On Sunday, October 22, 2017, President Mauricio Macri’s ‘Cambiemos’ (‘Let’s Change’) coalition declared victory in Argentina’s legislative midterm elections over its main opposition, former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s ‘Unidad Ciudadana’ (‘Citizen Unity’) coalition.
As the United States draws nearer to the possible election of its first female president, Panoramas decided to take a look at the female presidents Latin America has had in the past. Below are the profiles of each of these eleven women, whose successes and trials reflect the history of women in politics around the world.
This past week the Argentine peso fell 11% below the American dollar, the steepest daily fall it has suffered in the past 12 years. The official exchange rate has reached almost 8 pesos to 1 US dollar. Since the economic crisis that hit the nation in 2001, many Argentines have shown little faith in their own economy. Instead, they purchase foreign currency to save rather than saving their constantly depreciating pesos.
In 1983, the violent dictatorship in Argentina fell following the loss in the Falklands war with Great Britain. Following this huge shift in power, Raúl Alfonsín was elected the president of Argentina. Alfonsín then created the Human Rights Commission, Comisión Nacional sobre la Desaparición de Personas, or CONADEP.
Hoy, el Día de la Memoria, Verdad y Justicia, marca el trigésimo octavo aniversario del golpe de estado en Argentina. Después de la muerte de Juan Perón en 1974, su esposa Isabel asumió la presidencia, pero su débil gobierno fue breve. Cayó el 23 de marzo de 1976, cuando los comandantes en jefe de las fuerzas armadas, Jorge Videla, Emilio Massera y Orlando Agosti tomaron control del gobierno, comenzando una nueva dictadura.
Last week, Argentina’s president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner faced a general strike from some of the largest unions of the country. Most businesses and services throughout the country were closed including transportation, hospitals, schools, and restaurants.1 With many taxi and bus drivers on strike, those who did not participate could not go to work for the day. Picketers blocked off roads, preventing travel throughout the capital. In other cities throughout the country, such as Córdoba, smaller scale strikes had similar effects.
Argentina was struck with two blows of overwhelmingly bad news on Monday when the US Supreme Court refused to hear Republic of Argentina v. NML Capital, Ltd., then ruled against the South American country, allowing US hedge funds to subpoena Argentinean banks for the locations of public assets worldwide. In 2012, a lower federal court presided over by US Judge Thomas Griesa decided Argentina must pay back its debts in full to several “holdout” hedge funds by the bond service deadline on June 30th.
Latin America does not rank well when it comes to transgender protection. In fact, between January 2008 and December 2014, “1,356 killings of trans and gender-diverse people have been reported in Central and South America, which account for 78% of the globally reported murders of trans and gender-diverse people” (Transgender Europe, 2015).
Just days after President Obama’s historic trip to Cuba, he visited Argentina during what happened to be the 40th anniversary of the start of the “Dirty War” to meet with Argentina’s new president, Mauricio Macri, a center-rightist.
