Arturo Frondizi

Arturo Frondizi Ércoli (Paso de los Libres, October 28, 1908 – Buenos Aires, April 18, 1995) was an Argentine lawyer, journalist, teacher, statesman, and politician. He was elected president of Argentina and governed from May 1, 1958, to March 29, 1962, when he was overthrown in a military coup.

A member of the Unión Cívica Radical (UCR) from the 1930s, Frondizi was one of the leaders who revived that party in the 1940s by founding the Intransigence and Renewal Movement, which opposed the military's role in politics. In 1946, he was elected national deputy for the city of Buenos Aires. In the 1951 elections, he joined the UCR presidential ticket as a vice presidential candidate, alongside Ricardo Balbín, who was defeated by the Peronist ticket.

In 1954 he published "Petroleum and Politics," an exposé of the activities of oil companies in Argentina, and proposed a YPF monopoly over the oil sector. The book would become a bestseller the following year, during the heated debates over the oil contracts signed by Juan Perón and Standard Oil of California. Thanks to this—and the reopening of the magazine Qué!—Frondizi would position himself at the forefront of the political scene, further reinforcing his reputation as an intellectual and a leftist.

During the period after the military coup—dubbed the "Revolución Libertadora" or "Liberating Revolution" by the military—that overthrew Perón in 1955, Frondizi led the radical faction within the UCR that criticized the dictatorship against the faction led by Balbín, which was closer to it. This led to the split of the party and the formation of the Intransigent Radical Civic Union (UCRI). Frondizi and Balbín faced off in the 1958 presidential elections with Peronism banned, and Frondizi won by a landslide, thanks to an agreement he or his entourage made with Perón, under circumstances that remain unclear.

His government was characterized by an ideological shift, inspired by Rogelio Frigerio, towards a type of developmentalism less promoted by the State and more oriented to the development of heavy industry as a consequence of the entry of multinational companies. Its labor, oil and education policies sparked sharp conflicts, with large demonstrations and strikes by the labor and student movements, as well as numerous attacks against the government in which 17 civilians and soldiers were murdered. Frondizi responded by signing the Conintes Plan, which placed protesters under the jurisdiction of military tribunals and prohibited strikes.

His foreign policy sought closer relations with the United States under John F. Kennedy, but maintained an independent line, supporting the Cuban Revolution, receiving Fidel Castro in Buenos Aires, and even meeting secretly with Che Guevara to try to mediate conflicts between the United States and Cuba, without success. He deepened international relations with Asian countries by making his first presidential visit to Indonesia, India, and Israel, and signed economic agreements with the Soviet Union.

The armed forces demanded that the Frondizi adopt austerity measures, which were drawn up by the Economy Minister Álvaro Alsogaray and which sparked widespread public criticism that eventually led to Alsogaray's resignation. Despite this, Frondizi was able to continue with his development strategy. Continued pressure from the military brought about the retirement of Frigerio as a government advisor in 1961 and of Roberto Alemann, Alsogaray's successor, in 1962.

He was unable to finish his presidential term, as he was overthrown by a coup on March 29, 1962. That day he was detained by the coup military and a decree issued by José María Guido validated his detention without trial for eighteen months, preventing him from participating in the 1963 elections. Frondizi criticized the inauguration and the government of Arturo Illia, who accepted the overthrow of Frondizi and annulled some of his oil contracts.

In 1966 he supported the military coup that overthrew Illia, thinking that the "Argentine Revolution" was an opportunity to make an economic revolution. However, he would abandon that idea when Adalbert Krieger Vasena assumed the Ministry of Economy.

Following the coup, Frondizi favored forming a national front that included Peronism. This stance put him at odds with the wing of the UCRI led by Oscar Alende and led him to break away from the party to create the Movement for Integration and Development (MID), which remained close to Peronism from then on, joining the same electoral fronts. In the presidential elections of March 1973 and September 1973, the MID, led by Frondizi, joined the Justicialist Liberation Front (FREJULI) alongside Peronism and other political forces, emerging victorious with the presidential candidacies of Héctor Cámpora and Perón.

During the dictatorship, which called itself the National Reorganization Process, Frondizi maintained a wait-and-see attitude toward the military regime, while also being critical of some of the economic measures adopted by the de facto government, to which the MID contributed Foreign Minister Oscar Camilión and several mayors. During the Falklands War in 1982, Frondizi and Raúl Alfonsín were the exception in the Argentine political landscape in opposing the conflict.

On April 18, 1995, Arturo Frondizi died of natural causes at the age of 86 at the Hospital Italiano in the city of Buenos Aires. Provided by Wikipedia