Guido di Tella
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Guido di Tella (June 12, 1931 – December 31, 2001) was an Argentine businessman, academic and diplomat who served as
Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...
.


Life and times

Guido José Mario Di Tella was born in
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
, 1931. His father, Torcuato di Tella, was an
Italian Argentine Italian Argentines ( it, italo-argentini; es, ítalo-argentinos, or ''tanos'' in Rioplatense Spanish) are Italian-born people (born in Argentina or Italy) or non-Italian citizens of Italian descent residing in Argentina. Italian is the largest ...
immigrant who had become a prominent local industrialist, producing
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and
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through the Siam di Tella establishment.


Early career

Guido lost his father at age 17, and per his wishes, the young man pursued an
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degree at the
University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires ( es, Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is a public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Established in 1821, it is the premier institution of higher learning in the country and one of the most prestigi ...
with the intention of later managing the family industrial firm (an employer of 5,000). He also took an interest in politics, becoming a co-founder of the Christian Democratic Party of Argentina in 1954. Graduating in 1955, he was accepted into the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
(MIT), where he earned a PhD in
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in 1959.Eumed: Guido Di Tella
/ref> He married Nelly Ruvira, and they had five children. Returning to Argentina he co-founded -with his older brother Torcuato- the Torcuato di Tella Institute, an educational and cultural foundation; by then, Guido Di Tella had become a vocal Peronist (a supporter of the exiled, populist former President Juan Perón). Such a progression was unusual among young Argentines of a privileged background; Di Tella, however, came to believe that class-driven prejudices against the mostly working-class Peronists had to be set aside if Argentina was once again, in his words, to become a "serious country." Teaching at his alma mater and at the
Argentine Catholic University Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...
, he also helped spur the Di Tella Institute into becoming a leading sponsor of the local vanguard movement in the arts during the 1960s. His ongoing support of Perón led to his brief expulsion from Argentina in the early 1970s, when he was made a visiting fellow of St. Antony's College,
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. Di Tella had been among Perón's entourage on the aging leader's brief, November 1972 visit that had been authorized ahead of the 1973 general elections. Following Perón's July 1974 death, his widow and successor Isabel Perón named him Deputy Economy Minister, a post he held until the March 1976 coup against her chaotic presidency. Di Tella then spent many years of exile in Oxford, where he wrote a book about his experiences. Returning to Argentina in 1989, he never severed his links with the city and university, keeping a house there and visiting every spring.


Foreign Minister

Peronist Carlos Menem, elected President of Argentina in 1989, returned di Tella to the post of Deputy Economy Minister under Miguel Roig, and following the elderly Roig's death days later he was appointed Ambassador to the United States. A cabinet shake-up in February 1991 resulted in his succeeding
Domingo Cavallo Domingo Felipe Cavallo (born July 21, 1946) is an Argentine economist and politician. Between 1991 and 1996 he was Economic Ministry of Argentina during Carlos Menem presidency. He is known for implementing the '' Convertibility plan'', which ...
as Foreign Minister. Cavallo was named Economy Minister, and had already initiated Argentina's rapprochement with the United Kingdom and United States; diplomatic relations with the UK had been resumed in February 1990, and Argentina had participated in the
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. However, Argentina also had a long tradition of voting against the U.S. at the
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, and for years was an active member of the
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. Di Tella carried out Menem's realignment of Argentine foreign policy towards the " Washington Consensus," outlining a new U.S.-Argentine entente the Foreign Minister famously described as "carnal relations." Di Tella's efforts also led to a 1997 decision by U.S. President
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
to designate Argentina a
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. He also strengthened the newly cordial relations with the U.K. and signed landmark commercial cooperation accords regarding the Exclusive Economic Zone around the
Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouze ...
with British Foreign Secretary
Douglas Hurd Douglas Richard Hurd, Baron Hurd of Westwell, (born 8 March 1930) is a British Conservative Party politician who served in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major from 1979 to 1995. A career diplomat and political secretary to P ...
, in November 1991. A charm offensive towards residents of the Falklands (including Di Tella's personally-autographed annual postcards) remained largely fruitless - though it resulted in an improved opinion of Argentina by the islanders, who credited him with being the first Argentine politician to recognise that any solution to the problem must involve consultations with the islanders themselves.


Later life

Di Tella retired from public service with the change of administrations in December 1999, on which occasion he was made an honorary fellow of St. Antony's (a rare distinction). He visited the Falkland Islands as an ordinary citizen (a concession he had obtained for Argentine nationals while Foreign Minister), in October 2000, and was warmly received. Illness forced Di Tella to retire from politics, however, and 2001 was marked by an investigation into his possible role in the illegal, Menem-era sale of arms to
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and
Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...
(each embroiled in wars, at the time); he maintained his innocence, and was eventually spared further trial because of his ill health.Terra: Cronología del escándalo
/ref> Secluded in his
estancia An estancia is a large, private plot of land used for farming or raising cattle or sheep. Estancias in the southern South American grasslands, the ''pampas'', have historically been estates used to raise livestock, such as cattle or sheep. In Pu ...
outside Navarro, Buenos Aires, Di Tella suffered a stroke on New Year's Eve, 2001, dying at age 70. He was survived by his widow, Nelly, and his five children.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Di Tella, Guido 1931 births 2001 deaths People from Buenos Aires Argentine people of Italian descent University of Buenos Aires alumni University of Buenos Aires faculty Fellows of St Antony's College, Oxford MIT Sloan School of Management alumni Ambassadors of Argentina to the United States Foreign ministers of Argentina Burials at La Chacarita Cemetery Argentine philanthropists Defense ministers of Argentina 20th-century philanthropists