1. SuJung, Kim 2. Argentina's first lady wins poll 3. When searching on the internet, I got a great news! Argentina's first lady wins poll. I know that Chile also has female president. And now Argentina has one too. For me, it is impressive that Latin American countries have female presidents. Earlier than the U.S. I wonder what makes it possible?? ---------------------------- Argentina's current first lady, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, has secured victory in the country's presidential election.
With most of the ballots counted, Mrs Kirchner had an unassailable lead with 44.6% of the votes.
Her nearest rival, former lawmaker Elisa Carrio, has admitted defeat, trailing on 22.6% of the vote.
Mrs Kirchner will succeed her husband Nestor Kirchner and become Argentina's first elected female president.
"We've won by a wide margin," she told supporters in a speech at her campaign headquarters at a hotel in Buenos Aires.
But this, far from putting us in a position of privilege, puts us instead in a position of greater responsibilities and obligations," she said.
As her husband, the outgoing president, stood at her side, she said she would build on his work.
"We have repositioned the country, fought poverty and unemployment, all these tragedies that have hit Argentines," she said, referring to the country's recovery from the 2001 economic crash.
Elisa Carrio, who performed well in the capital Buenos Aires, secured 23% of the overall vote, with ex-economy minister Roberto Lavagna in third place on 17%.
Eleven candidates split the rest of the ballots.
Mrs Kirchner needed more than 45% of the full vote, or 40% with a 10 point lead over the next nearest candidate, to win the presidency without facing a second round of voting.
Polling was extended by one hour in some parts of the country to 1900 local time (2200 GMT) to accommodate a late rush of voters.
Besides a new president, voters were choosing eight provincial governors, a third of the Senate and about half of the Chamber of Deputies.
Some 27 million people were eligible to vote.
Economy and crime
The economy and rising crime have been the two main issues in campaigning.
Mr Kirchner has overseen a return to stability and some prosperity since the economy collapsed six years ago, plunging thousands into poverty, the BBC's Daniel Schweimler reports from Buenos Aires.
But there are fears over how strong the economy really is and general scepticism over official statistics suggesting inflation is under control.
Mrs Kirchner's critics have attacked her for failing to outline exactly what her policies are, but voters who spoke to the BBC's Will Grant in Buenos Aires said the opposition had failed to offer any real alternative.
Surprise candidate
Just a few months ago, Mr Kirchner was riding high in the opinion polls and looked set to continue for a second term.
However, it was announced in July that his wife Cristina, senator for Buenos Aires province, would stand in his place. No explanation was given.
It is not clear what role, if any, Mr Kirchner will play in his wife's administration.
But Mrs Kirchner, candidate for the governing Front for Victory, has promised to continue her husband's centre-left policies.
As well as facing comparisons with Eva Peron, Argentina's legendary former first lady, Mrs Kirchner has been compared to former US First Lady Hillary Clinton, who is also a lawyer and senator seeking to become the first elected female president of her country.
"I don't want to be compared with Hillary Clinton or with Evita Peron, or with anybody," she said recently.
"There's nothing better than being yourself." ------- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7066776.stm
2. Female Argentinian President, Third Female President in Latin American History (the other one was Isabel Peron in the 1970s, and currently the "Allende, II" in Chile), more information about the current Chile's and Argentina's female Presidents below.
3. More on the Argentinian election, from an economic analysis. Yes, as SuJung notes areas peripheral to the U.S. 'core' (using dependency theory categories) have tended to be more visibily socially progressive than the United States. At least on the surface. Moreover, the stories of these female presidents seems more of a phenomenon of a representative of a very political 'aristocratic' family in the country's history, of which the female president is from one of the past powerful 'first families.' This is the case for Isabel Peron, Chile's President right, now, as well as Argentina's President right now.
Second, I would argue it matters a great deal whether the female is elected from the left or the right side of the political spectrum whether the female win means a representative change of politics or just the same politics with a female face.
The female presidents in Latin Amerian tended to be marriage partners of a male leader beforehand, particularly for the right wing. In other words, social policies didn't really encourage female inclusion, it was seen as a continuation of before. This was the case for Isabel Peron, Vice President/wife of Dictator Peron (recently arrested in Spain for some mass murders of activists during her tenure in teh 1970s).
As for me, I definitely support female equality (here I am at Ewha!) though beyond that I concentrate on the policies, because the candidate's gender is not necessarily going to represent a political change automatically or a sign of systematic political change in many cases. (Look at Margaret Thatcher in the U.K. in the 1980s, or Isabel Peron's authorizations of murders of democracy activists in her country in the 1970s; or Condi Rice in the United States--who was on the board of Chevron before and had a supertanker oil carrier named after her).
From the left wing, gender inclusion as a political principle has been an intentional instittuional and policy part of a leftist heritage for general political principles.
From the right wing, if the leader was female it was hardly a political change or a matter of principle that the female was president--particularly if she was seen as a continuation of a previous martial and dictatorial regime.
For example of left females, part of the Nicaraguan revolutionary cadre framework in the 1980s was to intentionally have high level female judges on their main court. Cuba is known for state encouragement of gender equality.
The U.S. has had two female Associate Justicies on its Supreme Court, one rather left wing (Black American Ruth Bader Ginsberg), though one recently retired who was center-right as well.) The U.S. has never had a female Chairman of Supreme Court. There have been a handful of female state Governors in the USA though, though rarely in high level political power on the federal level.
Brazil has a (very white) female Supreme judge right now, Justice Ellen Gracie Northfleet, President of the Supreme Federal Court. (A very different Brazil from George Amado's book about Brazil Gabriela, Cinnamon and Clove, eh?)
The U.K. (right wing Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s) Middle East (Pakistan, Buttho) and South Asia (India, Indra Ghandi) have had female heads of state.
SuJung mentioned the Chilean female President. Interesting background, given the overthrow of Allende in the 1970s for just such the same policies...:
Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria (born September 29, 1951) is a center-left politician and the current President of Chile—the first woman to hold this position in the country's history. She won the 2006 presidential election in a runoff, beating center-right billionaire businessman and former senator Sebastián Piñera, with 53.5% of the vote. A moderate Socialist, she campaigned on a platform of continuing Chile's free market policies, while increasing social benefits to help reduce the country's gap between rich and poor, one of the largest in the world. She was inaugurated on March 11, 2006.
Bachelet—a surgeon, pediatrician and epidemiologist with studies in military strategy [what a strange combination!]—served as Health Minister and Defense Minister under President Ricardo Lagos. She is a separated mother of three and a self-described agnostic, which sets her apart in a predominantly conservative and Catholic country. A polyglot, she speaks Spanish, English, German, Portuguese and French.[1]
It is an "Allende, Part two" because her father was in the Allende government that was overthrown by military dictator Pinochet:
"Her paternal great-great-grandfather, Joseph Bachelet Lapierre, was a French wine merchant from Chassagne-Montrachet who emigrated to Chile with his Parisian wife in 1860 hired as a wine-making expert by the Subercaseaux vineyards. Bachelet Lapierre's son, Germán—Michelle Bachelet's great-grandfather—, was born in Chile and married to a French-Swiss woman. Of Greek ancestors, her maternal grandfather, Máximo Jeria Chacón, was the first person to receive a degree in agronomic engineering in Chile and founded several agronomy schools in the country.[4]
Much of Bachelet's childhood years were spent traveling around Chile, moving with her family from one military base to another. She lived and attended primary school in Quintero, Cerro Moreno, Antofagasta and San Bernardo. In 1962 she moved with her family to the United States, where her father was assigned to the military mission at the Chilean Embassy in Washington. Her family spent almost two years living in Bethesda, Maryland, where she attended Western Junior High School (now known as Westland Middle School) and learned to speak English fluently.[5] Back in Chile, she graduated from high school in 1969 at Liceo Nº 1 Javiera Carrera, a prestigious girls-only public school, finishing near the top of her class. There, she was president of her class, a member of the school's choir and volleyball teams, and part of a theater group and a music band called Las Clap Clap (which she helped found) that toured through many school festivals. She entered medical school at the University of Chile in 1970, after obtaining one of the highest national scores in the university admission test. She originally wanted to study sociology or economics but was prevailed upon by her father to study medicine instead.[6] She has said she opted for medicine because it was "a concrete way of helping people cope with pain" and "a way to contribute to improve health in Chile."[1]
Torture and exile
Facing growing food shortages, the government of Salvador Allende placed Bachelet's father in charge of the Food Distribution Office. When Augusto Pinochet came to power in the September 11, 1973 coup, [her father] General Bachelet, refusing exile, was detained at the Air War Academy, under charges of treason.
Following months of daily torture at Santiago's Public Prison, on March 12, 1974, he suffered a cardiac arrest that resulted in his death.
On January 10, 1975, Bachelet and her mother were detained at their apartment by two DINA agents, who blindfolded them and drove them to Villa Grimaldi, a notorious secret detention center in Santiago, where they were separated and submitted to interrogation and torture.[7]
Some days later they were transferred to Cuatro Álamos ("Four Poplars") detention center, where they were held until the end of January.
Later in 1975, due to sympathetic connections in the military, both were exiled to Australia, where Bachelet's older brother Alberto had moved in 1969.[8]"
...
What about South Korea, eh? (Ewha graduate) Han Myung-Sook, ex-Prime Minister of South Korea? Do you think she will win the Presidency election? She has been environmental minister before and gender equality minister, typical social movements that have a high overlap sociologically in many countries and cultures.
How Argentina jump-started its economy [and escaped the IMF]
Buenos Aires' first couple revived the economy -- despite, not because of, the IMF. By Mark Weisbrot (L.A. Times)
October 30, 2007
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner on Sunday became the first woman elected to the presidency of Argentina.
Her victory is not difficult to explain.
Her political party, under President Nestor Kirchner (her husband), led a dramatic economic turnaround that made Argentina the fastest-growing economy in the Western Hemisphere over the last 5 1/2 years.
More than 11 million people, or 28% of the population, were pulled above the poverty line as Argentina's economy grew by more than 50%.
Its 8.2% annual economic growth was more than twice the average for Latin America.
Unemployment has dropped from 21.5% to 8.5%, and real (inflation-adjusted) wages have grown by more than 40%.
Fernandez's victory was thus predictable and relatively easy.
But the economic recovery that drove it was not so simple, and the people who led it deserve more credit than they have generally received. The Kirchners and their allies had to take on not only the conventional wisdom of the economics profession but also powerful international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund. [A great many states of South America have attempted to completely sever their financial connections to the debt-domination and loans from the IMF. Brazil recently paid back everything early: Brazil received an IMF rescue package in mid-2002 in the amount of USD 30.4 billion, a record sum at that time. The IMF loan was paid off early by Brazil's central bank in 2005 (the due date was scheduled for 2006). Back to Argentina:]
Argentina's success may have some important implications for other developing countries.
When Argentina defaulted on a record $100 billion of debt at the end of 2001, almost all of the experts predicted that this would be the beginning of a long period of punishment. International financial markets and foreign investors would shun the nation, they said, and this would be very damaging. The government had better reach an agreement with the IMF and follow its advice. And it had better play nice with the defaulted foreign creditors.
The experts could hardly have been more wrong. The economy contracted for just three months after the default and then began to grow. It hasn't stopped since.
Contrary to a common belief, Argentina's expansion was not based on exports or high commodity prices: Only about 13% of the growth during the expansion was because of exports.
What did Argentina do right? Most important, the government got its basic macroeconomic policies right. After years of seeing its domestic economy crippled by an overvalued currency that made imports artificially cheap, the Argentine central bank targeted a stable and competitive real exchange rate.
In other words, the authorities made sure that their currency didn't rise too high and didn't swing wildly as a result of movements in financial markets. (Here in the U.S. [where that article was written], where we have shed more than 3 million manufacturing jobs since 2001 -- the bulk of them lost because of an overvalued dollar -- we might take note.) They also kept interest rates low and made growth, rather than the lowest possible inflation, the top priority.
These policies are mostly a no-no among central bankers and economists, and Argentina had a few showdowns with the IMF, including a brief temporary default to the fund in September 2003. But the fund backed down, and most of the defaulted international creditors ended up settling for 35 cents on the dollar in 2005.
Of course, Argentina hasn't gotten a lot of foreign direct investment [Monday's lecture topic] in the last five years, and it cannot directly borrow in international bond markets.
But these handicaps -- which if you read the business press should spell doom -- turned out not to be all that important.
Nor are they permanent. In time, foreign investors and lenders will find their way back to a fast-growing economy.
The lesson? Just as "all politics are local," so too are the most important economic policies for most countries. Getting basic macroeconomic policies right for your own economy is a lot more important than pleasing international financial markets.
That goes double for failed international financial institutions like the IMF.
The fund not only oversaw the train wreck that collapsed Argentina's economy from 1998 to 2002, it opposed the major policies that drove Argentina's remarkable recovery.
The fact that Argentina's break with the IMF and its policies was key to the country's economic success also has implications for other countries.
Over the last quarter of a century, the fund and its allied institutions -- run from Washington -- have presided over Latin America's worst long-term growth performance in more than a century. As a result, most governments in the region have moved away from the IMF. Its loan portfolio in the region has shrunk from $49 billion just four years ago to less than $1 billion today. [Wow. I didn't know that dynamic.]
But it still holds sway in many poor countries.
Argentina's new government will face challenges, the kind brought about by a fast-growing economy: keeping inflation in check and assuring adequate supplies of energy. But these problems are manageable. Of course, there are analysts who argue otherwise, but their forecasts over the last five years have not been very accurate.
Mark Weisbrot is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington. Website: cepr.net
1.Kyunghee Kang 2."Aristide must be part of solution to Haiti crisis" 3.Haiti's in trouble. Extreme poverty and severe political instability prevails the state. Armed gangs are doing violences and UN peace troops are staying here. And as for the US's influence on Latin America about which we'll discuss in next session, jean bertrand aristide, popular former president of Haiti was ousted twice by the US supported powers. His supporters have been kidnapped recently, which needs probe. Now Preval administration is taking office in shaky situation. It also is interesting that the reporting journal of this article is from South Africa and it argues strongly the importance of autonomous action.
-----------------------
October 16, 2007, 05:00
By Thami Dickson The resolution of the political problems facing the Caribbean nation of Haiti would not be complete without the involvement of the former Haitian Presidentm, Jean Bertrand Aristide. This emerged as the UN Security Council extended the mandate of its peacekeeping mission in Haiti for one year.
The council says Haiti has a golden chance to begin to rebuild itself with the help of the international community. Aristide is in temporary asylum in South Africa after he was removed from power in a political revolt in 2004.
The UN peace keeping mission in Haiti, known as Minustah, was established in 2004 to stabilise the country following a violent political uprising that resulted in the overthrow of Aristide. Since then, Haiti has struggled against lawlessness perpetuated by armed gangs operating from slum neighborhoods.
Political challenges The Security Council has heard that order is now returning to Haiti and there is a chance for the Haitians to resolve their political challenges.
Aristide is seen as the important element in the ultimate stabilisation of this Caribbean nation. Although he was not discussed in the Security Council, his influence and support in the country is acknowledged as critical in the efforts to build lasting peace.
With the Haitian National Police struggling to build their ranks, the UN is providing the majority of the country's security forces. UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, who visited Haiti recently, writes in his report that the country needs help to expedite social and economic development and in building functioning civil institutions.
3. Although I personally laud Chavez's bold efforts to empower the citizens, especially those in the lower classes who needed it the most, it's a grave concern for Latin America as well as the international community in considering how far a president's power should go against the will of many of its citizens. Some form of consensus must be reached between the pro-government and anti-government parties as well as civil liberty groups who should also have the right to voice how the constitution is changed. I don't think extremism can ever be an absolute solution to any problem. Chavez as the one in power should make a greater effort to bring about dialogue and gain the trust of his rivals to bring his country together in unity rather than greater division. ------------------- CARACAS, Venezuela: Venezuela's pro-government National Assembly overwhelmingly approved constitutional reforms on Friday that would greatly expand the power of President Hugo Chavez and permit him to run for re-election indefinitely.
The 69 changes to Venezuela's Constitution now go to citizens for a vote on Dec. 2.
The proposed changes, Chavez's most radical move yet in his push to transform Venezuela into a socialist state, threaten to spur a new wave of political upheaval in this oil-rich South American country already deeply divided over Chavez's rule.
The amendments would allow the government to expropriate private property without having to first seek court authorization, take total control over the Central Bank, create new types of property managed by cooperatives and extend presidential terms from six to seven years while allowing Chavez to run again in 2012.
All but seven of the assembly's 167 lawmakers voted for the changes by a show of hands.
"Today the Venezuelan people have a pencil in their hands to write their own history, and it's not going to be the history of the elite," said pro-Chavez lawmaker Earle Herrera.
Concerns that the measures will weaken civil liberties have been raised by university students, opposition parties, human rights groups and representatives of Venezuela's Roman Catholic Church.
Demonstrators protested the reforms at several universities on Friday. One student was killed by an unidentified gunman during a demonstration in western Zulia state, Zulia Police Chief Candido Carreno told state television. Four other students were injured, he said, without elaborating. No suspects were arrested.
Critics also worry the reforms would allow Chavez to remain in power for decades like his close friend Fidel Castro of Cuba.
Calling the reforms "unconstitutional," dissident lawmaker Ricardo Gutierrez railed against pro-Chavez congressmen for approving amendments "that don't have anything to do with giving more power to the people."
Chavez, a retired army lieutenant colonel who was first elected in 1998 on a populist platform and has repeatedly defeated his political adversaries at the polls, denies the reforms are antidemocratic.
Most "Chavistas," as the president's supporters call themselves, back the reforms as a novel means of giving neighborhood-based assemblies called "communal councils" greater decision-making power as Chavez steers Venezuela toward what he calls "21st-century Socialism."
Among other changes, the reforms would enshrine socialist concepts in the constitution, reduce from 18 to 16 the minimum voting age and increase the number of signatures required to trigger a presidential recall vote.
Government supporters wearing red — the color of Chavez's ruling party — cheered outside the assembly in downtown Caracas as lawmakers left the building and walked to the nearby National Elections Council, where they asked officials to schedule a Dec. 2 referendum on the reforms.
Jose Manuel Gonzalez, president of the Fedecamaras business chamber, warned of grave consequences if voters agree to the amendments.
"If this reform is approved, it destroys the future of our institutions, isolates us as a nation, brings us back to the past and distances us from modernity and progress," he told Union Radio.
On Thursday, protesters staged the biggest demonstration against Chavez in months, and appeared to revive Venezuela's languid opposition. Soldiers responded with tear gas canisters, plastic bullets and water cannons to scatter tens of thousands who said the amendments would violate civil liberties and derail democracy.
The pro-government VEA newspaper on Friday predicted an overwhelming referendum victory in an editorial and urged government supporters to join "a life or death battle in which the present and future of the Venezuelan nation is in play." ------------------ http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/02/america/LA-GEN-Venezuela-Constitution.php
Putting aside the sarcastic remarks and intonation of this article that degrades the indigenous president of Bolivia and other progressive leaders of Latin American countries, the fact that Latin American presidents are collaborating in demanding legal compensation to Western developed nations that have exploited Latin America for centuries, is thought-provoking and could be a debatable issue.
A similar debate had been greatly dealt in Korean mass media a couple of years ago, regarding legal compensation that Korean civil society brought against Japanese government, as for the exploitation and damage done during Japanese colonization era.
Besides the global legal compensation issue, recent press reports bring my attention towards gradual and incessent centralization of government and nationalization of public service business of some Latin American nations, such as Bolivia and Venezuela. ---------------------------------- Saturday November 3, 2007 12:46 AM By FRANK BAJAK and DAN KEANE Associated Press Writers
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) - The world's richest nations must be made to pay for the damage their profligate use of natural resources has caused in Bolivia and other developing countries, President Evo Morales said Friday.
``It's not possible that some in the industrialized world live very well economically while affecting, even destroying others,'' he told The Associated Press in an interview.
The first indigenous president of this country - whose rapidly melting glaciers scientists count among the most profound signs of global warming - said he and other Latin American leaders were exploring possible legal means for demanding compensation for the developed world's ``ecological debt.''
``If there is understanding, that would be great. But if not, there will have to be international legal responsibility,'' said the scrappy coca union leader, who turned 48 a week ago.
In a wide-ranging 70-minute interview in the living room of the presidential residence, Morales said his version of socialism requires state control of all basic services, including telecommunications.
He also reiterated his call for the United States, which he accuses of trying to undermine his government, to pull all of its soldiers out of this Andean nation.
Morales told the AP he was willing to help Colombia reach peace with its main rebel movement, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which he said was no longer justified in spilling blood after more than four decades of conflict.
On Bolivia's divisive domestic front, Morales said he ordered troops to withdraw from the main airport in the country's eastern lowlands last month to avoid bloodshed during a standoff over landing revenues. He said he received intelligence that the crowd that took over the airport included armed separatists looking to provoke a fatal confrontation.
Morales, an Aymara Indian whose father was a community leader, also said proudly that this majority indigenous nation will next week become the first to ratify the Sept. 13 declaration by the United Nations endorsing the rights of the world's native peoples.
The United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand were the only countries to vote against the declaration.
After winning the presidency in December 2005 with 54 percent of the vote, Morales has increased Bolivia's annual natural gas revenues from $300 million to $2 billion a year by exerting greater state control of the industry.
He has nationalized a tin smelter, most of Bolivia's largest tin mine and the country's railroads, and government officials have suggested they intend to move to nationalize electric utilities. His government this year completed the re-nationalization of water companies, a demand sparked by widespread popular protests. It is currently negotiating the re-nationalization of the country's main telecommunications company, Entel, which is owned by Telecom Italia SpA.
``It's communication. You want to communicate, right?'' Morales said. ``It's a basic service. It's a human right.''
``Just because you talk on the phone doesn't mean a few people are getting rich,'' said Morales, seated on a couch wearing fur-lined slippers he said were given to him by fans in a former Soviet republic whose name escaped him.
Morales has allied himself closely with Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's leftist president, and Fidel Castro, Cuba's aging leader.
Asked if his vision of socialism follows the Chavez mold, Morales said the communal structure of Bolivia's indigenous societies and their ``way of living in harmony with Mother Earth'' set South America's poorest country on a different road.
``This is not the socialism of a leftist. It's the socialism of humanity.''
His politics have not endeared him to the United States, which was his nemesis in the late 1980s and 1990s when he led coca-leaf growers in protests against Washington-directed forced eradication campaigns.
Expanding on public remarks last month in which he expressed his desire that all U.S. military personnel leave Bolivia, Morales said he wants all armed foreign troops out.
He said the only Venezuelan soldiers in the country are unarmed pilots who fly him around in loaned helicopters. ``As far as I know, the only armed soldiers I've seen are those from the United States,'' he said.
The U.S. Embassy would not say how many troops or military contractors it has in the country, but they are believed to not exceed a few dozen.
Blinking from a nap and blowing his nose when the afternoon interview began, Morales was asked how much sleep he gets nightly given his penchant for brutally long work days. ``Less than four hours,'' he said, though he said he always catnaps during helicopter flights.
``I'd like to get more rest, but you just can't.''
A very down to earth* kind of guy. I'm an environmental sociologist interested in establishing material and organizational sustainability worldwide. I'm always looking for interesting materials/technologies, inspiring ideas, or institutional examples of sustainability to inspire others to recognize their choices now. To be fatalistic about an unsustainable world is a sign of a captive mind, given all our options.
*(If "earth" is defined in a planetary sense, concerning comparative historical knowledge and interest in the past 10,000 years or so anywhere...) See both blogs.
6 comments:
1. SuJung, Kim
2. Argentina's first lady wins poll
3. When searching on the internet, I got a great news! Argentina's first lady wins poll. I know that Chile also has female president. And now Argentina has one too. For me, it is impressive that Latin American countries have female presidents. Earlier than the U.S.
I wonder what makes it possible??
----------------------------
Argentina's current first lady, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, has secured victory in the country's presidential election.
With most of the ballots counted, Mrs Kirchner had an unassailable lead with 44.6% of the votes.
Her nearest rival, former lawmaker Elisa Carrio, has admitted defeat, trailing on 22.6% of the vote.
Mrs Kirchner will succeed her husband Nestor Kirchner and become Argentina's first elected female president.
"We've won by a wide margin," she told supporters in a speech at her campaign headquarters at a hotel in Buenos Aires.
But this, far from putting us in a position of privilege, puts us instead in a position of greater responsibilities and obligations," she said.
As her husband, the outgoing president, stood at her side, she said she would build on his work.
"We have repositioned the country, fought poverty and unemployment, all these tragedies that have hit Argentines," she said, referring to the country's recovery from the 2001 economic crash.
Elisa Carrio, who performed well in the capital Buenos Aires, secured 23% of the overall vote, with ex-economy minister Roberto Lavagna in third place on 17%.
Eleven candidates split the rest of the ballots.
Mrs Kirchner needed more than 45% of the full vote, or 40% with a 10 point lead over the next nearest candidate, to win the presidency without facing a second round of voting.
Polling was extended by one hour in some parts of the country to 1900 local time (2200 GMT) to accommodate a late rush of voters.
Besides a new president, voters were choosing eight provincial governors, a third of the Senate and about half of the Chamber of Deputies.
Some 27 million people were eligible to vote.
Economy and crime
The economy and rising crime have been the two main issues in campaigning.
Mr Kirchner has overseen a return to stability and some prosperity since the economy collapsed six years ago, plunging thousands into poverty, the BBC's Daniel Schweimler reports from Buenos Aires.
But there are fears over how strong the economy really is and general scepticism over official statistics suggesting inflation is under control.
Mrs Kirchner's critics have attacked her for failing to outline exactly what her policies are, but voters who spoke to the BBC's Will Grant in Buenos Aires said the opposition had failed to offer any real alternative.
Surprise candidate
Just a few months ago, Mr Kirchner was riding high in the opinion polls and looked set to continue for a second term.
However, it was announced in July that his wife Cristina, senator for Buenos Aires province, would stand in his place. No explanation was given.
It is not clear what role, if any, Mr Kirchner will play in his wife's administration.
But Mrs Kirchner, candidate for the governing Front for Victory, has promised to continue her husband's centre-left policies.
As well as facing comparisons with Eva Peron, Argentina's legendary former first lady, Mrs Kirchner has been compared to former US First Lady Hillary Clinton, who is also a lawyer and senator seeking to become the first elected female president of her country.
"I don't want to be compared with Hillary Clinton or with Evita Peron, or with anybody," she said recently.
"There's nothing better than being yourself."
-------
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7066776.stm
1. Mark Whitaker
2. Female Argentinian President, Third Female President in Latin American History (the other one was Isabel Peron in the 1970s, and currently the "Allende, II" in Chile), more information about the current Chile's and Argentina's female Presidents below.
3. More on the Argentinian election, from an economic analysis. Yes, as SuJung notes areas peripheral to the U.S. 'core' (using dependency theory categories) have tended to be more visibily socially progressive than the United States. At least on the surface. Moreover, the stories of these female presidents seems more of a phenomenon of a representative of a very political 'aristocratic' family in the country's history, of which the female president is from one of the past powerful 'first families.' This is the case for Isabel Peron, Chile's President right, now, as well as Argentina's President right now.
Second, I would argue it matters a great deal whether the female is elected from the left or the right side of the political spectrum whether the female win means a representative change of politics or just the same politics with a female face.
The female presidents in Latin Amerian tended to be marriage partners of a male leader beforehand, particularly for the right wing. In other words, social policies didn't really encourage female inclusion, it was seen as a continuation of before. This was the case for Isabel Peron, Vice President/wife of Dictator Peron (recently arrested in Spain for some mass murders of activists during her tenure in teh 1970s).
As for me, I definitely support female equality (here I am at Ewha!) though beyond that I concentrate on the policies, because the candidate's gender is not necessarily going to represent a political change automatically or a sign of systematic political change in many cases. (Look at Margaret Thatcher in the U.K. in the 1980s, or Isabel Peron's authorizations of murders of democracy activists in her country in the 1970s; or Condi Rice in the United States--who was on the board of Chevron before and had a supertanker oil carrier named after her).
From the left wing, gender inclusion as a political principle has been an intentional instittuional and policy part of a leftist heritage for general political principles.
From the right wing, if the leader was female it was hardly a political change or a matter of principle that the female was president--particularly if she was seen as a continuation of a previous martial and dictatorial regime.
For example of left females, part of the Nicaraguan revolutionary cadre framework in the 1980s was to intentionally have high level female judges on their main court. Cuba is known for state encouragement of gender equality.
The U.S. has had two female Associate Justicies on its Supreme Court, one rather left wing (Black American Ruth Bader Ginsberg), though one recently retired who was center-right as well.) The U.S. has never had a female Chairman of Supreme Court. There have been a handful of female state Governors in the USA though, though rarely in high level political power on the federal level.
Brazil has a (very white) female Supreme judge right now, Justice Ellen Gracie Northfleet, President of the Supreme Federal Court. (A very different Brazil from George Amado's book about Brazil Gabriela, Cinnamon and Clove, eh?)
The U.K. (right wing Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s) Middle East (Pakistan, Buttho) and South Asia (India, Indra Ghandi) have had female heads of state.
SuJung mentioned the Chilean female President. Interesting background, given the overthrow of Allende in the 1970s for just such the same policies...:
Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria (born September 29, 1951) is a center-left politician and the current President of Chile—the first woman to hold this position in the country's history. She won the 2006 presidential election in a runoff, beating center-right billionaire businessman and former senator Sebastián Piñera, with 53.5% of the vote. A moderate Socialist, she campaigned on a platform of continuing Chile's free market policies, while increasing social benefits to help reduce the country's gap between rich and poor, one of the largest in the world. She was inaugurated on March 11, 2006.
Bachelet—a surgeon, pediatrician and epidemiologist with studies in military strategy [what a strange combination!]—served as Health Minister and Defense Minister under President Ricardo Lagos. She is a separated mother of three and a self-described agnostic, which sets her apart in a predominantly conservative and Catholic country. A polyglot, she speaks Spanish, English, German, Portuguese and French.[1]
It is an "Allende, Part two" because her father was in the Allende government that was overthrown by military dictator Pinochet:
"Her paternal great-great-grandfather, Joseph Bachelet Lapierre, was a French wine merchant from Chassagne-Montrachet who emigrated to Chile with his Parisian wife in 1860 hired as a wine-making expert by the Subercaseaux vineyards. Bachelet Lapierre's son, Germán—Michelle Bachelet's great-grandfather—, was born in Chile and married to a French-Swiss woman. Of Greek ancestors, her maternal grandfather, Máximo Jeria Chacón, was the first person to receive a degree in agronomic engineering in Chile and founded several agronomy schools in the country.[4]
Much of Bachelet's childhood years were spent traveling around Chile, moving with her family from one military base to another. She lived and attended primary school in Quintero, Cerro Moreno, Antofagasta and San Bernardo. In 1962 she moved with her family to the United States, where her father was assigned to the military mission at the Chilean Embassy in Washington. Her family spent almost two years living in Bethesda, Maryland, where she attended Western Junior High School (now known as Westland Middle School) and learned to speak English fluently.[5] Back in Chile, she graduated from high school in 1969 at Liceo Nº 1 Javiera Carrera, a prestigious girls-only public school, finishing near the top of her class. There, she was president of her class, a member of the school's choir and volleyball teams, and part of a theater group and a music band called Las Clap Clap (which she helped found) that toured through many school festivals. She entered medical school at the University of Chile in 1970, after obtaining one of the highest national scores in the university admission test. She originally wanted to study sociology or economics but was prevailed upon by her father to study medicine instead.[6] She has said she opted for medicine because it was "a concrete way of helping people cope with pain" and "a way to contribute to improve health in Chile."[1]
Torture and exile
Facing growing food shortages, the government of Salvador Allende placed Bachelet's father in charge of the Food Distribution Office. When Augusto Pinochet came to power in the September 11, 1973 coup, [her father] General Bachelet, refusing exile, was detained at the Air War Academy, under charges of treason.
Following months of daily torture at Santiago's Public Prison, on March 12, 1974, he suffered a cardiac arrest that resulted in his death.
On January 10, 1975, Bachelet and her mother were detained at their apartment by two DINA agents, who blindfolded them and drove them to Villa Grimaldi, a notorious secret detention center in Santiago, where they were separated and submitted to interrogation and torture.[7]
Some days later they were transferred to Cuatro Álamos ("Four Poplars") detention center, where they were held until the end of January.
Later in 1975, due to sympathetic connections in the military, both were exiled to Australia, where Bachelet's older brother Alberto had moved in 1969.[8]"
...
What about South Korea, eh? (Ewha graduate) Han Myung-Sook, ex-Prime Minister of South Korea? Do you think she will win the Presidency election? She has been environmental minister before and gender equality minister, typical social movements that have a high overlap sociologically in many countries and cultures.
Here's an interesting table of female heads of state. I don't know if it is complete or fully accurate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_president
Here's another Argentina article:
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How Argentina jump-started its economy [and escaped the IMF]
Buenos Aires' first couple revived the economy -- despite, not because of, the IMF.
By Mark Weisbrot (L.A. Times)
October 30, 2007
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner on Sunday became the first woman elected to the presidency of Argentina.
Her victory is not difficult to explain.
Her political party, under President Nestor Kirchner (her husband), led a dramatic economic turnaround that made Argentina the fastest-growing economy in the Western Hemisphere over the last 5 1/2 years.
More than 11 million people, or 28% of the population, were pulled above the poverty line as Argentina's economy grew by more than 50%.
Its 8.2% annual economic growth was more than twice the average for Latin America.
Unemployment has dropped from 21.5% to 8.5%, and real (inflation-adjusted) wages have grown by more than 40%.
Fernandez's victory was thus predictable and relatively easy.
But the economic recovery that drove it was not so simple, and the people who led it deserve more credit than they have generally received. The Kirchners and their allies had to take on not only the conventional wisdom of the economics profession but also powerful international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund. [A great many states of South America have attempted to completely sever their financial connections to the debt-domination and loans from the IMF. Brazil recently paid back everything early: Brazil received an IMF rescue package in mid-2002 in the amount of USD 30.4 billion, a record sum at that time. The IMF loan was paid off early by Brazil's central bank in 2005 (the due date was scheduled for 2006). Back to Argentina:]
Argentina's success may have some important implications for other developing countries.
When Argentina defaulted on a record $100 billion of debt at the end of 2001, almost all of the experts predicted that this would be the beginning of a long period of punishment. International financial markets and foreign investors would shun the nation, they said, and this would be very damaging. The government had better reach an agreement with the IMF and follow its advice. And it had better play nice with the defaulted foreign creditors.
The experts could hardly have been more wrong. The economy contracted for just three months after the default and then began to grow. It hasn't stopped since.
Contrary to a common belief, Argentina's expansion was not based on exports or high commodity prices: Only about 13% of the growth during the expansion was because of exports.
What did Argentina do right? Most important, the government got its basic macroeconomic policies right. After years of seeing its domestic economy crippled by an overvalued currency that made imports artificially cheap, the Argentine central bank targeted a stable and competitive real exchange rate.
In other words, the authorities made sure that their currency didn't rise too high and didn't swing wildly as a result of movements in financial markets. (Here in the U.S. [where that article was written], where we have shed more than 3 million manufacturing jobs since 2001 -- the bulk of them lost because of an overvalued dollar -- we might take note.) They also kept interest rates low and made growth, rather than the lowest possible inflation, the top priority.
These policies are mostly a no-no among central bankers and economists, and Argentina had a few showdowns with the IMF, including a brief temporary default to the fund in September 2003. But the fund backed down, and most of the defaulted international creditors ended up settling for 35 cents on the dollar in 2005.
Of course, Argentina hasn't gotten a lot of foreign direct investment [Monday's lecture topic] in the last five years, and it cannot directly borrow in international bond markets.
But these handicaps -- which if you read the business press should spell doom -- turned out not to be all that important.
Nor are they permanent. In time, foreign investors and lenders will find their way back to a fast-growing economy.
The lesson? Just as "all politics are local," so too are the most important economic policies for most countries. Getting basic macroeconomic policies right for your own economy is a lot more important than pleasing international financial markets.
That goes double for failed international financial institutions like the IMF.
The fund not only oversaw the train wreck that collapsed Argentina's economy from 1998 to 2002, it opposed the major policies that drove Argentina's remarkable recovery.
The fact that Argentina's break with the IMF and its policies was key to the country's economic success also has implications for other countries.
Over the last quarter of a century, the fund and its allied institutions -- run from Washington -- have presided over Latin America's worst long-term growth performance in more than a century. As a result, most governments in the region have moved away from the IMF. Its loan portfolio in the region has shrunk from $49 billion just four years ago to less than $1 billion today. [Wow. I didn't know that dynamic.]
But it still holds sway in many poor countries.
Argentina's new government will face challenges, the kind brought about by a fast-growing economy: keeping inflation in check and assuring adequate supplies of energy. But these problems are manageable. Of course, there are analysts who argue otherwise, but their forecasts over the last five years have not been very accurate.
Mark Weisbrot is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington. Website: cepr.net
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http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-weisbrot30oct30,0,7539309,print.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail
1.Kyunghee Kang
2."Aristide must be part of solution to Haiti crisis"
3.Haiti's in trouble. Extreme poverty and severe political instability prevails the state.
Armed gangs are doing violences and UN peace troops are staying here.
And as for the US's influence on Latin America about which we'll discuss in next session, jean bertrand aristide, popular former president of Haiti was ousted twice by the US supported powers. His supporters have been kidnapped recently, which needs probe. Now Preval administration is taking office in shaky situation.
It also is interesting that the reporting journal of this article is from South Africa and it argues strongly the importance of autonomous action.
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October 16, 2007, 05:00
By Thami Dickson
The resolution of the political problems facing the Caribbean nation of Haiti would not be complete without the involvement of the former Haitian Presidentm, Jean Bertrand Aristide. This emerged as the UN Security Council extended the mandate of its peacekeeping mission in Haiti for one year.
The council says Haiti has a golden chance to begin to rebuild itself with the help of the international community. Aristide is in temporary asylum in South Africa after he was removed from power in a political revolt in 2004.
The UN peace keeping mission in Haiti, known as Minustah, was established in 2004 to stabilise the country following a violent political uprising that resulted in the overthrow of Aristide. Since then, Haiti has struggled against lawlessness perpetuated by armed gangs operating from slum neighborhoods.
Political challenges
The Security Council has heard that order is now returning to Haiti and there is a chance for the Haitians to resolve their political challenges.
Aristide is seen as the important element in the ultimate stabilisation of this Caribbean nation. Although he was not discussed in the Security Council, his influence and support in the country is acknowledged as critical in the efforts to build lasting peace.
With the Haitian National Police struggling to build their ranks, the UN is providing the majority of the country's security forces. UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, who visited Haiti recently, writes in his report that the country needs help to expedite social and economic development and in building functioning civil institutions.
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http://www.sabcnews.com/world/other/0,2172,157542,00.html
1. Heaeum Cho
2. Venezuela's assembly approve Chavez reforms
3. Although I personally laud Chavez's bold efforts to empower the citizens, especially those in the lower classes who needed it the most, it's a grave concern for Latin America as well as the international community in considering how far a president's power should go against the will of many of its citizens. Some form of consensus must be reached between the pro-government and anti-government parties as well as civil liberty groups who should also have the right to voice how the constitution is changed. I don't think extremism can ever be an absolute solution to any problem. Chavez as the one in power should make a greater effort to bring about dialogue and gain the trust of his rivals to bring his country together in unity rather than greater division.
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CARACAS, Venezuela: Venezuela's pro-government National Assembly overwhelmingly approved constitutional reforms on Friday that would greatly expand the power of President Hugo Chavez and permit him to run for re-election indefinitely.
The 69 changes to Venezuela's Constitution now go to citizens for a vote on Dec. 2.
The proposed changes, Chavez's most radical move yet in his push to transform Venezuela into a socialist state, threaten to spur a new wave of political upheaval in this oil-rich South American country already deeply divided over Chavez's rule.
The amendments would allow the government to expropriate private property without having to first seek court authorization, take total control over the Central Bank, create new types of property managed by cooperatives and extend presidential terms from six to seven years while allowing Chavez to run again in 2012.
All but seven of the assembly's 167 lawmakers voted for the changes by a show of hands.
"Today the Venezuelan people have a pencil in their hands to write their own history, and it's not going to be the history of the elite," said pro-Chavez lawmaker Earle Herrera.
Concerns that the measures will weaken civil liberties have been raised by university students, opposition parties, human rights groups and representatives of Venezuela's Roman Catholic Church.
Demonstrators protested the reforms at several universities on Friday. One student was killed by an unidentified gunman during a demonstration in western Zulia state, Zulia Police Chief Candido Carreno told state television. Four other students were injured, he said, without elaborating. No suspects were arrested.
Critics also worry the reforms would allow Chavez to remain in power for decades like his close friend Fidel Castro of Cuba.
Calling the reforms "unconstitutional," dissident lawmaker Ricardo Gutierrez railed against pro-Chavez congressmen for approving amendments "that don't have anything to do with giving more power to the people."
Chavez, a retired army lieutenant colonel who was first elected in 1998 on a populist platform and has repeatedly defeated his political adversaries at the polls, denies the reforms are antidemocratic.
Most "Chavistas," as the president's supporters call themselves, back the reforms as a novel means of giving neighborhood-based assemblies called "communal councils" greater decision-making power as Chavez steers Venezuela toward what he calls "21st-century Socialism."
Among other changes, the reforms would enshrine socialist concepts in the constitution, reduce from 18 to 16 the minimum voting age and increase the number of signatures required to trigger a presidential recall vote.
Government supporters wearing red — the color of Chavez's ruling party — cheered outside the assembly in downtown Caracas as lawmakers left the building and walked to the nearby National Elections Council, where they asked officials to schedule a Dec. 2 referendum on the reforms.
Jose Manuel Gonzalez, president of the Fedecamaras business chamber, warned of grave consequences if voters agree to the amendments.
"If this reform is approved, it destroys the future of our institutions, isolates us as a nation, brings us back to the past and distances us from modernity and progress," he told Union Radio.
On Thursday, protesters staged the biggest demonstration against Chavez in months, and appeared to revive Venezuela's languid opposition. Soldiers responded with tear gas canisters, plastic bullets and water cannons to scatter tens of thousands who said the amendments would violate civil liberties and derail democracy.
The pro-government VEA newspaper on Friday predicted an overwhelming referendum victory in an editorial and urged government supporters to join "a life or death battle in which the present and future of the Venezuelan nation is in play."
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http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/02/america/LA-GEN-Venezuela-Constitution.php
Yong Mie Jo
Morales Says Rich Nations Must Pay
Putting aside the sarcastic remarks and intonation of this article that degrades the indigenous president of Bolivia and other progressive leaders of Latin American countries, the fact that Latin American presidents are collaborating in demanding legal compensation to Western developed nations that have exploited Latin America for centuries, is thought-provoking and could be a debatable issue.
A similar debate had been greatly dealt in Korean mass media a couple of years ago, regarding legal compensation that Korean civil society brought against Japanese government, as for the exploitation and damage done during Japanese colonization era.
Besides the global legal compensation issue, recent press reports bring my attention towards gradual and incessent centralization of government and nationalization of public service business of some Latin American nations, such as Bolivia and Venezuela.
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Saturday November 3, 2007 12:46 AM
By FRANK BAJAK and DAN KEANE
Associated Press Writers
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) - The world's richest nations must be made to pay for the damage their profligate use of natural resources has caused in Bolivia and other developing countries, President Evo Morales said Friday.
``It's not possible that some in the industrialized world live very well economically while affecting, even destroying others,'' he told The Associated Press in an interview.
The first indigenous president of this country - whose rapidly melting glaciers scientists count among the most profound signs of global warming - said he and other Latin American leaders were exploring possible legal means for demanding compensation for the developed world's ``ecological debt.''
``If there is understanding, that would be great. But if not, there will have to be international legal responsibility,'' said the scrappy coca union leader, who turned 48 a week ago.
In a wide-ranging 70-minute interview in the living room of the presidential residence, Morales said his version of socialism requires state control of all basic services, including telecommunications.
He also reiterated his call for the United States, which he accuses of trying to undermine his government, to pull all of its soldiers out of this Andean nation.
Morales told the AP he was willing to help Colombia reach peace with its main rebel movement, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which he said was no longer justified in spilling blood after more than four decades of conflict.
On Bolivia's divisive domestic front, Morales said he ordered troops to withdraw from the main airport in the country's eastern lowlands last month to avoid bloodshed during a standoff over landing revenues. He said he received intelligence that the crowd that took over the airport included armed separatists looking to provoke a fatal confrontation.
Morales, an Aymara Indian whose father was a community leader, also said proudly that this majority indigenous nation will next week become the first to ratify the Sept. 13 declaration by the United Nations endorsing the rights of the world's native peoples.
The United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand were the only countries to vote against the declaration.
After winning the presidency in December 2005 with 54 percent of the vote, Morales has increased Bolivia's annual natural gas revenues from $300 million to $2 billion a year by exerting greater state control of the industry.
He has nationalized a tin smelter, most of Bolivia's largest tin mine and the country's railroads, and government officials have suggested they intend to move to nationalize electric utilities.
His government this year completed the re-nationalization of water companies, a demand sparked by widespread popular protests. It is currently negotiating the re-nationalization of the country's main telecommunications company, Entel, which is owned by Telecom Italia SpA.
``It's communication. You want to communicate, right?'' Morales said. ``It's a basic service. It's a human right.''
``Just because you talk on the phone doesn't mean a few people are getting rich,'' said Morales, seated on a couch wearing fur-lined slippers he said were given to him by fans in a former Soviet republic whose name escaped him.
Morales has allied himself closely with Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's leftist president, and Fidel Castro, Cuba's aging leader.
Asked if his vision of socialism follows the Chavez mold, Morales said the communal structure of Bolivia's indigenous societies and their ``way of living in harmony with Mother Earth'' set South America's poorest country on a different road.
``This is not the socialism of a leftist. It's the socialism of humanity.''
His politics have not endeared him to the United States, which was his nemesis in the late 1980s and 1990s when he led coca-leaf growers in protests against Washington-directed forced eradication campaigns.
Expanding on public remarks last month in which he expressed his desire that all U.S. military personnel leave Bolivia, Morales said he wants all armed foreign troops out.
He said the only Venezuelan soldiers in the country are unarmed pilots who fly him around in loaned helicopters.
``As far as I know, the only armed soldiers I've seen are those from the United States,'' he said.
The U.S. Embassy would not say how many troops or military contractors it has in the country, but they are believed to not exceed a few dozen.
Blinking from a nap and blowing his nose when the afternoon interview began, Morales was asked how much sleep he gets nightly given his penchant for brutally long work days.
``Less than four hours,'' he said, though he said he always catnaps during helicopter flights.
``I'd like to get more rest, but you just can't.''
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-7046328,00.html
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