Countdown to…
– to be held in Guyana from 23rd to 26th November
The largest Spanish-speaking country in the world, the Republic of Argentina is known locally as “The Land of the Six Continents” for its geographic and climatic diversity, has a long and fascinating history and is a major economic and political power in South America.

Argentina stretches 4,000 km from its sub-tropical north to the sub-antarctic south.

Its terrain includes part of the Andes mountain range, swamps, the plains of the Pampas and a long coastline. Its people have had to struggle with military dictatorship, a lost war over the Falkland Islands, and severe economic difficulties.

Argentina is rich in resources, has a well-educated workforce and is one of South America’s largest economies. But it has also fallen prey to a boom and bust cycle.

A deep recession foreshadowed economic collapse in 2001. This left more than half the population living in poverty and triggered unrest. The country struggled with record debt defaults and currency devaluation.

By 2003, a recovery was under way, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed to a vital new loan. Since then, Argentina has restructured its massive debt, offering creditors new bonds for the defaulted ones, and has repaid its debt to the IMF. But with poverty rife and unemployment high, many Argentines still await the benefits of the economic upturn.

Argentina remains locked in a territorial dispute with Britain over the Falklands Islands, which are governed as a British overseas territory, but have been claimed by Buenos Aires since the 1830s.

The issue led to war in 1982, when the islands fell to an invasion launched by Argentina’s military junta, but were re-conquered by Britain in a conflict that caused hundreds of deaths on both sides.

The defeat led to the fall of the military dictatorship, but the junta’s legacy is still an open wound. Tens of thousands of people were killed in the seven-year “dirty war”. The bodies of many abductees – known as the “disappeared” – have never been found.

Amnesties which protected former junta members from prosecution have been repealed and the legality of pardons granted to military leaders in the 1980s and 1990s is being questioned.

FACTS

* Full name: Argentine Republic
* Population: 40.2 million (UN, 2009)
* Capital: Buenos Aires
* Area: 2.8 million sq km (1.1 million sq miles)
* Major language: Spanish
* Major religion: Christianity
* Life expectancy:     72 years (men), 79 years (women) (UN)
* Monetary unit: 1 peso = 100 centavos
* Main exports: Food and live animals, mineral fuels, cereals, machinery
* GNI per capita: US $7,200 (World Bank, 2008)
* Internet domain: .ar
* International dialling code: +54

LEADER

President: Cristina Fernandez
Cristina Fernandez swept to victory in the first round of Argentina’s presidential election in October 2007 – a victory that many attributed to the popularity of her husband, the then President Nestor Kirchner.

Ms Fernandez is the first woman to be elected president of Argentina
She fought the election campaign largely on Mr Kirchner’s record of reducing poverty and unemployment in the wake of the 2001-2002 economic crisis – one of the worst crises the country had ever experienced.

She has a long track-record as a politician. As a law student in the 1970s she was active in a leftist Peronist movement, later becoming first a provincial and then a national deputy.
She supported her husband – whom she met at university in 1975 – as he rose through the Peronist ranks, and in 1995 became a senator herself.

After Mr Kirchner was elected president in 2003, she was his chief adviser, and he also played an important role in her leadership. One of his first jobs was to help with negotiations to release hostages held by the guerrillas in the Colombian jungle.
The couple were dubbed “the Clintons of the South”, and Ms Fernandez encouraged the comparison by alluding to the similarities between herself and Hillary Clinton during her election campaign.

They suffered a setback in legislative elections in 2009, when their Peronist party lost control of both houses of Congress and Mr Kirchner was beaten in his high-profile bid for a seat in Buenos Aires province, a Peronist stronghold.

Mr Kirchner died in October 2010. He was expected to run for president again in 2011.

MEDIA

Argentina is one of South America’s leading media markets. The country has well over 150 daily newspapers, many hundreds of commercial radio stations, dozens of TV stations and one of the world’s highest take-up rates for cable TV.
Large media conglomerates have emerged. Public broadcasting plays a minor role. Television is the dominant medium. The main national free-to-air networks – Telefe, America, Canal 9 and Canal 13 – are privately-owned.
Argentine readers are among Latin America’s most voracious newspaper consumers. Clarin and La Nacion are the best-selling national dailies.
Media freedom is guaranteed by the constitution. However, Reporters Without Borders maintained in 2008 that “direct attacks on the media and obstacles to press freedom… remained high”.

By December 2008, Argentina had 16 million internet users, comprising nearly 40% of the population (Internetworldstats.com) and giving the country the second-highest number of surfers on the continent, after Brazil.

ECONOMY

Argentina benefits from rich natural resources, a highly educated population, a globally competitive agricultural sector, and a diversified industrial base.

The move after the 2001-2002 crisis to a more flexible exchange rate regime, along with sustained global and regional growth, a boost in domestic aggregate demand via monetary, fiscal, and income distribution policies, and favorable international commodity prices and interest rate trends were catalytic factors in supporting 5 consecutive years of greater than 8% annual GDP growth between 2003 and 2007.

The economic recovery enabled the government to accumulate substantial official reserves (over $51 billion as of late August 2010). The reserves, combined with the absence of fresh borrowing from the international capital markets, helped insulate the economy from external shocks.

A higher tax burden, improved tax collection efforts, and the recovery’s strong impact on tax revenues supported the government’s successful efforts to maintain primary fiscal surpluses since 2003.

Global financial turmoil and rapid declines in world commodity prices and economic growth during 2008 and 2009 resulted in diminished growth in 2008 and a mild recession in 2009.

While the downturn was less severe in Argentina than elsewhere, the deterioration of both domestic and international demand complicated the fiscal situations of both the federal government and the provinces. The global economy’s current recovery during 2010 is helping to ameliorate some of those pressures.

Official figures show that Argentine GDP reached U.S. $306.7 billion in 2009, approximately U.S. $7,472 per capita, with investment increasing an estimated 10% for the year and representing approximately 20.5% of GDP.

Analysts expect 2010 GDP growth in the 7% to 8% range or higher. Government of Argentina statistics showed unemployment was 8.4% in 2009. Poverty dropped in the aftermath of the economic crisis of 2001-2002, after having reached a record high of over 50%. In 2009, the official poverty level was 13.2%. Some unofficial estimates suggest that unemployment and poverty levels may be higher.

INTERNATIONAL

A row over Uruguayan paper mills sours neighbourly relations; Argentina claims sovereignty over the Falklands, a UK overseas territory.

SOURCES:  US Department of State website, Tulane University, Google