Rodrigazo is the name given to a group of economic policies announced in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

on June 4, 1975, and their immediate aftermath. The name is from the fact that the policies were announced and implemented by Celestino Rodrigo, the

Minister of Economy of Argentina The Ministry of Economy ( es, Ministerio de Economía) of Argentina is the country's state treasury and a ministry of the national executive power that manages economic policy. The Ministry of Economy is one of the oldest ministries in the Ar ...

appointed by President

Isabel Perón Isabel Martínez de Perón (, born María Estela Martínez Cartas, 4 February 1931), also known as Isabelita, is an Argentine politician who served as President of Argentina from 1974 to 1976. She was one of the first female republican heads ...

in May 1975.

Summary

* A 150%

devaluation In macroeconomics and modern monetary policy, a devaluation is an official lowering of the value of a country's currency within a fixed exchange-rate system, in which a monetary authority formally sets a lower exchange rate of the national curre ...

of currency for the commercial

exchange rate In finance, an exchange rate is the rate at which one currency will be exchanged for another currency. Currencies are most commonly national currencies, but may be sub-national as in the case of Hong Kong or supra-national as in the case of ...

. * A 100% increase in

utility As a topic of economics, utility is used to model worth or value. Its usage has evolved significantly over time. The term was introduced initially as a measure of pleasure or happiness as part of the theory of utilitarianism by moral philosophe ...

and

transportation Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, a ...

prices. * A 180% rise in the price of

fuel A fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy as thermal energy or to be used for work. The concept was originally applied solely to those materials capable of releasing chemical energy but ...

. * A 45% increase in

wages A wage is payment made by an employer to an employee for work done in a specific period of time. Some examples of wage payments include compensatory payments such as ''minimum wage'', ''prevailing wage'', and ''yearly bonuses,'' and remunera ...

Aftermath

Afterward, the

real wage Real wages are wages adjusted for inflation, or, equivalently, wages in terms of the amount of goods and services that can be bought. This term is used in contrast to nominal wages or unadjusted wages. Because it has been adjusted to account f ...

(the purchasing power of the wage) fell, as prices overall doubled between May and August alone and continued to fall until well into 1979. The crisis had political consequences, but not all were negative. Blindsided by the draconian measure, the normally supportive CGT (the largest labor union in Latin America, at the time), called a

general strike A general strike refers to a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large coa ...

the first ever under a

Peronist Peronism, also called justicialism,. The Justicialist Party is the main Peronist party in Argentina, it derives its name from the concept of social justice., name=, group= is an Argentine political movement based on the ideas and legacy of Ar ...

government. Demanding a 125-150% mandatory wage hike, the CGT initially obtained Mrs. Perón's commitment to its enactment. As they gathered at the storied

Plaza de Mayo The Plaza de Mayo (; en, May Square) is a city square and main foundational site of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was formed in 1884 after the demolition of the Recova building, unifying the city's Plaza Mayor and Plaza de Armas, by that time know ...

on June 27 in gratitude for her concession, however, the president abruptly cancelled the benefit, sending demonstrators into a riot directed at Rodrigo's benefactor, the powerful Social Welfare Minister and Perón family confidant,

José López Rega José López Rega (17 November 1916 – 9 June 1989) was an Argentine politician who served as Minister of Social Welfare from 1973 to 1975, first under Juan Perón and continuing under Isabel Perón, Juan Perón's third wife and presidential su ...

. Appointing him Ambassador to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

on July 11, the president had the Triple A

death squad A death squad is an armed group whose primary activity is carrying out extrajudicial killings or forced disappearances as part of political repression, genocide, ethnic cleansing, or revolutionary terror. Except in rare cases in which they are f ...

leader flee Argentina, and subsequently removed Rodrigo, as well as the Armed Forces Commander, General Alberto Numa Laplane, and numerous other López Rega protégés. According to economist Guillermo Calvo, the economic turmoil that followed the ''Rodrigazo'', including an

inflation rate In economics, inflation is an increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reduct ...

of around 35% a month, was one of the main reasons for the

March 1976 coup March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of Ma ...

that removed the Peronist government.Guillermo A. Calvo (1986), "Fractured Liberalism: Argentina under Martínez de Hoz", ''Economic Development and Cultural Change'', Vol. 34, No. 3, Growth Reform, and Adjustment: Latin America's Trade and Macroeconomic Policies in the 1970s and 1980s, p. 511.

References

{{Reflist History of Argentina (1973–1976) Economic crises in Argentina 1975 in Argentina