Fernando de la Rúa: 1937—: Politician, Lawyer Biography - Joined Union Civica Radical, Ran For President, Abandoned Office

nation argentina

Fernando de la Rúa: 1937—: Politician, lawyer.

The former president of Argentina, Fernando de la Rúa attempted to restore solvency to a nation deep in debt and out of patience with governmental corruption, rampant inflation, and unemployment. Elected late in 1999 by South America's second largest nation, de la Rúa, Argentina's 47th president, applied the negotiation skills he perfected as an attorney, senator, and mayor of Buenos Aires. For a few tranquil months, he appeared to outclass his predecessor, Carlos Menem, in integrity and direction. The return of scandal and disruption to the cabinet and Senate forced de la Rúa to resign.

Additional Topics

Fernando de la Rúa: 1937—: Politician, Lawyer - Joined Union Civica Radical

A native of Cordoba, de la Rúa was born on September 15, 1937, and studied law at the University of Cordoba. After joining the Union Civica Radical (UCR), Argentina's most traditional party at age 26, he took an advisory post in the Ministry of the Interior as one of the youngest members of Dr. Artier Illia's radical government. Later in 1973 he campaigned unsuccessfully for v…

Fernando de la Rúa: 1937—: Politician, Lawyer - Ran For President

Boosting de la Rúa's conservative image were blatant profiteering in Menem's cabinet and mounting crime and unemployment while the president partied, entertained the smart set, and kept on the move in his Ferrari and presidential jet. In 1999 de la Rúa defeated Graciela Fernández Meijide in a run-off for candidacy representing the Alianza, a center-left coalition…

Fernando de la Rúa: 1937—: Politician, Lawyer - Abandoned Office

De la Rúa's last days in office were a desperate avoidance of the inevitable. He replaced departing finance secretary Daniel Marx with Miguel Kiguel, but could not deny the seriousness of the October 6th resignation of Vice President Carlos "Chacho" Alvarez, who declared his boss incapable or unwilling to punish senators caught in a bribery scandal. Promotion of scandal…

Citing this material

Please include a link to this page if you have found this material useful for research or writing a related article. Content on this website is from high-quality, licensed material originally published in print form. You can always be sure you're reading unbiased, factual, and accurate information.

Highlight the text below, right-click, and select “copy”. Paste the link into your website, email, or any other HTML document.