Alfonsin’s Government
Doctor Alfonsín took the presidency on the 10th of December of 1983. This date was not by chance at all, he chosen it because that same day in the year 1948 the general assembly of the United Nations sanctioned The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which this government chose as a symbol for the fact that it proposed to re-establish the validity of The Human Rights in our country, and subdue the corporations which had been close to the de facto government and to the military corporations. On the other hand the demands in order to get economical improvements and the resistance which generated the attribution of responsibilities for the so called “Guerra Sucia”, or Proceso, just as the reforms that tended to modernize the society generated serious resistance and clashes with the militaries, the church, and the sindicalismo peronista. The most negative thing of his government was the march of the economy, towards 1989 with hyperinflation and loots, which provoked the weakening of the government, and the premature desert of power.
Many of the people who voted for Alfonsín did it because they longed for the reconstruction of a right government, maybe because of that the first measures adopted by the government were destined to the repression consequences and the serious social situation. On the 14th of December of 1983 the government repealed the autoamnistia law dictated by the General Bignone and stated the judgement of the members of the first three military juntas of the “Proceso de Re-organización Nacional”, at the same time it ordered the trial of the guerrilleros leaderships of the ERP (Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo) and montoneros. On the 15th of December the CONADEP (Comisión Nacional sobre la Desaparición de Personas) was created, which was an organization integrated by very prestigious people, just as Adolfo Pérez Esquivel. This organization elaborated a report called “Nunca Más”, because of which the society could know the names, ages and condition of thousands of missing people and the authors of those crimes. In addition, on the 19th of December the PAN (Programa Alimentario Nacional) was created, which started to distribute basic food to more than a million people. In 1984 the code of military justice was reformed, from then on, the civil justice took part as organ of appellation of the sentences to the militaries.
In 1984 the National Congress approved the San José de Costa Rica pact, which some years later, was incorporated to the National Constitution. The government tried to modernize the labour relationships introducing the ideological pluralism in the labour unions bringing in a national plan of health which looked to separate the medical insurance (obras socials) from the labour union control, as a reaction to this measure, the Azopardo CGT and the Brasil CGT, which were a divided labour union, left aside their differences and joint in the same cause in order to face the government, besides, the project was rejected at the senators chamber. The CGT carried out during Alfonsín’s government 13 general strikes, which were further from the defence of salaries and attacked the government modernization plans and its economical policy.
In relation to the economy, the radicalism had a great tradition of defence of public education. Due to the fact that the 1420 law did not adapt to the necessities of the moment, the government called a national pedagogical congress. Its objective was to renew the law. In that congress different matters were discussed, just as the illiterate problems, school desertion, and so on, looking between teachers, students, parents and representatives of the government to reach a consensus that legitimated a reform towards a more inclusive, open and popular education. The discussions extended in time and radicalism lost the initiative. A programme of massive literacy teaching was developed and the repressive mechanisms that were inside the school system were attacked.
What is more, the church begun to evolve hostility towards the radical government since it was irritated by the sanction of the divorce law, which was sanctioned in 1987 and established the possibility to dissolve the marital link and contract marriage again, because the church considers marriage as an insoluble link. Some time later the shared patria potestad was established ending with the paternal exclusivity. The church was also annoyed by the tone, which was in general secular, of the cultural discourse that circulated over the institutions and the state press. The church accused the government of all the evils of the century, just as drugs, terrorism, abortion, pornography, and so on.
During this government a freedom atmosphere was established which allowed the development of the artistic and cultural life giving great importance to universities and the scientific system of the state. Moreover, many intellectuals and scientists who had been exiled returned to our country.
The ethic discourse of the government centred on the values of democracy, peace, human rights, international solidarity and the independence of the states contributed to the reintegration of our country into the international community, the president gained great popularity in different parts of the world due to the strengthened of the local democratic institutions. The government had to face two unresolved external matters, the problem with Chile because of the Beagle Channel, and the problem with Great Britain because of the Malvinas islands. Regarding the Beagle Channel the arbitral award of the Pope (laudo arbitrarial) was assumed and in order to end with the internal resistance a popular referendum was announced. Regarding the case of the Malvinas, even though in the elections in the United Nations they were supported, they did not start negotiations that included the matter of sovereignty.
All in all, Alfonsín was recognized as the leader of a pact with civility, in which he could realize that the discourse he had to appeal was the one of full legality, the restoration of justice and the struggle against authoritarianism. The constant resistance of the sectors that faced his government and the serious economical difficulties that his government continuously had weakened it and could not constitute into a great third historical movement, in spite of that the solid ethic convictions that his government held stand out.
Bibliography
Caraballo. Charlier. Garuli. 1998. Documentos de historia argentina. Ed. Eudeba.
Privitellio, Luciano. Et all. 1998. Historia de la Argentina Contemporánea, desde la construcción del Mercado, el estado y la Nación hasta nuestros días. Ed. Santillana.
Pucciarelli, Alfredo. 2009. Los años de Alfonsín. Ed. Siglo XXI.
Romero, Luis Alberto, translated by Brennan, James P. 2002. A History of Argentina in the Twentieth Century. Pennsylvania State University Press.
