Arturo Umberto Illia
Encyclopedia
Arturo Umberto Illia was President of Argentina
from October 12, 1963, to June 28, 1966, and a member of the centrist UCR
.
Province, to Emma Francesconi and Martín Illia, Italian Argentine
immigrants from the Lombardy
Region.
He enrolled in the School of Medicine at the University of Buenos Aires
in 1918. That year, he joined the movement for University reform in Argentina (Reforma Universitaria), which first emerged in the city of Córdoba
, and set the basis for a free, open and public university system less influenced by the Catholic Church. This development changing the concept and administration of higher education in Argentina, and in a good portion of Latin America.
As a part of his medical studies, Illia begun working in the San Juan de Dios Hospital in the city of La Plata
, obtaining his degree in 1927.
In 1928 he had an interview with President Hipólito Yrigoyen
, the longtime leader of the centrist UCR, and the first freely-elected President of Argentina. Illia offered him his services as a physician, and Yrigoyen, in turn, offered him a post as railroad
medic in different parts of the country, upon which Illia decided to move to scenic Cruz del Eje
, in Cordoba Province. He worked there as a medic from 1929 until 1963, except for three years (1940–1943) in which he was Vice-Governor of the province.
On February 15, 1939, he married Silvia Elvira Martorell, and had three children: Emma Silvia, Martín Arturo and Leandro Hipólito. Martín Illia was elected to Congress
in 1995, and served until his death in 1999.
when he reached adulthood, in 1918, under the strong influence of the radical militancy of his father and of his brother, Italo.
That same year, he began his university studies, with the events of the aforementioned Universitarian Reform taking place in the country.
From 1929 onwards, after moving to Cruz del Eje, he began intense political activity, which he alternated with his professional life. In 1935 he was elected Provincial Senator for the Department of Cruz del Eje, in the elections that took place on November 17. In the Provincial Senate, he actively participated in the approval of the Law of Agrarian Reform
, which was passed in the Córdoba Legislature but rejected in the National Congress.
He was also head of the Budget and Treasury Commission, and pressed for the construction of dams, namely Nuevo San Roque, La Viña, Cruz del Eje and Los Alazanes.
In the elections that took place on March 10, 1940, he was elected Vice-Governor of Córdoba Province, with Santiago del Castillo, who became Governor. He occupied this post until the provincial government was replaced by the newly-installed dictatorship og General Pedro Ramírez, in 1943.
From 1948 to 1952, Illia served in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies
. Working in a Congress dominated by the Peronist Party, he took an active part in the Public Works, Hygiene and Medical Assistance Commissions.
After the fall of the populist government of Juan Perón
in 1955, a long period of political instability took over Argentina
. During this period, the army would have a large influence over the politics of the country, and, even though elections would still take place, these would be marked by a considerable lack of legitimacy, since Peronism
(which was supported by a great portion of the Argentine citizenry) would be banned during this period.
From 1955 to 1963 the country had five presidents, of which only one was democratically elected: Arturo Frondizi
, who governed the country from May 1, 1958, until his March 29, 1962, overthrow by a military coup. Frondizi's removal was precipitated by his lifting the ban on Peronism ahead of the March 1962 mid-term elections
. Among those also affected was Illia, who, though a UCR candidate, was thus barred from office following his election as Governor of Córdoba.
After the fall of Frondizi, the President of the Senate, José María Guido
, became interim President of the country, starting a process of 'normalization' which would eventually lead to new elections, on July 7, 1963.
The 1963 elections
were made possible by support from the moderate, "Blue" faction of the Argentine military, led by the Head of the Joint Chiefs, General Juan Carlos Onganía
and by the Internal Affairs Minister, General Osiris Villegas. Together, they exercised control over Guido's puppet presidency – though they shared his commitment to elections. The UCR, out of power since Yrigoyen's 1930 overthrow, had been divided since their contentious 1956 convention into the mainstream "People's UCR" (UCRP) and the center-left UCRI. The leader of the UCRP, Ricardo Balbín
, withdrew his name from the March 10 nominating convention and instead supported a less conservative, less anti-Peronist choice, and the party nominated Dr. Illia for President and Entre Ríos Province
lawyer Carlos Perette as his running-mate.
A military ban on the Popular Front organized by Perón and Frondizi led to their joint call for blank voting as a means of protest. The moderately anti-Peronist UCRP was also hampered by former President Pedro Aramburu's candidacy, which made opposition to Perón central to its platform. Ultimately, however, Illia would win, and despite carrying only a fourth of the vote, he also "defeated" the blank vote option (a proxy for the Perón vote) by 4 points.
The results were:
In the electoral college on July 31, 1963, the Illia-Perette ticket obtained 169 votes out of 476 on the first round of voting (70 short of an absolute majority), but the support of three centrist parties on the second round gave them 270 votes, thus formalizing their election.
Arturo Illia became President on October 12, 1963, and promptly steered a moderate political course, while remaining mindful of the spectre of a coup d'état. A UCRP majority in the Senate
contrasted with their 73 seats in the 192-seat Lower House, a disadvantage complicated by Illia's refusal to include UCRI men in the cabinet (which, save for Internal Affairs Minister Juan Palmero, would all be figures close to Balbín). Illia also refused military requests to have a general put in charge of the Federal District Police
, though he confirmed Onganía as Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and named numerous "Blue" generals to key posts.
Countering military objections, he made political rights an early policy centerpiece, however. His first act consisted in eliminating all restrictions over Peronism
and its allied political parties, causing anger and surprise among the military (particularly the right-wing "Red" faction). Political demonstrations from the peronist party were forbidden after the 1955 coup, by the Presidential Decree 4161/56, however, five days after Illia's inaugural, a Peronist commemorative act for the October 17 (in honor of the date in 1945 when labor demonstrations propelled Perón to power) took place in Buenos Aires' Plaza Miserere
without any official restrictions. Illia similarly lifted electoral restrictions, allowing the participation of Peronists in the 1965 legislative elections
. The prohibition over the Communist Party of Argentina
and the pro-industry MID
(which many in the military, then controlled by cattle barons, termed "economic criminals") was also lifted. Among Illia's early landmark legislation was an April 1964 bill issuing felony penalties for discrimination and racial violence, which he presented in an address to a joint session of Congress.
Domestically, Illia pursued a pragmatic course, restoring Frondizi's vigorous public works and lending policies, but with more emphasis on the social aspect and with a marked, nationalist shift away from Frondizi's support for foreign investment. This shift was most dramatic in Illia's energy policy.
Frondizi had begun, during his 1958–62 presidency, a policy of oil exploration based on concessions of oil wells to foreign private corporations, leaving the state oil company Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales
(YPF) the sole responsibility of exploration and buying oil from private extractors. Arguing that such contracts were negative for the Argentine state and its people (YPF had to assume all the risks of investing in exploration of new wells, the price of oil had risen steadily since the contracts were negotiated, etc.), Illia denounced the Frondizi policy as negative for national Argentine interests, and promised to render the contracts of concession void, renegotiating them.
"Avoiding the exploitation of workers in those sectors in which an excess of workforce may exist", "Securing an adequate minimum wage" and "Improving the income of the poorest workers" were listed among the objectives of the project.
With the same aims, the Law of Supplies was passed, destined to control prices of basic foodstuffs and setting minimum standards for pensions.
During Illia's government, education acquired an important presence in the national budget. In 1963, it represented 12% of the budget, rising to 17% in 1964 and to 23% in 1965.
On November 5, 1964, the National Literacy Plan was started, with the purpose of diminishing and eliminating illiteracy (At the time, nearly 10% of the adult population was still illiterate). By June, 1965, the program comprised 12,500 educational centers and was assisting more than 350,000 adults of all ages.
The reglamentation of this law by the Decree 3042/65, also forced pharmaceutical corporations to present, to a judge, an analysis of the costs of their drugs and to formalize all their existing contracts.
Both supporters, detractors and impartial observers of Illia agree that this policy helped array opposition by business interests that was decisive in his eventual overthrow by a military coup.
The Syndicate of State Businesses was created, to achieve a more efficient control of the public sector. Among his brief presidency's most notable public works initiatives were the Villa Lugano
housing development (in the poorest section of Buenos Aires) and El Chocón Dam
, then the largest such project in Argentina.
National GDP had contracted by 2.4% in 1963; it expanded by 10.3% in 1964 and 9.1% in 1965. Industrial GDP had shrunk by 4.1% in 1963; it leapt by 18.9% in 1964 and 13.8% in 1965. The external debt was reduced from 3.4 billion dollars to 2.7 billion.
The median real wage grew by 9.6% during calendar 1964, alone, and had expanded by almost 25%,by the time of the coup. Unemployment declined from 8.8% in 1963, to 5.2% on 1966.
Ironically, the Argentine middle class (who were generally as anxious as anyone to see President Illia leave office) benefited even more: auto sales leapt from 108,000 in 1963 to 192,000 in 1965 (a record at the time).
|-
|align="left"|Office||align="left"|Holder||align="left"|Term
|-
!style="background: #000000" colspan="3"|
|-
|President
||Arturo Illia||1963–1966
|-
|Vice President||Carlos Perette||1963–1966
|-
!style="background: #000000" colspan="3"|
|-
|Ministry of Foreign Affairs||Miguel Ángel Zavala Ortíz||1963–1966
|-
|Ministry of Economics||Alfredo Blanco||1963–1965
|-
| ||Juan Carlos Pugliese||1965–1966
|-
|Ministry of Defense||Leopoldo Suárez||1963-1963
|-
|Ministry of the Interior||Juan S. Palmero||1963–1966
|-
|Ministry of Education and Culture||Carlos Alconada Aramburu||1963–1966
|-
|Ministry of Social Assistance and Public Health||Arturo Oñativia||1963–1966
|-
|Ministry of Public Services||Miguel Angel Ferrando||1963–1966
|-
|Ministry of Work and Social Security||Fernando Solá||1963–1966
|-
Organized labour initially supported Illia for his expansionist economic policy. This support turned to antagonism during 1964, however, as secret plans for Perón's return from exile took shape. Accordingly, CGT
labor union head José Alonso
called a general strike
in May, and became a vocal opponent of the president's – this antagonism intensified after Perón's failed attempt to return in December, and during 1965, CGT leaders began publicly hinting at support for a coup.
Legislative elections took place on March 17, and despite the unions' hostility towards Illia, Peronists were free of the restrictions existing up to 1963. Thanks to this, the Peronists presented their own party lists, rallying behind the Popular Union. The Popular Union won the popular vote (3,278,434 votes against Illia's UCRP, which obtained 2,734,970 votes), and elected 52 Congressmen (the first time Peronists had been allowed to do so in a decade).
The triumph of the Peronists shook the Argentine Armed Forces, both among internal military factions linked to the Peronist movement, and in particular among the large section of the army which remained strongly anti-Peronist. In addition, a campaign against the government was also being carried out by important parts of the media, notably Primera Plana and Confirmado, the nation's leading newsmagazines. Seizing on minimally relevant events such as the President's refusal to support Operation Power Pack
(Lyndon Johnson's ill-justified, April 1965 invasion of the Dominican Republic
), Illia was nicknamed "the turtle" in both editorials and caricatures, and his rule was vaguely referred to as "slow," "dim-witted" and "lacking energy and decision," encouraging the military to take power and weakening the government even more; Confirmado went further, publicly exhorting the public to support a coup and publishing a (non-scientific) opinion poll touting public support for the illegal measure.
Under the planning of the Commander of the First Division of the Army, General Julio Alsogaray
, and with the support of the military, economic groups, a considerable part of the media, and numerous politicians (notably UCRI leader Oscar Alende
, former President Frondizi, and Alsogaray's brother, right-wing economist Alvaro Alsogaray
), the military coup took place on June 28, 1966. General Alsogaray presented himself in Illia's office that day, at 5:00 a.m, and 'invited' him to resign his post.
Illia refused to do so at first, citing his role as Commander-in-Chief, but at 7:20, after seeing his office invaded by military officers and policemen with grenade launchers, he was forced step down. The next day, General Juan Carlos Onganía
became the new Argentine President.
Illia lost his wife, Silvia Martorell, to cancer in November of that year. He then relocated to the upscale Buenos Aires suburb of Martínez
, though he would still make frequent trips to Córdoba
. He continued participating in politics actively insupport of the UCR until his death in Córdoba on January 18, 1983.
Following a state memorial in Congress, Arturo Umberto Illia was buried in La Recoleta Cemetery
, in Buenos Aires
.
President of Argentina
The President of the Argentine Nation , usually known as the President of Argentina, is the head of state of Argentina. Under the national Constitution, the President is also the chief executive of the federal government and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.Through Argentine history, the...
from October 12, 1963, to June 28, 1966, and a member of the centrist UCR
UCR
UCR may refer to:* University of California, Riverside* Unified Cornish Revised, a variety of the Cornish language* Uniform Crime Reports* Under color removal* University of Costa Rica* Unión Cívica Radical, an Argentine political party...
.
Biography
Arturo Umberto Illia was born August 4, 1900 in Pergamino, Buenos AiresPergamino, Buenos Aires
Pergamino is an Argentine city in the Province of Buenos Aires. It has a population of about 104.922 inhabitants as per the and is the seat of the partido of the same name. Its UN/LOCODE is ARPGO.-History:...
Province, to Emma Francesconi and Martín Illia, Italian Argentine
Italian Argentine
An Italian Argentine is a person born in Argentina of Italian ancestry. It is estimated up to 25 million Argentines have some degree of Italian descent...
immigrants from the Lombardy
Lombardy
Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...
Region.
He enrolled in the School of Medicine at the University of Buenos Aires
University of Buenos Aires
The University of Buenos Aires is the largest university in Argentina and the largest university by enrollment in Latin America. Founded on August 12, 1821 in the city of Buenos Aires, it consists of 13 faculties, 6 hospitals, 10 museums and is linked to 4 high schools: Colegio Nacional de Buenos...
in 1918. That year, he joined the movement for University reform in Argentina (Reforma Universitaria), which first emerged in the city of Córdoba
Córdoba, Argentina
Córdoba is a city located near the geographical center of Argentina, in the foothills of the Sierras Chicas on the Suquía River, about northwest of Buenos Aires. It is the capital of Córdoba Province. Córdoba is the second-largest city in Argentina after the federal capital Buenos Aires, with...
, and set the basis for a free, open and public university system less influenced by the Catholic Church. This development changing the concept and administration of higher education in Argentina, and in a good portion of Latin America.
As a part of his medical studies, Illia begun working in the San Juan de Dios Hospital in the city of La Plata
La Plata
La Plata is the capital city of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and of La Plata partido. According to the , the city proper has a population of 574,369 and its metropolitan area has 694,253 inhabitants....
, obtaining his degree in 1927.
In 1928 he had an interview with President Hipólito Yrigoyen
Hipólito Yrigoyen
Juan Hipólito del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Irigoyen Alem was twice President of Argentina . His activism became the prime impetus behind the obtainment of universal suffrage in Argentina in 1912...
, the longtime leader of the centrist UCR, and the first freely-elected President of Argentina. Illia offered him his services as a physician, and Yrigoyen, in turn, offered him a post as railroad
Rail transport in Argentina
The Argentine railway network comprised of track at the end of the Second World War and was, in its time, one of the most extensive and prosperous in South America. However, with the increase in highway construction, there followed a sharp decline in railway profitability, leading to the break-up...
medic in different parts of the country, upon which Illia decided to move to scenic Cruz del Eje
Cruz del Eje
Cruz del Eje is a city in the . It has about 28,000 inhabitants as of the . It is the head town of the department of the same name, which has a population of about 52,000....
, in Cordoba Province. He worked there as a medic from 1929 until 1963, except for three years (1940–1943) in which he was Vice-Governor of the province.
On February 15, 1939, he married Silvia Elvira Martorell, and had three children: Emma Silvia, Martín Arturo and Leandro Hipólito. Martín Illia was elected to Congress
Argentine Chamber of Deputies
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Argentine National Congress. This Chamber holds exclusive rights to create taxes, to draft troops, and to accuse the President, the ministers and the members of the Supreme Court before the Senate....
in 1995, and served until his death in 1999.
Political activities
Arturo Illia became a member of the Radical Civic UnionRadical Civic Union
The Radical Civic Union is a political party in Argentina. The party's positions on issues range from liberal to social democratic. The UCR is a member of the Socialist International. Founded in 1891 by radical liberals, it is the oldest political party active in Argentina...
when he reached adulthood, in 1918, under the strong influence of the radical militancy of his father and of his brother, Italo.
That same year, he began his university studies, with the events of the aforementioned Universitarian Reform taking place in the country.
From 1929 onwards, after moving to Cruz del Eje, he began intense political activity, which he alternated with his professional life. In 1935 he was elected Provincial Senator for the Department of Cruz del Eje, in the elections that took place on November 17. In the Provincial Senate, he actively participated in the approval of the Law of Agrarian Reform
Land reform
[Image:Jakarta farmers protest23.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Farmers protesting for Land Reform in Indonesia]Land reform involves the changing of laws, regulations or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution,...
, which was passed in the Córdoba Legislature but rejected in the National Congress.
He was also head of the Budget and Treasury Commission, and pressed for the construction of dams, namely Nuevo San Roque, La Viña, Cruz del Eje and Los Alazanes.
In the elections that took place on March 10, 1940, he was elected Vice-Governor of Córdoba Province, with Santiago del Castillo, who became Governor. He occupied this post until the provincial government was replaced by the newly-installed dictatorship og General Pedro Ramírez, in 1943.
From 1948 to 1952, Illia served in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies
Argentine Chamber of Deputies
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Argentine National Congress. This Chamber holds exclusive rights to create taxes, to draft troops, and to accuse the President, the ministers and the members of the Supreme Court before the Senate....
. Working in a Congress dominated by the Peronist Party, he took an active part in the Public Works, Hygiene and Medical Assistance Commissions.
Election as President of Argentina
Juan Perón
Juan Domingo Perón was an Argentine military officer, and politician. Perón was three times elected as President of Argentina though he only managed to serve one full term, after serving in several government positions, including the Secretary of Labor and the Vice Presidency...
in 1955, a long period of political instability took over Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. During this period, the army would have a large influence over the politics of the country, and, even though elections would still take place, these would be marked by a considerable lack of legitimacy, since Peronism
Peronism
Peronism , or Justicialism , is an Argentine political movement based on the programmes associated with former President Juan Perón and his second wife, Eva Perón...
(which was supported by a great portion of the Argentine citizenry) would be banned during this period.
From 1955 to 1963 the country had five presidents, of which only one was democratically elected: Arturo Frondizi
Arturo Frondizi
Arturo Frondizi Ercoli was the President of Argentina between May 1, 1958, and March 29, 1962, for the Intransigent Radical Civic Union.-Early life:Frondizi was born in Paso de los Libres, Corrientes Province...
, who governed the country from May 1, 1958, until his March 29, 1962, overthrow by a military coup. Frondizi's removal was precipitated by his lifting the ban on Peronism ahead of the March 1962 mid-term elections
Argentine legislative election, 1962
The Argentine legislative elections of 1962 was held on 18 March. Voters chose their legislators and governors; with a turnout of 85.7%, it produced the following results:-Argentine Chamber of Deputies:*Results were annulled on May 1.-Background:...
. Among those also affected was Illia, who, though a UCR candidate, was thus barred from office following his election as Governor of Córdoba.
After the fall of Frondizi, the President of the Senate, José María Guido
José María Guido
José María Guido was an interim President of Argentina from 30 March 1962 to 12 October 1963.Guido was elected to the Argentine Senate for Río Negro Province in 1958, representing the Intransigent Radical Civic Union...
, became interim President of the country, starting a process of 'normalization' which would eventually lead to new elections, on July 7, 1963.
The 1963 elections
Argentine general election, 1963
The Argentine general election of 1963 was held on 7 July. Voters chose both the President and their legislators and with a turnout of 85.6%, it produced the following results:-President:aAbstentions.-Argentine Chamber of Deputies:...
were made possible by support from the moderate, "Blue" faction of the Argentine military, led by the Head of the Joint Chiefs, General Juan Carlos Onganía
Juan Carlos Onganía
Juan Carlos Onganía Carballo was de facto president of Argentina from 29 June 1966 to 8 June 1970. He rose to power as military dictator after toppling, in a coup d’état self-named Revolución Argentina , the democratically elected president Arturo Illia .-Economic and social...
and by the Internal Affairs Minister, General Osiris Villegas. Together, they exercised control over Guido's puppet presidency – though they shared his commitment to elections. The UCR, out of power since Yrigoyen's 1930 overthrow, had been divided since their contentious 1956 convention into the mainstream "People's UCR" (UCRP) and the center-left UCRI. The leader of the UCRP, Ricardo Balbín
Ricardo Balbín
Ricardo Balbín was an Argentine lawyer and politician, and one of the most important figures of the centrist Radical Civic Union , for which he was the presidential nominee four times: in 1951, 1958, and twice in 1973....
, withdrew his name from the March 10 nominating convention and instead supported a less conservative, less anti-Peronist choice, and the party nominated Dr. Illia for President and Entre Ríos Province
Entre Ríos Province
Entre Ríos is a northeastern province of Argentina, located in the Mesopotamia region. It borders the provinces of Buenos Aires , Corrientes and Santa Fe , and Uruguay in the east....
lawyer Carlos Perette as his running-mate.
A military ban on the Popular Front organized by Perón and Frondizi led to their joint call for blank voting as a means of protest. The moderately anti-Peronist UCRP was also hampered by former President Pedro Aramburu's candidacy, which made opposition to Perón central to its platform. Ultimately, however, Illia would win, and despite carrying only a fourth of the vote, he also "defeated" the blank vote option (a proxy for the Perón vote) by 4 points.
The results were:
- People's Radical Civic Union (Arturo Illia – Carlos Perette): 2,441,000
- Intransigent Radical Civic Union (Oscar AlendeOscar AlendeOscar Eduardo Alende was an Argentine politician who founded the Intransigent Party.Alende was born in Maipú, Buenos Aires Province. He studied medicine at the University of La Plata, where he led the student union, and completed his medical studies at the University of Buenos Aires in 1933...
– Celestino Gelsi): 1,593,000 - UDELPA-PDP alliance (General Pedro Aramburu – Horacio Thedy): 1,346,000
- Others: 2,272,000
- Blank and invalid votes: 2,058,000
In the electoral college on July 31, 1963, the Illia-Perette ticket obtained 169 votes out of 476 on the first round of voting (70 short of an absolute majority), but the support of three centrist parties on the second round gave them 270 votes, thus formalizing their election.
Presidency
Argentine Senate
The Argentine Senate is the upper house of the Argentine National Congress. It has 72 senators: three for each province and three for the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires...
contrasted with their 73 seats in the 192-seat Lower House, a disadvantage complicated by Illia's refusal to include UCRI men in the cabinet (which, save for Internal Affairs Minister Juan Palmero, would all be figures close to Balbín). Illia also refused military requests to have a general put in charge of the Federal District Police
Policía Federal Argentina
The Policía Federal Argentina is a police force of the Argentine federal government. The PFA has detachments throughout the country, but its main responsibility is policing the Federal District of Buenos Aires...
, though he confirmed Onganía as Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and named numerous "Blue" generals to key posts.
Countering military objections, he made political rights an early policy centerpiece, however. His first act consisted in eliminating all restrictions over Peronism
Peronism
Peronism , or Justicialism , is an Argentine political movement based on the programmes associated with former President Juan Perón and his second wife, Eva Perón...
and its allied political parties, causing anger and surprise among the military (particularly the right-wing "Red" faction). Political demonstrations from the peronist party were forbidden after the 1955 coup, by the Presidential Decree 4161/56, however, five days after Illia's inaugural, a Peronist commemorative act for the October 17 (in honor of the date in 1945 when labor demonstrations propelled Perón to power) took place in Buenos Aires' Plaza Miserere
Plaza Miserere
The Plaza de Miserere is one of the main plazas of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is located in the heart of the Balvanera neighborhood. It was supposed to be the name of the Line A—Buenos Aires Metro station located below it, but the station is more popularly known as Plaza Once, and is located...
without any official restrictions. Illia similarly lifted electoral restrictions, allowing the participation of Peronists in the 1965 legislative elections
Argentine legislative election, 1965
The Argentine legislative elections of 1965 were held on 17 March. Voters chose their legislators and, with a turnout of 83.5%, it produced the following results:-Argentine Congress:-Background:...
. The prohibition over the Communist Party of Argentina
Communist Party of Argentina
The Communist Party of Argentina is a communist party from Argentina. It was founded in 1918.At the 2005 legislative elections, the Party joined the Encuentro Amplio with other left-wing parties in Buenos Aires and Buenos Aires Province...
and the pro-industry MID
Integration and Development Movement
The Integration and Development Movement or MID is a political party in Argentina.-Historical overview:Flying to Caracas, Venezuela in 1956, Argentine wholesaler and publisher Rogelio Frigerio secretly negotiated an agreement between his friend, the centrist UCR's 1951 vice-presidential nominee...
(which many in the military, then controlled by cattle barons, termed "economic criminals") was also lifted. Among Illia's early landmark legislation was an April 1964 bill issuing felony penalties for discrimination and racial violence, which he presented in an address to a joint session of Congress.
Domestically, Illia pursued a pragmatic course, restoring Frondizi's vigorous public works and lending policies, but with more emphasis on the social aspect and with a marked, nationalist shift away from Frondizi's support for foreign investment. This shift was most dramatic in Illia's energy policy.
Petroleum policy
On November 15, 1963, Illia issued the decrees 744/63 and 745/63, which rendered said oil contracts null and void, for being considered "illegitimate and harmful to the rights and interests of the Nation.".Frondizi had begun, during his 1958–62 presidency, a policy of oil exploration based on concessions of oil wells to foreign private corporations, leaving the state oil company Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales
Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales
Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales is an Argentine oil company.Founded in 1922 under President Hipólito Yrigoyen's administration, it was privatized in 1993 by Carlos Menem, and bought by the Spanish firm Repsol; the resulting merger in 1999 produced Repsol YPF...
(YPF) the sole responsibility of exploration and buying oil from private extractors. Arguing that such contracts were negative for the Argentine state and its people (YPF had to assume all the risks of investing in exploration of new wells, the price of oil had risen steadily since the contracts were negotiated, etc.), Illia denounced the Frondizi policy as negative for national Argentine interests, and promised to render the contracts of concession void, renegotiating them.
Minimum, Vital and Mobile Wage Law
On June 15, 1964, the Law 16.459 was passed, establishing a minimum wage for the country."Avoiding the exploitation of workers in those sectors in which an excess of workforce may exist", "Securing an adequate minimum wage" and "Improving the income of the poorest workers" were listed among the objectives of the project.
With the same aims, the Law of Supplies was passed, destined to control prices of basic foodstuffs and setting minimum standards for pensions.
Education policy
On November 5, 1964, the National Literacy Plan was started, with the purpose of diminishing and eliminating illiteracy (At the time, nearly 10% of the adult population was still illiterate). By June, 1965, the program comprised 12,500 educational centers and was assisting more than 350,000 adults of all ages.
Medicaments law
Law 16.462, also known as 'Oñativia Law' (in honor of Minister of Health Arturo Oñativia), was passed on August 28, 1964. It established a policy of price and quality controls for pharmaceuticals, freezing prices for patented medicines at the end of 1963, establishing limits to advertising expenditures and to money sent outside the country for royalties and related payments.The reglamentation of this law by the Decree 3042/65, also forced pharmaceutical corporations to present, to a judge, an analysis of the costs of their drugs and to formalize all their existing contracts.
Both supporters, detractors and impartial observers of Illia agree that this policy helped array opposition by business interests that was decisive in his eventual overthrow by a military coup.
Economic policy
In the economic sphere, Arturo Illia's presidency was characterised by regulation of the public sector, a decrease of the public debt, and a considerable push for industrialization.The Syndicate of State Businesses was created, to achieve a more efficient control of the public sector. Among his brief presidency's most notable public works initiatives were the Villa Lugano
Villa Lugano
Villa Lugano is a neighbourhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina, located in the West of the city. It has a population of approximately 114,000 people....
housing development (in the poorest section of Buenos Aires) and El Chocón Dam
El Chocón Dam
The El Chocón Dam is the fourth of the five dams on the Limay River in the northwestern Argentine Patagonia , at , above mean sea level. El Chocón is on the Limay River at about upstream of its confluence with the Neuquén River....
, then the largest such project in Argentina.
National GDP had contracted by 2.4% in 1963; it expanded by 10.3% in 1964 and 9.1% in 1965. Industrial GDP had shrunk by 4.1% in 1963; it leapt by 18.9% in 1964 and 13.8% in 1965. The external debt was reduced from 3.4 billion dollars to 2.7 billion.
The median real wage grew by 9.6% during calendar 1964, alone, and had expanded by almost 25%,by the time of the coup. Unemployment declined from 8.8% in 1963, to 5.2% on 1966.
Ironically, the Argentine middle class (who were generally as anxious as anyone to see President Illia leave office) benefited even more: auto sales leapt from 108,000 in 1963 to 192,000 in 1965 (a record at the time).
Cabinet
{| !style="background: #000000" colspan="3"||-
|align="left"|Office||align="left"|Holder||align="left"|Term
|-
!style="background: #000000" colspan="3"|
|-
|President
President of Argentina
The President of the Argentine Nation , usually known as the President of Argentina, is the head of state of Argentina. Under the national Constitution, the President is also the chief executive of the federal government and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.Through Argentine history, the...
||Arturo Illia||1963–1966
|-
|Vice President||Carlos Perette||1963–1966
|-
!style="background: #000000" colspan="3"|
|-
|Ministry of Foreign Affairs||Miguel Ángel Zavala Ortíz||1963–1966
|-
|Ministry of Economics||Alfredo Blanco||1963–1965
|-
| ||Juan Carlos Pugliese||1965–1966
|-
|Ministry of Defense||Leopoldo Suárez||1963-1963
|-
|Ministry of the Interior||Juan S. Palmero||1963–1966
|-
|Ministry of Education and Culture||Carlos Alconada Aramburu||1963–1966
|-
|Ministry of Social Assistance and Public Health||Arturo Oñativia||1963–1966
|-
|Ministry of Public Services||Miguel Angel Ferrando||1963–1966
|-
|Ministry of Work and Social Security||Fernando Solá||1963–1966
|-
End of Presidency
General Confederation of Labour (Argentina)
The General Confederation of Labour of the Argentine Republic is a national trade union centre of Argentina founded on September 27, 1930, as the result of the merge of the USA and the COA trade union centres...
labor union head José Alonso
José Alonso (trade unionist)
José Alonso was an Argentine politician and trade-unionist.- Early life :José Alonso was born in the Montserrat section of Buenos Aires, in 1917. The son of a Spanish tailor, he dedicated himself to the same profession, and was first elected as a union delegate of the tailors in 1938...
called a general strike
General strike
A general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...
in May, and became a vocal opponent of the president's – this antagonism intensified after Perón's failed attempt to return in December, and during 1965, CGT leaders began publicly hinting at support for a coup.
Legislative elections took place on March 17, and despite the unions' hostility towards Illia, Peronists were free of the restrictions existing up to 1963. Thanks to this, the Peronists presented their own party lists, rallying behind the Popular Union. The Popular Union won the popular vote (3,278,434 votes against Illia's UCRP, which obtained 2,734,970 votes), and elected 52 Congressmen (the first time Peronists had been allowed to do so in a decade).
The triumph of the Peronists shook the Argentine Armed Forces, both among internal military factions linked to the Peronist movement, and in particular among the large section of the army which remained strongly anti-Peronist. In addition, a campaign against the government was also being carried out by important parts of the media, notably Primera Plana and Confirmado, the nation's leading newsmagazines. Seizing on minimally relevant events such as the President's refusal to support Operation Power Pack
Operation Power Pack
The second United States occupation of the Dominican Republic began when the United States Marines Corps entered Santo Domingo on April 28, 1965. They were later joined by most of the United States Army's 82nd Airborne Division and its parent XVIIIth Airborne Corps...
(Lyndon Johnson's ill-justified, April 1965 invasion of the Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
), Illia was nicknamed "the turtle" in both editorials and caricatures, and his rule was vaguely referred to as "slow," "dim-witted" and "lacking energy and decision," encouraging the military to take power and weakening the government even more; Confirmado went further, publicly exhorting the public to support a coup and publishing a (non-scientific) opinion poll touting public support for the illegal measure.
Under the planning of the Commander of the First Division of the Army, General Julio Alsogaray
Julio Alsogaray
Julio Alsogaray was an Argentine Army general.-Life and times:Julio Alsogaray was born in Esperanza, Santa Fe to Julia Elena Bosch and Álvaro Enrique Alsogaray, in 1918...
, and with the support of the military, economic groups, a considerable part of the media, and numerous politicians (notably UCRI leader Oscar Alende
Oscar Alende
Oscar Eduardo Alende was an Argentine politician who founded the Intransigent Party.Alende was born in Maipú, Buenos Aires Province. He studied medicine at the University of La Plata, where he led the student union, and completed his medical studies at the University of Buenos Aires in 1933...
, former President Frondizi, and Alsogaray's brother, right-wing economist Alvaro Alsogaray
Álvaro Alsogaray
Álvaro Carlos Alsogaray was an Argentine politician and businessman. Minister of Economy during much of the 1959-62 period, he was one of the principal proponents of economic conservatism in modern Argentina.-Early career:...
), the military coup took place on June 28, 1966. General Alsogaray presented himself in Illia's office that day, at 5:00 a.m, and 'invited' him to resign his post.
Illia refused to do so at first, citing his role as Commander-in-Chief, but at 7:20, after seeing his office invaded by military officers and policemen with grenade launchers, he was forced step down. The next day, General Juan Carlos Onganía
Juan Carlos Onganía
Juan Carlos Onganía Carballo was de facto president of Argentina from 29 June 1966 to 8 June 1970. He rose to power as military dictator after toppling, in a coup d’état self-named Revolución Argentina , the democratically elected president Arturo Illia .-Economic and social...
became the new Argentine President.
Illia lost his wife, Silvia Martorell, to cancer in November of that year. He then relocated to the upscale Buenos Aires suburb of Martínez
Martínez, Buenos Aires
Martínez is a city in San Isidro Partido, Buenos Aires Province. It is part of Greater Buenos Aires. It is served by a commuter train service, the Tren de la Costa tourist railway line, and many buses....
, though he would still make frequent trips to Córdoba
Córdoba, Argentina
Córdoba is a city located near the geographical center of Argentina, in the foothills of the Sierras Chicas on the Suquía River, about northwest of Buenos Aires. It is the capital of Córdoba Province. Córdoba is the second-largest city in Argentina after the federal capital Buenos Aires, with...
. He continued participating in politics actively insupport of the UCR until his death in Córdoba on January 18, 1983.
Following a state memorial in Congress, Arturo Umberto Illia was buried in La Recoleta Cemetery
La Recoleta Cemetery
La Recoleta Cemetery is a famous cemetery located in the exclusive Recoleta neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It contains the graves of notable people, including Eva Perón, Raúl Alfonsín, and several presidents of Argentina.- History :...
, in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
.
Further reading
- Arturo Illia, su vida, principios y doctrina, by Ricardo Illia, Ediciones Corregidor.
- La caída de Illia, by Mario Antonio Verone, Editorial Coincidencia.
- Historia del radicalismo, by Mario Monteverde, GAM Ediciones.
- La presidencia de Illia, by Pedro Sánchez, CEAL.
- Poder militar y sociedad política en Argentina (Tomo II, 1943–1973), by Alan Rouquié, Emecé Editores.
- ¿Qué es el radicalismo?, by Raúl AlfonsínRaúl AlfonsínRaúl Ricardo Alfonsín was an Argentine lawyer, politician and statesman, who served as the President of Argentina from December 10, 1983, to July 8, 1989. Alfonsín was the first democratically-elected president of Argentina following the military government known as the National Reorganization...
, Editorial Sudamericana.