18 Facts About Deolindo Bittel

Deolindo Bittel was a prominent Argentine politician.

Deolindo Felipe Bittel was born in Villa Angela, a Chaco Province town known for its tannin industry, in 1922 to a farming family of French Belgian descent.

Deolindo Bittel was 9 when he witnessed his father fall to his death into a deep ditch, and was later sent to nearby Esperanza, Santa Fe Province to complete his secondary schooling.

Deolindo Bittel married Mercedes Elsie Soto and had 2 sons; he later married Nora Salas.

The advent of Peronism in Argentina led Deolindo Bittel to run on Juan Peron's Labor Party ticket for mayor of Villa Angela in 1946.

Governor Deolindo Bittel steered a moderate course, and avoided partisan wrangling.

Deolindo Bittel granted municipal demands for restored prior autonomy and introduced the lottery to Chaco, which became an important source of funds for education in the underdeveloped province.

Deolindo Bittel commissioned a comprehensive hydrological study of his flood-prone province, debate over which was drowned by a devastating 1965 flood near the capital, Resistencia.

Deolindo Bittel's second turn at the governorship was marked by his development efforts, and his three-year plan was approved by the legislature in 1974.

Deolindo Bittel's efforts were hampered in 1975 both by a sudden inflationary crisis in Argentina, as well as by a sharp drop in global cotton prices - thereby adversely affecting a leading source of revenue for the agrarian province.

Deolindo Bittel was increasingly distanced from the right-wing Peronist leadership in power at the national level and ultimately, a March 24,1976, military coup again cut his tenure short.

The party's cornerstone, the CGT labor union, successfully supported Italo Luder for president, and Deolindo Bittel became his running mate.

The choice was made partly to balance Luder's record, as he had authorized repression against the violent left in 1975, whereas Deolindo Bittel had been a populist who was remembered for his defense of the disappeared during the dictatorship.

Deolindo Bittel suffered a serious automobile accident in 1988, which left him without the use of one arm, and in chronic pain.

Deolindo Bittel was returned to the Senate in 1989, where he eventually became Chairman of the Committee on Senate Accords, as well as Vice Chairman of the Committee on Freedom of Expression.

Two months before the end of his Senate term in 1997, Deolindo Bittel was admitted to a hospital for abdominal surgery.

Deolindo Bittel suffered complications and died at age 75.

The Lower House of the Chaco Legislature was renamed in his honor, and his widow, Nora Deolindo Bittel, became Director of the charitable foundation in his name.