Argentina

Carlos Sylvestre Begnis (30 August 1903 – 22 September 1980) was a medical doctor and politician, born in Alto Grande, a village near Bell Ville, Córdoba province in Argentina. He was a rural physician and worked as a surgeon in hospitals of the city of Rosario, province of Santa Fe.
He entered politics through the Radical Civic Union. In 1958 he was elected governor of Santa Fe, following a period of de facto military rule (after the Revolución Libertadora, which had ousted president Juan Perón three years before). He became a part of the Intransigent Radical Civic Union (UCRI), and then formed part of the leadership of the Movement for Integration and Development (MID). His term was ended by a federal intervention.
In the 1970s, Sylvestre Begnis moved to the Justicialist Party (Peronism), and was elected governor again in 1973 (Argentina had just emerged from seven years of military dictatorship). The Hernandarias Subfluvial Tunnel, which joins Santa Fe and Entre Ríos under the Paraná River, was built during his administration, and then officially renamed after him and Entre Ríos governor Raúl Uranga. The Brigadier Estanislao López Highway, linking Rosario and Santa Fe (the two largest cities in the province), was also built at this time. Sylvestre Begnis followed the policies of desarrollismo, sponsored by the national government of president Arturo Frondizi, devoting a large share of the provincial budget to public works (schools, roads, electric power lines, hydraulic works).
Sylvestre Begnis again could not complete his term, being removed from office in 1976 as a result of the military coup that started the dictatorship of the National Reorganization Process. He died of acute leukemia in 1980, at the age of 77.
His son Juan Héctor, also a politician, was a candidate for vice governor and served the Justicialist government of Jorge Obeid as Minister of Health, and is a national deputy for the Front for Victory. He chairs the Health Committee of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies. In 2007 he campaigned to be mayor of Rosario.

The 1944 San Juan earthquake took place in the province of San Juan, in the center-west area of Argentina, a region highly prone to seismic events. This moderate to strong earthquake (estimated moment magnitudes range from 6.7 to 7.8) destroyed a large part of San Juan, the provincial capital, and killed 10,000 of its inhabitants, 10% of its population at the time. One third of the province population became homeless. It is acknowledged as the worst natural disaster in Argentine history.
The earthquake occurred at 8:52 pm on 15 January 1944 and had its epicenter located 30 km north of the provincial capital, near La Laja in Albardón Department. Some 90% of the buildings in the city were destroyed and those left standing suffered such damage that in most cases they had to be demolished. It is considered that the reason for such widespread destruction was the low quality of construction, rather than just the power of the earthquake.
In 1944 many of San Juan's houses were made of adobe and the reconstruction programme prompted the creation of a building code that took into account contemporary knowledge of earthquakes and their effect on buildings. Stronger bricks were used, concrete single-story houses were erected and sidewalks and streets were made wider.

Gustavo Ballas (born February 10, 1958) is an Argentine retired super flyweight boxer who fought from 1976 until 1990. He retired with a record of 105 wins (29 KOs), 9 losses and 6 draws.
Ballas fought mainly in Argentina. In 1979 he managed to outpoint future multi champion Santos Benigno Laciar in what is a still remembered fight in ArgentinaOn September 12, 1981 he became the first ever WBA world super flyweight champion by defeating Sok-Chul Bae by TKO 8 in Estadio Luna Park, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Ballas lost the title on his next fight against Rafael Pedroza in Panama. He was unsuccessful on two other attempts at winning the super flyweight title, one from the WBA and another one for the WBC.
Although he fought as much as 120 times in his career, only 4 of those fights were outside of Argentina, losing all of those fights, 3 of them for a world title.
Ballas has had troubles after boxing with alcoholism and drug addiction. He was jailed once for robbery. After that he started recovering and has taken part of anti-drugs campaigns.