{"id":4704,"date":"2017-07-31T20:20:25","date_gmt":"2017-07-31T20:20:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-worldhistory\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=4704"},"modified":"2017-10-03T15:08:54","modified_gmt":"2017-10-03T15:08:54","slug":"38-5-3-democracy-in-chile-and-argentina","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-worldhistory\/chapter\/38-5-3-democracy-in-chile-and-argentina\/","title":{"raw":"Democracy in Chile and Argentina","rendered":"Democracy in Chile and Argentina"},"content":{"raw":"<h2 id=\"concept_1631\">38.5.3: Democracy in Chile and Argentina<\/h2>\r\n<div class=\"brief\">\r\n\r\nChile and Argentina both transitioned from military dictatorships to democratic regimes in the 1980s, leading to relative political stability in both countries in the 21st century.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\r\n<h3>Learning Objective<\/h3>\r\nEvaluate the democratic systems currently in place in Chile and Argentina\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\r\n<h3>Key Points<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Chileans elected a new president and the majority of members of a two-chamber congress on December 14, 1989, thus ending the rule of the oppressive military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Christian Democrat Patricio Aylwin, the candidate of a coalition of 17 political parties called the Concertaci\u00f3n, received an absolute majority of votes (55%).<\/li>\r\n \t<li>The <em>Concertaci\u00f3n<\/em> coalition has continued to dominate Chilean politics for the last two decades: Aylwin was succeeded by another Christian Democrat, Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle (son of Frei-Montalva), leading the same coalition for a 6-year term.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Center-right investor and businessman Sebasti\u00e1n Pi\u00f1era of the National Renewal assumed the presidency on March 11, 2010, after Bachelet's term expired, with Bachelet returning to office once again after his term limits ended.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>On October 30, 1983, Argentines went to the polls to choose a president; vice-president; and national, provincial, and local officials in elections deemed by international observers to be fair and honest, thus beginning the country's transition to a democratic government.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Since then, Argentina had seen several democratically elected presidents, including Carlos Menem, who embraced neo-liberal policies, and De la R\u00faa, who kept Menem's economic plan despite economic crisis, which led to growing social discontent.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>N\u00e9stor Kirchner was elected as the new president in 2002, boosting\u00a0neo-Keynesian economic policies and ending the economic crisis, attaining significant fiscal and trade surpluses, and steep GDP growth.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>He did not run for reelection, promoting instead the candidacy of his wife, senator Cristina Fern\u00e1ndez de Kirchner, who was elected in 2007\u00a0and reelected in 2011.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>On 22 November 2015, after a tie in the first round of presidential elections on 25 October, Mauricio Macri became the first democratically elected non-radical or peronist president since 1916.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox examples\">\r\n<h3>Key Terms<\/h3>\r\n<dl class=\"key_terms\">\r\n \t<dt><strong>Trial of the Juntas<\/strong><\/dt>\r\n \t<dd>The judicial trial of the members of the de facto military government that ruled Argentina during the dictatorship of the Proceso de Reorganizaci\u00f3n Nacional (<em>el proceso<\/em>), which lasted from 1976 to 1983.<\/dd>\r\n \t<dt><strong>Peronist<\/strong><\/dt>\r\n \t<dd>A person who follows the Argentinian political movement based on the ideology and legacy of former President Juan Domingo Per\u00f3n and his second wife, Eva Per\u00f3n. The Justicialist Party derives its name from the concept of social justice. Since its inception in 1946, candidates from his party have won 9 of the 12 presidential elections from which they have not been banned. As of 2016, Per\u00f3n was the only Argentine to have been elected president three times.<\/dd>\r\n \t<dt><strong>Concertaci\u00f3n<\/strong><\/dt>\r\n \t<dd>A coalition of center-left political parties in Chile, founded in 1988. Presidential candidates under its banner won every election from when military rule ended in 1990 until the conservative candidate Sebasti\u00e1n Pi\u00f1era won the Chilean presidential election in 2010. In 2013 it was replaced by the New Majority coalition.<\/dd>\r\n \t<dt><strong>\"disappearances\"<\/strong><\/dt>\r\n \t<dd>In international human rights law, this occurs when a person is secretly abducted or imprisoned by a state or political organization or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the person's fate and whereabouts, with the intent of placing the victim outside the protection of the law.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h1>Chile's Transition to Democracy<\/h1>\r\nThe Chilean transition to democracy began when a constitution establishing a transition itinerary was approved in a vote. From March 11, 1981 to March 1990, several organic constitutional laws were approved leading to the final restoration of democracy. After the 1988 plebiscite, the 1980 Constitution, still in force today, was amended to ease provisions for future amendments to the constitution, create more seats in the senate, diminish the role of the National Security Council, and equalize the number of civilian and military members (four members each).\r\n\r\nChristian Democrat Patricio Aylwin served from 1990 to 1994 and was succeeded by another Christian Democrat, Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle (son of Frei-Montalva), leading the same coalition for a 6-year term. Ricardo Lagos Escobar of the Socialist Party and the Party for Democracy led the <em>Concertaci\u00f3n <\/em>(a coalition of center-left political parties in Chile, founded in 1988) to a narrower victory in the 2000 presidential elections. His term ended on March 11, 2006 when Michelle Bachelet of the Socialist Party took office. Center-right investor and businessman Sebasti\u00e1n Pi\u00f1era, of the National Renewal, assumed the presidency on March 11, 2010 after Bachelet's term expired.\r\n\r\nPart of the transition from the military dictatorship to democracy entailed investigating the human right's abuses under the previous regimes. In February 1991 Aylwin created the National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation, which released in February 1991 the Rettig Report on human rights violations committed during the military rule. This report counted 2,279 cases of \"disappearances\" that could be proved and registered. Of course, the very nature of \"disappearances\" made such investigations very difficult. The same issue arose several years later with the Valech Report released in 2004, which counted almost 30,000 victims of torture, among testimonies from 35,000 persons.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h1>Chile in the 21st Century<\/h1>\r\nThe <em>Concertaci\u00f3n<\/em>\u00a0has continued to dominate Chilean politics for last two decades. Frei Ruiz-Tagle was succeeded in 2000 by Socialist Ricardo Lagos, who won the presidency in an unprecedented runoff election against Joaqu\u00edn Lav\u00edn of the rightist Alliance for Chile.\r\n\r\nIn January 2006 Chileans elected their first female president, Michelle Bachelet, of the Socialist Party. She was sworn in on March 11, 2006, extending the <em>Concertaci\u00f3n<\/em> coalition governance for another four years.\r\n\r\nChile signed an association agreement with the European Union in 2002; signed an extensive free trade agreement with the United States in 2003, and signed an extensive free trade agreement with South Korea in 2004, expecting a boom in the import and export of local produce and expecting to become a regional trade-hub. Continuing the coalition's free-trade strategy, in August 2006 President Bachelet promulgated a free trade agreement with the People's Republic of China (signed under the previous administration of Ricardo Lagos), the first Chinese free-trade agreement with a Latin American nation; similar deals with Japan and India were promulgated in August 2007. In October 2006, Bachelet promulgated a multilateral trade deal with New Zealand, Singapore and Brunei, the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership (P4), also signed under Lagos' presidency. Regionally, she has signed bilateral free-trade agreements with Panama, Peru, and Colombia.\r\n\r\nAfter 20 years, Chile went in a new direction marked by the win of center-right Sebasti\u00e1n Pi\u00f1era in the Chilean presidential election of 2009\u20132010. On February 27, 2010, Chile was struck by an 8.8 MW earthquake, the fifth largest ever recorded at the time. More than 500 people died (most from the ensuing tsunami) and over a million people lost their homes. The earthquake was also followed by multiple aftershocks. Initial damage estimates were in the range of US$15\u201330 billion, around 10 to 15 percent of Chile's real gross domestic product.\r\n\r\nChile achieved global recognition for the successful rescue of 33 trapped miners in 2010. On August 5, 2010 the access tunnel collapsed at the San Jos\u00e9 copper and gold mine in the Atacama Desert near Copiap\u00f3 in northern Chile, trapping 33 men 2,300 feet below ground. A rescue effort organized by the Chilean government located the miners 17 days later. All 33 men were brought to the surface two months later on October 13, 2010 over a period of almost 24 hours, an effort that was carried on live television around the world.\r\n\r\nGood macroeconomic indicators failed to halt the social dissatisfaction claiming for a better and fairer education, which was traced to massive protests demanding more democratic and equitable institutions and a permanent disapproval of Pi\u00f1era's administration.\r\n\r\nDue to term limits, Sebasti\u00e1n Pi\u00f1era did not stand for re-election in 2013, and his term expired in March 2014 resulting in Michelle Bachelet returning to office. In 2015 a series of corruption scandals became public, threatening the credibility of the political and business class.\r\n<h2><\/h2>\r\n<div class=\"atom__components__figure\">\r\n<div class=\"atom__components__figure__cont\">\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"340\"]<img class=\"atom__components__figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1599\/2017\/07\/18195537\/media_35781_medium.jpeg\" alt=\"Photo of the five most recent presidents on Chile standing side by side, waving Chilean flags.\" width=\"340\" height=\"235\" \/> Presidents of Chile. Five presidents of Chile since Transition to democracy (1990\u20132018), celebrating the Bicentennial of Chile.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"atom__components__document\"><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h1>Contemporary Era in Argentina<\/h1>\r\nArgentina also experienced a transition from a military dictatorship to a democracy in the 1980s. Ra\u00fal Alfons\u00edn won the 1983 elections campaigning for the prosecution of those responsible for human rights violations during the military dictatorship. The Trial of the Juntas and other martial courts sentenced all the coup's leaders but, under military pressure, Alfons\u00edn also enacted the Full Stop and Due Obedience laws, which halted prosecutions further down the chain of command. The worsening economic crisis and hyperinflation reduced his popular support and the Peronist Carlos Menem won the 1989 election. Soon after, riots forced Alfons\u00edn to an early resignation.\r\n\r\nMenem embraced neo-liberal policies: a fixed exchange rate, business deregulation, privatizations ,and dismantling of protectionist barriers normalized the economy for a while. He pardoned the officers who had been sentenced during Alfons\u00edn's government. The 1994 Constitutional Amendment allowed Menem to be elected for a second term. The economy began to decline in 1995, with increasing unemployment and recession; led by Fernando de la R\u00faa, the UCR (Radical Civic Union, a centrist social-liberal political party) returned to the presidency in the 1999 elections.\r\n\r\nDe la R\u00faa kept Menem's economic plan despite the worsening crisis, which led to growing social discontent. A massive capital flight was responded to with a freezing of bank accounts, generating further turmoil. The December 2001 riots forced him to resign. Congress appointed Eduardo Duhalde as acting president, who repealed the fixed exchange rate established by Menem. By the late 2002 the economic crisis began to recess, but the assassination of two protestors by the police caused political commotion, prompting Duhalde to move elections forward. N\u00e9stor Kirchner was elected as the new president.\r\n\r\nBoosting the neo-Keynesian economic policies laid by Duhalde, Kirchner ended the economic crisis attaining significant fiscal and trade surpluses, and steep GDP growth. Under his administration Argentina restructured its defaulted debt with an unprecedented discount of about 70% on most bonds, paid off debts with the International Monetary Fund, purged the military of officers with doubtful human rights records, nullified and voided the Full Stop and Due Obedience laws, ruled them as unconstitutional, and resumed legal prosecution of the Juntas' crimes. He did not run for reelection, promoting instead the candidacy of his wife, senator Cristina Fern\u00e1ndez de Kirchner, who was elected in 2007 and reelected in 2011.\r\n\r\nOn November 22, 2015, after a tie in the first round of presidential elections on October 25, Mauricio Macri won the first ballotage in Argentina's history, beating Front for Victory candidate Daniel Scioli and becoming president-elect. Macri is the first democratically elected non-radical or peronist president since 1916, although he had the support of the first mentioned. He took office on December 10, 2015. In April 2016, the Macri Government introduced austerity measures intended to tackle inflation and public deficits.\r\n<h2><\/h2>\r\n<div class=\"atom__components__figure\">\r\n<div class=\"atom__components__figure__cont\">\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"340\"]<img class=\"atom__components__figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1599\/2017\/07\/18195539\/media_35782_medium.jpeg\" alt=\"Photo of Cristina Fern\u00e1ndez and N\u00e9stor Kirchner during the Bicentenario. She is standing on the left, holding her hand to her chest, he is standing next to her, hands folded in front of him.\" width=\"340\" height=\"456\" \/> Cristina Fern\u00e1ndez and N\u00e9stor Kirchner.\u00a0 Cristina Fern\u00e1ndez and N\u00e9stor Kirchner during the bicentennial of Chile. The couple has occupied the presidency of Argentina for 12 years, he from 2003 to 2007 and she from 2007 to 2015.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"atom__components__document\"><\/div>\r\n<div id=\"image_35782_text_equivalent\" class=\"atom__components__figure__text_equivalent\"><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h3>Attributions<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Democracy in Chile and Argentina\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>\r\n<div class=\"attribution\">\"History of Chile.\" <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/History_of_Chile\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/History_of_Chile<\/a>. <span class=\"attribution-name\">Wikipedia<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\/\">CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>.<\/div><\/li>\r\n \t<li>\r\n<div class=\"attribution\">\"History of Argentina.\" <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/History_of_Argentina\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/History_of_Argentina<\/a>. <span class=\"attribution-name\">Wikipedia<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\/\">CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>.<\/div><\/li>\r\n \t<li>\r\n<div class=\"attribution\">\"Argentina.\" <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Argentina\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Argentina<\/a>. <span class=\"attribution-name\">Wikipedia<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\/\">CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>.<\/div><\/li>\r\n \t<li>\r\n<div class=\"attribution\">\"Chilean transition to democracy.\" <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chilean_transition_to_democracy\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chilean_transition_to_democracy<\/a>. <span class=\"attribution-name\">Wikipedia<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\/\">CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>.<\/div><\/li>\r\n \t<li>\r\n<div class=\"attribution\">\"1024px-Presidenta_Cristina_Fernandez_y_diputado_Nestor_Kirchner.jpg.\" <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Presidenta_Cristina_Fernandez_y_diputado_Nestor_Kirchner.jpg\">https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Presidenta_Cristina_Fernandez_y_diputado_Nestor_Kirchner.jpg<\/a>. <span class=\"attribution-name\">Wikimedia Commons<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/2.0\/\">CC BY-SA 2.0<\/a>.<\/div><\/li>\r\n \t<li>\r\n<div class=\"attribution\">\"Izamiento_de_la_Gran_Bandera_Nacional_-_Presidentes_de_Chile.jpg.\" <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Izamiento_de_la_Gran_Bandera_Nacional_-_Presidentes_de_Chile.jpg\">https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Izamiento_de_la_Gran_Bandera_Nacional_-_Presidentes_de_Chile.jpg<\/a>. <span class=\"attribution-name\">Wikimedia Commons<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/2.0\/\">CC BY-SA 2.0<\/a>.<\/div><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","rendered":"<h2 id=\"concept_1631\">38.5.3: Democracy in Chile and Argentina<\/h2>\n<div class=\"brief\">\n<p>Chile and Argentina both transitioned from military dictatorships to democratic regimes in the 1980s, leading to relative political stability in both countries in the 21st century.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3>Learning Objective<\/h3>\n<p>Evaluate the democratic systems currently in place in Chile and Argentina<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\n<h3>Key Points<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Chileans elected a new president and the majority of members of a two-chamber congress on December 14, 1989, thus ending the rule of the oppressive military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.<\/li>\n<li>Christian Democrat Patricio Aylwin, the candidate of a coalition of 17 political parties called the Concertaci\u00f3n, received an absolute majority of votes (55%).<\/li>\n<li>The <em>Concertaci\u00f3n<\/em> coalition has continued to dominate Chilean politics for the last two decades: Aylwin was succeeded by another Christian Democrat, Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle (son of Frei-Montalva), leading the same coalition for a 6-year term.<\/li>\n<li>Center-right investor and businessman Sebasti\u00e1n Pi\u00f1era of the National Renewal assumed the presidency on March 11, 2010, after Bachelet&#8217;s term expired, with Bachelet returning to office once again after his term limits ended.<\/li>\n<li>On October 30, 1983, Argentines went to the polls to choose a president; vice-president; and national, provincial, and local officials in elections deemed by international observers to be fair and honest, thus beginning the country&#8217;s transition to a democratic government.<\/li>\n<li>Since then, Argentina had seen several democratically elected presidents, including Carlos Menem, who embraced neo-liberal policies, and De la R\u00faa, who kept Menem&#8217;s economic plan despite economic crisis, which led to growing social discontent.<\/li>\n<li>N\u00e9stor Kirchner was elected as the new president in 2002, boosting\u00a0neo-Keynesian economic policies and ending the economic crisis, attaining significant fiscal and trade surpluses, and steep GDP growth.<\/li>\n<li>He did not run for reelection, promoting instead the candidacy of his wife, senator Cristina Fern\u00e1ndez de Kirchner, who was elected in 2007\u00a0and reelected in 2011.<\/li>\n<li>On 22 November 2015, after a tie in the first round of presidential elections on 25 October, Mauricio Macri became the first democratically elected non-radical or peronist president since 1916.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox examples\">\n<h3>Key Terms<\/h3>\n<dl class=\"key_terms\">\n<dt><strong>Trial of the Juntas<\/strong><\/dt>\n<dd>The judicial trial of the members of the de facto military government that ruled Argentina during the dictatorship of the Proceso de Reorganizaci\u00f3n Nacional (<em>el proceso<\/em>), which lasted from 1976 to 1983.<\/dd>\n<dt><strong>Peronist<\/strong><\/dt>\n<dd>A person who follows the Argentinian political movement based on the ideology and legacy of former President Juan Domingo Per\u00f3n and his second wife, Eva Per\u00f3n. The Justicialist Party derives its name from the concept of social justice. Since its inception in 1946, candidates from his party have won 9 of the 12 presidential elections from which they have not been banned. As of 2016, Per\u00f3n was the only Argentine to have been elected president three times.<\/dd>\n<dt><strong>Concertaci\u00f3n<\/strong><\/dt>\n<dd>A coalition of center-left political parties in Chile, founded in 1988. Presidential candidates under its banner won every election from when military rule ended in 1990 until the conservative candidate Sebasti\u00e1n Pi\u00f1era won the Chilean presidential election in 2010. In 2013 it was replaced by the New Majority coalition.<\/dd>\n<dt><strong>&#8220;disappearances&#8221;<\/strong><\/dt>\n<dd>In international human rights law, this occurs when a person is secretly abducted or imprisoned by a state or political organization or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the person&#8217;s fate and whereabouts, with the intent of placing the victim outside the protection of the law.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n<h1>Chile&#8217;s Transition to Democracy<\/h1>\n<p>The Chilean transition to democracy began when a constitution establishing a transition itinerary was approved in a vote. From March 11, 1981 to March 1990, several organic constitutional laws were approved leading to the final restoration of democracy. After the 1988 plebiscite, the 1980 Constitution, still in force today, was amended to ease provisions for future amendments to the constitution, create more seats in the senate, diminish the role of the National Security Council, and equalize the number of civilian and military members (four members each).<\/p>\n<p>Christian Democrat Patricio Aylwin served from 1990 to 1994 and was succeeded by another Christian Democrat, Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle (son of Frei-Montalva), leading the same coalition for a 6-year term. Ricardo Lagos Escobar of the Socialist Party and the Party for Democracy led the <em>Concertaci\u00f3n <\/em>(a coalition of center-left political parties in Chile, founded in 1988) to a narrower victory in the 2000 presidential elections. His term ended on March 11, 2006 when Michelle Bachelet of the Socialist Party took office. Center-right investor and businessman Sebasti\u00e1n Pi\u00f1era, of the National Renewal, assumed the presidency on March 11, 2010 after Bachelet&#8217;s term expired.<\/p>\n<p>Part of the transition from the military dictatorship to democracy entailed investigating the human right&#8217;s abuses under the previous regimes. In February 1991 Aylwin created the National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation, which released in February 1991 the Rettig Report on human rights violations committed during the military rule. This report counted 2,279 cases of &#8220;disappearances&#8221; that could be proved and registered. Of course, the very nature of &#8220;disappearances&#8221; made such investigations very difficult. The same issue arose several years later with the Valech Report released in 2004, which counted almost 30,000 victims of torture, among testimonies from 35,000 persons.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1>Chile in the 21st Century<\/h1>\n<p>The <em>Concertaci\u00f3n<\/em>\u00a0has continued to dominate Chilean politics for last two decades. Frei Ruiz-Tagle was succeeded in 2000 by Socialist Ricardo Lagos, who won the presidency in an unprecedented runoff election against Joaqu\u00edn Lav\u00edn of the rightist Alliance for Chile.<\/p>\n<p>In January 2006 Chileans elected their first female president, Michelle Bachelet, of the Socialist Party. She was sworn in on March 11, 2006, extending the <em>Concertaci\u00f3n<\/em> coalition governance for another four years.<\/p>\n<p>Chile signed an association agreement with the European Union in 2002; signed an extensive free trade agreement with the United States in 2003, and signed an extensive free trade agreement with South Korea in 2004, expecting a boom in the import and export of local produce and expecting to become a regional trade-hub. Continuing the coalition&#8217;s free-trade strategy, in August 2006 President Bachelet promulgated a free trade agreement with the People&#8217;s Republic of China (signed under the previous administration of Ricardo Lagos), the first Chinese free-trade agreement with a Latin American nation; similar deals with Japan and India were promulgated in August 2007. In October 2006, Bachelet promulgated a multilateral trade deal with New Zealand, Singapore and Brunei, the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership (P4), also signed under Lagos&#8217; presidency. Regionally, she has signed bilateral free-trade agreements with Panama, Peru, and Colombia.<\/p>\n<p>After 20 years, Chile went in a new direction marked by the win of center-right Sebasti\u00e1n Pi\u00f1era in the Chilean presidential election of 2009\u20132010. On February 27, 2010, Chile was struck by an 8.8 MW earthquake, the fifth largest ever recorded at the time. More than 500 people died (most from the ensuing tsunami) and over a million people lost their homes. The earthquake was also followed by multiple aftershocks. Initial damage estimates were in the range of US$15\u201330 billion, around 10 to 15 percent of Chile&#8217;s real gross domestic product.<\/p>\n<p>Chile achieved global recognition for the successful rescue of 33 trapped miners in 2010. On August 5, 2010 the access tunnel collapsed at the San Jos\u00e9 copper and gold mine in the Atacama Desert near Copiap\u00f3 in northern Chile, trapping 33 men 2,300 feet below ground. A rescue effort organized by the Chilean government located the miners 17 days later. All 33 men were brought to the surface two months later on October 13, 2010 over a period of almost 24 hours, an effort that was carried on live television around the world.<\/p>\n<p>Good macroeconomic indicators failed to halt the social dissatisfaction claiming for a better and fairer education, which was traced to massive protests demanding more democratic and equitable institutions and a permanent disapproval of Pi\u00f1era&#8217;s administration.<\/p>\n<p>Due to term limits, Sebasti\u00e1n Pi\u00f1era did not stand for re-election in 2013, and his term expired in March 2014 resulting in Michelle Bachelet returning to office. In 2015 a series of corruption scandals became public, threatening the credibility of the political and business class.<\/p>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<div class=\"atom__components__figure\">\n<div class=\"atom__components__figure__cont\">\n<div style=\"width: 350px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"atom__components__figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1599\/2017\/07\/18195537\/media_35781_medium.jpeg\" alt=\"Photo of the five most recent presidents on Chile standing side by side, waving Chilean flags.\" width=\"340\" height=\"235\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Presidents of Chile. Five presidents of Chile since Transition to democracy (1990\u20132018), celebrating the Bicentennial of Chile.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"atom__components__document\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h1>Contemporary Era in Argentina<\/h1>\n<p>Argentina also experienced a transition from a military dictatorship to a democracy in the 1980s. Ra\u00fal Alfons\u00edn won the 1983 elections campaigning for the prosecution of those responsible for human rights violations during the military dictatorship. The Trial of the Juntas and other martial courts sentenced all the coup&#8217;s leaders but, under military pressure, Alfons\u00edn also enacted the Full Stop and Due Obedience laws, which halted prosecutions further down the chain of command. The worsening economic crisis and hyperinflation reduced his popular support and the Peronist Carlos Menem won the 1989 election. Soon after, riots forced Alfons\u00edn to an early resignation.<\/p>\n<p>Menem embraced neo-liberal policies: a fixed exchange rate, business deregulation, privatizations ,and dismantling of protectionist barriers normalized the economy for a while. He pardoned the officers who had been sentenced during Alfons\u00edn&#8217;s government. The 1994 Constitutional Amendment allowed Menem to be elected for a second term. The economy began to decline in 1995, with increasing unemployment and recession; led by Fernando de la R\u00faa, the UCR (Radical Civic Union, a centrist social-liberal political party) returned to the presidency in the 1999 elections.<\/p>\n<p>De la R\u00faa kept Menem&#8217;s economic plan despite the worsening crisis, which led to growing social discontent. A massive capital flight was responded to with a freezing of bank accounts, generating further turmoil. The December 2001 riots forced him to resign. Congress appointed Eduardo Duhalde as acting president, who repealed the fixed exchange rate established by Menem. By the late 2002 the economic crisis began to recess, but the assassination of two protestors by the police caused political commotion, prompting Duhalde to move elections forward. N\u00e9stor Kirchner was elected as the new president.<\/p>\n<p>Boosting the neo-Keynesian economic policies laid by Duhalde, Kirchner ended the economic crisis attaining significant fiscal and trade surpluses, and steep GDP growth. Under his administration Argentina restructured its defaulted debt with an unprecedented discount of about 70% on most bonds, paid off debts with the International Monetary Fund, purged the military of officers with doubtful human rights records, nullified and voided the Full Stop and Due Obedience laws, ruled them as unconstitutional, and resumed legal prosecution of the Juntas&#8217; crimes. He did not run for reelection, promoting instead the candidacy of his wife, senator Cristina Fern\u00e1ndez de Kirchner, who was elected in 2007 and reelected in 2011.<\/p>\n<p>On November 22, 2015, after a tie in the first round of presidential elections on October 25, Mauricio Macri won the first ballotage in Argentina&#8217;s history, beating Front for Victory candidate Daniel Scioli and becoming president-elect. Macri is the first democratically elected non-radical or peronist president since 1916, although he had the support of the first mentioned. He took office on December 10, 2015. In April 2016, the Macri Government introduced austerity measures intended to tackle inflation and public deficits.<\/p>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<div class=\"atom__components__figure\">\n<div class=\"atom__components__figure__cont\">\n<div style=\"width: 350px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"atom__components__figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1599\/2017\/07\/18195539\/media_35782_medium.jpeg\" alt=\"Photo of Cristina Fern\u00e1ndez and N\u00e9stor Kirchner during the Bicentenario. She is standing on the left, holding her hand to her chest, he is standing next to her, hands folded in front of him.\" width=\"340\" height=\"456\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cristina Fern\u00e1ndez and N\u00e9stor Kirchner.\u00a0 Cristina Fern\u00e1ndez and N\u00e9stor Kirchner during the bicentennial of Chile. The couple has occupied the presidency of Argentina for 12 years, he from 2003 to 2007 and she from 2007 to 2015.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"atom__components__document\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"image_35782_text_equivalent\" class=\"atom__components__figure__text_equivalent\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Attributions<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Democracy in Chile and Argentina\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div class=\"attribution\">&#8220;History of Chile.&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/History_of_Chile\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/History_of_Chile<\/a>. <span class=\"attribution-name\">Wikipedia<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\/\">CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"attribution\">&#8220;History of Argentina.&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/History_of_Argentina\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/History_of_Argentina<\/a>. <span class=\"attribution-name\">Wikipedia<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\/\">CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"attribution\">&#8220;Argentina.&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Argentina\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Argentina<\/a>. <span class=\"attribution-name\">Wikipedia<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\/\">CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"attribution\">&#8220;Chilean transition to democracy.&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chilean_transition_to_democracy\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chilean_transition_to_democracy<\/a>. <span class=\"attribution-name\">Wikipedia<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\/\">CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"attribution\">&#8220;1024px-Presidenta_Cristina_Fernandez_y_diputado_Nestor_Kirchner.jpg.&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Presidenta_Cristina_Fernandez_y_diputado_Nestor_Kirchner.jpg\">https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Presidenta_Cristina_Fernandez_y_diputado_Nestor_Kirchner.jpg<\/a>. <span class=\"attribution-name\">Wikimedia Commons<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/2.0\/\">CC BY-SA 2.0<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"attribution\">&#8220;Izamiento_de_la_Gran_Bandera_Nacional_-_Presidentes_de_Chile.jpg.&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Izamiento_de_la_Gran_Bandera_Nacional_-_Presidentes_de_Chile.jpg\">https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Izamiento_de_la_Gran_Bandera_Nacional_-_Presidentes_de_Chile.jpg<\/a>. <span class=\"attribution-name\">Wikimedia Commons<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/2.0\/\">CC BY-SA 2.0<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-4704\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Boundless World History. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Boundless. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/boundless-worldhistory\/\">https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/boundless-worldhistory\/<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":23437,"menu_order":24,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Boundless World History\",\"author\":\"Boundless\",\"organization\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/boundless-worldhistory\/\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-4704","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":3228,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-worldhistory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/4704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-worldhistory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-worldhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-worldhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23437"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-worldhistory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/4704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5903,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-worldhistory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/4704\/revisions\/5903"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-worldhistory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3228"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-worldhistory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/4704\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-worldhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-worldhistory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=4704"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-worldhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=4704"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-worldhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=4704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}