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Travel to Argentina — Unbiased reviews and
great deals from TripAdvisorArgentina
| Argentine Republic National
name: República Argentina President: Cristina Fernández de
Kirchner (2007)
Current government officials
Land area: 1,056,636 sq mi (2,736,690 sq
km); total area: 1,068,296 sq mi (2,766,890 sq km) Population (2008 est.): 40,677,348 (growth
rate: 0.9%); birth rate: 16.3/1000; infant mortality rate: 13.8/1000;
life expectancy: 76.5; density per sq mi: 38
Capital and largest city (2003 est.):
Buenos Aires, 13,349,000 (metro. area),
2,768,772 (city proper) Other large
cities: Córdoba, 1,486,200; Rosario, 1,276,900; Mendoza,
988,600; Mar del Plata, 683,700 Monetary
unit: Peso
Languages:
Spanish (official), English, Italian, German,
French
Ethnicity/race:
white (mostly Spanish and Italian) 97%, mestizo
(mixed white and Amerindian ancestry), Amerindian, or other non-white
groups 3%
Religions:
nominally Roman Catholic 92% (less than 20%
practicing), Protestant 2%, Jewish 2%, other 4%
National Holiday:
Revolution Day, May 25 Literacy rate: 97.2% (2001 est.) Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2007 est.):
$523.7 billion; per capita $13,000. Real growth rate: 8.5%.
Inflation: 8.5% official rate; actual rate may be double the
official rate. Unemployment: 8.9%. Arable land: 10.03%.
Agriculture: sunflower seeds, lemons, soybeans, grapes, corn,
tobacco, peanuts, tea, wheat; livestock. Labor force: 16.1
million: note: urban areas only (2007 est.); agriculture: 1%,
industry: 23%, services: 76% (2007 est.). Industries: food
processing, motor vehicles, consumer durables, textiles, chemicals and
petrochemicals, printing, metallurgy, steel. Natural resources:
fertile plains of the pampas, lead, zinc, tin, copper, iron ore,
manganese, petroleum, uranium. Exports: $54.6 billion f.o.b.
(2007 est.): edible oils, fuels and energy, cereals, feed, motor
vehicles. Imports: $40.26 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.): machinery
and equipment, motor vehicles, chemicals, metal manufactures,
plastics. Major trading partners: Brazil, Chile, U.S., China,
Spain, Germany (2006). Communications:
Telephones: main lines in use 9.46 million (2006); mobile
cellular: 31.51 million (2006). Radio broadcast stations: AM
260 (including 10 inactive stations), FM n.a. (probably more than
1,000, mostly unlicensed), shortwave 6 (1998). Television broadcast
stations: 42 (plus 444 repeaters) (1997). Internet hosts:
2.159 million (2007). Internet users: 8.184 million
(2006). Transportation: Railways:
total: 31,902 km (2006). Highways: total: 229,144 km; paved:
68,809 km (including 734 km of expressways); unpaved: 160,335 km
(2004). Waterways: 11,000 km (2006). Ports and harbors:
Bahia Blanca, Buenos Aires, Concepcion del Uruguay, La Plata,
Punta Colorada, Rosario, San Lorenzo-San Martin, San Nicolas.
Airports: 1,272 (2007). International disputes: Argentina continues
to assert its claims to the UK-administered Falkland Islands (Islas
Malvinas) and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in its
constitution, forcibly occupying the Falklands in 1982, but in 1995
agreed no longer to seek settlement by force; territorial claim in
Antarctica partially overlaps UK and Chilean claims (see Antarctic
disputes); unruly region at convergence of Argentina-Brazil-Paraguay
borders is locus of money laundering, smuggling, arms and illegal
narcotics trafficking, and fundraising for extremist organizations;
uncontested dispute between Brazil and Uruguay over
Braziliera/Brasiliera Island in the Quarai/Cuareim River leaves the
tripoint with Argentina in question; in January 2007, ICJ
provisionally ruled Uruguay may begin construction of two paper mills
on the Uruguay River, which forms the border with Argentina, while the
court examines further whether Argentina has the legal right to stop
such construction with potential environmental implications to both
countries; the joint boundary commission, established by Chile and
Argentina in 2001 has yet to map and demarcate the delimited boundary
in the inhospitable Andean Southern Ice Field (Campo de Hielo
Sur).
Major sources and definitions
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Geography
Second in South America only to Brazil in size
and population, Argentina is a plain, rising from the Atlantic to the
Chilean border and the towering Andes peaks. Aconcagua (22,834 ft, 6,960
m) is the highest peak in the world outside Asia. Argentina is also
bordered by Bolivia and Paraguay on the north, and by Uruguay and Brazil
on the east. The northern area is the swampy and partly wooded Gran Chaco,
bordering Bolivia and Paraguay. South of that are the rolling, fertile
Pampas, which are rich in agriculture and sheep- and cattle-grazing and
support most of the population. Further south is Patagonia, a region of
cool, arid steppes with some wooded and fertile sections.
Government
Republic.
History
First explored in 1516 by Juan Díaz de
Solis, Argentina developed slowly under Spanish colonial rule. Buenos
Aires was settled in 1580; the cattle industry was thriving as early as
1600. Invading British forces were expelled in 1806–1807, and after
Napoléon conquered Spain (1808), the Argentinians set up their own
government in 1810. On July 9, 1816, independence was formally
declared.
As it had in World War I, Argentina proclaimed
neutrality at the outbreak of World War II, but in the closing phase
declared war on the Axis powers on March 27, 1945. Juan D. Perón,
an army colonel, emerged as the strongman of the postwar era, winning the
presidential elections of 1946 and 1951. Perón's political strength
was reinforced by his second wife—Eva Duarte de Perón
(Evita)—and her popularity with the working classes. Although she
never held a government post, Evita acted as de facto minister of health
and labor, establishing a national charitable organization, and awarding
generous wage increases to the unions, who responded with political
support for Perón. Opposition to Perón's increasing
authoritarianism led to a coup by the armed forces, which sent
Perón into exile in 1955, three years after Evita's death.
Argentina entered a long period of military dictatorships with brief
intervals of constitutional government.
The former dictator returned to power in 1973
and his third wife, Isabel Martínez de Perón, was elected
vice president. After her husband's death in 1974, Perón became the
hemisphere's first woman chief of state, assuming control of a nation
teetering on economic and political collapse. In 1975, terrorist acts by
left- and right-wing groups killed some 700 people. The cost of living
rose 355%, and strikes and demonstrations were constant. On March 24,
1976, a military junta led by army commander Lt. Gen. Jorge Rafael Videla
seized power and imposed martial law.
The Dirt War Begins
The military began the “dirty war”
to restore order and eradicate its opponents. The Argentine Commission for
Human Rights, in Geneva, has charged the junta with 2,300 political
murders, over 10,000 political arrests, and the disappearance of 20,000 to
30,000 people. The economy remained in chaos. In March 1981, Videla was
deposed by Field Marshal Roberto Viola, who in turn was succeeded by Lt.
Gen. Leopoldo Galtieri.
On April 2, 1982, Galtieri invaded the
British-held Falkland Islands, known as Las Islas Malvinas in Spanish, in
what was seen as an attempt to increase his popularity. Great Britain,
however, won a decisive victory, and Galtieri resigned in disgrace three
days after Argentina’s surrender. Maj. Gen. Reynaldo Bignone took
over June 14, amid increasing pro-democratic public sentiment. As the 1983
elections approached, inflation hit 900% and Argentina’s crippling
foreign debt reached unprecedented levels.
In the presidential election of Oct. 1983,
Raúl Alfonsín, leader of the Radical Civic Union, handed the
Peronist Party its first defeat since its founding. Growing unemployment
and quadruple-digit inflation, however, led to a Peronist victory in the
elections of May 1989. Alfonsín resigned a month later in the wake
of riots over high food prices, in favor of the new Peronist president,
Carlos Menem. In 1991, Menem promoted economic austerity measures that
deregulated businesses and privatized state-owned industries. But
beginning in Sept. 1998, eight years into Menem's two-term presidency,
Argentina entered its worst recession in a decade. Menem's economic
policies, tolerance of corruption, and pardoning of military leaders
involved in the dirty war eventually lost him the support of the poor and
the working class who had elected him.
Recession and Economic Instability
In Dec. 1999, Fernando de la Rua became
president. Despite the introduction of several tough economic austerity
plans, by 2001 the recession had slid into its third year. The IMF gave
Argentina $13.7 billion in emergency aid in Jan. 2001 and $8 billion in
Aug. 2001. The international help was not enough, however, and by the end
of 2001, Argentina was on the verge of economic collapse. Rioters
protesting government austerity measures forced De la Rua to resign in
Dec. 2001. Argentina then defaulted on its $155 billion foreign debt
payments, the largest such default in history.
After more instability, Congress named Eduardo
Duhalde president on Jan. 1, 2002. Duhalde soon announced an economic plan
devaluing the Argentine peso, which had been pegged to the dollar for a
decade. The devaluation plunged the banking industry into crisis and wiped
out much of the savings of the middle class, plunging millions of
Argentinians into poverty.
Dirty War Criminals Put on Trial
In July 2002, former junta leader Galtieri and
42 other military officers were arrested and charged with the torture and
execution of 22 leftist guerrillas during Argentina's 7-year military
dictatorship. In recent years, judges have found legal loopholes allowing
them to circumvent the blanket amnesty laws passed in 1986 and 1987, which
allowed many accused of atrocities during the dirty war to walk free. In
June 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that these amnesty laws were
unconstitutional and in 2006, numerous military and police officials went
on trial.
Economy on the Rebound
Peronist Néstor Kirchner, the former
governor of Santa Cruz, became Argentina's president in May 2003, after
former president Carlos Menem abandoned the race. Kirchner vowed to
aggressively reform the courts, police, and armed services and to
prosecute perpetrators of the dirty war. Argentina's economy has been
rebounding since its near collapse in 2001, with an impressive growth rate
of about 8% since Kirchner took office. In March 2005, Kirchner announced
that the country's debt had been successfully restructured. In Jan. 2006,
Argentina paid off its remaining multi-million IMF debt early, a dramatic
move that not all economists thought was beneficial.
In October 2007, First Lady Cristina
Fernández de Kirchner was elected president, taking 45% of the
vote. Elisa Carrió, a congresswoman, placed second, with 23%.
On December 10, 2007, Cristina Fernández
de Kirchner took over the presidency from her husband, Néstor
Kirchner, in a ceremony at Argentina's Congress. She kept many of her
husband's ministers, but implied that she will introduce changes to the
country during her presidency. She appointed molecular biologist Lino
Barañao as minister of science. Fernández says she will
create a new ministry for science and technology to boost innovation, and
stated that she would make "necessary corrections" to help the inflation
problem in Argentina. Although she is as much a nationalist as her
husband, and refuses to get involved with the IMF, Fernández has
shown interest in creating better ties with the United States, Europe, and
Brazil.
On April 2, 2008, farmers called for a temporary
halt to the 21-day-long strike in order to enter into negotiations with
the government. The strike, which began in response to increased taxes on
export goods, has caused highways to shut down and severe food shortages
nationwide. On July 17, 2008, the government, led by Vice President Cobos,
sided with the farmers and voted against the president's proposed increase
on the agricultural export tax. On October 3, 2008, farmers resumed the
nationwide strike against the government, claiming they had not received
adequate support.
In November 2008, the lower house of parliament
approved President Fernandez's controversial plan to nationalize more than
$25 billion in private pension funds. President Fernandez asserted the
move would protect pensioners' assets during the global financial crisis,
while Vice President Julio Cobos continued to disagree stating it would
create doubts among investors about Argentina's investment market
stability.
See also Encyclopedia: Argentina.
U.S. State Dept. Country Notes:
Argentina
National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (In
Spanish Only) www.indec.mecon.ar/
.
Information Please® Database, © 2008 Pearson
Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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