Ricardo Lopez Murphy

Ricardo Hipólito López Murphy (Buenos Aires, August 10, 1951) is an Argentine economist, politician and congressman. He was Minister of Defense, Minister of Economy and Minister of Infrastructure and Housing during the presidency of Fernando de la Rúa. He currently chairs the Republican Civic Foundation (FCR) and is former president of the Liberal Network of Latin America (RELIAL), of whose honorary board he is a member.

He has a degree in Economics from the National University of La Plata, with a master's degree in economics from the University of Chicago and an honorary doctorate from UCEMA.

After leaving the Radical Civic Union in 2002, he founded the Recrear para el Crecimiento (Recrear) party, through which he ran for the 2003 presidential elections. On that occasion, he obtained 16.37% of the votes, remaining for behind Nestor Kirchner and Carlos Menem. On April 19, 2008, he resigned from the party due to irregularities and lack of transparency in the internal elections. From 2008 until the end of 2011, he led the opinion movement Convergencia Federal, both in the City of Buenos Aires and in the province of Buenos Aires. In 2020 he returned to politics at the hands of a new party called Republicanos Unidos and in 2021 he announced that he would be a candidate for national deputy for the City of Buenos Aires in the legislative elections of that year, where he was elected. In 2023 he left the United Republicans, to join the Progressive Democratic Party, the party with which he ran as a candidate for Head of Government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.

Biography

López Murphy was born in Buenos Aires on August 10, 1951, the son of Juan José López Aguirre and Brígida Murphy. He was called Ricardo in homage to the politicians Balbín and Hipólito by Yrigoyen. His father was a national deputy for the Unión Cívica Radical del Pueblo and the first civil police chief in the province of Buenos Aires, during the mandate of Governor Anselmo Marini.His mother was of Irish descent and his father of Basque descent.

Professional and academic background

He graduated with a degree in Economics from the National University of La Plata in 1974. He began his teaching activity as an assistant in Economic Statistics at the same university and worked as a professor at the same UNLP, at the Universidad Argentina de la Empresa, the University of San Andrés and the Universidad Centro de Estudios Macroeconómicos de Argentina. Granted an OAS scholarship, he studied in the US and in 1980 obtained the title of Master of Arts at the Universidad from Chicago.

He entered the civil service career at the Ministry of Economy of the Nation during the government of María Estela Martínez de Perón. After successive promotions, he was appointed in 1982, during the civil-military dictatorship, director of Economic Investigations and Fiscal Analysis. In the ministry he had bosses such as Juan Alemann and Manuel Solanet.

In his professional activity he worked as a consultant and economic adviser. He worked as a consultant for the IDB, the World Bank, ECLAC and the International Monetary Fund, among other international organizations. From December 1983 to September 1984, he worked in the Advisory Office of the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic and from September From 1984 to 1988 he worked as an adviser at the Central Bank of Uruguay. In the 1990s he was chosen as Chief Economist of the Latin American Economic Research Foundation (FIEL).In 1993 he was selected along with others by the World Economic Forum as "Global Leader of Tomorrow". He received the Konex Award in 1996.

Political career

Radical Civic Union

López Murphy was a member of the Purple Strip -for which he chaired the Center for Economic Students at the UNLP- and in radicalism since he was young. In 1996 he created the Fundación Cívico-Republicana, as a first step towards political activity.At the beginning of 1999 he was appointed as a possible Minister of Economy of a then hypothetical government of the Alliance. The candidate for president Fernando de la Rúa denied that he was appointed as minister in that portfolio, after a statement by López Murphy in which he argued that salaries should be lowered by 10%. After the victory of the Alliance in the October elections, was appointed Minister of Defense in the De la Rúa government, a position he held from 1999 to 2001.

López Murphy in 2000

In March 2001, he was appointed as Minister of Economy. In presenting the plan to the businessmen, López Murphy's economic team detailed the difference it had with that of José Luis Machinea. "It is a program that for the first time does not increase taxes, does not reduce salaries or pensions, nor does it affect the pocket of ordinary citizens," assured Daniel Artana.

In order to reduce the public deficit, López Murphy announced a cut of 1,962 million pesos in public administration expenses, which consisted of the following: canceling items destined for SIDE political operations; pay in 12 installments the retroactive of the high retirements; declare the retirement emergency; annulment of pensions and student scholarship system; reduction and cut in health programs for 50 million; an increase in VAT from 15 to 21% for cultural events (soccer, theater and cinema); elimination of aid to rural producers in seven provinces for 180 million; dismissal of 40,000 public employees; cuts in severance payments; privatization of public companies; ceding to the TN the profits of the General Administration of Ports; reduce discretionary and political shipments of ATN to the provinces and abolish, except for disability, ex gratia pensions eliminate scholarships and subsidies. Argentina quickly lost investor confidence and capital flight out of the country increased. In 2001, people fearing the worst began withdrawing large sums of money from their bank accounts, turning pesos into dollars and sending them abroad, causing a bank run.

Shortly after taking office, López Murphy announced a severe fiscal adjustment program for 2,000 million pesos, and the elimination of aid to rural producers in seven provinces for 180 million, dismissal of 40,000 public employees, cuts in severance pay, privatization of gaming houses and part of Banco Nación.

Minister López Murphy himself left the government just 15 days after taking office. One of the reasons for his departure from the Ministry, fifteen days after taking office, were his budget reduction plans in the educational area, where he raised the need to repeal programs in the National Ministry of Economy; suppress transfers of funds to the rectory of the University of Buenos Aires; on the other hand, the subsidy for the tobacco industry and Patagonian gasoline was added to the school budget. These measures meant a 5% cut in education. This announcement provoked student protests, and led President De la Rúa to request the resignation of López Murphy a few days after announcing the economic plan. Years later, López Murphy would explain that the 2002 devaluation carried out by Eduardo Duhalde ended up reducing the educational budget by 66%. On March 20, 2001, he was succeeded by Domingo Cavallo, who later ended up taking a $6 billion cut.

Recreate for Growth

After leaving the Radical Civic Union in 2002, he founded the Recrear para el Crecimiento (Recrear) party. In 2003 he stood in the elections as a candidate for President of the Nation, obtaining third place with 18% of the votes.

Ball of the 2003 presidential elections.

In 2005, he ran for senator for the province of Buenos Aires for the Republican Proposal (PRO) electoral alliance, an election in which he was relegated to fifth place with 7.6% of the vote. He was not enough to be elected. He positioned himself as one of the main critics of the Néstor Kirchner government.

In the 2007 presidential elections, he presented his candidacy, accompanied by Esteban Bullrich, supported by his Recrear para el Crecimiento party, but without managing to group behind him the center and center-right spectrum. Mauricio Macri, already elected head of Government of the City of Buenos Aires, stated that he personally supported him; so did some districts of the latter's party, Compromiso para el Cambio, but he did not have their support in the country's largest district, the Province of Buenos Aires, where López Murphy had also run as a candidate for national deputy. The final result was considered disappointing by his followers, obtaining 1.45% of the votes and not even reaching his election as deputy.

López Murphy in 2003

After the elections, in November 2007, Ricardo López Murphy resigned as party president. On April 6, 2008, internal elections were held, in which two lists faced each other: one led by the provincial deputy Castor López (supported by López Murphy), proposing to maintain the autonomy of the party, and another led by Esteban Bullrich, proposing to deepen the alliance with macrismo. That same day, the list that López Murphy supported challenged the internal elections held in the province of Buenos Aires, arguing that the winning list had carried out electoral fraud.

Finally, on April 19, 2008 Ricardo López Murphy announced his resignation from Recrear, saying: "I resign because all the norms of our party were violated in the partisan elections".

After his resignation, some supporters of López Murphy argued that they should join the Civic Coalition, led by Elisa Carrió. Both leaders came from radicalism and were very close to sealing an alliance in 2007. But, on that occasion, it was prevented, in part, by Carrió's internal opposition.

Federal Convergence

On December 1, 2008, López Murphy launched his new political space: Federal Convergence (CF), to form an alternative together with the parties opposed to Kirchnerism to govern the country. In the 2009 legislative elections, this space supported the Civic and Social Agreement at the national level. López Murphy, without being a candidate, campaigned in several provinces, especially in Buenos Aires and the Federal Capital.

On May 21, 2011, he launched his candidacy for head of Government of the City of Buenos Aires. Federal Convergence signed a political agreement with the Autonomist Party, a political force for which he ran for the Buenos Aires elections. Accompanied by the neighborhood leader Ana Luisa Paulesu as running mate, and with Marcelo Meis and Gustavo Llaver (president of the Autonomist Party) As the first candidates for legislators, López Murphy obtained just over 25,000 votes, 1.4% of the vote.

Elections of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires in 2011.

In August 2013, López Murphy met with members of the Justice and Concord Lawyers Association, which considers those convicted of crimes against humanity "political prisoners." In that talk, she urged that house arrest be achieved for the convicted.

United Republicans

Ricardo López Murphy at a United Republic event in Devoto.

In 2020 he returned to politics once again forming the Recrear party and towards the end of the year an agreement was made official between his party, Unidos, the Libertarian Party and Mejorar, forming a merger called United Republicans. That same year he published the book "More Prosperity, Less Uncertainty" (2020) where he talks about economic policies to move Argentina forward. The formed space had its first participation in the 2021 legislative elections on a list headed by López Murphy himself within the Together for Change coalition. On July 26, 2021, campaigning for said group in an interview in the channel A24, expressed a denialist opinion of State terrorism in Argentina by stating that "There are not 30,000 disappeared" referring to the number of disappeared by the last dictatorial government of the country.

Months later he would present his new book "Libertad, Patria y Vida" (2021) which he would present in the province of Corrientes, in which he tells his story in politics.

In the primary elections on September 12, the Republican list headed by López Murphy obtained 23.33% within the coalition, behind the winning list headed by María Eugenia Vidal and ahead of the one headed by Adolfo Rubinstein. According to the results and the internal rule of Together for Change in the city, López Murphy was part of the list that competed in the November general elections in fourth place.

After the 2021 legislative elections, he managed to obtain a seat as a national deputy by having integrated the list of Together for Change in the Federal Capital.

He is recognized for his confrontations in the Economy Commission with Minister Martín Guzmán, whom he has accused of implementing bad economic policies and also for holding President Alberto Fernández and Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner responsible for Argentina being bad.

On May 21, 2022 in the province of Corrientes the "Federal Agreement" was formed, the liberal space within Together for Change formed by the provincial parties that belong to that force, the meeting was chaired by Lieutenant Governor Pedro Braillard Poccard (Popular Party of Corrientes), former Ambassador to Portugal Oscar Moscariello (Progressive Democratic Party) and national deputy Ricardo López Murphy (United Republicans).

On December 16, 2022, he presented a project for the impeachment and dismissal of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner for her poor performance. On December 22, together with the Unión Cívica Radical bloc, they also requested a political trial against Alberto Fernández..

On March 24, 2023, he again made public statements of a denial nature regarding the disappeared during the last military dictatorship. López Murphy posted on Twitter in response to a comment: 'I am a fervent defender of democracy and I repudiate the bloody dictatorships that your government defends. CONADEP registers 7,018 disappeared. Pass the name of the remaining 22,982 and I retract. Meanwhile I maintain that to invent victims is to be a shell of history".

In the month of May he found himself confronted with the Buenos Aires legislator, Roberto García Moritán (politician) for the candidacy for head of government of the city and for an internship in the party to which both belong.

Electoral history

Year	Candidature	Political Coalition	Election	votes	Percentage	Outcome
2003	President of the Argentine Nation	Recreation	General	3.173.584	16.37 %	No. Elect
2005	National Senator for the Province of Buenos Aires	Republican Alliance	General	509.756	7.63 %	No. Elect
2007	National Representative for the Province of Buenos Aires	Recreation	General	106.681	1.58 %	No. Elect
	President of the Argentine Nation	Recreation	General	273.406	1.43 %	No. Elect
2011	Head of Government of the City of Buenos Aires	Autonomous Party	General	24.911	1.40 %	No. Elect
2021	National Representative for the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires	Together for Change	Primary	198.525	11.14 %	Elect
			General	867.044	47.09 %

Works

• López Murphy: reason or demagogue, in collaboration with Oscar Salvadores (Editorial Planeta, 2002)
• Coherence of a thought (Editorial Profile, 2003)
• The new proposal; speeches, articles and statements (Editorial Profile, 2005)
• Ideas para la reforma argentina(Editorial Profile, 2007)
• Better public policies Argentinas, as editor (Editorial Union, 2014)
• Best public policies Argentinas 2, as editor (Editorial Union, 2015)
• More prosperity, less uncertainty (Editorial Cecilia Rumi, 2020)
• Freedom, Homeland and Life (2021)