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Historical Overview
The National Territory of Central La Pampa comprised
La Pampa Province, Río Negro Province and partial
areas in the following provinces: Mendoza, San Luis,
Córdoba and Buenos Aires. |
“THE NATIONAL TERRITORY
OF LA PAMPA:
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW (1882 - 1952)”
• The aborigine stage
The territory that La Pampa Province occupies today was a
stage that nomadic groups of hunters and pikers covered during
thousands of years. They were the ones who initially set foot
on different places and regions seeking for food to survive.
Present knowledge cannot help us in accurately determining
the arrival date of the first Amerindians in our region, though
there is an actual piece of information relevant to the findings
of Hombre Casa de Piedra (stone-house man). This discovery,
made by Carlos Gradín during the preliminary stage
of the construction of the homonymous dam over the Colorado
River, allowed to date the remains in 8,620 years (6670BC).
There is no doubt that their entrance to La Pampa must have
been made by following the corridors of the Colorado and Atuel-Salado-Chadileuvú
Rivers, which were the sources of permanent water supply.
Probably -in times of water bonanza with higher number of
lagoons, streams and springs- they would have started penetrating
by following large preys like rheas, guanacos, or other little
ones like armadillos, viscachas, hares, etc.
This scenarium prevailed up to 16th century, when the arrival
of European man in the south of the American continent dramatically
altered life conditions. The change, that implied the presence
of an intruder culture, was initially rendered as a curious
attitude and turned later into hostility, which derived in
resistance to the Spanish presence.
Paradoxically, the European culture gave -unintentionally-
the aborigine the possibility to attack and defense by means
of horses. These animals, that the aborigines were able to
tame, allowed them to enjoy freedom for more than three hundred
years. But as Spaniards and criollos were interested in settling
themselves permanently in the area, this marred a sad destiny
for native inhabitants: the final defeat established by the
conquest of the so-called “desert” (1879) expulsed
them out of the territory traditionally they used to live
in, which resulted in the European settlement.
Since that time it has remained abundant toponymy, which designates
the majority of the natural landscapes of La Pampa, as well
as the memory of the great caciques that inhabited the territory:
Yanquetruz, Painé, Pincén, Calfucurá,
Namuncurá and many others.
• The modern settlement stage
In 1882, when military campaigns ended, the national government
started distributing the lands recently conquered. This proceeding
was supported by four national Law, which allowed the disposal
of the famous “15,000 leguas”1 taken away from the
aboriginal group. The Laws were: Nº 817 (Avellaneda’s)
dated October 19, 1876, to promote the European immigration
and the colonization; Nº 947, dated October 5, 1878,
which authorized a public subscription to finance the “Desert
Campaign”; Nº 1532 (Public Auction Law), dated November
3, 1882, which protected the distribution of land to new owners;
and Nº 1628 (Prize Law), enacted to reward the military
men participating in the campaigns.
•The National Territory of la Pampa
Once the National Territory of La Pampa was occupied and demarcated
(1884), General Juan Ayala was the first governor appointed
(1884-1891), and General Acha became the capital of the new
political unit. By 1882, two foundations had previously taken
place: Victorica and General Acha, both around small forts.
Afterwards, there followed Bernasconi (1888), Hucal (1890),
Santa Rosa and Parera (1892), and Toay (1894), which emerged
as a result of private owners’ claims. At the same time,
several settlements emerged spontaneously in different areas
of the territory. The meeting places were of diverse nature:
shops, campaign taverns, messenger relays, lot corners, farms,
colonies, etc.
This first stage shows a population comprising criollos, meek
aborigines and some immigrants who, by 1887, totaled 12,000
souls coming from Buenos Aires, San Luis, Mendoza, and some
were from Río Negro and Neuquén. The basic activity
was the husbandry of sheep and beef cattle, and in a lesser
degree, farming and mining in Lihuel Calel (copper) and Salinas
Grandes.
This arrangement and the economic activities changed dramatically
in late 19th century (1890) due to the financial crisis that
affected the country. As a result of the speculative systems
established, the crisis introduced changes in the ownership
of a great number of pampean properties. This lead to the
arrival of new group of owners, who saw the land as a productive
tool, not to be used for speculation. At the same time, a
paramount event took place in our early History: the arrival
of the railway from the ports of Buenos Aires and Bahía
Blanca. The influence of the railway, knew by everybody, was
reflected in a myriad of towns that grew around the stations,
due to the establishment of farm colonies and thousands of
immigrants arriving from very different places, who enthusiastically
devoted themselves to cultivate eastern lands.
During this stage -arbitrarily, from 1891 through 1915- there
was a remarkable growth: between 1900 and 1909, 32 settlements
appeared, and from 1910 through 1915, 12 more. Whereas the
II National Census of 1892 recorded 25,914 inhabitants, the
Territorial Census showed 88.863, and the III National Census
of 1914 totaled 101,338 individuals.
A special event took place in 1900, when the governor of the
Territory, Dr. José Luro, empowered by a national executive
order, moved the capital from General Acha to Santa Rosa,
which stirred up a sharp dispute at that location.
Almost contemporaneously, settlements such as Uriburu (1897),
Telén (1901), Larroudé (1903), Macachín,
Van Praet and Catriló (1904), J. Aráuz, Quetrequén,
Lonquimay and General Pico (1905), Monte Nievas (1906), Trenel,
Realicó, and Vértiz (1907), E. Castex (1908),
I. Luiggi (1910), and Naicó (1911) emerged among others.
This bonanza was suddenly stopped owing to the outbreak of
World War II and resulted in the interruption of works in
the railway laying, a sharp decrease in the arrival of immigrants
and the supply of imported goods. Except for the towns devoted
to the production of firewood, to substitute the coal from
Cardiff, the rest was seriously affected by the military conflict.
Once the war was over, the Territory of La Pampa started recovering,
though the railway would no longer expand. The agricultural
economy shows now a stage of expansion, and the Territorial
Census of 1920 reports 122.535 inhabitants.
Besides, it should be mentioned that in different places of
the territory there was a generalized claim: the provincialization,
and therefore the possibility of deciding the future of the
new Province among the pampeans. Although the claim was put
forward on the grounds that Law 1532 fixed at 60,000 the necessary
number of inhabitants to change its category and La Pampa
had doubled that number, such petition had to wait for a long
time to be heard. Even though population and economic growth
was sustainable, hopes started fading during the terrible
decade of 1930. It all began with the economic crisis of 1929
in the United States, which affected our country in 1930,
and was coupled with the constitutional government overthrow
caused by a coup d’etat. It continued with the ash rain
of 1932, to crown it all with the droughts of 1935-1937. The
consequences were disastrous: thousands of farmers ruined
and impoverished, fierce lands, animals, fences, houses and
pools covered by sand banks. The distressing situation made
many farmers -in debt to banks- to lose their lands. These
years, called “the bad years” caused the emigration
of 35.000 inhabitants and gave La Pampa Province the expelling
characteristic that prevailed during many decades.
Another rearrangement took place owing to an internal exodus,
either from little towns or the country, around grater locations,
seeking for job opportunities. Besides, the population was
relocated as the Atuel River was cut and the Salado-Chadileuvú
River receded. In the first case, the Atuel River allowed
the development of large number of sheep and few bovines.
When the “El Nihuil” dam was built (1947), the lack
of water caused the death of most sheep and the compulsory
exodus of farmers and inhabitants out of the towns located
by the river, towards General Acha and Victorica.
While this happened, the Highway Administration designed and
implemented the construction of several highways that in the
course of time transformed the basic layout of the pampean
traffic: Nº 5, 35, and 152. The first two competed directly
with the railway; the second connected the pampean territory
with the southern region of our country.
Despite its nationalization, the railway started slowly to
decline, and after a time the ’50 crisis condemned it
to a sad twilight. The last years of the territorial stage
show certain stagnation at general levels. The agriculture
had not yet overcome from the critical years, though cattle
breeding slowly recovered, favored by World War II and subsequent
times. The forestal activity maintained its strength up to
early ’50 decade, when it started to decline. Meanwhile,
population had experienced a slight increase; according to
the IV National Census, there were 169,480 inhabitants, of
which 18,809 were established in Santa Rosa.
It should be mentioned that during the last twenty years of
existence of the Territory, the “Governors” (in
fact, national executive power representatives) were officers
who showed total commitment to the pampean land. They were:
Pérez Virasoro (1933/1939), Miguel Duval (1939/1946),
Juan Páez (1946/1948), and Juan C. Neveu (1949/1951).
Although the national government did not always answered their
claims, they aimed to settle the serious problems of that
time. In the case of General Duval, he is recalled because
of his special consideration to river matters, either for
the claims put forward due to the cut of the Atuel and Salado
Rivers or the plan to develop the Colorado River valley for
farming purposes.
In 1952, Eva D. de Perón sent a letter to the National
Senate requesting the enactment of a law to provincialize
the national territories of La Pampa and Chaco. The missive
was favorably accepted and on July 20, 1951, the Law 14037
was promulgated providing the creation of the new provinces.
Afterwards, it was constituted a Convention, which dictated
the first pampean Constitution, enacted on January 29, 1952.
The Constitution named La Pampa Province “Provincia Eva
Perón”; but in September of 1955, the name was
changed for “Provincia de La Pampa”. Dr. Ananía
was the first governor of the brand new province.
It is an extremely difficult task to summarize the first seventy
years of existence -concurrent with the time in which we were
a national territory- due to the large number of events that
took place during those years.
During the territorial stage, many things put in motion the
land where the aborigine once reigned: the emergence of towns,
the construction of schools, hospitals and roads, the establishment
of different services like mail, police station and communications.
Today, as a Province, we just go into the pioneers’ work.
Health
Current health policies envision modern achievements in medical
assistance: service quality, rational use of appropriate technology
for each case, and management efficiency. Besides, they reinforce
the main values of healthcare: health prevention and promotion,
so as to guarantee inhabitants safety and welfare. At the
same time a fundamental achievement is maintained in the provincial
Health: the accessibility, both in the most populated areas
and in the ones with lower number of inhabitants, thus ensuring
the provision of medicines for ambulatory and hospitalized
patients.
As regards healthcare delivery, the population’s needs
are met by means of 104 healthcare centers, which operate
over a network that ensures healthcare delivery all over the
province and assistance through the appropriate transfer means,
by which access to the highest level of complexity is guaranteed,
while the State assumes, partially or totally, the financial
role for the services requested to third parties.
Along these lines, the public system implemented measures
for the generation of genuine financial resource, apart from
the contributions of the provincial Revenue Service, by the
enforcement of Law 1429, “Ley del Financiamiento del
Sistema de Medicina Social” (Law for the Social Medicine
System Financing), by collecting money from the services rendered
and invoiced or from the agreements signed with different
social security financial institutions, including the provincial
Healthcare Insurance Plan. These measures intend to guarantee
the system’s equity, as well as to restrict the permanent
subsidy of the State to Healthcare Providers.
The provincial administration focuses the development of its
activities on the following proposals:
• Social Justice: it allows the elimination of access
barriers, such as the economic ones, democratizing the right
to health.
• Social Criterion: by considering that health is one
of the fundamental value to achieve the people’s goals,
which becomes a crucial strategic value.
These are the basis on which action is taken: 1) Support and
improvement of the assistance work: by a) improving the organizational
structure; b) improving the system management; c) adopting
new financing methods; d) training human resources continuously;
e) settling the high complexity issue; f) defining functions
and objectives through the Management Agreement, where policies
and steps to be taken are defined, as well as the different
levels of responsibility in each case.
2) Development of a sustained program for the Primary Healthcare.
The mentioned proposal is the strategy considered to be valid
to deepen the cited policies, in the sense of providing healthcare
to cover the “real needs” of people. Therefore,
“Primary Healthcare” should be defined as the essential
medical care provided on the basis of practical methods and
technology, scientifically proven and socially acceptable,
available to any individual and family of the community, at
an affordable cost for the community and the country , in
all and each stage of development, with a sense of self-determination
and self-responsibility.
Industrial
Sector
The Pampean manufacturing industry is the most important one.
However, the good conditions in the province as well as policies
which impulse the industrial development show a positive scenario.
The main industries in La Pampa have found a fimm supply and
service structure both in parks and special areas. The most
representative products are: wheat flour, sunflower oil and
its derivations, dairy products, honey, boneless beef or not,
balanced food, gasified water, soft drinks, textiles, shoes,
car parts and other metallurgical pieces, concrete, wood and
binding pre-assembled pieces, thermoplastic recipients, polypropylene
bags and plaster panels, among others.
Housing
According to the census of 1991, there are 84,000 houses in
La Pampa. 88% (73,920) belongs to occupied houses, and 12%
(10,180), are unoccupied. IPAV has built 22.686 units since
1974 until December 1999, that is to say 21.98% total housing
park (103,198). La Pampa's Government together with the financing
of the National Building Society started to build in 1993
5,000 units in the province, during a period of five years,
that contribute to solve housing deficit.
Other Housing Programs: the Subsecretariat of Community Promotion
and Assistance, through EPAM (Mutual Aid and Own Effort Program)
has built houses in the main towns of the province, mainly
in the west. Other programs are: Program for Environmental
Sanity and Housing and Improvement, "Plan Joven"
and Limay Mahuida houses.
Ongoing Projects: in 1999, the Autarchic Housing Institute
started the execution of "Proyecto 3000", which
comprise the building of 3,341 units in 58 cities of the province
during three years. Up to present time, June 2000, 983 units
are accomplished.
La Pampa Free
Trade Zone
La Pampa Free Zone has the aim of consolidate to La Pampa
province and the whole region in a new challenge that implies
to introduce them in the context of the so-called global market.
We have the firm conviction of impelling the regional growth,
in function of the existent infrastructure that integrates
the air, vial, rail and marine transport systems known as
multi-modal transport system. In addition, we are enhancing
the communications and the basic services, summoning to the
best resource that possesses our region: their human resources.
Simply, we want to create the favorable framework that serves
as base for the construction of our region, and in the one
where our children can develop their aptitudes in order to
live in a highly competitive world with the biggest capacity
of interaction.
Location: In order to settle down La Pampa FZ, it has been
chosen the neighboring of General Pico city, located in La
Pampa province, Argentina, as could be appreciated in the
figure (in the right). Several reasons have been taken into
account, namely: Fertile zone of central and humid pampas.
• Wide and basic infrastructure inside the area of the
free zone as (communication, natural gas, electric power,
drinking water, sewer system, buildings, among others). •
Advanced social and educational services (basic and complex
health infrastructure; primary, secondary, undergraduate,
and graduate education; etc.). • Infrastructure to the
development of the so-called Multimodal Transport (aerial,
terrestrial, and railroad).
Advantages FZs: a bigger easiness and simplicity. The merchandises
coming from foreign countries can enter to the FZ without
paying tariffs or import taxes being able to remain in this
area without limit of time. They can be re-exported without
or with any elaboration process at any moment. Because of
the import and export temporary rules of Argentinean FZs,
the industrial companies will be able to design and to use
operations of industrial reason that adapt to their necessities.
In relation to the acquisition of imported "capital"
goods, likewise the rest of the merchandises, they don't pay
taxes related with the importation so that they reduce the
financial cost of investment to the C.I.F. price of the imported
ones. Also, the capital goods enter to the FZ without paying
IVA (Added Value Tax), which it reduces the fixed investment
cost significantly.
It is clear that the FZ generates expectations regarding the
tax benefits that grant. Specifically, (and according to the
law 24.331 and tax complementary norms), the companies located
in the FZ (concessionaire and users) are exempt the added
value tax (IVA) so that the purchases of goods and services
performed in the TAG (GCT General Customs Territory) are not
tax. For the company in the TAG (GCT) that carries out a sale
(of goods or services) the same one constitutes an export
on which will charge the corresponding refund once the sold
merchandise is exported definitively to other country. The
exports carried out by the FZ companies will enjoy refunds
exclusively on the value added in the area.
General Pico (La Pampa) Free Trade Zone: Free
Trade Zones aim to boost trade and export industrial activities,
thus obtaining lower costs in the activities that are carried
out in them.
The Free Trade Zone is a customs area perfectly delimited
in which there are benefits (not only of fiscal nature ) and
incentives for the development of commercial and industrial
activities and services. These benefits are given by the State,
which aims to stimulate the different forms of production,
by giving a strong boost to exports. All of this to increase
productive volumes, on the basis of a development pole, which
generates employment and opportunities for the progress of
the population. This concept is based on the purest idea of
a free market economy. This is why these zones aim to compete
directly at international levels, by promoting economic activities
and creating the appropriate atmosphere for the development
of business. The companies that operate within the free trade
zone are subject to a regulatory framework that is highly
competitive, and it is based on the reduction of operating
costs and a substantial decrease in tax burden. In the new
worldwide scenarium, where globalization has boosted the constant
optimization of manufacturing processes and the demand of
high-quality final products, free trade zones have become
the principal resource to attract investors, mainly in developing
countries.
Servicios y Tecnologías Aeroportuaria S.A., a company
of the Aeropuertos Argentina 2000 S.A. group, obtained the
concession for the operation of the General Pico Free Trade
Zone (ZFGP) from November 1998, when the contract with La
Pampa Province was signed. A year later, on November 1999,
on occasion of the 94th anniversary of General Pico, the Free
Trade Zone was inaugurated, and it is recorded as new milestone
in the history of the province.
The ZFGP is strategically located in the center of the country,
comprising the most important turistic and consumption centers
of the Country (Mendoza, Córdoba, Neuquén, Rosario,
Buenos Aires) within a radius of 700 km.
General Pico is the industrial and technological pole of La
Pampa, has a stable population of 50,000 inhabitants, and
has three well-known university schools, which generate a
highly qualified labor that is specialized in the different
field of business organizations.
The concessionaire is committed to provide the services required
by the companies that may establish there, generating and
developing the necessary logistics for importers and exporters
and offers consulting services, communications, infrastructure,
support for the development of the activities and the normal
execution of processes.
Another advantage of this Free Trade Zone is that you can
sell in the Country the products manufactured with foreign
materials and parts. Temporary Export for passive execution
from GCT (general customs territory) to FTZ (free trade zone),
for the subsequent reimport to GCT or export to foreign countries.
Temporary export for the passive execution from FTZ to GCT
for the subsequent reexport from GCT to FTZ.
This is a brief summary of what the Free Trade Zone of La
Pampa offers. The commitment made by the Concessionaire and
La Pampa Province is to position this undertaking at the highest
international level that the most competitive worldwide free
trade zones, which will also improve the quality of all areas
of development in the Province.
Ezeiza International Airport
Ministro Pistarini
Terminal B 1st floor
1802 Ezeiza
Buenos Aires - Argentina
Tel: +54 11 5480-2500
Fax: +54 11 5480-2677
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