Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
with the founding of newspapers, political par-
ties, a world-class opera house, and the nation's
first five teacher training schools.
Modern Argentina
Although all was well on the surface, political
unrest was increasing. More and more people
resented being ruled by a government of
wealthy landowners. Labor strikes were fre-
quent and, eventually, so were confrontations
between opposition groups and the military. In
the 1930s, with the onset of the worldwide
depression, conditions worsened and the econ-
omy ground to a halt. The military stepped in
and deposed Hipolito Yrigoyen, then in his sec-
ond term as president. This was the first of sev-
eral military interventions in Argentina's
modern political life.
Juan Domingo Perón
Military regimes alternated with elected gov-
ernments. In the coup of 1943 a new figure
emerged in Argentina and onto the world stage,
Juan Domingo Perón
. As a career military offi-
cer who had been sent to Italy for training,
Perón
was an admirer of Benito Mussolini, as
were other Argentine officers. Upon his return
to Argentina, he joined a secret organization
that promoted these facist policies.
In 1943, Perón was appointed Secretary of the
Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare. It was
from this position that he built a strong power
base. He enacted a series of child labor laws, job
