MAIN INFORMATIONS
Capital(and largest city): Buenos Aires
Official languages: Spanish
Government Federal republic
- President Néstor Kirchner
- Vice President Daniel Scioli
Independence from Spain
- May Revolution 25 May 1810
- Declared 9 July 1816
- Recognized 1821 (by Spain)
Area
- Total 2,766,890 1 km² (8th)
1,073,514 sq mi
- Water (%) 1.1
Population
- 2006 estimate 40,060,000 (30th)
- 2001 census 36,260,130
- Density 14 /km² (195th)
36 /sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2006 estimate
- Total US $548.754 billion (22nd)
- Per capita US $14,838 (48th)
HDI (2004) 0.863 (high) (36th)
Currency Peso (ARS)
HISTORY
The first signs of human presence in Argentina are located in the Patagonia (Piedra Museo, Santa Cruz), and date from 11,000 BC.[3] Around 1 AD, several corn-based civilizations developed in the Andean region (Santa María, Huarpes, Diaguitas, Sanavirones, among others).
In 1480, the Inca Empire under the rule of emperor Pachacutec launched an offensive and conquered present-day northwestern Argentina, integrating it into a region called Collasuyu. In the northeastern area, the Guaraní developed a culture based on yuca and sweet potato. The central and southern areas (Pampas and Patagonia) were dominated by nomadic cultures, unified in the seventeenth century by the Mapuches.
European explorers arrived in 1516. Spain established a permanent colony on the site of Buenos Aires in 1580; the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata was created in 1776. In 1806 and 1807 the British Empire launched two invasions to Buenos Aires, but the creole population repelled both attempts. On May 25, 1810, after confirmation of the rumors about the overthrow of King Ferdinand VII by Napoleon, citizens of Buenos Aires took advantage of the situation and created the First Government Junta (May Revolution). Formal independence from Spain was declared on July 9, 1816 in Tucumán.
In 1817, General José de San Martín crossed the Andes to free Chile and Peru, thus eliminating the Spanish threat. Centralist and federalist groups (Spanish: Unitarios and Federales) were in conflict until national unity was established and the constitution promulgated in 1853.
Foreign investment and immigration from Europe led to the adoption of modern agricultural techniques. In the 1880s, the "Conquest of the Desert" subdued or exterminated the remaining indigenous tribes throughout the southern Pampas and Patagonia.[4]
From 1887 to 1930, Argentina enjoyed increasing prosperity and prominence through an export-led economy, and the population of the country swelled sevenfold. Conservative forces dominated Argentine politics until 1916, when their traditional rivals, the Radicals, won control of the government. The military forced Hipólito Yrigoyen from power in 1930, leading to another decade of Conservative rule. Political change led to the presidency of Juan Perón in 1946, who tried to empower the working class and greatly expanded the number of unionized workers. The Revolución Libertadora of 1955 deposed him.
From the 1950s to 1970s, soft military and weak civilian administrations traded power. During those years the economy grew strongly and poverty declined (to less than 7% in 1975), but became increasingly protectionist. At the same time political violence continued to escalate. In 1973, Perón returned to the presidency, but he died within a year of assuming power. His third wife Isabel, the Vice President, succeeded him in office, but the military coup of March 24, 1976 removed her from office.
The armed forces took power through a junta in charge of the self-appointed National Reorganization Process until 1983. The military government repressed opposition and terrorist leftist groups using harsh illegal measures (the "Dirty War"); thousands of dissidents "disappeared", while the SIDE cooperated with DINA and other South American intelligence agencies, and with the CIA in Operation Condor.
Many of the military leaders that took part in the Dirty War were trained in the U.S.-financed School of the Americas, among them Argentine dictators Leopoldo Galtieri and Roberto Viola. Economic problems, charges of corruption, public revulsion in the face of human rights abuses and, finally, the country's 1982 defeat by the British in the Falklands War discredited the Argentine military regime.
Democracy was restored in 1983. Raúl Alfonsín's Radical government took steps to account for the "disappeared", established civilian control of the armed forces, and consolidated democratic institutions. The members of the three military juntas were prosecuted and sentenced to life terms. Failure to resolve endemic economic problems and an inability to maintain public confidence led to Alfonsín's early departure six months before his term was to be completed.
President Carlos Menem imposed a peso-dollar fixed exchange rate in 1991 to stop hyperinflation and adopted far-reaching market-based policies, dismantling protectionist barriers and business regulations, and implementing a privatization program.
These reforms contributed to significant increases in investment and growth with stable prices through most of the 1990s. Toward the end of the 1990s, large fiscal deficits and overvaluation of the pegged peso caused a gradual slide into economic crisis. By the end of his term in 1999, these accumulating problems and perceived corruption had made Menem unpopular.
The Menem and de la Rúa administrations faced diminished competitiveness in exports, massive imports which damaged national industry and reduced employment, chronic fiscal and trade deficits, and the contagion of several economic crises. The Asian financial crisis in 1998 precipitated an outflow of capital that mushroomed into a recession, and culminated in economic crisis in November of 2001. The next month, amidst bloody riots, President de la Rúa resigned.
In two weeks, several presidents followed in quick succession, culminating in Eduardo Duhalde's being appointed interim President of Argentina by the Legislative Assembly on 2 January 2002. Argentina defaulted on its international debt obligations. The peso's almost 11-year-old linkage to the United States dollar was abandoned, resulting in major depreciation of the peso and a spike in inflation.
With a more competitive and flexible exchange rate, the country implemented new policies based on re-industrialization, import substitution, increased exports, and consistent fiscal and trade surpluses. By the end of 2002, the economy began to stabilize. In 2003, Néstor Kirchner was elected president.
During Kirchner's presidency, Argentina restructured its defaulted debt with a steep discount (about 66 percent) on most bonds, paid off outstanding debts with the International Monetary Fund, renegotiated contracts with utilities, and nationalized some previously privatized industries. Currently, Argentina is enjoying a period of high economic growth and increased political stability.
POLITICS
Argentina's political framework is a federal presidential representative democratic republic, in which the President of Argentina is both head of state and head of government, complemented by a pluriform multi-party system. The current president (2007) is Néstor Kirchner, with Daniel Scioli as vice president.
The Argentine Constitution of 1853 mandates a separation of powers into executive, legislative, and judicial branches at the national and provincial level.
Executive power resides in the President and his cabinet. The President and Vice President are directly elected to four-year terms, limited to two consecutive terms, and the cabinet ministers are appointed by the president.
Legislative power is vested in the bicameral National Congress or Congreso de la Nación, consisting of a Senate (Senado) of 72 seats, and a Chamber of Deputies (Cámara de Diputados) of 257 members.
Senators serve six-year terms, with one-third standing for reelection every two years. Members of the Chamber of Deputies are directly elected to four-year term via a system of proportional representation, with half of the members of the lower house being elected every two years. A third of the candidates presented by the parties must be women.
The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The Argentine Supreme Court of Justice has seven members who are appointed by the President in consultation with the Senate. The rest of the judges are appointed by the Council of Magistrates of the Nation, a secretariat composed of representatives of judges, lawyers, the Congress, and the executive.
FOREING RELATIONS
Argentina is a member of Mercosur, an international bloc which has some legislative supranational functions. Mercosur is composed of five full members: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela. It has five associate members without full voting rights: Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
Argentina was the only country from Latin America to participate in the 1991 Gulf War under mandate of the United Nations, and in every phase of the Haiti operation.
It has also contributed worldwide in peacekeeping operations, including in El Salvador-Honduras-Nicaragua, Guatemala, Ecuador-Peru, Western Sahara, Angola, Kuwait, Cyprus, Croatia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Timor Leste. In recognition of its contributions to international security, U.S. President Bill Clinton designated Argentina as a major non-NATO ally in January 1998. In 2005, it was elected as a temporary member of the UN Security Council.
In 1977 and again as recently as in 2006, Argentina's Chamber of Deputies (A chamber of Argentina's legislative power) unanimously called for Puerto Rico's national independence. Aimed at the United States, this demand has been particularly championed by ex-President Raúl Alfonsín, as well as the current President of Argentina, Néstor Kirchner.
In 1993, Argentina launched the United Nations White Helmets iniciative for humanitarian aid
On November 4 and November 5, 2005, the Argentine city of Mar del Plata hosted the Fourth Summit of the Americas. This summit was marked by a number of anti-U.S. protests. As of 2006, Argentina has been emphasizing Mercosur as its first international priority; by contrast, during the 1990s, it relied more heavily on its relationship with the United States.
Argentina has long claimed sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), the South Shetland Islands, the South Sandwich Islands and almost 1 million km² in Antarctica, between the 25°W and the 74°W meridians and the 60°S parallel.
This slice of the continent is known as Argentine Antarctica, which Argentina considers part of the national territory. For more than a century, there has been an Argentine presence at the Orcadas Base.
Argentina is a founding signatory and permanent consulting member of the Antarctic Treaty System and the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat is established in Buenos Aires.
Military
Argentina's armed forces are controlled by the Defense Ministry, with the country's President as their Commander-in-Chief. Historically, Argentina's military has been one of the best equipped in the region (for example, developing its own advanced jet fighters as early as the 1950s),[5] but has faced expenditure cutbacks in comparison to other regional militaries. The age of allowable military service is 18 years; there is no obligatory military service and currently no conscription.
The military is composed of a traditional Army, Navy, and Air Force. Controlled by a separate ministry (the Interior Ministry), Argentine territorial waters are patrolled by the Naval Prefecture, and the border regions by the National Gendarmerie; both branches however maintain liasions with the Defense Ministry. Argentina's Armed Forces are currently performing major operations in Haiti and Cyprus, in accordance to specified UN mandates.
ECONOMY
Argentina benefits from rich natural resources, a highly literate population, an export-oriented agricultural sector, and a diversified industrial base. The country historically had a large middle class compared to other Latin American countries, but this segment of the population was decimated by a succession of economic crises. Today, while a significant segment of the population is still financially well-off, they stand in sharp contrast with millions who have seen their purchasing power drastically reduced. Since 2002, there has been an improvement in the situation of the poorer sectors and a strong rebound of the middle class.
Since the late 1970s, the country piled up public debt and was plagued by bouts of high inflation. In 1991, the government pegged the peso to the U.S. dollar and limited the growth in the monetary base. The government then embarked on a path of trade liberalization, deregulation, and privatization. Inflation dropped and the gross domestic product grew, but external economic shocks and failures of the system diluted its benefits, causing it to crumble in slow motion, from 1995 and up to the collapse in 2001.
By 2002, Argentina had defaulted on its debt, its GDP had shrunk, unemployment was more than 25%, and the peso had depreciated 75% after being devalued and floated. However, careful spending control and heavy taxes on now-soaring exports gave the state the tools to regain resources and conduct monetary policy.
Hilton Hotel to the right of River View Towers, Buenos Aires.In 2003, import substitution policies and soaring exports coupled with lower inflation and expansive economic measures, triggered a surge in the GDP. It was repeated in 2004 and 2005, creating millions of jobs and encouraging internal consumption. Capital flight decreased, and foreign investment slowly returned.
The influx of foreign currency from exports created a huge trade surplus. The Central Bank was forced to buy dollars from the market, and continues to do so at various times today to be accumulated as reserves. It does this to prevent the Argentine peso from appreciating significantly and cutting competitiveness.
The situation by 2006 was further improved. The economy grew 8.8% in 2003, 9.0% in 2004, 9.2% in 2005 and 2006 was on the same track(predictions are between 8.5% and 9.0%), though inflation, estimated at around 10 to 12%, has become an issue again, and income distribution is still considerably unequal.
Sectors:
In 2004, agricultural output accounted for 11% of GDP, and one third of all exports. Soy and vegetable oils are major export commodities at 24% of exports. Wheat, maize, oats, sorghum, and sunflower seeds totalled 8%. Cattle is also a major industry. Beef, milk, leather products, and cheese were 6% of total exports. Sheep and wool industries are important in Patagonia, pigs and caprines elsewhere.
Fruits and vegetables made up 3% of exports: apples and pears in the Río Negro valley; oranges and other citrus in the northwest and Mesopotamia; grapes and strawberries in Cuyo, and berries in the far south. Cotton and yerba mate are major crops in the Gran Chaco, sugarcane and tobacco in the northwest, and olives and garlic in Cuyo.
Bananas (Formosa), tomatoes (Salta), and peaches (Mendoza) are grown for domestic consumption. Argentina is the world's fifth-largest wine producer, and fine wine production has taken major leaps in quality. A growing export, total viticulture potential is far from met. Mendoza is the largest wine region, followed by San Juan.
Industrial petrochemicals, oil, and natural gas are Argentina's second group of exports, 20% of totals. The most important oil fields lie in Patagonia and Cuyo. An impressive network of pipelines send raw product to Bahia Blanca, center of the petrochemical industry, and to the La Plata-Rosario industrial belt. Coal is also mined.
Mining is a rising industry. The northwest and San Juan Province are main regions of activity. Metals mined include gold, silver, zinc, magnesium, copper, sulfur, tungsten and uranium. In only ten years exports soared from US$ 200 million to 1.2 billion in 2004, 3% of total. Estimates for 2006 are US$ 2bn, a 10 fold rise from 1996.
In fisheries, argentine hake accounts for 50% of catches, pollack and squid follow. Forestry has expanded in Mesopotamia; elm for cellulose, pine and eucalyptus for furniture, timber and paper products. Both sectors account for 2% of exports each.
The Yaciretá Dam hydroelectric complex is the second largest in the world.Manufacturing is the nation's leading single sector in GDP output, with 35% of the share. Leading sectors are motor vehicles, auto parts, and transportation and farming equipment (7% of exports), iron and steel (3%), foodstuffs and textiles (2%). Other manufactures include cement, industrial chemicals, home appliances, and processed wood. The biggest industrial centers are Buenos Aires, Rosario and Córdoba.
The service sector is the biggest contributor to total GDP. Argentina produces energy in large part through well developed hydroelectric resources; nuclear energy is also of high importance. The country is one of the largest producers and exporters (with Canada and Russia) of Cobalt-60, a radioactive isotope widely used in cancer therapy.
Telecommunications are extremely strong, with an important penetration of mobile telephony (75% of population) and internet (30%), broadband services (3%) are expanding rapidly. Regular telephone (85% of households) and mail are robust. Construction has led employment creation in the current economic expansion, and is 5% of GDP.
Tourism is increasingly important, now providing 7% of economic output. Argentines are travelling more within their borders, and foreign arrivals are flocking to a country seen as affordable, safe, and incredibly diverse: Cosmopolitan Buenos Aires and Rosario, incomparable Iguazu Falls and colonial Salta.
From South American Indigenous Jujuy Province to fun filled Córdoba, the wineries of Mendoza; skiing in scenic Bariloche to the beaches of Pinamar, and Perito Moreno Glacier to legendary Tierra del Fuego. 3.7 million tourists visited in 2005.
Transportation:
A cargo ship in front of the Rosario-Victoria Bridge.Argentina's highway system is well-developed and paved roads reach all corners of the country. There are nearly 640,000 kilometers of highways and roads (with many privatized roads as well). Multilane highways now connect several main cities and more are now under construction.
The railway network was one of the largest in the world, at over 40,000 kilometers of tracks. After decades of decaying service and lack of maintenance, most passenger services shut down in 1992 when the rail company was privatized, and thousands of kilometers of track are now in disrepair. Currently, railway services are being reactivated between several cities.
The country has around 3,000 kilometers of waterways, most significant among these the Río de la Plata, Paraná, Uruguay, and Paraguay rivers.
