president
Eduardo Duhalde took which position in Mar 2002?
Eduardo Duhalde Eduardo Alberto Duhalde ( ; born 5 October 1941 ) is an Argentine politician who was the President of Argentina . Born in Lomas de Zamora , he was elected for the local legislature and appointed intendente ( mayor ) in 1973 . He was deposed during the 1976 Argentine coup détat , 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 Duhaldes 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 . Early life . Eduardo Alberto Duhalde was born in Lomas de Zamora , in the Greater Buenos Aires . He graduated as a lawyer in 1970 . He was elected to the city legislature the next year , and presided over it . He joined the Justicialist Party ( PJ ) , and soon became leader of its local branch . The legislature impeached the mayor Ricardo Ortiz , as well as Pedro Turner , who was appointed mayor afterwards . This was part of a political reorganization promoted by President Juan Perón . Duhalde was appointed mayor in 1973 as a result . Many members of the Peronist Youth were killed in Lomas de Zamora during the Pasco massacre , which Duhalde blamed on the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance . He was ousted from office during the 1976 Argentine coup détat . He worked as a real estate broker during the following years . 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 . 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 . 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 . Vice presidency and governorship . 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 . 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 . Duhalde was elected governor , ending the political influence of Cafiero . Duhalde intended to run for the presidency in 1995 , after Menems term in office . Menem promoted the 1994 amendment of the Argentine Constitution , which allowed him to run for a second presidential term . Unable to defeat Menem in the primary elections , Duhalde promoted an amendment of the provincial constitution , to allow reelection as well . The PJ could not secure the majority of the constituent chamber , and the three opposing parties ( the UCR , the Broad Front and 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 . 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 . 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 of the term limit , to avoid being considered a lame duck . He also encouraged the governor of Tucumán , Palito Ortega , to run for the presidency as well . The political image of Duhalde was tarnished by a number of scandals that took place , and issues revealed by investigative journalists . Some of the scandals were related to the national government , such as the 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 Duhaldes ticket , but Duhalde was defeated by the radical Fernando de la Rúa . De la Rúas government would face an economic crisis and the 2001 riots , resigning two years later . De la Rúa thought that Duhalde had organized a coup détat against him Rodolfo Terragno , De la Rúas Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers , thought instead that the crisis was the exclusive result of keeping the peso-dollar parity despite the costs generated by it . 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 . Presidency . Appointment . 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 . 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 , and accused Duhalde of plotting against him , along with the governor of Córdoba , José Manuel de la Sota . 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 . 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 ) . 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 . 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 Rúas term of office , instead of governing for 90 days and calling for new elections , as was the case of Rodríguez Saá . Duhalde was appointed president on 2 January 2002 . Economic policy . 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 José Ignacio de Mendiguren , head of the Argentine Industrial Union . Alfonsín negotiated with him , on Duhaldes behalf , while Congress was still voting for the new president . Duhalde announced at his inauguration that he would repeal the convertibility plan , considered the main cause of the economic crisis . Although Menem proposed a full 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 . 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 . The financial operations made in dollars were subject to a strong currency substitution to pesos , the pesification . There were disputes over the exchange rate of such substitution , as the current price of the dollar in the open market would force most firms and individual debtor to bankruptcy . The initial policy was to make 1 to 1 substitutions to the operations below 100,000 dollars . Another conflict was the corralito , imposed by De la Rúa , which attempted to stop the bank run by forbidding the withdrawal of money from bank accounts . Duhalde promised in his oath of office speech that The one who deposited dollars will receive dollars . The minister of economy Jorge Remes Lenicov pointed out that that would be impossible , as the amount of dollars required was higher than even the foreign-exchange reserves of the Central Bank . Duhalde acknowledged two weeks later that he was mistaken . The bank accounts in dollars would be pesified at a 1.4 exchange rate , and the state financed the banks for the different rates with other operations . The taxes of public services were pesified and fixed at their current values . Most industries benefited from the pesification and the devaluation , as they could now export at higher prices , and the economy started to improve . The jump in the international price of soybean in July 2002 also proved highly beneficial . The devaluation also increased the price of imported products , which allowed import substitution industrialization . As the local prices became cheap in dollars , international tourism to the country was increased . The national state absorbed the debts of the provinces and the bonds used as alternative currency , on the condition that they transferred the power to issue bonds . 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 . 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 . Domestic policy . On the political level , Duhaldes 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 Manuel Santillán in the Avellaneda massacre forced Duhalde to rush the elections by six months . As a result , he chose Néstor Kirchner , governor of Santa Cruz Province , despite his reservations . 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 . To harm Menems 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 . Foreign policy . Duhalde was appointed president in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks , when the foreign policy of the United States was strictly focused on 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 . Later years . 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 . The dispute continued in the 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 . Cristina Kirchner won those elections . On 23 December 2009 , Duhalde announced his intention to run for the presidency in the 2011 presidential elections . 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 . 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 Alberto Rodríguez Saá , which would be held before the mandatory primary elections . Governors Felipe Solá and Mario Das Neves withdrew their candidacies . Duhalde withdrew his candidacy near the end of the primary elections . As the sole candidate , Rodríguez Saá ran for Federal Peronism , which allied with other provincial parties into the Federal Commitment coalition . Duhalde ran for president as well , on the Unión Popular ticket . 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 . In 2017 he announced that he intends to run for president of the PJ . 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 Duhaldes 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 . 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 Papal inauguration of Pope Francis . They had a private meeting at Menems house , and Menem reported that they were on peaceful terms . They had previously met in similar circumstances in 2005 , during the funeral of Pope John Paul II . External links . - Official Website . Presented in Spanish - Extended bio by CIDOB