home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- Government
-
- Long-form name: Argentine Republic.
-
- Type: republic.
-
- Capital: Buenos Aires (tentative plans to move to Viedma by 1990
- indefinitely postponed).
-
- Administrative divisions: 22 provinces (provincias, singular--
- provincia), 1 national territory* (territorio nacional), and 1
- district** (distrito); Buenos Aires, Catamarca, Chaco, Chubut,
- Cordoba, Corrientes, Distrito Federal**, Entre Rios, Formosa, Jujuy,
- La Pampa, La Rioja, Mendoza, Misiones, Neuquen, Rio Negro, Salta,
- San Juan, San Luis, Santa Cruz, Santa Fe, Santiago del Estero,
- Tierra del Fuego and Antartida e Islas del Atlantico Sur*, Tucuman.
-
- Independence: 9 July 1816 (from Spain).
-
- Constitution: 1 May 1853.
-
- Legal system: mixture of US and West European legal systems;
- has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction.
-
- National holiday: National Day, 25 May (1810).
-
- Executive branch: president, vice president, Cabinet.
-
- Legislative branch: bicameral National Congress (Congreso
- Nacional) consists of an upper chamber or Senate (Senado)
- and a lower chamber or Chamber of Deputies (Camera de Diputados).
-
- Judicial branch: Supreme Court (Corte Suprema).
-
- Leaders: Chief of State and Head of Government--President
- Carlos Saul MENEM (since 8 July 1989); Vice President Eduardo
- DUHALDE (since 8 July 1989).
-
- Political parties and leaders: Justicialist Party (JP),
- Antonio Cafiero, Peronist umbrella political organization;
- Radical Civic Union (UCR), Raul Alfonsin, moderately left
- of center; Union of the Democratic Center (UCEDE), Alvaro
- Alsogaray, conservative party; Intransigent Party (PI),
- Dr. Oscar Alende, leftist party; several provincial parties.
-
- Suffrage: universal at age 18.
-
- Elections:
-
- President--last held 14 May 1989 (next to be
- held May 1995); results--Carlos Saul Menem was elected;
-
- Chamber of Deputies--last held 14 May 1989 (next to be
- held May 1991); results--JP 47%, UCR 30%, UDC 7%, other
- 16%; seats--(254 total); JP 122, UCR 93, UDC 11, other 28.
-
- Communists: some 70,000 members in various party organizations,
- including a small nucleus of activists.
-
- Other political or pressure groups: Peronist-dominated labor
- movement, General Confederation of Labor (Peronist-leaning
- umbrella labor organization), Argentine Industrial Union
- (manufacturers' association), Argentine Rural Society (large
- landowners' association), business organizations, students,
- the Roman Catholic Church, the Armed Forces.
-
- Member of: CCC, FAO, G-77, GATT, Group of Eight, IADB, IAEA,
- IBRD, ICAC, ICAO, IDA, IDB--Inter-American Development Bank,
- IFAD, IFC, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOOC, ISO,
- ITU, IWC--International Whaling Commission, IWC--International
- Wheat Council, LAIA, NAM, OAS, PAHO, SELA, UN, UNESCO, UPU,
- WFTU, WHO, WMO, WTO, WSG.
-
- Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Guido Jose Maria DI
- TELLA; Chancery at 1600 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington
- DC 20009; telephone 202) 939-6400 through 6403; there are
- Argentine Consulates General in Houston, Miami, New Orleans,
- New York, San Francisco, and San Juan (Puerto Rico), and
- Consulates in Baltimore, Chicago, and Los Angeles; US--Ambassador
- Terence A. TODMAN; Embassy at 4300 Colombia, 1425 Buenos
- Aires (mailing address is APO Miami 34034); telephone [54]
- (1) 774-7611 or 8811, 9911.
-
- Flag: three equal horizontal bands of light blue (top), white,
- and light blue; centered in the white band is a radiant yellow
- sun with a human face known as the Sun of May.
-