Perón• Perón used the military to stay in power.

– He increased military spending and ended the draft.– The number of officers increased and many of them were

given control of key industries and gov’t agencies.– To maintain his power among the labor class Perón’s gov’t

established the following:• Minimum wage• Controlled length of workday• Made it difficult for employers to fire workers• Established working condition regulations in major industries

– Unions not affiliated with the gov’t were allowed to exist but any strikes were thwarted by the gov’t and the members were not given benefits that recognized unions did

Perón– As a result of Perón’s tactics, non-recognized

unions quickly dissolved– Perón also removed anyone who opposed him from

positions of power and influence• In 1947, Perón disbanded the Partido Laborista and

created the Sole Party of the National Revolution

• One of Perón’s greatest allies, as we know, was his wife Eva (Evita). – She helped Perón’s regime to connect the urban

poor (descamisados- “shirtless ones”) and women – Through her aid foundation she gave out large

sums of money to women’s groups and the impoverished

Perón– Perón had Congress pass legislation that increased women’s

access to university and improved their working conditions

– In 1951. 90% of the eligible women voted in the election and 65% cast their vote for Perón

• Prior to the 1946 election the junta had taken control of the Central Bank and established price and production boards– This action along with new currency and banking regulations

gave Perón complete independence in Argentina’s new fiscal policy

– Perón supported industrial investment and expansion in hopes of strengthening Argentina and tie laborers and industrialists to Perón

– Perón and his supporters believed if Argentina could develop industry that it would protect them in an economic crisis

Perón– Initially, Perón‘s economic program was successful

• From 1949 on, Perón’s programs were less successful– Argentina and the US were competing in the sale

of beef and wheat– Europe was devastated by WWII so Argentina could

not trade with any of those countries– Instituto Argentino de Promoción del Intercambio

(Argentine Institute for the Promotion of Trade, aka IAPI) was formed to help create new industries

Perón– Perón also used the IAPI to purchase foreign

owned assets and to promote himself as the protector of Argentina nationalism

– According to Perón, the centralized, plannned development of Argentina’s economy represented a middle way between Communism and capitalism

Perón’s fall from Power• Severe recession and drought-induced bad

harvests after 1949 will lead to Perón’s downfall– The 1948 US Marshall Plan gave loans to western

Europe that could only be used in the US or Canada

– Argentine farmers were receiving less money for their export crops than the gov’t was receiving from foreign countries

• As a result, many farmers switched from corn and wheat (whose prices were controlled by the IAPI) to non-price controlled cattle feed crops of oats and alfalfa.(http://www.pacificislandtravel.com/south_america/argentina/about_destin/wpeC4.jpg)

Perón’s fall from Power

– Real wages dropped 20% from 1949-1952 as inflation reached 30% per year.

– Perón abandoned his ultra-nationalistic program and actively solicited foreign investment

• Foreign capital used modern technology and machines which tended to create unemployment in the affected industrial sectors

• In order to maintain gov’t expenditures and a bloated bureaucracy and military in the face of declining revenues, the gov’t printed more money

– The circulation amount went from 6 billion to 45 billion pesos

Perón’s fall from Power

• Perón attempted to divert attention from the economic issues with terrible results– The regime grew more repressive– He used his National Liberating Alliance, a private

army of thugs, and the federal police force to intimidate political opposition

• Torture, imprisonment, censorship, and exile for opponents became commonplace.

– After Evita’s death, Perón tried to make the Catholic church recognize her as a saint

Perón’s fall from Power– This attack on the church further antagonized the

military that was already frustrated by his cult of personality and the promotion of men due to their support and loyalty and not their ability

– Perón’s labor class support declined as inflation reduced the value of their pay

– The last straw for the nationalist military was the selling of oil rights to Standard Oil in 1953

• Perón’s multi-class coalition was gone and his power was in serious jeopardy

Perón’s fall from Power• September 1955: military coup takes place and Perón

is ousted and exiled to Spain– Perón solved none of Argentina’s major economic problems– The nation’s transportation system continued to be

inadequate and obsolete– The scarcity of electricity made industrial modernization next

to impossible– Argentina did not produce enough coal, oil and natural gas

to meet domestic needs and this created a drain on the balance of payments

– Industry remained limited for the most part to import-substitution light industry

– Perón did nothing to break the control of the hacienda owners on Argentina’s agricultural production

Argentina after Perón• After Perón was exiled Argentina had several

problems:– Chronic inflation– Large budget deficits– Significant trade imbalances

• Because of the way Perón set up the gov’t (system of gaining political support from the urban masses and not sustain economic development) all of the problems lead to social upheaval as one gov’t after another attempted to deal with the legacy of Perón.

Argentina after Perón• 1955-58 the military ran the country.• The Peronist party and Peronist labor unions were

outlawed and arrested.• The army dictatorship solved none of Argentina’s

economic problems and its repression of Peronism created significant opposition to the regime.

• 1958: elections allowed and Aruro Frondizi was elected pres.

• 1962: Frondizi allowed the Peronist party to run as long as Perón himself did not run– The Peronists won 10 governorships and the majority in the

country’s provisional legislatures– 1963: because of the strong Peronist showing the military

arrested Frondizi and bans the Peronists, reestablishing the military junta.

Argentina after Perón• The military was split between conservatives

who did not trust politicians to lead the country out of the economic mess and liberals who believed in representative democracy.– Everyone in the military agreed changes to the

economy were necessary.• Problem: genuine democracy could not exist without

Peronists since they represented the majority of the people.

• And yet it was the Peronists that blocked any reforms.

• Election 1963: Arturo Illia won– He also legalized the Peronist party and they won

the congressional elections– The military overthrew Illia in 1966

Argentina after Perón• General Juan Carlos Onganía became pres.

– Onganía used Franco’s Spanish model to create reforms in his so called “Argentine Revolution”

• Military would keep order• The technocrats would modernize the country

– Onganía viewed universities as hotbeds for liberalism and Marxism so he put them under state control.

– Onganía’s plan seemed to work• Inflation fell from 30 to 10%• Farm exports generated revenue for the gov’t and hard

currency for industrial improvements.• High tariffs protected Argentine industries.

Argentina after Perón• Underneath the surface all was not well.

– Farmers resented the export taxes on their goods. – Scheduled devaluation of the Argentine peso made

imports more expensive and angered consumers and industrialists

– Wages were frozen and workers, naturally, protested– May 1969 in Córdoba: students and auto workers

rioted because of the economic condition and the gov’ts control of higher education

• Known as the cordobazo, the two days of rioting lead to the occupation and trahing of gov’t buildings.

– The army finally restored order

Argentina after Perón• The cordobazo lead Peronists and Marxists to believe the only

method to overthrow the right wing military was direct violent action.

• June 1970: Onganía removed from power and a new military junta took control

• 1970 Argentina was socially, politically, and economically divided.– In 1973, the junta legalized the Peronist party and allowed

Perón back to Argentina. – The myth of Perón was greater than the man.

• He was in his 70’s and ailing• His new wife, Isabel (Panamanian night club dancer) was no Evita• Peronist Party was fractured

– On the right were “middle grounders”-fascists– In the middle: those who favored representative democracy– Left: the youth who favored a violent “war of national liberation”

» They called themselves the Montoneros (a name taken from the mounted soldiers during the wars for independence)

Argentina after Perón• 9/1973: Perón elected pres. With 62% of the vote

– His wife elected VP– Perón reinstated many of the 1940’s economic policies and spoke out

against the left-wing of his movement– Before he could take any action against the lefties in his party he died

(July 1, 1974) leaving Isabel pres. (unprepared)

• 1960’s left-wing indurgency developed– The Montoneros were active in urban areas– The Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo (Revolutionary Army

of the People, ERP) was the main force in the countryside• To get cash for their activities the Montoneros would kidnap political

leaders for ransom and rob banks.• “Enemies of the people” were assassinated.• The ERP attacked military and police sites.

Argentina after Perón• In Nov. 1974 the military convinced Isabel to

declare a state of emergency.– This allowed the military to go after the guerrillas with

little regard fro civil liberties.– They worked with the Alianza Argentina

Anticomunista (Argentine Anticomunnist Aliance, AAA) in an offensive known as the “Dirty War”

• Death squads detained, tortured and murdered anyone they suspected of subversion

– Estimates place the number of “disappearances” in this time period at 10,000 to 20,000

• 1976: the military deposed Isabel• They had no solutions and Argentina remained stagnant

Argentina after Perón• Dec. 1979 General Leopoldo Galtieri became

pres. • He wanted to tie the military to nationalism to

take the people’s minds off the economic problems and to broaden support for the gov’t– Since independence Argentina claimed the Malvinas

(Falklands) Islands located off the coast of Argentina. • England controlled the islands since 1833• The English used these islands for whaling and coaling

stations in the 19th and early 20th centuries but the population of 2100 were in the 1980’s mostly sheepherders. Little strategic value to the English

– April 2, 1982 Argentina moved into and occupied the islands

Argentina after Perón• The occupation was initially popular among the

people.– But things did not fo as planned– England refused to give up the islands.

• They sent a naval force to deal with it. They blocked any Argentine reinforcements.

– The US failed to intervene and then sided with the English, blocked arms sales to Argentina and offered the English logistical support

• 72 day war a total defeat for Argentina• Cost of the totally meaningless war:

– England: 255 men, 7 ships, 10 fighter jets, 23 helicopters– Argentina: 635 men, 10,000 captured, 1 cruiser, 1

submarine, several supply boats, air force lost 109 aircraft

Argentina after Perón• The war completely discredited the gov’t and the military.

Galtieri resigned and the army promised a return of democracy.

• 1983-1995• Raúl Alfonsin of the Radical Party was elected pres. In

1983– In addition to the economic crisis Alfonsin had to deal with

bringing to justice those responsible for the “Dirty War”– Even before the fall of the junta, the Las Madres de Plaza de

Mayo (Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, Los Madres) demanded an accounting of the “diappeared”

– Military claimed their actions were just considering the internal violence at the time

– Alfonsin agreed to block any prosecution of those ordered to commit human rights violations during the Dirty War. However, those who made the orders were prosecuted and sent to prison

Argentina after Perón• Side note: 1996- an ex-naval officer to ld of “death flights”

where leftists were drugged and thrown from the plane in the Atlantic ocean.

• 1989: Peronists regained control when Carlos Menem became pres.– Relected in 1995– He was no more successful than his predecessors at solving

any issues– Since 1983, Argentina has been a democracy.

• Sadly, no group has been able to fix any problem.• Gov’t corruption is widespread, inflation still a problem, debt is

growing, banking is in constant danger of collapse, 14% has a high school diploma, only 4% are college grads, military is lurking always, agriculture is not productive when compared to other industrial nations, and industrial growth is not self-sustaining.

– Argentina’s future looks like a continuation of the past with no solutions in sight.