{"id":387,"date":"2012-08-16T11:58:37","date_gmt":"2012-08-16T16:58:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/library.brown.edu\/modernlatinamerica\/?page_id=387"},"modified":"2012-08-16T11:58:37","modified_gmt":"2012-08-16T16:58:37","slug":"figures-in-argentinean-history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/chapters\/chapter-9-argentina\/figures-in-argentinean-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Argentine Profiles and Personalities"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div id=\"attachment_1288\" style=\"width: 192px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2012\/08\/Juan-Manuel-de-Rosas.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1288\" class=\" wp-image-1288 \" title=\"Juan Manuel de Rosas \" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2012\/08\/Juan-Manuel-de-Rosas.jpg\" width=\"182\" height=\"246\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1288\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Juan Manuel de Rosas<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Juan Manuel de Rosas (March 30, 1793 \u2013 March 14, 1877)<\/strong> A politically ambitious cattle rancher from the province of Buenos Aires, he won the governorship of his province in 1829 and later extended his rule over all of Argentina. He built a powerful government machine, with an enforcement squad (<em>mazorcas<\/em>) that terrorized all who dared oppose him. His eventual undoing was his effort to apply his dictatorial tactics to Argentina\u2019s foreign policy. He provoked a powerful opposition alliance that included Brazil, Uruguay, as well as the Argentine General Justo Jos\u00e9\u00a0de Urquiza (r. 1853-1859) who deposed Rosas in 1852.<\/li>\n<li>\n<div id=\"attachment_1289\" style=\"width: 192px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2012\/08\/432px-Evita_color.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1289\" class=\" wp-image-1289 \" title=\"Eva Per\u00f3n\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2012\/08\/432px-Evita_color.jpg\" width=\"182\" height=\"246\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1289\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Eva Per\u00f3n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Eva Per\u00f3n (May 7, 1919 \u2013 July 26, 1952)<\/strong> The second wife of President Juan Per\u00f3n, and First Lady of Argentina from 1946 until her death in 1952, Eva (commonly known as Evita) was a political power in her own right. She established a popular base by setting up her own foundation and dispersing cash and benefits personally. Her charisma and generosity won her a fanatical following that gave both her and her husband tremendous political influence.<\/li>\n<li>\n<div id=\"attachment_1290\" style=\"width: 192px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2012\/08\/JuanDomingoPeron1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1290\" class=\"wp-image-1290 \" title=\"Juan Domingo Per\u00f3n\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2012\/08\/JuanDomingoPeron1.jpg\" width=\"182\" height=\"246\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1290\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Juan Domingo Per\u00f3n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Juan Domingo Per\u00f3n (1895-1974) <\/strong>A man of middle class origins, Juan Domingo Per\u00f3n rose to the rank of colonel in the Argentine Army and took a significant role in the military coup by the United Officers\u2019 Group (GOU) against the conservative civilian government of President Ram\u00f3n Castillo. Per\u00f3n became secretary of labor, using the position to court the support of industrial\u00a0workers. He later became minister of war and vice president, but was jailed by rivals among the military officers who feared his growing popularity. After a massive demonstration prompted his release in October 1945, he entered the presidential contest of 1946. He won the elections with 54% of the vote.\u00a0Once in office, Per\u00f3n organized Argentinean society on strict corporatist lines, enacted a Five Year Economic Plan, and created a state monopoly over the export of key agricultural crops. Urban workers became his most important political ally as he\u00a0prompted\u00a0his brand of social justice and public welfare known as <em>Justicialismo<\/em>.\u00a0With Evita at his side, Juan Domingo Per\u00f3n built an imposing political machine that would endure in Argentina even after his ouster by military conspirators in 1955. He continued to exercise political influence even while in exile (1955-1973). He returned in 1973, and was elected president after a brief presidency by H\u00e9ctor C\u00e1mpora. Per\u00f3n died, however, after only a year back in power, and his vice-president and third wife, Isabel, took the reigns of government.\u00a0His legacy in Argentina is mixed: he increased basic rights for workers, vastly improved the infrastructure and modernized the economy. However, the economy eventually\u00a0stagnated\u00a0under his rule, he doubled the size of the state bureaucracy, and had\u00a0autocratic\u00a0tendencies that spared neither the left or the right. His\u00a0selection\u00a0of his third wife as Vice President had disastrous consequences as her\u00a0incompetence\u00a0encouraged Argentine General Jorge Videla to seize power amidst mounting political violence.\u00a0Peronism survives today in Argentina as a legitimate political\u00a0philosophy\u00a0of populism, nationalism, and international political independence. The Justicialist Party, which includes current President of Argentina Cristina Kirchner, is an offshoot of Peronism.<\/li>\n<li>\n<div id=\"attachment_1291\" style=\"width: 192px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2012\/08\/447px-Menem_con_banda_presidencial.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1291\" class=\" wp-image-1291 \" title=\"Carlos Menem\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2012\/08\/447px-Menem_con_banda_presidencial.jpg\" width=\"182\" height=\"246\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1291\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carlos Menem<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Carlos Menem (1930- )<\/strong> Elected to the Presidency in 1990, Carlos Menem inherited a country with an inflation rate that exceeded 150 percent per month and an external debt that was nearly $4 billion in\u00a0arrears. Though a peronist, Menem reversed traditional economic course, privatizing state-owned companies and championing a neoliberal economic doctrine. However, his decision to peg the Peso to the U.S. dollar to be an \u201canchor\u201d for economic confidence caused a massive overvaluation of the peso and a subsequent trade deficit of more than $6 billion in 1994. During this time, nearly half of the country\u2019s middle class slipped down into the lower class and unemployment more than doubled. However, despite the contractions brought by his \u201chard money\u201d policies, the economy eventually grew, as the neoliberal model brought unprecedented\u00a0economic growth and stability through the second half of the 1990s. Menem won two presidencies before choosing not to run for a third in 1999. Also of significance was Menem\u2019s decision that there would be no continuing sentences or prosecutions for human-rights offenses committed in the\u00a0dirty\u00a0war. He offered a round of pardons in favor of former leaders of the military government.<\/li>\n<li>\n<div id=\"attachment_1292\" style=\"width: 256px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2012\/08\/Kirchner_marzo_2007_Congreso.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1292\" class=\" wp-image-1292  \" title=\"N\u00e9stor Kirchner\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2012\/08\/Kirchner_marzo_2007_Congreso.jpg\" width=\"246\" height=\"182\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1292\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">N\u00e9stor Kirchner<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>N\u00e9stor\u00a0Kirchner (1950-2010)<\/strong> A minor Peronist ex-governor, Kirchner earned popular support in the 2003 presidential elections by asserting his independence from the well-oiled Peronist political machine, and condemning the military\u2019s human rights abuses by overturning the amnesty laws promulgated under Carlos Menem. As president, he restricted Argentina\u2019s $178 billion debt, paid off loans to the IMF, and renationalized some key industries. He strengthened Argentina\u2019s role in the regional market group, MERCOSUR, oversaw a major agricultural export boom. He decided not to run for a second term in 2007, backing his wife, then Senator Cristina Fern\u00e1ndez\u00a0de Kirchner for President.<\/li>\n<li>\n<div id=\"attachment_1293\" style=\"width: 256px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2012\/08\/CFK_en_las_NU.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1293\" class=\" wp-image-1293 \" title=\"Cristina Kirchner\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2012\/08\/CFK_en_las_NU.jpg\" width=\"246\" height=\"182\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1293\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cristina Fern\u00e1ndez de Kirchner<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Cristina Fern\u00e1ndez de Kirchner (1953- )<\/strong> Cristina Fern\u00e1ndez\u00a0de Kirchner became the first Argentine woman directly elected to the presidency in 2008, and the second to serve as president. She has revived Peronist-style populism and has advocated for a larger state role in the management of the economy. In the spring of 2012, Kirchner angered European investors after she announced that the government would be taking a majority stake in the Spanish owned oil company, YPF. However, the nationalistic move and her attention to the plight of the poor has won her widespread popular support.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 Juan Manuel de Rosas (March 30, 1793 \u2013 March 14, 1877) A politically ambitious cattle rancher from the province of Buenos Aires, he won the governorship of his province in 1829 and later extended his rule over all of &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/chapters\/chapter-9-argentina\/figures-in-argentinean-history\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"parent":370,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"sidebar-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-387","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/387\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}