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Country : Argentina Official name: República Argentina (Argentine Republic) Head of State: President Néstor Kirchner (PJ) (inaugurated May 2003) Head of government: President Néstor Kirchner Ruling party: Partido Justicialista (PJ) (Justicialist Party, commonly referred to as the Perónist Party) Area: 2,766,889 square km Population: 38.47 million (2004) Capital: Buenos Aires Official language: Spanish Currency: Peso (P) = 100 centavos Exchange rate: P2.96 per US$ (Nov 2004) (peso floated Feb 2002) GDP per capita: US$3,222 (2003) GDP real growth: 8.70% (2003) Labour force: 15.00 million (2003) Unemployment: 16.20% (2003) Inflation: 13.90% (2003) Oil production: 828,600 bpd (2003) Balance of trade: US$15.56 billion (2003) Foreign debt: US$155.00 billion (2003)

Historical profile

1916–22 and 1928–30 President Hipolito Yrigoyen was Argentina's first popularly elected president. He was ousted in his second term by the armed forces.

1939--1945 Argentina was neutral during the Second World War and initially refused to break diplomatic relations with Japan and Germany.

1943 A military government, with pro-fascist sympathies, assumed power.

1944 Argentina broke diplomatic relations with Japan and Germany and declared war on them.

1946 General Juan Domingo Perón, a leading figure in the military government, won a free presidential election. He and his wife, Evita, became increasingly popular as social services spending grew. However, foreign exchange reserves built up during the Second World War were squandered by nationalising the railways and other public utilities. President Perón became increasingly repressive towards his critics and the Catholic Church.

1949 A new constitution strengthened the power of the president and criticising the government became a criminal offence, leading to the jailing of Perón's opponents.

1951 Perón was re-elected with a large majority.

1952 Perón's popular wife, 'Evita', died of cancer. Consequently, his support began to wane.

1955 An attempted coup by the navy in June was crushed by the army. However, in September the armed forces seized power, sending Perón into exile. A series of unstable military and civilian governments in subsequent years saw the Perónists win the few elections held.

1973 Following a Perónist electoral victory, Hector Campora became president. He resigned, following widespread civil disturbances and was succeeded by Perón who had been allowed to return from exile.

1974 Perón died and was succeeded by his wife, María. The country sank into political and economic chaos.

1976 The armed forces overthrew the government and installed General Jorge Videla as president. The military junta suppressed left-wing opposition groups – between 6–15,000 people `disappeared' in the 'dirty war' that followed the coup.

1981 General Roberto Viola succeeded Videla as president. After Viola, General Leopoldo Galtieri became president.

1982 The military government invaded the Falkland Islands/Islas Malvinas. Argentina's defeat by the UK, on top of a collapsing economy, was a major factor in the end of military government and a return to democracy.

1983 Raul Alfonsín of the Unión Cívica Radical (UCR) (Radical Civic Union) won the presidential elections.

1989 Perónist Carlos Ménem became president and began a programme of economic austerity in an effort to stabilise and restructure the ailing economy.

1990 Full diplomatic relations with the UK were restored, although Argentina continued to claim the Falklands.

1992 The peso was introduced as a new currency and was pegged to the US dollar at a one-to-one rate.

1995 Ménem was re-elected president.

1997 A Spanish judge called for the arrest of senior military officers involved in the 'dirty war', but an Argentine amnesty law protected them.

1998 Argentine judges ordered arrests in connection with the abduction of hundreds of babies of women arrested during the 'dirty war'. A protracted recession began.

1999 Fernando de la Rúa won the presidential election, ending 10 years of Perónist rule, but his centre-left Alianza failed to secure an absolute majority of seats in the lower house of Congress.

2001 A judge overturned the amnesty laws which had allowed members of the armed forces to escape prosecution for human rights abuses during the years of military rule. The economy, devastated by years of recession, was near to collapse, leading to public protests. The opposition Perónists won the mid-term parliamentary elections and both houses of Congress came under opposition control. The president asked the opposition to join the UCR in a government of national unity but the offer was rejected. After disturbances in Buenos Aires, President Fernando de la Rúa and his cabinet resigned; Ramón Puerta took over the helm. Adolfo Rodríguez Saa was elected interim president until the next presidential elections. There were more protests after Rodríguez Saa's announcement of more fiscal cuts and the government resigned. Eduardo Camaño assumed the presidency for a 48-hour period until the January 2002 elections.

2002 Perónist Eduardo Duhalde was sworn in as president (the fifth president in two weeks). Rioting and looting continued. The peso was devalued, eliminating the link to the US dollar, and President Duhalde was given the power to pass some laws without congressional approval for the next two years. The peso was floated.

2003 A run-off presidential election between Carlos Saúl Menem and Néstor Kirchner was to be held on 18 May, but Menem pulled out, leaving Kirchner to win by default. Nearly twice the annual average rainfall fell in two days in Santa Fe province in May, causing some of the worst flooding the country has ever seen. 2004 In April, an international arrest warrant was issued for the former president, Carlos Menem, over allegations of fraud.

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