Argentine Democratization
A history of Argentine democratization.
Contents
War of Independence
The viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata was established in 1776 with Buenos Aires as its capital. Notably the real audiencia of Charcas, whose jurisdictional territory was generally known as Upper Peru, was transferred into the new viceroyalty. It remained the wealthiest region by far and was physically far removed from the influence of Buenos Aires. Furthermore, certain parts of the viceroyalty were in fact part of the Captaincy General of Chile's sphere of influence.
As part of the Napoleonic Wars, the British repeatedly invaded Buenos Aires. There were also fears that the Portuguese, with their royal court relocated to Brazil from 1807, would commit to pushing into neighboring Spanish colonies. This led to a heavy militarization of the local population. When the Junta of Seville fell in early 1810, all local support for the appointed dissolved, and the May Revolution broke out. A provisional Primera Junta emerged in Buenos Aires; after other prinvinces sent representatives, it became known as the Junta Grande.
José Gervasio Artigas led the Union of Free Peoples (Unión de los Pueblos Libres). This group controlled a large territory centered on Montevideo and were generally federalist in political philosophy. They declared independence from Spain in 1815 and established the Federal League (Liga Federal). Brazil did invade however, and ultimately crushed the league.
The United Provinces of the Río de la Plata emerged from the juntas and the Congress of Tucumán. Like the juntas, it was centered on Buenos Aires and much more centralized. They also declared independence in 1816. Led by supreme director José Rondeau, they were primarily focused on reclaiming the north. Royalists gathered in Montevideo to counter Buenos Aires. The viceroyalty of Peru also remained thoroughly royalist and began to annex Upper Peru. The Battle of Maipú in 1818 was a decisive Argentine victory, and effectively ended the conflict with Peru.
At the same time, conflict within the United Provinces had broke out against the federalists. Despite the league's failure, the unitarians were defeated in the Battle of Cepeda in 1820. The United Provinces became a loose confederation of strong provinces bound together by treaties.
United Provinces
There remained no consensus for the shape of a national government. The Federalist Party (Partido Federal) preferred a loose confederation of provinces, while the Unitarian Party (Partido Unitario) sought a strong central government. Amid this disorganization, wealthy landlords pressed their workers into militias, becoming warlords called caudillos. A Constitutional Congress was called for in 1824, convening the next year, with the intent to establish a consitutional republic.
It was instead the outbreak of the Cisplatine War against Brazil that created a consensus for a national government. Bernardino Rivadavia rose from leading provincial minister in Buenos Aires to nearly-unanimously elected president in 1826. He however pushed a federalist plan for government that proved deeply unpopular, and resigned the next year. Ultimately the war was lost, the Cisplatine province became Uruguay.
Argentine Confederation
Juan Manuel de Rosas was elected governor of Buenos Aires in 1829, became a powerful caudillo, and established the Argentine Confederation in 1831. Despite the coercive force he commanded, this was a confederal state at most and formally had no head of state. De Rosas continued to use the title governor.
The Revolution of 11 September 1852 saw rebels overthrow De Rosas' provincial government and then secede from the confederation. They were led by Bartolomé Mitre throughout the civil war. Justo José de Urquiza, governor of Entre Rios, declared himself the new legitimate leader of the confederation. De Rosas maintained steady control until the Battle of Caseros, at which point the other provinces abandoned him for Urquiza's much larger army.
Buenos Aires itself was forced to rejoin the confederation through the San José de Flores Pact, which followed the critical 1859 confederate victory in the Battle of Cepeda. The pact is named for the town outside Buenos Aires where it was negotiated; the army did not enter the city itself.
Ultimately though, the Battle of Pavón in 1861 saw Urquiza defeated. Mitre now swept to power unopposed.
Argentine Republic
Unitarians seized every provincial government, banned or exiled the confederalists, and held new elections by October 1962. Mitre became president and imposed his vision for the country.
Mitre resigned from politics nominally in 1868, passing power to Domingo Sarmiento. Anticipating the rise of the National Autonomist Party (Partido Autonomista Nacional), he ran again for the presidency in 1874. He lost however to Nicolás Avellaneda, and then attempted to seize power militarily. He was swiftly defeated but ultimately had his sentence commuted by Avellaneda himself. He later founded the Radical Civic Union (Unión Cívica Radical) (UCR).
The Conquest of the Desert (Conquista del desierto) is the name for the prolonged (1870s and 1880s) military campaign against the native people of the Pampas and Patagonia.
Hipólito Yrigoyen led the Radical Civic Union (Unión Cívica Radical) to victory in the 1916 elections. After handing power to Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear in 1922, he ran again for the presidency and won overwhelmingly in 1928. However, he became deeply unpopular through the Great Depression and his austerity policies. Tensions escalated up to a 1930 coup, sometimes called the September Revolution. Backed politically by the Nacionalistas, general José Félix Uriburu seized power. Urinuru formed a corporatist and fascist government, beginning the Infamous Decade (Década Infame).
The United Officers' Group (Grupo de Oficiales Unidos) launched a coup in 1943 to overthrow Uriburu. This is known as either the Revolution of 1943 or the June Revolution. Following a very short-loved dictatorship by general Arturo Rawson, general Pedro Pablo Ramírez consolidated control. While Ramírez proved to be just as anti-union as Uriburu, he was also willing to negotiate. The General Confederation of Labor (Confederación General del Trabajo) advocated for the creation of a powerful secretary of Labor and Projections.
Juan Perón rapidly rose through the ministry of Labor under the Ramírez regime, culminating in his appointment to vice president. In October 1945 he was arrested by the junta leaders, leading to mass demonstrations organized by labor unions. The negotiated settlement involved handing power to Perón as a caretaker and organizing elections for February 1946. The unions coalesced behind Perón as the Labour Party (Partido Laborista) and he defeated José Tamborini of the UCR.
Perón quickly transformed both the party (which formally became the Justicialist Party, Partido Justicialista, PJ) and the government into a 'Perónist' cult of personality. He was overthrown in a 1955 coup (the Revolución Libertadora) led by Pedro Eugenio Aramburu. The Perónist were banned from the 1958 elections, leading to Arturo Frondizi of the UCR winning. The party split under his leadership for a number of reasons, one of which was re-legalization of Perónism. His progressive faction become known as the Intransigent Radical Civic Union (Unión Cívica Radical Intransigente) (UCRI) while the more conservative People's Radical Civic Union (Unión Cívica Radical del Pueblo) (UCRP) was led by Ricardo Balbín. Frondizi was overthrown in a 1962 coup, but José María Guido also of the UCRI was able to reassert civilian control and served as provisional president.
Arturo Illia of the UCRP won the 1963 elections and re-banned Perónism. UCRI soon becomes defunct and the UCRP reclaim the UCR brand. Illia however struggled to govern with a small minority in Congress, and ultimately was overthrown in a 1966 coup (the Revolución Argentina) led by Juan Carlos Onganía.
Perónism was re-legalized for the March 1973 elections, although Perón himself was still barred from standing as a candidate. His party was represented instead by Hector Cámpora, and while he won and enabled Perón's return, the Perónists now splintered their founding leader and Cámpora's leftist government. Fresh elections were called for July which Perón won, with his wife Isabel as his running mate. His health quickly deteriorated and he died in July 1974. Isabel served as president until she was overthrown by a 1976 coup.
The junta regime declared itself the National Reorganization Process (Proceso de Reorganización Nacional) (PRN) and launched the Dirty War (Guerra Sucia). Ultimately the junta leaders were forced to resign only by the humiliating loss of the Malvinas to the UK.
Raúl Alfonsín of the UCR won the 1983 elections. While the junta leaders were prosecuted, he passed laws that granted amnesty to soldiers who followed orders. These laws were voided by Néstor Kirchner of the PJ, elected in 2003, allowing these prosecutions to resume.