Argentina Briefing

Uruguay is a fantastic country. Being just south of Brazil, it has lots of grassland and is a pretty small country. This country is just below Brazil's southern borders. “But its land is rich in agricultural bounty, with rolling pastures that support cattle, sheep, and crops,” (Behnke, 4). The country has a stellar physical geography, humid climate, thriving economy, national type of government, unique culture, and multiple fun facts.

E. The age and sex structure of a population refers to the number or proportion of males and females who are in each age category. Age-sex structure tells us about a population's past trends in fertility, mortality, and migration. It also provides information about the population's potential for future growth. The greater the proportion of people in the younger-adult age groups, the greater the potential for more births and population

The reforms caused a period of success followed by worse conditions. These policies made the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Towards the end of the 1990s the country experienced rising unemployment and decreasing wages. The privatization of industries in addition to the international debt and government corruption led to many citizens distrusting the government and failure to pay taxes thus keeping the problems still at large. Unfortunately, the fragile Argentine economic infrastructure, while seemingly strong, was not able to withstand the downturn in the world economy after the severe correction of the both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and NASDAQ stock markets in the United States in March 2000 and the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. The widespread economic failure caused the Argentine peso to become devalued and this caused extreme inflation in prices. In June of 2002 the peso was valued at just $0.26 of a U.S. dollar. The unemployment rates skyrocketed as well hitting over 25% in most parts of the country and the poverty rate increased from 30% in 1999 to over 50% in 2002. The benefits of globalization in Argentina were short-lived but still vital in the countries development.

On April 1, 1991, Argentina’s Congress, with Domingo Cavallo as Minister of Economy, enacted the Convertibility Law (or Ley de Convertibilidad) legally adopting the currency board (Hornbeck, 2002). This legislation essentially pegged the Argentinean peso to the U.S. dollar. The government guaranteed the convertibility of the peso to U.S. dollar at a one-to-one exchange rate, limiting the printing of pesos to only those necessary to purchase dollars in the foreign exchange market. Thus, the central bank was required by law to hold foreign reserves to cover its peso liabilities (Hanke and Schuler, 2002). With this fixed exchange rate, the Argentinean government was hoping to preserve the value of their currency and stabilize inflation. The peg was initially successful, as it cured hyperinflation that occurred at the end of the 1980s and provided price stability needed for economic growth in the early 1990s. However, by the late 1990s,

Sin embargo, a raíz de la crisis económica que sufrió Argentina a finales del 2001. Pecom vio reducidas sus posibilidades de seguir creciendo con la misma dimensión en la que venía operando.

the Chamber of Deputies who are elected every three years. You are able to serve as many terms you want as long as they are not consecutive terms.The people are the ones that elect the state legislatures for each of the 31 states and also the governors. Each member of the Senate are elected to represent their state. If the state is bigger there will be more representatives for that state. In the Chamber of Deputies 300 of the deputies are elected from the country’s electoral districts and the other 200 seats are filled by deputies who do not represent a particular district. The Legislative branch is important because of the laws that they make but the branch that uses them is

Argentinian culture is a mixture of many other cultures and it has been largely influenced by Spanish colonialism and immigrants from all around the world and mostly from Europe. Buenos Aires is the capital city of Argentina. The city is also known as the cultural capital and it represents political, economic and cultural heart of the country. Argentinian culture is spreaded in lots of areas from dance to language and it has very unique sides which makes the culture extremely interesting.

1. Congress (has taken the name “The People's Assembly”). This assembly consists of one year elected politicians based on population (one seat for every one million residents) in the right side (546 seats). On the left side of the building, each province gets a set of twenty-five three year seats to balance out the power (100 total seats). There is no limit on how many times one can serve in the Assembly. The assembly has the ability to impeach Freedom Judges and approves the Free Court judge nominations. The assembly also controls the government's budget, can impeach the president, and can override the president's vetoes with a ⅔

Throughout Argentina and as well many other Central American countries during that of the late 1970’s, many were going through severe political upheaval. This political catastrophe coupled with various human rights violations pushed many people to the edge and out of their homeland. Economically drained and scared for their lives Argentines sought freedom and asylum within the United States. For many this was the start of something new in a foreign country with people that speak a foreign language. Courage and bravery those are two words that in my eyes describe an immigrant that has been forced to endure so much that they leave everything they had ever known.The Dirty War of Argentina caused families to be ripped apart and people to vanish as if they had never existed. This horrendous stretch in Argentine history showcased various human rights violations, corrupt leaders, United States backed coup, death and a need for reform in a country that was broken and dismayed.

The form of government in Mexico is a Federal Republic (a mixture of US constitutional theory and civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts) just as the United States, Mexico has their forms of the Executive, Legislative and a Judicial branches. The Executive branch is the elected president and his appointed cabinet of 18. The Presidency in Mexico is a six-year term, and they are not allowed to run for re-election. The Legislative branch is a bicameral legislature which consist of: National Congress or Congreso de la Union consists of the Senate or Camara de Senadores (128 seats; 96 members are elected by popular vote for a six-year term, 32 seats are allocated on the basis of each party 's popular vote) and the Federal Chamber of Deputies or Camara Federal de Diputados (500 seats; 300 members are elected by popular vote; the other 200 members are allocated on the basis of

If you live in our neighborhood, you 've got to look at Argentina. It 's going through a major crisis today, but it is the second largest market in South America.1 — Francisco Gros, CEO, Petrobras

on the south by the Atlantic Ocean and Chile, and on the west by Chile. The

The production possibility curve gives an understanding as to one of the reasons for Venezuela’s economic problems. When an economy isn’t reaching its potential, it can be traced back to two main factors. Unemployment and inefficiency. Inefficiency is the primary cause for Venezuela not reaching its potential. Due to changes in world markets the country is producing less than the maximum possible output of goods and services, mainly oil. Due to the government placing the majority of their exports on oil there is less production of other goods that may add value to their economy. Currently, they are at a maximum level of government goods being produced therefore the private sector is at its lowest. The challenge this creates is what is happening to the capital being generated.

Brazil is now a federal republic with 26 states and a federal distract. In the 1988 constitution granted broad powers to the federal government, consisting of executive, legislative and judicial branches, similar to our form of government. The president holds office for four years, with the right to re-election for an additional four-year term, and appoints his own cabinet. On October third, 1994 elections were held and won by popular vote by Fernando Henrique Cardoso who later took office for two terms on January first, 1995 to the present after wining a second term in 1998. (edci.gov) Federal deputies and senators who belong to the parties compromising the government coalitions do not always vote with the government. As a result, President Cardoso has had difficulty, at times, gaining sufficient support for some of his legislative priorities, despite the fact that his coalition parties hold an overwhelming majority of congressional seats. Cardoso as president of Brazil, hold two titles while he remains in office: Chief of State and Head of the Government. These presidential powers are balanced by a bicameral legislature. There are 81 senators, three for each state and also for the federal district, and 513 deputies. A deputy being a member of the lower house of the legislative assemblies who has the power to take charge when their superior is absent. The Senate terms are assigned for eight years, with elections staggered so that

The Spanish citizens were not always necessarily tormented by tyrants, whose political ideologies only reflected what benefited themselves. From 1931- 1936 , the second republic was formed in Spain where they established a free democratic setting and "For the first time a major breakthrough was made in regional autonomy, indispensable for the development of a stable modern democracy in Spain" 1. Spain currently is a parliamentary representative democratic constitutional monarchy. Its branch of powers is separated in to two, where the executive power lies with the government and the legislative power is delegated to the Spanish parliament. Due to this structure it is very arduous for political figures in states and governments to abuse their power. The executive power in Spain is given to the Council of Minister's, which is led by the Spanish prime minister. The Prime Minister is initially nominated by the king where after he is required to obtain the vote of the lower house of parliament, and finally the king appoints the prime minister. Spain’s legislature is elected directly. The Spanish legislature branch consists of the congress of deputies and the senate whom serve for a period no more than 4 years. The senate is elected through bloc voting at a provincial level. The congress on the other hand is similar yet different, as it is at a provincial level as well. Two members are allocated for each province; the number of