Ferrocarriles Argentinos The only rail line catalogued as "profitable" was the Constitución-Mar del Plata section. On March 10, 1993, president Menem signed the decree for which all the long distance passenger services were definitely closed. Some of the provinces that lost their connection with Buenos Aires were Salta, Jujuy, Entre Ríos, Corrientes, Misiones, Mendoza, San Juan, San Luis, Catamarca and La Rioja. The closure caused many villages became isolated from the main cities of Argentina and younger inhabitants departured from their born towns looking for better opportunities. This happened in cities such as La Banda, Laguna Paiva, San Cristóbal, Navarro, Las Marianas
San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca founded until 1683, by Fernando de Mendoza y Mate de Luna. "Catamarca" comes from Quechua meaning "fortress on the slope". The city, which had only 8,000 inhabitants in 1882 and was reached by a railway line in 1888, grew very slowly, and the region remained poor even in the middle of the 20th century. This situation was exacerbated by nepotism on the part of the ruling Saadi family, before they lost political power in the 1990s. In spite of this, the province remains still politically unstable, and a large part of its population lives in precarious conditions. The warm semi-arid