Álvaro Carlos Alsogaray (22 June 1913 – 1 April 2005) 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, ...
politician and economist. He was
Minister of Economy
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...
and was the principal proponent of
classical liberalism
Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics; civil liberties under the rule of law with especial emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, e ...
in
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...
.
He founded the
Union of the Democratic Centre and was minister of
Arturo Frondizi
Arturo Frondizi Ércoli (October 28, 1908 – April 18, 1995) was an Argentine lawyer, journalist, teacher and politician, who was elected President of Argentina and ruled between May 1, 1958 and March 29, 1962, when he was overthrown by a ...
.
He managed to spread his
liberal ideology in unthinkable social sectors.
Carlos Menem
Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. Ideologically, he identified as a Peronist and supported economically liberal policies. He ...
, winner in 1989 with the popular vote of
Peronism
Peronism, also called justicialism,. The Justicialist Party is the main Peronist party in Argentina, it derives its name from the concept of social justice., name=, group= is an Argentine political movement based on the ideas and legacy of A ...
, adopted his preaching in favor of
privatization
Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
and the
free market
In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any ot ...
.
First years
Alsogaray was born in
Esperanza, Santa Fe
Esperanza is a city in the center of the province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It had about 36,000 inhabitants at the and it is the head town of the Las Colonias Department.
Esperanza is at the heart of the most important dairy district of the countr ...
, in 1913, as the eldest of three children to Julia Elisa Bosch and Álvaro Alsogaray. Born to a prominent local military family, Alsogaray graduated from the
National Military College
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, c ...
as an infantry officer. He studied
military engineering
Military engineering is loosely defined as the art, science, and practice of designing and building military works and maintaining lines of military transport and military communications. Military engineers are also responsible for logistics b ...
in the Army's School of Higher Technical Studies and
civil
Civil may refer to:
*Civic virtue, or civility
*Civil action, or lawsuit
* Civil affairs
*Civil and political rights
*Civil disobedience
*Civil engineering
*Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism
*Civilian, someone not a membe ...
and
aeronautical engineer
Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is sim ...
at the
National University of Córdoba. He married Edith Gay in 1940, and had two sons and a daughter.
Early career
He retired from the army with the rank of
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
and with two
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considerin ...
ing degrees, which led to his being called ''el capitán ingeniero''. He entered business, becoming an important contractor for
State enterprise
A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the government ...
s such as FAMA (a predecessor of
flag carrier
A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by the government for international operations.
Hi ...
Aerolíneas Argentinas
Aerolíneas Argentinas, formally Aerolíneas Argentinas S.A., is Argentina's largest airline and the country flag carrier. The airline was created in 1949 from the merger of four companies and started operations in . A consortium led by Iberia ...
), and briefly served as its director during the presidency of
Juan Perón
Juan Domingo Perón (, , ; 8 October 1895 – 1 July 1974) was an Argentine Army general and politician. After serving in several government positions, including Minister of Labour and Vice President of a military dictatorship, he was elected ...
, whose populist politics and policies would later be anathema to Alsogaray's thinking.
After the
coup that removed Perón in 1955, he held the posts of Under-secretary of Commerce and Minister of Industry, and maintained numerous Peronist staffers at the Undersecretariat despite his support for the coup.
[ He founded the Independent Civic Party in 1956; the party fared modestly in the 1958 elections.
]
Minister of Economy with Frondizi and Guido
To placate powerful agrarian interests and other conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
s, the otherwise progressive Arturo Frondizi
Arturo Frondizi Ércoli (October 28, 1908 – April 18, 1995) was an Argentine lawyer, journalist, teacher and politician, who was elected President of Argentina and ruled between May 1, 1958 and March 29, 1962, when he was overthrown by a ...
named Alsogaray Minister of the Economy in early 1959. Inheriting large trade deficits
The balance of trade, commercial balance, or net exports (sometimes symbolized as NX), is the difference between the monetary value of a nation's exports and imports over a certain time period. Sometimes a distinction is made between a balance ...
, Alsogaray sharply devalued the peso
The peso is the monetary unit of several countries in the Americas, and the Philippines. Originating in the Spanish Empire, the word translates to "weight". In most countries the peso uses the same sign, "$", as many currencies named " doll ...
and imposed severe credit controls on Argentina's large public banks.[''Página/12'' :: El país :: Alsogaray no llegó al invierno ]
/ref>
Declaring that the economy "must go through winter", the austerity
Austerity is a set of political-economic policies that aim to reduce government budget deficits through spending cuts, tax increases, or a combination of both. There are three primary types of austerity measures: higher taxes to fund spend ...
measures were a boon to exporters - but caused consumer prices to double in 1959, and real wages and construction to fall by about 20%.[Lewis, Paul. ''The Crisis of Argentine Capitalism''. University of North Carolina Press, 1990.] The resulting trade surplus and pro-growth policies pursued by Frondizi's point man on the economy, Rogelio Frigerio, both contributed to a robust recovery in 1960 and 1961.[Todo Argentina: Frondizi ]
/ref>[Cornide, Osvaldo. ''A 50 años de la asunción de Arturo Frondizi''. ]
/ref>
Marginalized in favor of Frigerio after the 1959 recession
In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be triggered by various ...
and deeply unpopular, Alsogaray resigned early in 1961. Frigerio had been President Frondizi's first choice for the critical Economy Ministry, an appointment thwarted by the military; Frondizi and Frigerio later founded the MID, a political party centered around the need for accelerated development.[
Frondizi's efforts to mediate differences between the United States and Cuba ultimately resulted in a March, 1962, coup d'état, and Álvaro Alsogaray was able to use the influence of his brother, General Julio Alsogaray, to secure several ministerial and planning posts under Frondizi's military-appointed successor, Senate President ]José María Guido
José María Guido (29 August 1910 – 13 June 1975) was President of Argentina, from 30 March 1962 to 12 October 1963.
Biography
Early life
José María Guido was born in Buenos Aires on August 29, 1910. He was one of two sons of J.M.E. ...
. Reintroducing many of his restrictive 1959 policies, as well as nearly worthless "Ninth of July" bonds, which were issued in lieu of cash payments to public employees and government contractors, the economy again slipped into severe recession
In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be triggered by various ...
; the trade balance improved, albeit the cost of depressed business investment.[
]
Later career
Out of power after the election of Dr. Arturo Illia
Arturo Umberto Illia (; 4 August 1900 – 18 January 1983) was an Argentine politician and physician, who was President of Argentina from 12 October 1963, to 28 June 1966. He was a member of the centrist Radical Civic Union.
Illia reached t ...
in 1963, Alsogaray devoted himself to undermining the new administration, even during the vigorous economic recovery that followed. Finding allies in conservative business and media interests, the powerful Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, and his influential brother Julio, Alsogaray and other Illia opponents were successful.[Rock, David. ''Authoritarian Argentina''. University of California Press, 1992.]
Following the 1966 coup against President Illia, he was designated Ambassador to the United States
The following table lists ambassadors to the United States, sorted by the representative country or organization.
See also
*Ambassadors of the United States
Ambassadors of the United States are persons nominated by the president to serve ...
, a post he held until 1968.[
Alsogaray founded the 'New Force' in 1972, though like the Independent Civic Party, it fared poorly in the 1973 elections that returned Perón to power. He was among the few ]conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
figures to publicly oppose the imminent March 1976 coup
March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March ...
,[ but largely supported the subsequent ]National Reorganization Process
The National Reorganization Process (Spanish: ''Proceso de Reorganización Nacional'', often simply ''el Proceso'', "the Process") was the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983, in which it was supported by the United St ...
.[
As the ]dictatorship
A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship a ...
eventually yielded to calls for elections, he founded the Union of the Democratic Centre in August 1982.
Running as a right-wing
Right-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this pos ...
, economically conservative candidate on the latter ticket, he stood for the Presidency
A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified by ...
in 1983
The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call.
Events January
* January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...
and 1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...
. Alsogaray received 10% votes in his 1989 election, behind only major party candidates Carlos Menem
Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. Ideologically, he identified as a Peronist and supported economically liberal policies. He ...
and Eduardo Angeloz.
National Deputy
Continuing to enjoy a measure of support in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
' affluent northside
Northside or North Side may refer to:
Music
* Northside (band), a musical group from Manchester, England
* NorthSide, an American record label
* NorthSide Festival (Denmark), a music festival in Aarhus, Denmark
* " Norf Norf", a 2015 song by Vinc ...
, he and his daughter María Julia Alsogaray were elected the only two national deputies
A legislator (also known as a deputy or lawmaker) is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are often elected by the people of the state. Legislatures may be supra-national (for e ...
for the UCeDé in 1983
The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call.
Events January
* January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...
, and he served until 1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...
.
A vehement anti-Peronist
Peronism, also called justicialism,. The Justicialist Party is the main Peronist party in Argentina, it derives its name from the concept of social justice., name=, group= is an Argentine political movement based on the ideas and legacy of A ...
and anti-socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
, Alsogaray forged an alliance with the late Juan Perón
Juan Domingo Perón (, , ; 8 October 1895 – 1 July 1974) was an Argentine Army general and politician. After serving in several government positions, including Minister of Labour and Vice President of a military dictatorship, he was elected ...
's Justicialist Party
The Justicialist Party ( es, Partido Justicialista, ; abbr. PJ) is a major political party in Argentina, and the largest branch within Peronism.
Current president Alberto Fernández belongs to the Justicialist Party (and has, since 2021, serve ...
in 1989, following their nomination of pro-market
A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production and distribution to the consumers are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand, where all suppliers and consumers are ...
Governor Carlos Menem
Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. Ideologically, he identified as a Peronist and supported economically liberal policies. He ...
, and endorsed Justicialist candidate Eduardo Vaca that year in a tightly-contested seat in 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, 18 ...
representing the City of Buenos Aires. Argentine Senators were indirectly elected
An indirect election or ''hierarchical voting'' is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office (direct voting system), but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. It is one of the ol ...
at the time, and Alsogaray's endorsement in the electoral college gave Vaca the seat, despite the latter's coming in second to centrist UCR candidate Fernando de la Rúa
Fernando de la Rúa (15 September 19379 July 2019) was an Argentine politician and a member of the Radical Civic Union (UCR) political party who served as President of Argentina from 10 December 1999 to 21 December 2001. De la Rúa was born in ...
.[''La Nación'' (April 2, 2005) ]
/ref> The Universidad Francisco Marroquín granted Alsogaray an honorary doctorate
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...
in 1985.
A vocal supporter of the era's privatization
Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
s, he prevailed on President Menem to appoint his daughter, María Julia, Secretary of the Environment, in which post she served from 1991 to 1999, and himself served in numerous consultative posts during the Menem presidency, endorsing the populist
Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term develop ...
-turned-conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
president in his 1995 election.[
Among his most notable roles in this era was as director of a feasibility study in 1995-96 for the replacement of Buenos Aires' two international airports for an island terminal on the ]Río de la Plata
The Río de la Plata (, "river of silver"), also called the River Plate or La Plata River in English, is the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River at Punta Gorda. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean and fo ...
; opposed by de la Rúa, who had been elected Mayor (and would later be President), the project never materialized.
His UCedé party languished despite his renewed influence as much due to public mistrust of his policies, as because of rivalries in the party itself – notably between his daughter and Adelina D'Alessio de Viola (whom he had Menem appoint as head of the Banco Hipotecario
Banco Hipotecario ( BCBAbr>BHIP is a commercial bank and mortgage lender in Argentina.
Overview
The institution was chartered on September 24, 1886, as the ''Banco Hipotecario Nacional'' (''National Mortgage Bank'') by a bill (Law 1804) signed b ...
). Commenting on the dispute, he remarked that ''"would it that one's political party could do without affiliates...or women!"'' [
]
Final years
In his last public appearances, Alsogaray urged his followers to take up the banners of liberalism
Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostilit ...
and the social market economy
The social market economy (SOME; german: soziale Marktwirtschaft), also called Rhine capitalism, Rhine-Alpine capitalism, the Rhenish model, and social capitalism, is a socioeconomic model combining a free-market capitalist economic system alon ...
, while expressing his pessimism about the management of Néstor Kirchner
Néstor Carlos Kirchner (; 25 February 195027 October 2010) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, Governor of Santa Cruz Province from 1991 to 2003, Secretary General of UNASUR and ...
, which he associated with aspects of socialism
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes th ...
.
He died on April 1, 2005 at his home in the Recoleta neighborhood of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
, after a long illness, at the age of 91.Murió Alvaro Alsogaray
''La Nación
''La Nación'' () is an Argentine daily newspaper. As the country's leading conservative newspaper, ''La Nación''s main competitor is the more liberal '' Clarín''. It is regarded as a newspaper of record for Argentina.
Its motto is: "''La N ...
'', 1de abril de 2005
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alsogaray, Alvaro
1913 births
2005 deaths
People from Esperanza, Santa Fe
Argentine people of Basque descent
National University of Córdoba alumni
Colegio Militar de la Nación alumni
20th-century Argentine engineers
20th-century Argentine businesspeople
Argentine Ministers of Finance
Ambassadors of Argentina to the United States
Members of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies elected in Buenos Aires
Candidates for President of Argentina
Union of the Democratic Centre (Argentina) politicians
Argentine anti-communists
Burials at La Recoleta Cemetery
Conservatism in Argentina