Eduardo Duhalde

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Eduardo Duhalde
Víctor Hipolito Martínez
Succeeded byCarlos Ruckauf
National Senator
In office
11 December 2001 – 2 January 2002
ConstituencyBuenos Aires
Member of the Constitutional Convention
In office
1 May 1994 – 22 August 1994
ConstituencyBuenos Aires
Governor of Buenos Aires
In office
10 December 1991 – 10 December 1999
Vice GovernorRafael Romá
Preceded byAntonio Cafiero
Succeeded byCarlos Ruckauf
National Deputy
In office
10 December 1987 – 6 July 1989
ConstituencyBuenos Aires
Mayor of Lomas de Zamora
In office
11 December 1983 – 10 December 1987
Preceded byMilitary Junta
Succeeded byHugo Toledo
In office
8 August 1974 – 24 March 1976
Preceded byPedro Pablo Turner
Succeeded byMilitary Junta
Personal details
Born
Eduardo Alberto Duhalde

(1941-10-05) 5 October 1941 (age 82)
Hilda Beatriz González
Alma materUniversity of Buenos Aires
Signature

Eduardo Alberto Duhalde (Spanish pronunciation:

Governor of Buenos Aires
in the 1990s.

Born in

intendente (mayor) in 1973. He was deposed during the 1976 Argentine coup d'état, and elected again when democracy was restored in 1983. He was elected vice-president of Argentina in 1989, under President Carlos Menem. Duhalde resigned as vice president and was elected Governor of Buenos Aires Province
in 1991, and re-elected in 1995.

He ran for president in 1999, being defeated by Fernando de la Rúa. De la Rúa resigned during the December 2001 riots, and Congress appointed the governor of San Luis Province Adolfo Rodríguez Saá as president. When Rodríguez Saá also resigned, Congress appointed Duhalde. During Duhalde's term in office, a huge currency devaluation and an increase of the exchange rate led to a gradual recovery. He successfully supported the candidate Néstor Kirchner against Menem, who sought a new presidential term. Duhalde had political disputes with Kirchner in later years, and is largely retired from politics since his defeat in the 2011 presidential elections.

Duhalde has been accused of having connections to

drug trafficking, but there is no evidence of this.[3]

Early life

Eduardo Duhalde in 1974

Eduardo Alberto Duhalde was born in

real estate broker during the following years.[7]

Democratic rule was restored in 1983, and Duhalde ran for mayor of Lomas de Zamora. Being a centrist, the PJ appointed him candidate as a compromise between the internal opposing factions. The elections ended in a technical tie with the candidate of the Radical Civic Union (UCR), Horacio Devoy; Duhalde won by just 700 votes. There was a tie in the elections for the local legislature as well, as both the PJ and UCR got eleven legislators.[6] Duhalde reported that a colonel sought his support for a possible coup against the newly elected president Raúl Alfonsín. Duhalde refused and reported directly to Alfonsín himself.[8][9] He was elected national deputy in 1987, and became vice president of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies. He established a commission to fight drug addiction during his term of office.[10]

Vice presidency and governorship

Ballot of the Justicialist Party for the 1989 presidential elections

The PJ held primary elections for the 1989 presidential elections between Carlos Menem, governor of La Rioja, and Antonio Cafiero, governor of the Buenos Aires Province. Menem won these elections, with Duhalde as candidate for the vice presidency under his ticket, and then won the general elections. Duhalde did not like the legislative work, and preferred to work with the actual administration of a district.[7] Menem suggested that he run for governor of the populous Buenos Aires Province, which Duhalde accepted on the condition of a great budget aid to the province. This proposal was supported in Congress by Alfonsín, which led to a steady alliance between both politicians.[11] Duhalde was elected governor, ending the political influence of Cafiero.[12]

Duhalde intended to run for the presidency in 1995, after Menem's term in office. Menem promoted the

MODIN) joined forces in a "triple alliance" to prevent the sanction of the re-election. Eventually, the MODIN changed sides and supported the re-election, on the condition that a provincial referendum approved it.[13] The referendum allowed the re-election of Duhalde, who won the main elections as well. Menem was also re-elected in the 1995 general elections. Duhalde increased his criticism of Menem, stating that he should leave the neoliberal policies and head a government closer to the Peronist doctrines.[14]

As the new constitution allowed re-election a single time, the PJ started an internal discussion over the leadership of the party after the presidency of Menem. Duhalde announced his intentions to run for president in 1999 shortly after the 1995 elections, leading to a fierce dispute with Menem. The president promoted an advertisement campaign "Menem '99", despite the term limit, to avoid being considered a

scandal over Argentine arms sales to Ecuador and Croatia, and harmed the reputation of the entire PJ. Other scandals involved Duhalde more directly, such as the corruption cases in the Buenos Aires provincial police and the murder of the news photographer José Luis Cabezas. The PJ lost the 1997 midterm elections, and Menem renewed the "Menem '99" campaign. Eventually, the Supreme Court ruled that his attempt to run for another presidential term was unconstitutional. Ortega run for vice president under Duhalde's ticket, but Duhalde was defeated by the radical Fernando de la Rúa.[16]

De la Rúa's government would face an

peso-dollar parity despite the costs generated by it.[18] Duhalde and other Peronists interviewed by Ceferino Reato for the book Doce noches said that the party had no interest in removing De la Rúa from power, because he was so unpopular that the party would win the 2003 presidential elections without a problem.[19]

Presidency

Appointment

Duhalde takes the oath of office as president of Argentina.

De la Rúa headed the country during an

economic crisis, and resigned during the December 2001 riots. As his vice president had already resigned months before, Congress was convened to appoint a new president. Eleven provinces with low populations and Peronist governors had formed a bloc, the "Federal Front", and received the required votes to appoint the governor of San Luis Province, Adolfo Rodríguez Saá.[20] The first administrative actions of Rodríguez Saá caused renewed protests, and the PJ did not fully support him. He called for a meeting with governors in Chapadmalal, but only six governors out of twenty-three attended. He resigned a few days later,[21] and accused Duhalde of plotting against him, along with the governor of Córdoba, José Manuel de la Sota.[22]

The Congress was convened again to appoint a new president. The "Federal Front" was weakened by the failure of Rodríguez Saá, and the provinces with higher populations increased their influence. The likely candidates were Duhalde, De la Sota, and Carlos Ruckauf, the governor of the Buenos Aires province at the time.[20] Menem, who still had legislators loyal to him, wanted to prevent Duhalde from becoming president, and proposed to appoint the governor of Misiones Ramón Puerta instead. Puerta had been the acting president while Congress deliberated the first time, but he refused to be appointed president or even to serve as acting president a second time (Eduardo Camaño became the acting president as a result).[23] Puerta talked with Duhalde, and opined that without De la Rúa and Álvarez he was the politician with the highest legitimacy to be appointed president, as he had placed second in the 1999 elections and won the 2001 legislative elections in the Buenos Aires province, the district of Argentina with the largest population.[24] Alfonsín gave Duhalde decisive support, instructing the radical legislators to vote for him, and giving him two ministers, the radicals Horacio Jaunarena and Jorge Vanossi. The legislators loyal to Menem eventually voted for Duhalde as well. The radicals' support allowed Duhalde to govern for the remainder of De la Rúa's term of office, instead of governing for 90 days and calling for new elections, as was the case of Rodríguez Saá.[25] Duhalde was appointed president on 2 January 2002.

Economic policy

Depositors protest in February 2002 against the corralito, which forbade them from withdrawing money from their bank accounts. The measure was lifted in December.

Duhalde, Alfonsín, their parties, the unions and the Church all agreed to promote policies to increase the industrial growth of the country. For this purpose, Duhalde created the ministry of production, with functions that used to belong to the ministries of economy and foreign relations. The new minister was

dollarization of the Argentine economy, Duhalde preferred to instead stick to the peso and order a devaluation. Although it was initially expected to make a 40% devaluation, the exchange rate of 1 peso to 1 dollar jumped to 3 pesos to 1 dollar, a 200% devaluation.[27] The higher dollar price allowed for more lucrative exports, increased economic activity and a growth in the employment rates, but at the cost of a higher cost of living.[28]

The financial operations made in dollars were subject to a strong currency substitution to pesos, the "pesification". There were disputes over the

alternative currency, on the condition that they transferred the power to issue bonds.[34]

Jorge Remes Lenicov resigned in April, alongside ministers De Mendiguren and Capitanich. Peronist governors, legislators, and union leaders met at the Quinta de Olivos, amid rumors that Duhalde would appoint the populist Daniel Carbonetto as minister of economy. They gave their full support to the president and the economic policies instrumented so far. As a result, Duhalde appointed the conservative Roberto Lavagna. Lavagna was the Argentine ambassador to the European Union, and switched offices with Remes Lenicov. He was suggested by Governor Carlos Ruckauf and supported by Alfonsín.[35] He stabilised prices and the exchange rate with tight fiscal and monetary policies, and prevented the crisis from growing into a hyperinflation. The recovery also benefited from the idle capacity of the economy.[36]

Domestic policy

On the political level, Duhalde's presidency was strongly influenced by his feud with Menem. Menem wanted to run for a new term as president in the 2003 election, and Duhalde wanted to prevent it. To this purpose, he sought other candidates that may have defeated him. Some of these potential candidates were Carlos Reutemann, José Manuel de la Sota, Mauricio Macri, Adolfo Rodríguez Saá, Felipe Solá and Roberto Lavagna, but none of those negotiations bore fruit. The scandal over the death of the piqueteros Maximiliano Kosteki and Darío Santillán in the Avellaneda massacre forced Duhalde to rush the elections by six months.[37] As a result, he chose Néstor Kirchner, governor of Santa Cruz Province, despite his reservations.[38] Kirchner was fifth in the presidential polls, and was mostly unknown by the public. Duhalde speculated that, although Menem had a large number of willing voters to begin with, he was also very unpopular. Thus, Menem might have won the elections but if the results called for a ballotage, most of the population would rally under any candidate with a chance to defeat him.[39]

To harm Menem's chances even further, the 2003 election used a variant of the

Ley de Lemas for a single time. This way, the Peronists Menem, Kirchner and Rodríguez Saá did not run for primary elections, but faced each other directly in the open election. None of the three candidates ran on the Justicialist Party ticket, but for special parties created for the occasion: Menem for the "Front for Loyalty", Kirchner for the "Front for Victory" and Rodríguez Saá (who run for president anyway, but as a critic of Duhalde) for the "Front of the National and Popular Movement". It was also announced that Lavagna would stay as minister of Economy during a presidency of Kirchner, to capitalize the support for the ongoing economic policies. Menem defeated Kirchner in the elections, benefited by the lack of popular candidates, but gave up running for a ballotage, fearing that he would lose this special election.[40]

Foreign policy

US secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld and Argentine minister of defense Horacio Jaunarena.

Duhalde was appointed president in the aftermath of the

War on Terror. Initially, the Argentine society was divided on how to manage the bilateral relations with the US. One group wanted to keep the close relations of the previous decade, as Argentina might need foreign help to deal with the crisis. The other group preferred to maintain more distant relations. Duhalde sought to strike a balance between both options, and eventually leaned towards the second when the US refused to help Argentina.[41]

Argentina voted in the United Nations condemning the human rights violations in Cuba, but refused to send military forces to Afghanistan and Iraq. Still, Duhalde proposed to send peacekeeping troops, and strongly criticized the regime of Saddam Hussein and international terrorism. Duhalde increased his criticism of the United States during the final years of his government, and changed the vote in relation to Cuba to an abstention. Those changes were motivated by the upcoming 2003 elections. Menem, who was running for a third term as president, supported the vote condemning Cuba and the military aid to the United States.[42]

The devaluation caused a diplomatic conflict with Spain, as Duhalde did not allow the Spanish service providers to raise taxes. So far, they received their income according to the dollar exchange rate, and intended to raise taxes to compensate their losses. The Argentine government considered that the effects of the crisis were already grave enough for the people, and further price increases would only worsen the situation. José María Aznar, prime minister of Spain, talked with Duhalde on behalf of the Spanish firms.[43] The taxes were not raised, but Aznar stayed on good terms with Duhalde, and ratified the good relations with the country regardless of the victor of the 2003 elections.[44]

Later years

Duhalde during the 2011 campaign

Duhalde was succeeded by Néstor Kirchner on 25 May 2003. Kirchner soon distanced himself from Duhalde, and removed all the people close to Duhalde from the government to reduce his political influence. Kirchner also sought supporters from all the social and political spectra to counter the influence of Duhalde within the party. However, both men delayed an open dispute and stuck together during the 2003 legislative elections, held in October.

2005 midterm elections. Without consensus in the PJ for a single candidate for senator of the Buenos Aires province, both leaders had their respective wives run for the office: Hilda González de Duhalde for the PJ, and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner for the Front for Victory, which was kept by the Kirchners.[46] Cristina Kirchner won those elections.[47]

On 23 December 2009, Duhalde announced his intention to run for the presidency in the 2011 presidential elections.[48] Néstor Kirchner had been succeeded by Cristina Kirchner in the presidency, staying as a highly influential figure, and it was still unclear which of the Kirchners would run in 2011. Many mayors of the Buenos Aires province were unsure whether to support Duhalde or the Kirchners.[47] Duhalde organized the Federal Peronism faction, with members of the PJ opposing the Kirchners. Néstor Kirchner died in October 2010; the subsequent state funeral halted the campaign for a few months.

The Federal Peronism organized primary elections for the 2011 presidential elections between Duhalde and governor

Unión Popular ticket.[52] He received nearly 6% of the vote in the main elections, a large difference from the number of votes cast for the main candidates, and Hilda Duhalde was not reelected as senator.[53] In 2017 he announced that he intends to run for president of the PJ.[54]

Personal life

Duhalde worked as a pool lifeguard before embarking on his political career. He met Hilda González at the pool in 1970 and they married the following year. They have five sons and seven grandsons. They live in a country house in San Vicente, Buenos Aires, named "Don Tomás" after Duhalde's father. The house had been donated for the creation of a foster care center which was never built, and was reclaimed by Duhalde. The rebuilt site includes a large grove, a pool, a tennis field, and an artificial lake.[7]

Duhalde has largely retired from politics since his defeat in the 2011 elections. He sought to make amends with Menem for their past political rivalry, and met him during the 2013

funeral of Pope John Paul II.[55]

References

  1. from the original on 9 December 2020. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  2. ^ "Galería de Presidentes". Archived from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
  3. ^ "Duhalde y el Narcotrafico: Toda la verdad".
  4. ^ Walter Curia (27 January 2007). "Intendente en años difíciles" [Mayor in difficult years] (in Spanish). Clarín. Archived from the original on 2 October 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  5. ^ Mariano Pérez de Eulat (22 March 1998). "Duhalde vuelve a diferenciarse" [Duhalde sets himself apart again] (in Spanish). Clarín. Archived from the original on 2 October 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  6. ^ a b "Duhalde, el intendente del 83" [Duhalde, the mayor of the 83] (in Spanish). Clarín. 24 October 1999. Archived from the original on 25 September 2016. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
  7. ^ a b c Maia Jastreblansky (6 October 2011). "Duhalde: de bañero ganador a político de raza" [Duhalde: from life guard winner to experimented politician]. La Nación (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 19 June 2017. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
  8. ^ Reato, p. 60
  9. .
  10. ^ "Perfil de Eduardo Duhalde" [Profile of Eduardo Duhalde]. La Nación (in Spanish). 1 January 2002. Archived from the original on 20 December 2013. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
  11. ^ Reato, p. 58
  12. ^ Romero, p. 282
  13. ^ "A 20 años de la reforma constitucional bonaerense" [20 years after the constitutional amendment of the Buenos Aires Province] (in Spanish). El Parlamentario. 4 October 2014. Archived from the original on 22 April 2016. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  14. ^ Romero, p. 286
  15. ^ Romero, p. 292
  16. ^ Romero, pp. 292–296
  17. ^ "Duhalde constantly said that we should change the president; something he did with me and repeated with Adolfo Rodríguez Saá, victim of the second civil coup." (De la Rúa) – Mendelevich, p. 255
  18. ^ "It is easier to believe that Duhalde plotted against De la Rúa, something false, than understanding that De la Rúa dug his own grave by keeping that economic policy" (Terragno) – Mendelevich, p. 254
  19. ^ Reato, p. 305
  20. ^ a b Reato, p. 54
  21. ^ Reato, pp. 15–34
  22. ^ Reato, p. 39
  23. ^ Reato, pp. 54–55
  24. ^ Reato, pp. 55–56
  25. ^ Reato, pp. 60–66
  26. ^ Reato, pp. 333–334
  27. ^ a b Reato, p. 358
  28. ^ Reato, pp. 337–338
  29. ^ Reato, p. 359
  30. ^ Reato, p. 360
  31. ^ Reato, p. 368
  32. ^ Reato, p. 370
  33. ^ Reato, p. 372
  34. ^ Reato, pp. 370–371
  35. ^ Reato, pp. 378–381
  36. ^ "After Lavagna, an uncertain tilt towards populism". The Economist. 1 December 2005. Archived from the original on 25 April 2016. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  37. ^ Pablo Morosi (26 June 2003). "El piquete que cambió la Argentina" [The picket that changed Argentina]. La Nación (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 31 May 2016. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  38. ^ Fraga, p. 20
  39. ^ Walter Curia (15 May 2003). "Al final, Menem presentó su renuncia y Kirchner ya es el nuevo presidente" [In the end, Menem resigned and Kirchner is the new president] (in Spanish). Clarín. Archived from the original on 18 April 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  40. ^ Fraga, p. 21
  41. ^ Domínguez, p. 101
  42. ^ Dominguez, pp. 101–102
  43. ^ Silvia Pisani (6 January 2002). "En España reniegan del plan de Duhalde" [They complain in Spain about Duhalde's plan]. La Nación (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 1 June 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  44. ^ Danielle Carlos Algañaraz (10 April 2003). "Aznar le dijo a Duhalde que España seguirá apoyando a la Argentina" [Aznar told Duhalde that Spain will continue supporting Argentina] (in Spanish). Clarín. Archived from the original on 12 October 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  45. ^ Fraga, pp. 55–58
  46. ^ "Fracasó la negociación entre Kirchner y Duhalde" [The negotiations between Kirchner and Duhalde failed]. La Nación (in Spanish). 1 July 2005. Archived from the original on 1 June 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  47. ^ a b Ramón Indart (25 December 2009). "El PJ bonaerense se resquebraja por la pelea Duhalde – Kirchner" [The PJ in Buenos Aires gets fragmented by the Duhalde – Kirchner conflict] (in Spanish). Perfil. Archived from the original on 25 June 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  48. ^ "Duhalde confirmó que será candidato a presidente en 2011". Clarín. 23 December 2009. Archived from the original on 5 November 2010. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
  49. ^ "Solá, en duda con la interna del Peronismo Federal" [Solá, with doubts about the primaries in the Federal Peronism] (in Spanish). Perfil. 15 March 2011. Archived from the original on 25 June 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  50. ^ "Duhalde y Rodríguez Saá inauguran hoy la interna del Peronismo Federal" [Duhalde and Rodríguez Saá start the primaries of Federal Peronism] (in Spanish). Perfil. 3 April 2011. Archived from the original on 25 June 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  51. ^ Danielle Fioriti (16 April 2011). "La interna Duhalde-Rodríguez Saá se suspendió y quedó en crisis" [The primary election Duhalde-Rodríguez Saá was interrupted and it's in crisis] (in Spanish). Clarín. Archived from the original on 12 October 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  52. ^ "Duhalde, lejos del PJ Federal, se lanzó por un nuevo partido: Unión Popular" [Duhalde, far away from Federal Peronism, bets for a new party: Union Popular] (in Spanish). Los Andes. 28 April 2011. Archived from the original on 8 May 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  53. ^ Jaime Rosemberg (24 October 2011). "En soledad, Duhalde admitió la derrota, aunque negó su retiro" [Alone, Duhalde accepted his defeat, but denied his retirement] (in Spanish). La Nación. Archived from the original on 1 June 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  54. ^ "Duhalde quiere ser el conductor del Partido Justicialista "con un peronismo unido"" [Duhalde wants to be the leader of the Justicialist Party "with a united Peronism"]. La Nación (in Spanish). 4 March 2017. Archived from the original on 5 March 2017. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  55. ^ Gabriel Sued (20 March 2013). "Duhalde: "Fui a visitar a Menem, fui a abrazarlo"" [Duhalde: "I have gone to visit Menem, to hug him"]. La Nación (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 23 March 2013. Retrieved 6 April 2016.

Bibliography

External links


Political offices
Preceded by
Víctor Martínez
Vice President of Argentina

1989–1991
Succeeded by
Preceded by
Governor of the Buenos Aires Province

1991–1999
Succeeded by
Preceded by President of Argentina
interim

2002–2003
Succeeded by