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The Menem years: from AD 1989
Economic troubles soon disenchant the public with President Alfonsín. In the 1989 election the Peronista candidate, Carlos Menem, wins the presidential election by a wide margin. (The Peronistas have been known as the (Frente Justicialista), or Justicialist Party, since their first return to power in the 1970s.)
Although elected on a Peronista platform, Menem's programme to recover Argentina's economy involves unscrambling much of Perón's legacy. State enterprises are privatized in a move towards a free market economy. The support of the army is won by such measures as releasing the convicted generals (including Videla and Galtieri).
These measures are to some extent successful (inflation falls but unemployment rises). And the pattern of military intervention seems to be broken in December 1990. An attempted coup is foiled within twenty-four hours when a majority of the senior commanders remain loyal to the elected government.
Since the constitution of 1853 Argentinian presidents have served a term of six years, after which they are inelegible for immediate re-election. In 1994 Menem negotiates a revision of this law. In return for relinquishing some elements of presidential power, a revised constitution allows presidents to serve two consecutive terms of four years.
Menem has already served a first term of six years, but he is allowed to stand as a candidate in the 1995 election. He wins handsomely. 1995 also brings an agreement with Britain over the potential exploitation of oil around the Falkland Islands.
Public dislike of Menem's free-market policies and of high unemployment leads to a general strike in August 1997. In the mid-term elections two months later the Justicialist party loses its overall majority in the Chamber of Deputies but remains the largest single party. In the election of 1999, when Menem is ineligible to stand again, the Peronist candidate loses to Fernando de la Rua, formerly mayor of Buenos Aires.