Rodríguez Saá, Adolfo (1947–)

Adolfo Rodríguez Saá, an Argentine politician born on July 25, 1947, was governor of the province of San Luis for from 1983 to 2001, and interim president of the republic for seven days in 2001. Known as "the Adolf," he began his career as a member of the Peronist ranks in 1969. In 1971 he passed the bar and became an attorney. In the 1973 elections, he was elected as deputy to the Argentine Congress for his native province and was president of the Justicialista bloc in the lower chamber until the military coup of 1976.

With the return of democracy in 1983, he was elected governor of the province of San Luis and consecutively reelected for five more terms. His populist style of government and efficient administration of the province's fiscal revenues allowed him to consolidate his power in the province. During this period, however, the governor was denounced for his antidemocratic practices and for alleged illicit self-enrichment.

In 2001, after the sudden resignation of President Fernando de la Rúa, the congress asked Rodríguez Saá to serve as interim president. During his one-week administration, payment of the foreign debt was suspended. Pressured by the Peronist governors worried about the extravagant nature of his administration and because they feared losing all control over it, he was forced to resign.

See alsoArgentina: The Twentieth Century; Argentina, Political Parties: Justicialist Party; Rúa, Fernando de la.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Camarasa, Jorge. Días de Furia: Historia oculta de la Argentina desde la caída de De la Rúa hasta la asunción de Duhalde. Buenos Aires: Sudamericana, 2002.

Novaro, Marcos. Historia de la Argentina contemporánea: De Perón a Kirchner. Buenos Aires: EDHASA, 2006.

                                      Vicente Palermo