Leopoldo Melo (18691951) was an

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

lawyer, diplomat and politician. He was a leading figure in the

Radical Civic Union The Radical Civic Union ( es, Unión Cívica Radical, UCR) is a centrist and social-liberal political party in Argentina. It has been ideologically heterogeneous, ranging from social liberalism to social democracy. The UCR is a member of the So ...

, a nominee for

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

, and later

minister of the interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

Biography

Leopoldo Melo was born in

Diamante A diamanté (also spelled diamante) is a glittering ornament, such as an artificial jewel (e.g. a rhinestone) or a sequin. Diamante may also refer to: Places Argentina * Diamante, Entre Ríos, a ''municipio'' in Diamante Department * Diamante ...

Entre Ríos Province Entre Ríos (, "Between Rivers") is a central province of Argentina, located in the Mesopotamia region. It borders the provinces of Buenos Aires (south), Corrientes (north) and Santa Fe (west), and Uruguay in the east. Its capital is Paraná ( ...

, in 1869. He enrolled at the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires ( es, Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Established in 1821, it is the premier institution of higher learning in the country and one o ...

and earned a Law Degree, later becoming an important leader in the centrist Radical Civic Union (UCR), the party chiefly responsible for the adoption of

universal male suffrage Universal manhood suffrage is a form of voting rights in which all adult male citizens within a political system are allowed to vote, regardless of income, property, religion, race, or any other qualification. It is sometimes summarized by the slog ...

in Argentina, in 1912. He was elected to the

Argentine Chamber of Deputies The Chamber of Deputies ( es, Cámara de Diputados de la Nación), officially the Honorable Chamber of Deputies of the Argentine Nation, is the lower house of the Argentine National Congress ( es, Congreso de la Nación). It is made up of 257 ...

for Entre Ríos Province in 1914 and to the

Argentine Senate The Honorable Senate of the Argentine Nation ( es, Honorable Senado de la Nación Argentina) is the upper house of the National Congress of Argentina. Overview The National Senate was established by the Argentine Confederation on July 29, 185 ...

in 1917. While in Congress, he taught at his alma mater's Law School, and was its Dean in 1920 and 1921.''Historical Dictionary of Argentina''. Scarecrow Press, 1978. Elected on the UCR ticket, Melo broke with longtime UCR leader

Hipólito Yrigoyen Juan Hipólito del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Yrigoyen (; 12 July 1852 – 3 July 1933) was an Argentine politician of the Radical Civic Union and two-time President of Argentina, who served his first term from 1916 to 1922 and his second ...

following the 1922 elections. Yrigoyen's fractious opposition, which together continued to enjoy a majority in the Upper House, appointed Melo Provisional President of the Senate in the same year. He led the establishment of the "Antipersonalist" UCR in 1924, becoming its caucus leader in the Senate. He secured his party's nominatation for the presidency ahead of the 1928 election, though voters' support for the state oil concern established by Yrigoyen during his first term,

YPF YPF S.A. (, formerly ; English: "Fiscal Oilfields") is a vertically integrated, majority state-owned Argentine energy company, engaged in oil and gas exploration and production, and the transportation, refining, and marketing of gas and petr ...

, and nostalgia for the aging leader himself translated into a landslide defeat for Melo and his running-mate,

Vicente Gallo Vicente Carmelo Gallo (October 3, 1873June 3, 1942) was an Argentine lawyer, academic, politician, and member of the Radical Civic Union and the Antipersonalist Radical Civic Union. Life Born in San Miguel de Tucumán, Gallo joined the Radi ...

. Following General

José Félix Uriburu Lieutenant General José Félix Benito Uriburu y Uriburu (20 July 186829 April 1932) was the President of the Provisional Government of Argentina, ousting the successor to President Hipólito Yrigoyen by means of a military coup and declaring ...

's 1930 coup against President Yrigoyen, Melo endorsed the conservative candidate (and Uriburu's pick), General

Agustín Justo Agustín is a Spanish given name and sometimes a surname. It is related to Augustín. People with the name include: Given name * Agustín (footballer), Spanish footballer * Agustín Calleri (born 1976), Argentine tennis player * Agustín Cár ...

, on the grounds that the UCR nominee, former president

Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear Máximo Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear Pacheco (4 October 1868 – 23 March 1942), was an Argentine lawyer and politician, who served as president of Argentina between from 1922 to 1928. His period of government coincided precisely with the en ...

had been reunited with the Yrigoyen faction. Amid widespread irregularities, the

Concordance Concordance may refer to: * Agreement (linguistics), a form of cross-reference between different parts of a sentence or phrase * Bible concordance, an alphabetical listing of terms in the Bible * Concordant coastline, in geology, where beds, or la ...

formed by Melo and Justo won the 1931 elections, for which Melo was rewarded with an appointment to the powerful post of

interior minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

. Under his aegis the special branch of the

Federal Police A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for the enforcement of the laws. Jurisdiction LEAs which have their ability to apply their powers restricted in some way are said to operate within a jurisdiction. LEAs ...

was created, implementing a policy of systematic torture of opposition figures.Feitlowitz, Marguerite. ''A Lexicon of Terror: Argentina and the Legacies of Torture''. Oxford University Press, 2002. Melo was dismissed as interior minister in 1936. In 1939, he was named representative to the

Pan-American Union The Organization of American States (OAS; es, Organización de los Estados Americanos, pt, Organização dos Estados Americanos, french: Organisation des États américains; ''OEA'') is an international organization that was founded on 30 April ...

, where he participated in a mutual defense treaty entered into by the United States and most of the other nations of the Americas in 1940 as a response to World War II. Melo retired from politics and continued to teach

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

and

maritime law Admiralty law or maritime law is a body of law that governs nautical issues and private maritime disputes. Admiralty law consists of both domestic law on maritime activities, and private international law governing the relationships between priva ...

; he died in the seaside resort city of

Pinamar Pinamar is an Argentine coastal resort city located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in Buenos Aires Province. It has about 45,000 inhabitants (2020). Located less than south of Buenos Aires, it is one of several small seaside communities that ...

in 1951.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Melo, Leopoldo 1869 births 1951 deaths People from Entre Ríos Province University of Buenos Aires alumni 19th-century Argentine lawyers Argentine diplomats Academic staff of the University of Buenos Aires Radical Civic Union politicians Members of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies elected in Entre Ríos Members of the Argentine Senate for Entre Ríos Provisional presidents of the Argentine Senate Candidates for President of Argentina People of the Infamous Decade Burials at La Recoleta Cemetery Ministers of internal affairs of Argentina 20th-century Argentine lawyers