José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz
José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz | |
---|---|
Minister of Economy of Argentina | |
In office 29 March 1976 – 31 March 1981 | |
President | Jorge Rafael Videla |
Preceded by | Joaquín de la Heras |
Succeeded by | Lorenzo Sigaut |
In office 21 May 1963 – 12 October 1963 | |
President | José María Guido |
Preceded by | Eustaquio Méndez Delfino |
Succeeded by | Eugenio Blanco |
Personal details | |
Born | Buenos Aires, Argentina | 13 August 1925
Died | 16 March 2013 Buenos Aires, Argentina | (aged 87)
Political party | Independent |
Alma mater | University of Buenos Aires University of Cambridge |
Website | Official website |
José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz (13 August 1925 – 16 March 2013) was an
Martínez de Hoz was an economic orthodox of businessman origin, who imposed a plan of economic neoliberalism reforms in the 1970s that aroused strong controversies.[2] From 1976 until today, globalization began to appear and some attempts of insertion in the world began.[3] The spirit of all the reforms implemented during his administration was that of economic liberalization and "economic freedom", and its results and legacy are highly controversial to this day, either being praised or strongly criticized in Argentina depending on the period and side of the general political spectrum.[2]
Biography
Martínez de Hoz, scion of one Argentina's oldest cattle ranching families, was born in
Minister of Economy with Guido
Though
Private career
Becoming an influential lobbyist for Acindar, one of Argentina's largest steel manufacturers, Martínez de Hoz became its CEO in 1968. Seven years later, after union labourers at Acindar's
Minister of Economy under Videla's administration
By 1975, Argentina had considerably developed, but was nevertheless in the throes of some of the worst instability since 1930. Argentine public opinion turned to the
Inheriting a wave of
Anxious to restore
He eliminated all
He freed
He decreed a general freeze on wages, and instituted a value-added tax while rescinding the inheritance tax. This last measure allowed him to avoid paying taxes on the land and investments, valued at several billion dollars at the time, that he inherited from his father. As a result of the changes instituted by Martínez de Hoz, inflation fell sharply; but, many local retailers and home builders became incapable of coping with the fall in demand and declared bankruptcy.[10]
He eliminated political tariffs for
A year later, the billion-dollar
The Central Bank, like many key economic posts in the Martínez de Hoz era, was led by one of a number of Chicago Boys: Adolfo Diz. Diz enacted much of the Economy Minister's financial deregulation policy, while moving to limit domestic credit. He enacted the Monetary Regulation Account Law of 1977, which raised reserve requirements to 45% of deposits, thereby doubling borrowers' interest rates while eliminating yields on demand deposits.[12]
Total
Years later he explained in his books that his management "had a '
Short-term
"Sweet money"
Again in
The Tablita invariably set a slower depreciation of the
Having already suffered from weakened demand, many industries (particularly smaller factories) could not compete with the flood of imports and a second wave of industry bankruptcies began. Ostensibly to avoid a sharp rise in unemployment, Martínez de Hoz took an even more controversial step when he decided to begin absorbing private sector debts (mostly those of the well-connected, including US$700 million of Acindar's)
The economy was still in relatively high gear and, with rising fiscal revenues, the nation's finances appeared healthy during 1979 and 1980.
Circular 1050 and the shattered Tablita
The end of his tenure soon near and increasingly unpopular, in April 1980 Martínez de Hoz had the
What followed was one of the worst financial crises in the history of modern Argentina. Speculators quickly took advantage of the 1977 deregulation to write off their debts, legitimate borrowers (including many large employers) were faced with suddenly unaffordable US dollar payments, and homeowners' monthly payments (tied by the Circular 1050 to the value of the dollar) rose by over tenfold during the next fifteen months.[20]
Legacy
It took defeat during the disastrous Malvinas War in June 1982 to usher in more moderate leadership in the junta. In July, the new Central Bank President, Domingo Cavallo, rescinded the hated "1050". Thousands were saved from financial ruin by this change, but the economic damage would remain.
Business confidence was destroyed by the whole calamity and even though Argentina's productive
Martínez de Hoz was himself indicted in 1988 for his involvement in the human rights abuses at Acindar and spent 77 days in jail. Quickly freed, he subsequently benefited from a pardon by President Carlos Menem in 1990. Returning to the world of high finance despite a 1992 conviction of operating a brokerage with a revoked licence, Martínez de Hoz became a member of the board of directors of two arbitrage houses, Rohm Group and the Banco General de Negocios ("General Business Bank").
The General Business Bank, now defunct, later helped clients illegally wire up to US$30 billion out of the country prior to the December 2001 financial crisis.[21]
In 2006, a judge declared the pardon unconstitutional and revoked the suspension of the previous judicial process, paving the way to investigate Martínez de Hoz's alleged involvement in the kidnapping and extortion of Federico and Miguel Gutheim (a local textile mill owner and his son) in 1976, as well as the murder of Juan Carlos Casariego (one of his own assistants at the Ministry of Economy).
Martinez de Hoz was arrested on 5 April 2007, following a Supreme Court ruling deeming the 1990 presidential pardons unconstitutional,[22] and was given a preliminary sentence of house arrest (due to his advanced age) on 4 May 2010, pursuant to his indictment in the Gutheim case.[23]
References
- ^ "Martínez de Hoz: murió el ideólogo del programa económico de la dictadura militar". Clarín. 17 March 2013.
- ^ a b "Martínez de Hoz: un ortodoxo que marcó a fuego a la Argentina". La Nación. 17 March 2013.
- ^ "Economía. Cuáles fueron las ideas de los ministros que trataron de hacer despegar al país". La Nación. 14 December 2019.
- ^ a b Significativa propuesta realizada a Acindar Archived 25 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Jorge Rafael Videla | president of Argentina".
- ^ a b "Argentina - Military government, 1966–73".
- ^ "Lo que pienso de Martínez de Hoz". El Historiador. 6 November 2017.
- ^ "Por Juan Alemann" (PDF). La Nación – via martinezdehoz.com.
- ^ "José Alfredo Martinez de Hoz - Biografía".
- ^ Lewis, Paul.The Crisis of Argentine Capitalism. University of North Carolina Press, 1990.
- ^ Crawley, Eduardo. Argentina: A House Divided. St. Martin's Press, 1985.
- ^ a b de Pablo, Juan Carlos. Economists and Economic Policy: Argentina since 1958.
- ^ "A LA MEMORIA DE JOSE ALFREDO MARTINEZ DE HOZ" (PDF). martinezdehoz.com.
- ^ "El Proceso I" (PDF). martinezdehoz.com.
- ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Paul.The Crisis of Argentine Capitalism. University of North Carolina Press, 1990.
- ^ Argentina: From Insolvency to Growth, World Bank Press, 1993.
- ^ Inversiones millonarias en medio de los cortes de energía Archived 7 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish)
- ^ Buenos Aires Económico: La saga de los Martínez de Hoz Archived 10 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish)
- ^ National Geographic Magazine. Argentina's New Beginning, August 1986.
- ^ Argentina: From Insolvency to Growth. World Bank Press, 1993.
- ^ Atlas Escolar Archived 31 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Argentina arrests former dictator's top money man (AFP)
- ^ InfoBAE: Martínez de Hoz fue trasladado a su domicilio tras recibir el alta (in Spanish)
- La dictadura militar en Argentina on the Ministry of Education website.
- Una pesada herencia Archived 12 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine, by Ernesto Hadida.
- "La Justicia anuló los indultos a Martínez de Hoz y Harguindeguy" (in Spanish). Clarín. 4 September 2006.
- "Argentine junta pardons revoked". BBC News. 6 September 2006.
External links
Media related to José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz at Wikimedia Commons