Arturo Umberto Illia

Arturo Umberto Illia (* August 4, 1900 in Pergamino, † January 18, 1983 in Córdoba) was an Argentine physician and politician ( Unión Cívica Radical / UCR). He was 1963-1966 democratically elected president of the country, but was deposed in a coup before the completion of his term.

Life

Illia spent his childhood in Pergamino, but the secondary ( secundaria ) graduated in Buenos Aires. From 1918 he studied in the same city at the Universidad de Buenos Aires medicine. He received his degree in 1927 and moved in 1929 as the President Hipólito Yrigoyen supported country doctor in the city of Cruz del Eje ( Cordoba province ) around. There he worked with brief interruptions until his presidency in 1963. His commitment as a physician in this city he owes the nickname apostle of the poor, he received from the local population. In 1939 he married Silvia Elena Martorell, with whom he had three children.

After his presidency, he moved in 1966 to the city Martínez, a suburb of Buenos Aires in the Partido San Isidro, where he was politically active in the UCR until his death.

Political career

Illia in 1918, joined the UCR due to his also this party nationals father and a brother. From 1929 he moved to Cruz del Eje, he was intensely politically active in this city. In 1935 he was elected to the Senate province of Córdoba. Between 1940 and 1943 he held the office of Lieutenant Governor of Córdoba in Santiago del Castillo. Under the presidency of Juan Perón, he was 1948-1952 deputy of the UCR in the federal parliament of Argentina ( cámara of Deputies ).

In the aftermath of the abdication of Peron in 1955, a period of extreme political instability, with numerous changes of government, made the UCR by a split. Illia entered the left wing, the Unión Cívica Radical del Pueblo, and in 1963 elected by this group as a candidate for the office of President. He won the election in front of the right wing of the UCR ( Unión Cívica Radical intransigent ) with 51.3 % of the valid votes.

Presidency

On October 12, 1963 Illia went to the office of President. His reign is known mainly for its numerous attempts to reintroduce the since 1930 repeatedly restricted rule of law.

Measures and policy baselines

His first action was to set aside some decreed after 1955 banning of political parties, of which especially the Peronist party were affected ( Partido Justicialista ), but also the Communist Party. This was accompanied by a prohibition of racial discrimination.

In 1963, Illia annulled the contracts between the state oil company YPF and private companies, which had been ordered by his predecessor last democratically elected Arturo Frondizi to the exploitation of resources. This activity went to his decree again to YPF.

On June 15, 1964 Illia introduced a statutory minimum wage, the law is still valid today. Accompanied it was by the Ley de Abastecimiento, a law that control the prices of the basket canasta familiar, including in Argentina, the necessities of life possible.

In terms of educational policy led Illia 1964, a literacy plan to reduce the time with 10% still quite high illiteracy rate. He also increased government spending on education during his reign of 12% ( 1964) to 23%.

Iliad time most controversial measure was the so-called drug law (Ley de medicamentos ) of 1964. It underwent the pharmaceutical industry a strong state control and had mainly a stabilization of prices and better control of the ingredients to the target. A previous study had shown that in many cases the information required by the industry prices by 1000 % above the cost of production and the contents were often incorrectly declared. Because with this law, the interests of many major corporations have been affected, it is suspected that it had strongly on the formation of a front conservative opponents Iliad influence and ultimately contributed to his downfall.

In Iliad took office, the economy of Argentina was in a recession. Here is the Illia government relied on the stabilization of the state sector and drove an austerity plan with the aim of the decline in public debt. The measures were very successful as the growth of the gross domestic product in 1964 was 10.3% and 9.1% in 1965, the external debt declined from 3.4 billion to 2.6 billion U.S. dollars and the unemployment of 8.8 % ( 1963) to 5.2 % ( 1966).

Decline and fall

In the parliamentary elections in 1965, in which half the seats in the Federal Parliament were renewed, won the Peronist Party, which was registered for the first time since 1955 in nationwide elections, with a clear lead over Illiad UCRP. This victory of the PJ led to unrest in the Argentine military and the idea of ​​a coup against Illia. The government has been weakened further by numerous anti-government tendencies in some mass media, which were controlled by conservative groups. In them Illia was referred to as slow and weak and was nicknamed tortuga ( turtle) considered.

On July 18, 1966, finally, the coup was perpetrated by armed police and Illia forced to resign. The people took the news with indifference, as there was the popularity of the Illia government at a low point. New president was General Juan Carlos Onganía, which ushered in a conservative swing, the so-called Revolución Argentina.