Carlos Menem

His campaign was centered on vague promises of a "productive revolution" and a "salariazo" (jargon for big salary increases), aimed at the working class, the traditional constituents of the Peronist Party. Jacques de Mahieu, a French ideologue of the Peronist movement (and former Vichy Collaborationist), was photographed campaigning for Menem.

Menem was originally slated to take office on December 10. However, amid a massive economic downturn, Alfonsin opted to transfer power to Menem five months early, on July 8. Menem's accession marked the first time since Hipólito Yrigoyen took office in 1916 that an incumbent government peacefully surrendered power to a member of the opposition.

Menem assumed duties in the midst of a major economic crisis which included hyperinflation and recession. After a failed stabilization program sponsored by Bunge y Born (a leading agribusiness firm), and another one involving the conversion of time deposits into government bonds, newly appointed Finance Minister Domingo Cavallo introduced a series of reforms in 1991 and a fixed exchange rate of the Argentine peso to the US dollar. This Convertibility Plan was followed by a wholesale privatization of utilities (including the oil company Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales (YPF), the post office, telephone, gas, electricity and water utilities). A massive influx of foreign direct investment funds helped tame inflation (from 5,000% a year in 1989 to single digits by 1993) and improved long-stagnant productivity, though at the cost of considerable unemployment. Read Less