Fernando de la Rúa
Fernando de la Rúa was an Argentine politician who served as the President of Argentina from 1999 until his resignation in 2001. A member of the Radical Civic Union, he previously served as national senator for Buenos Aires across non-consecutive terms from 1973 to 1996, national deputy for Buenos Aires from 1991 to 1992, the first Chief of Government of Buenos Aires between 1996 and 1999, and President of the National Committee of the Radical Civic Union from 1997 to 1999.
De la Rúa was born in Córdoba, and entered politics after graduating with a degree in law. He was elected senator in 1973 and unsuccessfully ran for the office of Vice President as Ricardo Balbín's running mate the same year. He was re-elected senator in 1983 and 1993, and as deputy in 1991. He unsuccessfully opposed the pact of Olivos between President Carlos Menem and party leader Raúl Alfonsín, which enabled the 1994 amendment of the Argentine Constitution and the re-election of Menem in 1995. He later became the first chief of government of Buenos Aires to be elected by popular vote, a change introduced by the amendment of the Constitution. He expanded the Buenos Aires Underground, adding new stations to Line D, starting the expansion of Line B, and establishing Line H. He established Roberto Goyeneche Avenue and the city's first bicycle path.
De la Rúa was elected President in the 1999 general election, after running on the Alliance ticket, a political coalition of the UCR and the Frepaso. He was opposed by the Peronist unions, and his Vice President, Carlos Álvarez, resigned after denouncing bribes in the Senate. The economic crisis that began during Menem's administration worsened, and by the end of 2001, it had led to a banking panic. The government established the Corralito to limit bank withdrawals. De la Rúa called a state of emergency during the December 2001 riots. Following his resignation on 20 December, the Argentine Congress appointed a new president. After leaving office, De la Rúa retired from politics and faced legal proceedings for much of the remainder of his life until his death in 2019.
Early life
Fernando de la Rúa was the son of Eleonora Bruno and Antonio De la Rúa; he was born in the city of Córdoba and attended the local Military Lyceum before entering the National University of Córdoba, from which he graduated with a law degree at the age of 21. He married a Buenos Aires socialite, Inés Pertiné, in 1970; they had three children, including Antonio de la Rúa. De la Rúa became involved in politics at a young age; he entered public service in 1963 as an advisor to President Arturo Illia's minister Juan Palmero.File:UCR1973.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Advertisement for the September 1973 general elections, for the Ricardo Balbín-Fernando de la Rúa ticket
He was elected senator in the March 1973 general elections, defeating the Peronist Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo. He was the only politician from the Radical Civic Union who could defeat the Peronist candidate in his administrative division. The elected president Héctor José Cámpora and his vice president resigned a few months later, leading to the call to new elections. Ricardo Balbín ran for president in the September general elections, with De la Rúa as his running mate for the post of vice president. The UCR was defeated by Juan Perón in a landslide. De la Rúa was removed from the Congress during the 1976 Argentine coup d'état. He left politics and worked as a lawyer for the firm Bunge y Born.
The National Reorganization Process ended in 1983. De la Rúa intended to run for president but lost in the primary elections of the UCR to Raúl Alfonsín, who was elected in the general election. De la Rúa ran for the post of senator instead, defeating the Peronist Carlos Ruckauf. He ran for re-election as senator in 1989 but, despite his electoral victory, the electoral college voted for the Peronist Eduardo Vaca. De la Rúa was elected deputy in 1991 and returned to the senate in 1993. President Carlos Menem, elected in 1989, wanted to amend the constitution to allow him to run for re-election in 1995, which was opposed by the UCR. Alfonsín signed the Pact of Olivos with Menem, negotiating terms to support the proposal. De la Rúa led the opposition to the pact within the UCR, but Alfonsín prevailed in the internal dispute. This damaged the relationship between the two leaders, but helped the party to retain a number of radicals who were against the pact. De la Rúa could not prevent the 1994 amendment of the Argentine Constitution. As a result, Menem was re-elected in 1995. The UCR finished third in the elections for the first time, being surpassed by the Frepaso, a new party composed by former Peronists.
Mayor of Buenos Aires
The constitutional amendment gave autonomy to the city of Buenos Aires, allowing it to sanction local laws and elect its own mayor, who was previously appointed by the president of the nation. In 1996, de la Rúa was the first mayor elected in this manner, defeating the previous mayor Jorge Domínguez. During his term of office he created or reformulated several institutions to fit the new status of the city, as required by the national constitution and the recently approved Constitution of Buenos Aires.De la Rúa worked on the expansion of the Buenos Aires Underground. The first stations of the extended Line D, Olleros and José Hernández, were opened in 1997, Juramento was opened in 1999, and Congreso de Tucumán in 2000. He also started the works to extend the Line B. Carlos Menem started to transfer the control and financing of the underground system to the city, but the 2001 economic crisis halted the process.
The former mayor Domínguez intended to expand the Pan-American Highway into Saavedra, but the project met widespread opposition. De la Rúa reformulated the project and built an avenue instead of a highway, which was accepted. The avenue was named Roberto Goyeneche. He also restarted a project to build the Cámpora Highway linking Dellepiane Avenue with the Riachuelo, and established the first non-recreational bikeway in Buenos Aires at Avenida del Libertador.
Presidential elections
The Pact of Olivos diminished the electoral strength of the UCR, leading to the rise of the Frepaso. Both parties united in a political coalition, the Alliance, which defeated the PJ in the 1997 midterm elections. It was the PJ's first national defeat since 1985. The parties held open primary elections for the 1999 presidential elections. De la Rúa stood for the UCR; the whole party, including Alfonsín, supported him. The Frepaso candidate was Graciela Fernández Meijide, who had defeated Peronism in the populous Buenos Aires province. De la Rúa won the primary elections by a wide margin. In the primaries, De la Rúa was voted for by more people than those who voted for the UCR in 1995. Despite his victory, Alfonsín was still the president of the UCR. They disagreed on the vice president for De la Rúa's ticket; he thought that it should be Meijide because she took part in the primary elections and came from a different district than him. Alfonsín preferred the popular Carlos Álvarez, leader of the Frepaso, saying he could attract more voters and had more political expertise. It was also a result of the internal politics of the Alliance: except for Meijide, the Frepaso did not have a political figure who could run with high prospects for winning the post of Governor of the Buenos Aires province. Had she run for vice president, Frepaso would have had to resign that candidacy to a radical candidate.Carlos Menem dismissed De la Rúa as a "boring" candidate. De la Rúa exploited that description in television advertisements, embracing it and setting a comparison with the glitzy style of Menem and the perceived political corruption of his administration. He also compared himself with the Peronist candidate Eduardo Duhalde. He promised to solve the economic crisis with fiscal austerity and higher tax controls, hoping it would lower interest rates, bring more foreign investments, and reduce unemployment. He also promised to keep the convertibility plan established by Menem that pegged the Argentine peso one-to-one with the United States dollar.
The 1999 presidential election was held on 24 October. De la Rúa defeated Duhalde by 48.4% to 38.3%, well ahead of the threshold to avoid a second round run-off election. Domingo Cavallo, Menem's former minister of economy, finished the race in third place. De la Rúa was inaugurated President of Argentina on 10 December 1999. He took office with a favorability rating of 75%. Unlike Menem, whose initial cabinet was composed of trusted friends, De la Rúa's cabinet included five people with international degrees and four economists.
Presidency
Domestic policy
In the first days of his presidency, De la Rúa sent a bill to the Congress to request a federal intervention in the province of Corrientes. The province had a high level of debt, and organizations of piqueteros blocked roads to make demonstrations. There were two interim governors disputing power. The bill was immediately approved. The intervenor selected for the task was Ramón Mestre.The Peronist unions opposed De la Rúa and held seven general strikes against him. He sent a bill known as the labour flexibility law to deregulate labor conditions, attempting to reduce the political influence of unions, to the Congress. This project was opposed by the PJ and was changed from the original draft. It was finally approved but Álvarez said several legislators were bribed to support the bill. Álvarez asked for the removal of the labor minister, but De la Rúa instead promoted him to be his personal secretary. Álvarez resigned the following day and the political scandal divided the coalition. Several deputies who initially supported De la Rúa switched to the opposition. Alfonsín tried to prevent a breakup of the UCR. Some months later, it was proposed that Álvarez return to the De la Rúa government as the Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers. Álvarez initially supported the idea but De la Rúa opposed it. Cavallo was also proposed for the office before he was appointed Minister of Economy. De la Rúa intended to include the Frepaso in the new cabinet but to exclude Álvarez himself because he still resented the latter's resignation. The negotiations failed and the new cabinet included no Frepaso politicians, but the Alliance was still working as a coalition in the Congress. It also included several radical politicians from Alfonsín's internal faction. The new Chief of Cabinet was Chrystian Colombo, who mediated between Alfonsín and the president.
The PJ won the 2001 midterm election by 40% to 24%, giving it a majority in both chambers of the Congress. However, the abstention rate and several forms of protest votes combined reached 41%, the highest in Argentine history, as a consequence of the popular discontent with the two main parties. Even the few candidates of the Alliance who won at their districts, such as the radical Rodolfo Terragno in Buenos Aires, did so with political platforms against De la Rúa's administration.