Ministry of Social Development (Argentina)

Ministry of Social Development

Ministerio de Desarrollo Social
Ministry overview
Formed	1955;69 years ago (1955) (first creation)
Dissolved	December 10, 2023;48 days ago (December 10, 2023)
Superseding agency	Ministry of Human Capital
Jurisdiction	Government of Argentina
Headquarters	Ministry of Public Works Building, Av. 9 de Julio 1925, Buenos Aires
Annual budget	$ 252,626,198,315 [1]
Minister responsible	Victoria Tolosa Paz
Website	Official website

The Ministry of Social Development (Spanish : Ministerio de Desarrollo Social; MDS) was a ministry of the Argentine Government which oversaw the country's public policies on issues such as social assistance, welfare and human development across the country. The ministry was created in 1955 as the Ministry of Social Assistance, and it was given its current name in 1999 during the presidency of Fernando de la Rúa.

The ministry was dissolved on December 10, 2023 following a presidential decree from President Javier Milei.

History

During the presidency of Juan Domingo Perón a constitutional reform expanded the ministries of the federal government creating the Ministry of Health. In 1955 the military coup of Eduardo Lonardi abolished many of the changes made by Perón, including the Ministry of Health, and created the Ministry of Social Assistance. ^[2] It was soon after renamed Ministry of Social Assistance and Public Health, ^[3] and later in 1966 renamed Ministry of Social Welfare, ^[4] while still overseeing public health issues. During the 1983 democratic government of Raul Alfonsin the ministry was renamed again as Ministry of Health and Social Action, ^[5] and in 1999 president Fernando De la Rúa decided to split the two ministries again, giving each the same precedence in the Cabinet of Ministers. ^[6] Thus the modern Ministry of Social Development was born, which was again briefly merged with the Ministry of Health during the presidency of Mauricio Macri regarding budget cuts in 2018. ^[7] In 2019, former president Alberto Fernandez decided to split both ministries again on the first day in office, ^[8] and thus the Ministry of Social Development became a ministry on itself again until it was dissolved.

Function and objectives

Decree 141 signed by president Nestor Kirchner in 2003 modifies the Law of Ministries to clearly state the function and objectives of the Ministry of Social development, ^[9] among which we can name:

• Execute actions towards modifying attitudes in the general population from a social perspective, and also planning and auditing any actions regarding promotion, protection, training and development of human groups with social needs, within the policies established by the federal government, and international treaties.
• To intervene in those cases of social emergency that require assistance from the government, in coordination with the Ministry of Health.
• Execute actions towards securing financing plans of social development.
• Formulate, normalize, coordinate, audit and evaluate food policies applied in federal, provincial and local levels.
• Execute actions of direct assistance to people in situation of social risk, both inside the country and abroad, participating in international help plans.
• Formulate policies destined to infancy, youth and family; design, execute, coordinate, audit and evaluate programs of promotion, protection, social integration and defense of the rights of minors, following the guidelines of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
• Formulate policies regarding social promotion destined to the youth.
• Formulate policies towards strengthening social economy, and to design, execute, coordinate, audit and evaluate programs of microcredit destined to the socially vulnerable population.
• Assign and distribute subsidies to resolve unpredicted states of necessity, or those not covered by current programs, and those given to public or private institutions that develop activities benefiting the general population.

Central building

Main article: Ministry of Public Works Building, Buenos Aires

The then-recently inaugurated Ministry of Public Works building in 1937.

The Ministry of Social Development has offices in over 50 locations ^[10] across the country, but the central office is located in what is known as the Ministry of Public Works building, a rationalist style building located in the famous 9 de julio avenue in downtown Buenos Aires, between Moreno street and Belgrano avenue. The building originally housed the offices of the Ministry of Public Works since its inauguration in 1935, and President Carlos Menem relocated the ministry to a building near the Casa Rosada in 1991, ^[11] allowing the then Ministry of Health and Social Action to have a new headquarters. After the split during the De la Rúa presidency, of the 22 floors of the building, the top 10 floors house the central offices of Social Development and the bottom 11 to the current Ministry of Health. The ground floor office space is split among the two ministries. Social Development also has offices in other 8 locations within the city of Buenos Aires, and offices in at least one city of every province of Argentina.

The building was built from 1932 to 1936, right around the time the government began plans to bulldoze complete blocks of buildings in a north–south corridor to create the 9 de julio avenue. By 1947, bulldozing and construction of the avenue reached the southern tip by Moreno street, but the building was spared from demolition, as it was the Ortiz Basualdo palace (headquarters of the French Embassy in Argentina) and the Palacio Álzaga Unzué in the northern end of the avenue. The avenue thus currently has a choke point between Belgrano avenue and Moreno Street, where the car lanes have to go around this building. It is the only building with a 9 de julio street address. ^[11]

The building is notable for having two gigantic metal contour portraits of Eva Perón in the south and north facades, as a reminder of her dedication to the social development and welfare of the socially vulnerable population. ^[12]

List of ministers

No.	Minister	Party		Term	President
Ministry of Social Assistance (1955)
1	Ernesto Rottger		Independent (Military)	23 September 1955 – 13 November 1955		Eduardo Lonardi
Ministry of Social Assistance and Public Health (1958–1966)
2	Héctor Noblía		Radical Civic Union	1 May 1958 – 26 March 1962		Arturo Frondizi
3	Tiburcio Padilla		Independent	26 March 1962 – 29 March 1962
				29 March 1962 – 1 July 1963		José María Guido
4	Horacio Rodríguez Castells		Independent	1 July 1963 – 12 October 1963
5	Arturo Oñativia		Radical Civic Union	12 October 1963 – 28 June 1966		Arturo Illia
Ministry of Social Welfare (1966–1981)
6	Roberto J. Petracca		Independent	28 June 1966 – 1 January 1967		Juan Carlos Onganía
7	Julio Emilio Álvarez		Independent	1 January 1967 – 20 March 1967
8	Conrado Bauer		Independent	20 March 1967 – 8 June 1969
9	Carlos Consigli		Independent	10 June 1969 – 8 June 1970
10	Francisco Manrique		Federal Party	8 June 1970 – 10 February 1971		Marcelo Levingston
11	Amadeo Frúgoli		Democratic Party	10 February 1971 – 23 March 1971
12	Francisco Manrique		Federal Party	23 March 1971 – 8 August 1972		Alejandro Lanusse
13	Oscar Puiggrós		Christian Democratic Party	8 August 1972 – 25 May 1973
14	José López Rega		Justicialist Party	25 May 1973 – 13 July 1973		Héctor Cámpora
				13 July 1973 – 12 October 1973		Raúl Lastiri
				12 October 1973 – 1 July 1974		Juan Domingo Perón
				1 July 1974 – 11 July 1975		Isabel Perón
15	Carlos Villone		Justicialist Party	11 July 1975 – 20 July 1975
16	Rodolfo Roballos		Independent	20 July 1975 – 11 August 1975
17	Carlos Emery		Justicialist Party	11 August 1975 – 29 October 1975
18	Aníbal Demarco		Justicialist Party	29 October 1975 – 24 March 1976
19	Julio Bardi		Independent (Military)	29 March 1976 – 30 October 1978		Jorge Rafael Videla
20	Jorge A. Fraga		Independent (Military)	30 October 1978 – 29 March 1981
Ministry of Social Action (1981–1983)
21	Carlos Lacoste		Independent (Military)	29 March 1981 – 1 July 1982		Roberto Eduardo Viola
						Leopoldo Galtieri
22	Adolfo Navajas Artaza		Independent	1 July 1982 – 10 December 1983		Reynaldo Bignone
Ministry of Health and Social Action (1983–1999)
23	Aldo Neri		Radical Civic Union	10 December 1983 – 15 April 1986		Raúl Alfonsín
24	Conrado Storani		Radical Civic Union	15 April 1986 – 16 September 1987
25	Ricardo Barrios Arrechea		Radical Civic Union	16 September 1987 – 26 May 1989
26	Enrique Beveraggi		Radical Civic Union	26 May 1989 – 8 July 1989
27	Julio Corzo		Justicialist Party	8 July 1989 – 23 September 1989		Carlos Menem
28	Antonio Erman González		Christian Democratic Party	23 September 1989 – 14 December 1989
29	Eduardo Bauzá		Justicialist Party	15 December 1989 – 20 September 1990
30	Alberto Kohan		Justicialist Party	20 September 1990 – 16 January 1991
31	Avelino Porto		Justicialist Party	16 January 1991 – 3 December 1991
32	Julio César Aráoz		Justicialist Party	3 December 1991 – 22 April 1993
33	Alberto José Mazza		Justicialist Party	22 April 1993 – 10 December 1999
Ministry of Social Development (1999–2018)
34	Graciela Fernández Meijide		Broad Front	10 December 1999 – 12 March 2001		Fernando de la Rúa
35	Marcos Makón		Independent	12 March 2001 – 20 March 2001
36	Juan Pablo Cafiero		Broad Front	20 March 2001 – 22 October 2001
37	Daniel Sartor		Radical Civic Union	22 October 2001 – 21 December 2001
38	María Nélida Doga		Justicialist Party	12 February 2002 – 25 May 2003		Eduardo Duhalde
39	Alicia Kirchner		Justicialist Party	25 May 2003 – 10 December 2005		Néstor Kirchner
40	Juan Carlos Nadalich		Justicialist Party	10 December 2005 – 14 August 2006
41	Alicia Kirchner		Justicialist Party	14 August 2006 – 10 December 2007
			Kolina	10 December 2007 – 10 December 2015		Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
42	Carolina Stanley		Republican Proposal	10 December 2015 – 5 September 2018		Mauricio Macri
Ministry of Health and Social Development (2018–2019)
42	Carolina Stanley		Republican Proposal	5 September 2018 – 10 December 2019		Mauricio Macri
Ministry of Social Development (2019–2023)
43	Daniel Arroyo		Renewal Front	10 December 2019 – 10 August 2021		Alberto Fernández
44	Juan Zabaleta		Justicialist Party	10 August 2021 – 13 October 2022
45	Victoria Tolosa Paz		Justicialist Party	13 October 2022 – 10 December 2023

References

1. "Presupuesto 2021". Ministerio de Economía (in Spanish). 2020. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
2. "El Historiador :: Datos y estadísticas :: Presidentes y ministros de Argentina (1776 - 2010) - Mandatarios y gabinetes del territorio nacional". 2010-12-27. Archived from the original on 2010-12-27. Retrieved 2020-07-03.
3. "El Historiador :: Datos y estadísticas :: Presidentes y ministros de Argentina (1776 - 2010) - Mandatarios y gabinetes del territorio nacional". 2010-12-27. Archived from the original on 2010-12-27. Retrieved 2020-07-03.
4. "El Historiador :: Datos y estadísticas :: Presidentes y ministros de Argentina (1776 - 2010) - Mandatarios y gabinetes del territorio nacional". 2010-12-27. Archived from the original on 2010-12-27. Retrieved 2020-07-03.
5. "El Historiador :: Datos y estadísticas :: Presidentes y ministros de Argentina (1776 - 2010) - Mandatarios y gabinetes del territorio nacional". 2010-12-27. Archived from the original on 2010-12-27. Retrieved 2020-07-03.
6. "De la Rúa creará dos nuevos ministerios". La Nación (in Spanish). 18 November 1999. Retrieved 2020-07-03.
7. Rosemberg, Jaime (2018-09-03). "Reducen de 22 a 11 los ministerios, pero no hay cambios de nombres". La Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-07-03.
8. "En su primer Boletín Oficial, Alberto Fernández modificó la ley de Ministerios con las nuevas carteras". www.ambito.com. Retrieved 2020-07-03.
9. "LEY DE MINISTERIOS". servicios.infoleg.gob.ar. Retrieved 2020-07-03.
10. "Dónde estamos". Argentina.gob.ar (in Spanish). 2020-05-04. Retrieved 2020-07-03.
11. "El edificio de Obras Públicas, un gigante que cumple 80 años". www.lanacion.com.ar (in Spanish). 2016-10-20. Retrieved 2020-07-03.
12. "Cristina inauguró el retrato en homenaje a Evita". www.perfil.com. 27 July 2011. Retrieved 2020-07-03.

External links

• Official website