Eduardo Alberto Duhalde (; born 5 October 1941) is a former politician from Argentina. A member of the Peronist party, Duhalde served as the President of Argentina from January 2002 to May 2003. In the 1990s, he also held the positions of vice president and governor of Buenos Aires.
Duhalde was elected to the local legislature and appointed intendente (mayor) in 1973. He was deposed during the 1976 Argentine coup d'état. After democracy returned, he was elected again 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 and was defeated by Fernando de la Rúa, who ended up resigning during the December 2001 riots. After he resigned, Congress appointed the governor of San Luis Province Adolfo Rodríguez Saá as president. When Rodríguez Saá also resigned, Congress appointed Duhalde. During Duhalde’s presidency, a major currency devaluation and rising exchange rates contributed to a gradual economic recovery. He successfully supported the candidate Néstor Kirchner against Menem. Duhalde is largely retired from politics since his defeat in the 2011 presidential elections.
Early life and career
Eduardo Alberto Duhalde was born in Lomas de Zamora, in the Greater Buenos Aires region. He graduated as a lawyer in 1970. He was elected to the city legislature the next year. He joined the Justicialist Party (PJ), and soon became leader of the party's local branch. Duhalde was appointed mayor in 1973 after the legislature removed two predecessors during a political reorganization by President Isabel Perón. He was removed from office during the 1976 Argentine coup d’état and later worked as a real estate broker.
In 1983, Eduardo Duhalde was elected mayor of Lomas de Zamora. The Justicialist Party (PJ) nominated him as a centrist compromise. He narrowly defeated UCR candidate Horacio Devoy by 700 votes. Both parties won eleven seats in the local legislature. 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.Reato, p. 60 He was elected national deputy in 1987, and became vice president of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies. During his time in office he established a commission to fight drug addiction.
Vice presidency and governorship
In 1989, the PJ held primary elections for the presidential contest between Carlos Menem (governor of La Rioja) and Antonio Cafiero (governor of the Buenos Aires Province). Carlos Menem won the election with Eduardo Duhalde as his running mate, securing victory in the general election.
Menem suggested that Duhalde run for governor of Buenos Aires Province. Duhalde agreed, on the condition that the province receive significant budget support. The proposal was backed in Congress by Raúl Alfonsín, beginning a lasting alliance between the two leaders.Reato, p. 58 Duhalde won the election, ending the political influence of Cafiero.Romero, p. 282
Duhalde planned to run for president in 1995, but Menem pushed through a 1994 constitutional amendment allowing himself to seek re-election. After failing to defeat Menem in the primaries, Duhalde sought a similar amendment to the Buenos Aires provincial constitution to allow his own re-election as governor. The Justicialist Party lacked a majority in the constituent assembly, and the UCR, Broad Front, and MODIN formed a “triple alliance” to block the change. MODIN later switched sides, supporting the amendment on the condition that it be approved by a provincial referendum. The referendum approved the constitutional change, allowing Duhalde to seek re-election. He went on to win the general election. Menem was also re-elected in the 1995 general elections.Romero, p. 286
After the new constitution limited presidents to one re-election, the PJ began debating its future leadership. Shortly after the 1995 elections, Duhalde announced his intention to run for president in 1999, sparking a strong rivalry with Menem. In response, Menem launched a “Menem ’99” advertising campaign, despite being ineligible for another term, to maintain political influence.Romero, p. 292
Menem backed Tucumán governor Palito Ortega as a potential presidential candidate, increasing party tensions. Duhalde’s image suffered due to several scandals, including national issues like illegal arms sales and provincial ones such as police corruption and the murder of journalist José Luis Cabezas. The Justicialist Party lost the 1997 midterm elections, and Menem relaunched his “Menem ’99” campaign, which the Supreme Court later declared unconstitutional. Ortega ran as Duhalde’s vice-presidential candidate in 1999, but they lost to Fernando de la Rúa.Romero, pp. 292–296
De la Rúa’s government faced a severe economic crisis and the 2001 riots, leading to his resignation two years into his term. He believed Duhalde had orchestrated a coup against him."Duhalde constantly said that we should change the president; something he did with me and repeated with Adolfo Rodríguez Saá, victim of the second civil coup." (De la Rúa) – Mendelevich, p. 255 However, his chief of staff, Rodolfo Terragno, blamed the crisis on the continued peso-dollar parity and its economic costs. In interviews for Doce noches, Duhalde and other Peronists stated they had no interest in ousting De la Rúa, believing his unpopularity would ensure a Justicialist victory in the 2003 presidential election.Reato, p. 305
Presidency (2002-2003)
Appointment
Fernando de la Rúa resigned as president during the December 2001 riots amid a deep economic crisis. With the vice presidency already vacant, Congress was tasked with appointing a new president. A bloc of Peronist governors from smaller provinces, known as the “Federal Front,” secured enough votes to appoint Adolfo Rodríguez Saá, governor of San Luis Province.Reato, p. 54 However, his early decisions in office triggered further unrest, and he lacked support from the broader Justicialist Party. A meeting he called with provincial governors drew little attendance, and he resigned after one week in office.Reato, pp. 15–34 Rodríguez Saá later accused Eduardo Duhalde and Córdoba governor José Manuel de la Sota of plotting against him.Reato, p. 39
Congress met again to select a new president. With the Federal Front weakened, governors from more populous provinces gained influence. The main candidates were Duhalde, De la Sota, and Buenos Aires governor Carlos Ruckauf. Former president Carlos Menem sought to block Duhalde’s appointment and proposed Misiones governor Ramón Puerta, who declined. Eduardo Camaño briefly served as acting president.Reato, pp. 60–66
Duhalde gained support from key political figures, including Raúl Alfonsín, who directed Radical legislators to vote for him and offered members of his party for cabinet positions. Duhalde also received votes from legislators aligned with Menem. With this backing, Congress appointed Duhalde president on 2 January 2002, granting him a full term to complete De la Rúa’s mandate rather than calling early elections.
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 Duhalde's behalf, while Congress was still voting for the new president.Reato, pp. 333–334 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.Reato, p. 358 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.Reato, pp. 337–338
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 "Those who deposited dollars [would] 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.Reato, p. 359 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.Reato, p. 360 Most industries benefited from the "pesification" and the devaluation, as they could now export at higher prices, and the economy started to improve.Reato, p. 368 The jump in the international price of soybean in July 2002 also proved highly beneficial.Reato, p. 370 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.Reato, p. 372 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.Reato, pp. 370–371
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.Reato, pp. 378–381 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