega-exchange", i. e. an exchange of debt bonds for others at more advantageous conditions). From the first moment, there were allegations of corruption and money laundering
about the megacanje.
De la Rúa's political situation was also precarious. His arrival to power in 1999 had been possible thanks to the Alliance for Work, Justice and Education
, a coalition formed by the Radical Civic Union
and the FrePaSo
, which managed to defeat the incumbent Justicialist Party
(the Peronists) in that year's presidential elections. However, the Alliance (as it was known) failed to achieve a majority in the Senate
and the Chamber of Deputies
, and lost the provincial elections to the Peronists, who then remained in charge of large and critical districts such as the Buenos Aires
, Córdoba
and Santa Fe
provinces.
The government coalition was strained from the first moment; the FrePaSo leaders resented being "junior members" of the government (being forced to that position after losing their bid to the Governorship of Buenos Aires), while the Radicals were divided between their left- and right-leaning factions (De la Rúa was a leader of the party's conservatives), especially regarding economic policy. In late 2000 a political scandal
broke out when it was reported that SIDE
, Argentina's intelligence service, had paid massive bribes to a number of senators to approve a controversial Labor Reform Act. The head of SIDE, Fernando de Santibañes, was a personal friend of De la Rúa. The crisis came to a head on October 2000 when Vice President Carlos Álvarez
resigned, citing De la Rúa's unwillingness to tackle corruption.
The March 2001 crisis (see above) also caused the resignation of all the FrePaSo Cabinet ministers, leaving de la Rúa without political support. The congressional elections of October 2001 were a disaster for the government, which lost many of its seats in the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies to the Peronists. The election results marked also a growing unrest within Argentina's voters, who took to cast millions of null or blank votes. The Peronists seized the opportunity to appoint Senator Ramón Puerta
to be President Pro-Tempore of the Argentine Senate, a situation which added to De la Rúa's political weakness since in the Argentine system the President Pro-Tempore of the Senate is next in line for the Presidency after the Vice President. With no Vice President of its own, Puerta's designation meant that De la Rúa had a virtual Peronist Vice President.
Social unrest was also growing. Since the late 1990s, protest movements had formed in Argentina, notably the piquetero
s ("picketeers"), initially made up of unemployed workers. The piqueteros blockade
d major roads and highways demanding government subsidies and other welfare measures. They featured prominently during the March 2001 crisis.
This entire crisis came to a head on November 29, 2001, when Argentines took to banks and financial institutions to withdraw millions of pesos and dollars from their accounts. Had the withdrawal continued, Argentina's entire banking system would have collapsed.
, introduced restrictions to the withdrawal of cash from bank deposits, intending to stop the draining of deposits that had been taking place throughout 2001 and had reached the point where 25% of all the money in the banks had been withdrawn. These measures were aimed at controlling the banking crisis for a period of 90 days, until the exchange
of Argentina's public debt could be completed.
Although people could still use their money via credit card
s, check
s and other forms of non-cash payments, the enforcement of these measures caused delays and problems for the general population and especially for businesses. Massive queues at every bank and growing reports of political crisis contributed to inflame Argentina's political scenario.
In this context, certain factions of the opposition, as well as interest groups who wanted a devaluation
of the Argentine peso
, seized the opportunity to fuel public anger and replace the government.
De la Rúa's position had become unsustainable. An attempt by the Catholic Church to mediate between the government and the opposition in mid-December failed. Between December 16 and December 19 there were several incidents involving unemployed activists and protesters which demanded the handing-out of food bags from supermarkets. These incidents ended up with outright looting of supermarket
s and convenience store
s on December 18, taking place on Rosario
and the Greater Buenos Aires
areas. This was of historical significance, as the previous Radical administration of Raúl Alfonsín
had been forced to resign after a wave of looting
in 1989.
, a top Peronist) was strangely mild in restoring order. With violence mounting across Argentina's major cities, President De la Rúa began to consider alternative measures to restore order.
The first option considered was to deploy the military to contain the violence. However, Argentine legislation forbids military intervention in domestic security matters unless the police and security forces are overwhelmed, a situation quickly pointed out by the Chairman of the Joint General Staff and the Chiefs of Staff of the Army
, Navy
and Air Force
. The military also pointed out that they would only intervene if their deployment was authorized by a law voted in Congress, something impossible given the Peronist majority in both Houses. The Argentine military was unwilling to take the blame if violence grew worse, learning from what had previously happened when President Isabel Perón issued an executive order commanding them to fight the subversive guerrilla movements of the 1970s (see Dirty War
).
With military intervention no longer an option, De la Rúa resorted to declare a state of siege
(essentially a state of emergency
) throughout the country, deploying the Federal Police
, the National Gendarmerie (border guard) and the Naval Prefecture (coast guard) to contain the growing violence.
Later that night, De la Rúa addressed the nation to announce the state of siege and to call the Peronists to negotiate a "government of national unity". Following the broadcast, spontaneous cacerolazo
s ("pot banging") took place throughout Buenos Aires and other major cities, signaling the middle-class' own unrest. December 19 concluded with the resignation of Domingo Cavallo, who had lost whatever support he had within the government. Groups of protesters mobilized throughout Buenos Aires, some of them arriving to Plaza de Mayo
, where there were incidents with the Federal Police forces.
This day is documented on video by the group Gotan Project in the song "Queremos Paz."
What had begun as rioting by unemployed and leftist-leaning groups had turned into a middle-class protest with the cacerolazos, and the resignation of Cavallo did nothing to calm down the situation. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1721201.stm The De la Rúa administration had agreed with the military to participate in an emergency handing-out of food, however, the plan failed due to lack of cooperation from the Ministry of Social Development.
Throughout the morning, groups of protesters converged on Plaza de Mayo despite the state of siege. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1720607.stm The Federal Police, acting under orders from the government, proceeded to try to control the protests. An attempt by a federal judge to halt police operations was disregarded, and the situation worsened with the arrival of new groups of protesters.
As violence expanded, President De la Rúa tried to impose censorship on all news outlets from Buenos Aires. The idea was to use the state of siege to force the television networks to stop transmitting current events and broadcast emergency programming. This plan also failed because De la Rúa's own Media Secretary refused to carry out his instructions.
Meanwhile, there were violent incidents between the police and protesters throughout the country. The most notorious ones took place at the Plaza de Mayo, where five people were killed. Some claim that the deaths were provoked by covert elements of the Buenos Aires Provincial Police
in an attempt to further destabilize De la Rúa.
With his options steadily being reduced, De la Rúa went onto national television at 4 p.m. to offer the Peronists to join the government and try to bring some peace to the country. At that time, a caucus of Peronist governors was taking place at a country villa in the province of San Luis
. Three hours later, Humberto Roggero, head of the Peronist bloc of the House of Deputies, announced that the Peronist Party would not be a part of a "government of national unity".
When he heard the Peronists' response, De la Rúa decided to resign from office. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0A12FC355A0C728EDDAB0994D9404482 The situation on Plaza de Mayo (right in front of the Casa Rosada
, the Presidential Palace) was still too violent for De la Rúa to leave by car to his official residence at Olivos. Thus, the President's security detail decided to take him out of the Casa Rosada on board an Air Force helicopter. The images of De la Rúa's "escape" by helicopter were broadcast throughout the country.
The violence slowly abated. By the end of the day, 26 people had died, five of them in Buenos Aires. The President Pro-Tempore of the Senate, Ramón Puerta
, took over as Interim President, until Congress could appoint a successor to De la Rúa.
The Peronist governors assembled at San Luis -arguably the most powerful men in Argentina at the period- were divided on who to nominate. There were three "natural candidates", who were the governors of the three largest provinces: Carlos Ruckauf
of Buenos Aires, José Manuel de la Sota
of Córdoba
and Carlos Reutemann
of Santa Fe
. As a temporary arrangement, the governors decided to nominate Adolfo Rodríguez Saá
, Governor of San Luis. The Peronists' easy majority in both houses of Congress ensured that Rodríguez Saá was elected on December 22.
Rodríguez Saá was to be President for only three months, until Presidential elections were held in March. De la Rúa's term expired in 2003, but some argued that only a President legitimated by popular vote would be able to bring Argentina out of the crisis. However, Rodríguez Saá didn't seem at all satisfied with being a caretaker President.
From the first moment, Rodríguez Saá embarked on ambitious projects aimed at giving him popularity. In his inaugural speech, he announced that Argentina would default
on its foreign debt, an announcement received by rousing applause from the members of Congress. He then proceeded to announce the issuing of a "third currency" (alongside with the peso and the dollar) to boost consumption. Later on, Rodríguez Saá announced that he would extradite every former military officer charged with human rights abuses during the Dirty War who was requested by foreign courts. Another measure was to stand down the state of siege.
There were also some unpopular designations to the Cabinet. The most notorious one was the appointment of former Mayor of Buenos Aires Carlos Grosso, arguably one of the most corrupt figures in Argentine politics. Rodríguez Saá also courted the powerful Peronist trade unions in a move that was recognized as an attempt to wrestle power from the other Peronist governors.
New riots and cacerolazos took place on Buenos Aires, with some protesters entering the Congress Palace and burning furniture. On December 30, Rodríguez Saá called for a summit of Peronist governors at the Presidential holiday retreat of Chapadmalal, 12 miles south of Mar del Plata
. Of the fourteen Peronist governors, only five attended. Realizing that he lacked support from his own party, Rodríguez Saá returned to his home province to announce his own resignation to the Presidency after barely a week in office.
Ramón Puerta refused to take over as interim President again, resigning as President Pro-Tempore of the Senate. With no President, Vice President or President Pro-Tempore of the Senate, the Presidency of Argentina was placed in the hands of the next-in-line: Eduardo Camaño
, who was the Speaker of the House of Deputies.
Camaño was to take over until a new Legislative Assembly was convened. The Assembly convened on 1 January 2002, and debated extensively before designating Senator Eduardo Duhalde
as President almost at midnight.
Duhalde was one of the top leaders of the Peronist Party. However, many had thought that Duhalde's political career was ruined after his defeat in the 1999 presidential elections. In an ironic twist of events, Duhalde was called to complete the term of the man who beat him in the elections, Fernando de la Rúa. This was not to be a provisional presidency, as Duhalde was designated to complete the interrupted term of De la Rúa until the 2003 presidential elections.
With regard to the economy Duhalde and his Economy Minister Jorge Remes Lenicov decided on an even more extreme freezing of the bank deposits, which was then coupled with the so-called pesificación ("peso-ification", a forced transformation of all dollar-denominated accounts into pesos at an arbitrary fixed exchange rate
), and a regulated devaluation
. The fixed exchange rate system was abandoned soon afterwards, which was followed by a large depreciation
(Further reading : Economy of Argentina#Modern era )
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, which took place during December 2001, with the most violent incidents taking place on December 19 and December 20 in the capital, Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Rosario and other large cities around the country.
Background
The uprising was a predominantly middle-classMiddle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
uprising against the government of President Fernando de la Rúa
Fernando de la Rúa
Fernando de la Rúa 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 ....
, who had failed to contain the economic crisis that was going through its third year of recession
Recession
In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction, a general slowdown in economic activity. During recessions, many macroeconomic indicators vary in a similar way...
. Since 1991, the Argentine peso
Argentine peso
The peso is the currency of Argentina, identified by the symbol $ preceding the amount in the same way as many countries using dollar currencies. It is subdivided into 100 centavos. Its ISO 4217 code is ARS...
was at a fixed exchange rate
Fixed exchange rate
A fixed exchange rate, sometimes called a pegged exchange rate, is a type of exchange rate regime wherein a currency's value is matched to the value of another single currency or to a basket of other currencies, or to another measure of value, such as gold.A fixed exchange rate is usually used to...
with the US dollar
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
. The 1-to-1 rate had been instrumental to overcome the chronic hyperinflation
Hyperinflation
In economics, hyperinflation is inflation that is very high or out of control. While the real values of the specific economic items generally stay the same in terms of relatively stable foreign currencies, in hyperinflationary conditions the general price level within a specific economy increases...
bursts of the late 1980s, but almost entirely deprived Argentina of control over its monetary policy, and a sudden revaluation of the dollar in 1997 ended up harming export
Export
The term export is derived from the conceptual meaning as to ship the goods and services out of the port of a country. The seller of such goods and services is referred to as an "exporter" who is based in the country of export whereas the overseas based buyer is referred to as an "importer"...
s, which were the only important source of foreign currency at the time.
De la Rúa's economic policies suffered a severe blow in March 2001 when Economy Minister José Luis Machinea
José Luis Machinea
José Luis Machinea is an Argentine economist and United Nations official.-Career:Machinea was born in Buenos Aires, and earned a degree in Economics from the Universidad Católica Argentina in 1968. He first entered public service in 1974, as a member of the Central Bank's Center for Montary and...
resigned from office. He was briefly replaced by the then-Defense Minister Ricardo López Murphy
Ricardo López Murphy
Ricardo Hipólito López Murphy is an Argentine economist and politician.-Career:López Murphy was born in Adrogué, Buenos Aires Province. He attended the National University of La Plata, where he was awarded the title of "Licenciado en Economía" in 1975...
, who himself was forced to resign following negative reception to his shock program. After only two weeks in office, López Murphy was replaced by Domingo Cavallo
Domingo Cavallo
Domingo Felipe "Mingo" Cavallo is an Argentine economist and politician. He has a long history of public service and is known for implementing the Convertibilidad plan, which fixed the dollar-peso exchange rate at 1:1 between 1991 and 2001, which brought the Argentine inflation rate down from over...
, who had previously served as Economy Minister between 1991 and 1996, and who was widely credited to be the man that took Argentina out of hyperinflation.
Cavallo took to administer the country's economy, establishing new taxes and special agreements with certain sectors of the Argentine industrial establishment. He also took to restructure Argentina's massive foreign debt in an operation known locally as the megacanje ("mega-exchange", i. e. an exchange of debt bonds for others at more advantageous conditions). From the first moment, there were allegations of corruption and money laundering
Money laundering
Money laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...
about the megacanje.
De la Rúa's political situation was also precarious. His arrival to power in 1999 had been possible thanks to the Alliance for Work, Justice and Education
Alliance for Work, Justice and Education
The Alliance for Work, Justice and Education was a party coalition in Argentina around the turn of the third millennium...
, a coalition formed by the Radical Civic Union
Radical Civic Union
The Radical Civic Union is a political party in Argentina. The party's positions on issues range from liberal to social democratic. The UCR is a member of the Socialist International. Founded in 1891 by radical liberals, it is the oldest political party active in Argentina...
and the FrePaSo
Front for a Country in Solidarity
The Front for a Country in Solidarity was a political party in Argentina. It was formed in 1994 out of the Great Front , which had been founded mainly by progressive members of the Peronist Justicialist Party who denounced the policies and the alleged corruption of the Carlos Menem administration;...
, which managed to defeat the incumbent Justicialist Party
Justicialist Party
The Justicialist Party , or PJ, is a Peronist political party in Argentina, and the largest component of the Peronist movement.The party was led by Néstor Kirchner, President of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, until his death on October 27, 2010. The current Argentine president, Cristina Fernández de...
(the Peronists) in that year's presidential elections. However, the Alliance (as it was known) failed to achieve a majority in the Senate
Argentine Senate
The Argentine Senate is the upper house of the Argentine National Congress. It has 72 senators: three for each province and three for the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires...
and the Chamber of Deputies
Argentine Chamber of Deputies
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Argentine National Congress. This Chamber holds exclusive rights to create taxes, to draft troops, and to accuse the President, the ministers and the members of the Supreme Court before the Senate....
, and lost the provincial elections to the Peronists, who then remained in charge of large and critical districts such as the Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires Province
The Province of Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous province of Argentina. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880...
, Córdoba
Córdoba Province (Argentina)
Córdoba is a province of Argentina, located in the center of the country. Neighboring provinces are : Santiago del Estero, Santa Fe, Buenos Aires, La Pampa, San Luis, La Rioja and Catamarca...
and Santa Fe
Santa Fe Province
The Invincible Province of Santa Fe, in Spanish Provincia Invencible de Santa Fe , is a province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco , Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Santiago del Estero...
provinces.
The government coalition was strained from the first moment; the FrePaSo leaders resented being "junior members" of the government (being forced to that position after losing their bid to the Governorship of Buenos Aires), while the Radicals were divided between their left- and right-leaning factions (De la Rúa was a leader of the party's conservatives), especially regarding economic policy. In late 2000 a political scandal
Political scandal
A political scandal is a kind of political corruption that is exposed and becomes a scandal, in which politicians or government officials are accused of engaging in various illegal, corrupt, or unethical practices...
broke out when it was reported that SIDE
Secretaría de Inteligencia
Secretaría de Inteligencia is the premier intelligence agency of the Argentine Republic and head of its National Intelligence System....
, Argentina's intelligence service, had paid massive bribes to a number of senators to approve a controversial Labor Reform Act. The head of SIDE, Fernando de Santibañes, was a personal friend of De la Rúa. The crisis came to a head on October 2000 when Vice President Carlos Álvarez
Carlos Álvarez (vice-president)
Carlos Alberto "Chacho" Álvarez is an Argentine politician; he was Vice-President of Argentina during part of President Fernando de la Rúa's mandate, and currently heads the Aladi Secretariat....
resigned, citing De la Rúa's unwillingness to tackle corruption.
The March 2001 crisis (see above) also caused the resignation of all the FrePaSo Cabinet ministers, leaving de la Rúa without political support. The congressional elections of October 2001 were a disaster for the government, which lost many of its seats in the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies to the Peronists. The election results marked also a growing unrest within Argentina's voters, who took to cast millions of null or blank votes. The Peronists seized the opportunity to appoint Senator Ramón Puerta
Ramón Puerta
Federico Ramón Puerta is an Argentine Peronist politician who has served as a governor, senator and national deputy and effectively acted as President of Argentina during 2001.-Biography:...
to be President Pro-Tempore of the Argentine Senate, a situation which added to De la Rúa's political weakness since in the Argentine system the President Pro-Tempore of the Senate is next in line for the Presidency after the Vice President. With no Vice President of its own, Puerta's designation meant that De la Rúa had a virtual Peronist Vice President.
Social unrest was also growing. Since the late 1990s, protest movements had formed in Argentina, notably the piquetero
Piquetero
A piquetero is a member of a political faction whose primary modus operandi is based in the piquete. The piquete is an action by which a group of people blocks a road or street with the purpose of demonstrating and calling attention over a particular issue or demand...
s ("picketeers"), initially made up of unemployed workers. The piqueteros blockade
Blockade
A blockade is an effort to cut off food, supplies, war material or communications from a particular area by force, either in part or totally. A blockade should not be confused with an embargo or sanctions, which are legal barriers to trade, and is distinct from a siege in that a blockade is usually...
d major roads and highways demanding government subsidies and other welfare measures. They featured prominently during the March 2001 crisis.
This entire crisis came to a head on November 29, 2001, when Argentines took to banks and financial institutions to withdraw millions of pesos and dollars from their accounts. Had the withdrawal continued, Argentina's entire banking system would have collapsed.
Corralito
The unrest started when Economy Minister Domingo CavalloDomingo Cavallo
Domingo Felipe "Mingo" Cavallo is an Argentine economist and politician. He has a long history of public service and is known for implementing the Convertibilidad plan, which fixed the dollar-peso exchange rate at 1:1 between 1991 and 2001, which brought the Argentine inflation rate down from over...
, introduced restrictions to the withdrawal of cash from bank deposits, intending to stop the draining of deposits that had been taking place throughout 2001 and had reached the point where 25% of all the money in the banks had been withdrawn. These measures were aimed at controlling the banking crisis for a period of 90 days, until the exchange
Debt restructuring
Debt restructuring is a process that allows a private or public company – or a sovereign entity – facing cash flow problems and financial distress, to reduce and renegotiate its delinquent debts in order to improve or restore liquidity and rehabilitate so that it can continue its...
of Argentina's public debt could be completed.
Although people could still use their money via credit card
Credit card
A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services...
s, check
Cheque
A cheque is a document/instrument See the negotiable cow—itself a fictional story—for discussions of cheques written on unusual surfaces. that orders a payment of money from a bank account...
s and other forms of non-cash payments, the enforcement of these measures caused delays and problems for the general population and especially for businesses. Massive queues at every bank and growing reports of political crisis contributed to inflame Argentina's political scenario.
In this context, certain factions of the opposition, as well as interest groups who wanted a devaluation
Devaluation
Devaluation is a reduction in the value of a currency with respect to those goods, services or other monetary units with which that currency can be exchanged....
of the Argentine peso
Argentine peso
The peso is the currency of Argentina, identified by the symbol $ preceding the amount in the same way as many countries using dollar currencies. It is subdivided into 100 centavos. Its ISO 4217 code is ARS...
, seized the opportunity to fuel public anger and replace the government.
De la Rúa's position had become unsustainable. An attempt by the Catholic Church to mediate between the government and the opposition in mid-December failed. Between December 16 and December 19 there were several incidents involving unemployed activists and protesters which demanded the handing-out of food bags from supermarkets. These incidents ended up with outright looting of supermarket
Supermarket
A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...
s and convenience store
Convenience store
A convenience store, corner store, corner shop, commonly called a bodega in Spanish-speaking areas of the United States, is a small store or shop in a built up area that stocks a range of everyday items such as groceries, toiletries, alcoholic and soft drinks, and may also offer money order and...
s on December 18, taking place on Rosario
Rosario
Rosario is the largest city in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the western shore of the Paraná River and has 1,159,004 residents as of the ....
and the Greater Buenos Aires
Greater Buenos Aires
Greater Buenos Aires is the generic denomination to refer to the megalopolis comprising the autonomous city of Buenos Aires and the conurbation around it, over the province of Buenos Aires—namely the adjacent 24 partidos or municipalities—which nonetheless do not constitute a single administrative...
areas. This was of historical significance, as the previous Radical administration of Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín was an Argentine lawyer, politician and statesman, who served as the President of Argentina from December 10, 1983, to July 8, 1989. Alfonsín was the first democratically-elected president of Argentina following the military government known as the National Reorganization...
had been forced to resign after a wave of looting
1989 riots in Argentina
The 1989 food riots were a series of riots and related episodes of looting in stores and supermarkets in Argentina, during the last part of the presidency of Raúl Alfonsín, between May and June 1989...
in 1989.
December 19
Throughout the day new lootings took place, and the Government believed that Peronist agitators were fueling the protests, especially in the province of Buenos Aires. This came after noting that the lootings often took place in Peronist-governed towns, and that the Buenos Aires Provincial Police (which ultimately answered to Buenos Aires Governor Carlos RuckaufCarlos Ruckauf
Carlos Federico Ruckauf is a Peronist politician in Argentina, member of the Justicialist Party.-Biography:Carlos Federico Ruckauf was born in the western Buenos Aires suburb of Ramos Mejía. His parents separated when he was seven, and he lived in Mar del Plata, Salta, and Buenos Aires during the...
, a top Peronist) was strangely mild in restoring order. With violence mounting across Argentina's major cities, President De la Rúa began to consider alternative measures to restore order.
The first option considered was to deploy the military to contain the violence. However, Argentine legislation forbids military intervention in domestic security matters unless the police and security forces are overwhelmed, a situation quickly pointed out by the Chairman of the Joint General Staff and the Chiefs of Staff of the Army
Argentine Army
The Argentine Army is the land armed force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of the country.- History :...
, Navy
Argentine Navy
The Navy of the Argentine Republic or Armada of the Argentine Republic is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the Army and the Air Force....
and Air Force
Argentine Air Force
The Argentine Air Force is the national aviation branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic. , it had 14,606 military and 6,854 civilian staff.-History:...
. The military also pointed out that they would only intervene if their deployment was authorized by a law voted in Congress, something impossible given the Peronist majority in both Houses. The Argentine military was unwilling to take the blame if violence grew worse, learning from what had previously happened when President Isabel Perón issued an executive order commanding them to fight the subversive guerrilla movements of the 1970s (see Dirty War
Dirty War
The Dirty War was a period of state-sponsored violence in Argentina from 1976 until 1983. Victims of the violence included several thousand left-wing activists, including trade unionists, students, journalists, Marxists, Peronist guerrillas and alleged sympathizers, either proved or suspected...
).
With military intervention no longer an option, De la Rúa resorted to declare a state of siege
State of Siege
State of Siege is a 1972 French film directed by Costa Gavras starring Yves Montand and Renato Salvatori.-Summary:...
(essentially a state of emergency
State of emergency
A state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend some normal functions of the executive, legislative and judicial powers, alert citizens to change their normal behaviours, or order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans. It can also be used as a rationale...
) throughout the country, deploying the Federal Police
Policía Federal Argentina
The Policía Federal Argentina is a police force of the Argentine federal government. The PFA has detachments throughout the country, but its main responsibility is policing the Federal District of Buenos Aires...
, the National Gendarmerie (border guard) and the Naval Prefecture (coast guard) to contain the growing violence.
Later that night, De la Rúa addressed the nation to announce the state of siege and to call the Peronists to negotiate a "government of national unity". Following the broadcast, spontaneous cacerolazo
Cacerolazo
A cacerolazo or cacerolada is a form of popular protest practised in certain Spanish-speaking countries – in particular Argentina and Chile – which consists in a group of people creating noise by banging pots, pans, and other utensils in order to call for attention...
s ("pot banging") took place throughout Buenos Aires and other major cities, signaling the middle-class' own unrest. December 19 concluded with the resignation of Domingo Cavallo, who had lost whatever support he had within the government. Groups of protesters mobilized throughout Buenos Aires, some of them arriving to Plaza de Mayo
Plaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....
, where there were incidents with the Federal Police forces.
This day is documented on video by the group Gotan Project in the song "Queremos Paz."
December 20
Throughout the morning, groups of protesters converged on Plaza de Mayo despite the state of siege. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1720607.stm The Federal Police, acting under orders from the government, proceeded to try to control the protests. An attempt by a federal judge to halt police operations was disregarded, and the situation worsened with the arrival of new groups of protesters.
As violence expanded, President De la Rúa tried to impose censorship on all news outlets from Buenos Aires. The idea was to use the state of siege to force the television networks to stop transmitting current events and broadcast emergency programming. This plan also failed because De la Rúa's own Media Secretary refused to carry out his instructions.
Meanwhile, there were violent incidents between the police and protesters throughout the country. The most notorious ones took place at the Plaza de Mayo, where five people were killed. Some claim that the deaths were provoked by covert elements of the Buenos Aires Provincial Police
Buenos Aires Provincial Police
The Buenos Aires Provincial Police is the police service responsible for policing the Province of Buenos Aires, in Argentina....
in an attempt to further destabilize De la Rúa.
With his options steadily being reduced, De la Rúa went onto national television at 4 p.m. to offer the Peronists to join the government and try to bring some peace to the country. At that time, a caucus of Peronist governors was taking place at a country villa in the province of San Luis
San Luis Province
San Luis is a province of Argentina located near the geographical center of the country . Neighboring provinces are, from the north clockwise, La Rioja, Córdoba, La Pampa, Mendoza and San Juan.-History:...
. Three hours later, Humberto Roggero, head of the Peronist bloc of the House of Deputies, announced that the Peronist Party would not be a part of a "government of national unity".
When he heard the Peronists' response, De la Rúa decided to resign from office. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0A12FC355A0C728EDDAB0994D9404482 The situation on Plaza de Mayo (right in front of the Casa Rosada
Casa Rosada
La Casa Rosada is the official seat of the executive branch of the government of Argentina, and of the offices of the President. The President normally lives at the Quinta de Olivos, a compound in Olivos, Buenos Aires Province. Its characteristic color is pink, and is considered one of the most...
, the Presidential Palace) was still too violent for De la Rúa to leave by car to his official residence at Olivos. Thus, the President's security detail decided to take him out of the Casa Rosada on board an Air Force helicopter. The images of De la Rúa's "escape" by helicopter were broadcast throughout the country.
The violence slowly abated. By the end of the day, 26 people had died, five of them in Buenos Aires. The President Pro-Tempore of the Senate, Ramón Puerta
Ramón Puerta
Federico Ramón Puerta is an Argentine Peronist politician who has served as a governor, senator and national deputy and effectively acted as President of Argentina during 2001.-Biography:...
, took over as Interim President, until Congress could appoint a successor to De la Rúa.
Rodríguez Saá Administration
According to the Acephaly Act, Puerta would only be President until the Legislative Assembly (a joint session of the Senate and the House of Deputies) convened and appointed a new President from either one member of Congress or a provincial governor to complete the resigning President's period.The Peronist governors assembled at San Luis -arguably the most powerful men in Argentina at the period- were divided on who to nominate. There were three "natural candidates", who were the governors of the three largest provinces: Carlos Ruckauf
Carlos Ruckauf
Carlos Federico Ruckauf is a Peronist politician in Argentina, member of the Justicialist Party.-Biography:Carlos Federico Ruckauf was born in the western Buenos Aires suburb of Ramos Mejía. His parents separated when he was seven, and he lived in Mar del Plata, Salta, and Buenos Aires during the...
of Buenos Aires, José Manuel de la Sota
José Manuel de la Sota
José Manuel de la Sota is an Argentine Justicialist Party politician. He was the governor of Córdoba Province from 1999 until 2007.-Biography:...
of Córdoba
Córdoba Province (Argentina)
Córdoba is a province of Argentina, located in the center of the country. Neighboring provinces are : Santiago del Estero, Santa Fe, Buenos Aires, La Pampa, San Luis, La Rioja and Catamarca...
and Carlos Reutemann
Carlos Reutemann
Carlos Alberto Reutemann , nicknamed "Lole", is an Argentine former racing driver , and later a politician in his native province of Santa Fe, for the Justicialist Party....
of Santa Fe
Santa Fe Province
The Invincible Province of Santa Fe, in Spanish Provincia Invencible de Santa Fe , is a province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco , Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Santiago del Estero...
. As a temporary arrangement, the governors decided to nominate Adolfo Rodríguez Saá
Adolfo Rodríguez Saá
Adolfo Rodríguez Saá Páez Montero is an Argentine Peronist politician. He was the governor of the province of San Luis during several terms, and briefly served as President of Argentina.-Biography:...
, Governor of San Luis. The Peronists' easy majority in both houses of Congress ensured that Rodríguez Saá was elected on December 22.
Rodríguez Saá was to be President for only three months, until Presidential elections were held in March. De la Rúa's term expired in 2003, but some argued that only a President legitimated by popular vote would be able to bring Argentina out of the crisis. However, Rodríguez Saá didn't seem at all satisfied with being a caretaker President.
From the first moment, Rodríguez Saá embarked on ambitious projects aimed at giving him popularity. In his inaugural speech, he announced that Argentina would default
Default (finance)
In finance, default occurs when a debtor has not met his or her legal obligations according to the debt contract, e.g. has not made a scheduled payment, or has violated a loan covenant of the debt contract. A default is the failure to pay back a loan. Default may occur if the debtor is either...
on its foreign debt, an announcement received by rousing applause from the members of Congress. He then proceeded to announce the issuing of a "third currency" (alongside with the peso and the dollar) to boost consumption. Later on, Rodríguez Saá announced that he would extradite every former military officer charged with human rights abuses during the Dirty War who was requested by foreign courts. Another measure was to stand down the state of siege.
There were also some unpopular designations to the Cabinet. The most notorious one was the appointment of former Mayor of Buenos Aires Carlos Grosso, arguably one of the most corrupt figures in Argentine politics. Rodríguez Saá also courted the powerful Peronist trade unions in a move that was recognized as an attempt to wrestle power from the other Peronist governors.
New riots and cacerolazos took place on Buenos Aires, with some protesters entering the Congress Palace and burning furniture. On December 30, Rodríguez Saá called for a summit of Peronist governors at the Presidential holiday retreat of Chapadmalal, 12 miles south of Mar del Plata
Mar del Plata
Mar del Plata is an Argentine city located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, south of Buenos Aires. Mar del Plata is the second largest city of Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" had apparently the sense of "sea of the Río de la Plata region" or "adjoining sea to the Río de la Plata"...
. Of the fourteen Peronist governors, only five attended. Realizing that he lacked support from his own party, Rodríguez Saá returned to his home province to announce his own resignation to the Presidency after barely a week in office.
Designation of Eduardo Duhalde
Eduardo Camaño
Eduardo Oscar Camaño is an Argentine Justicialist Party politician. He was acting head of the executive branch of the country for two days between December 31, 2001 and January 1, 2002....
, who was the Speaker of the House of Deputies.
Camaño was to take over until a new Legislative Assembly was convened. The Assembly convened on 1 January 2002, and debated extensively before designating Senator Eduardo Duhalde
Eduardo Duhalde
-External links:...
as President almost at midnight.
Duhalde was one of the top leaders of the Peronist Party. However, many had thought that Duhalde's political career was ruined after his defeat in the 1999 presidential elections. In an ironic twist of events, Duhalde was called to complete the term of the man who beat him in the elections, Fernando de la Rúa. This was not to be a provisional presidency, as Duhalde was designated to complete the interrupted term of De la Rúa until the 2003 presidential elections.
With regard to the economy Duhalde and his Economy Minister Jorge Remes Lenicov decided on an even more extreme freezing of the bank deposits, which was then coupled with the so-called pesificación ("peso-ification", a forced transformation of all dollar-denominated accounts into pesos at an arbitrary fixed exchange rate
Exchange rate
In finance, an exchange rate between two currencies is the rate at which one currency will be exchanged for another. It is also regarded as the value of one country’s currency in terms of another currency...
), and a regulated devaluation
Devaluation
Devaluation is a reduction in the value of a currency with respect to those goods, services or other monetary units with which that currency can be exchanged....
. The fixed exchange rate system was abandoned soon afterwards, which was followed by a large depreciation
Depreciation (currency)
Currency depreciation is the loss of value of a country's currency with respect to one or more foreign reference currencies, typically in a floating exchange rate system. It is most often used for the unofficial increase of the exchange rate due to market forces, though sometimes it appears...
(Further reading : Economy of Argentina#Modern era )
Sources and further reading
- Argentina in Revolt 2002 Video, 33', edited by MissDiagnosed, produced by 'massproduced' collective, available to watch online, or on DVD from www.ReelNews.co.uk