Word: argentinas
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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After years of tottering on the brink of economic crisis, Argentina started sliding into chaos last week. In food riots that erupted in Rosario, Cordoba, Buenos Aires and other major cities, more than 2,000 people were arrested and at least 15 killed. The primary trigger: hyperinflationary price increases that have left even middle-class citizens unable to afford food and other necessities. Inflation for the month of May reached 75%, and is accelerating at a pace that would amount to more than 80,000% for the year. Said David Feldman, news director of Radio Rosario: "It's not just...
...convincingly defeated by Peronist Carlos Saul Menem in May 14 elections, to step down before his term ends on Dec. 10. When the two men met last week, however, they apparently agreed that an early transition would suit neither one. Alfonsin wants a normal, democratic transfer of power -- Argentina's first since 1928 -- while Menem and his sharply divided party realize they have no comprehensive plan for stitching together the shattered economy...
...country's eruption was the second such outburst to hit debt-stricken Latin America this year. In February and March more than 300 people died in Venezuela during protests against an austerity program aimed at bringing down a foreign debt of $30 billion. Argentina, which has a $60 billion external debt, has made no payments since April...
Food riots in a country considered to be one of the world's breadbaskets amounted to a devastating indictment of the Alfonsin government, which failed to act quickly enough to put Argentina's fiscal house back in order in 1983, when Alfonsin became the first civilian President in nearly eight years. The former human-rights activist valued political stability at the expense of wrenching but necessary economic changes to correct the country's low productivity, over-regulation, bloated public payroll and money-losing state- owned companies. By the time Alfonsin began pushing for economic reforms in 1985, his popularity...
...Argentinians have turned their eyes to Menem. But since the President- elect has yet to define a concrete economic plan, the situation seems bound to deteriorate further. Even Argentina's generals, who have never been shy about staging coups before, appear reluctant to intervene for fear of saddling themselves with the blame for economic ruin. "We are in a process of decline," says Federico Zorraquin, president of the Banco Commercial del Norte. "No one knows where it will...