Ricardo Luis Alfonsín (born 2 November 1953) is an Argentine lawyer, academic and politician prominent in the

Radical Civic Union The Radical Civic Union (, UCR) is a major political party in Argentina. It has reached the national government on ten occasions, making it one of the most historically important parties in the country. Ideologically, the party has stood for r ...

. His father,

Raúl Alfonsín Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín (; 12 March 1927 – 31 March 2009) was an Argentine lawyer and statesman who served as President of Argentina from 10 December 1983 to 8 July 1989. He was the first democratically elected president after the 7-yea ...

, was the

President of Argentina The president of Argentina, officially known as the president of the Argentine Nation, is both head of state and head of government of Argentina. Under Constitution of Argentina, the national constitution, the president is also the Head of go ...

from 1983 to 1989. He was Argentina's ambassador to Spain from 2020 to 2023.

Early life and education

Ricardo Luis Alfonsín was born in Chascomús son of María Lorenza Barreneche and

; the latter was at the time a local lawyer and councilman active in the centrist

(UCR). Ricardo Alfonsín earned a degree in education at the Chascomús

Teachers College Teachers College, Columbia University (TC) is the graduate school of education affiliated with Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. Founded in 1887, Teachers College has been a part of Columbia University since ...

, and taught

civics In the field of political science, civics is the study of the civil and political rights and obligations of citizens in a society. The term ''civics'' derives from the Latin word ''civicus'', meaning "relating to a citizen". In U.S. politics ...

in local secondary schools, later earning a law degree at the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires (, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the second-oldest university in the country, and the largest university of the country by enrollment. Established in 1821 ...

. He married Cecilia Plorutti, and the couple had four children during the 1980s; though his father had been elected president in

1983 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 of the ...

, they avoided involvement in politics at the time.

Political career

He first actively entered politics in 1993, and was elected delegate to the UCR leadership convention, during which his father was returned to the party's presidency after being turned out in 1991. He first rose to elected office in 1999, as a Buenos Aires Provincial Deputy, and remained in the post until 2003. The UCR in tatters following the 2001 resignation of President

Fernando de la Rúa Fernando de la Rúa (15 September 19379 July 2019) served as the President of Argentina from 1999 until his resignation in 2001. A member of the Radical Civic Union, he previously served as national senator for Buenos Aires across non-consecuti ...

, Alfonsín was named head of the party's foreign policy office following the end of his term in the legislature. On 7 September 2004, his youngest daughter, Amparo, suffered a deep cut from broken glass at the parochial school she attended in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, and lost her life at age 15. The tragedy led Alfonsín to retire from politics for a time, though in 2007, he made a surprise bid for the office of Governor of Buenos Aires Province, naming veteran actor Luis Brandoni as his running mate. The move was unconventional because the UCR, on which ticket he ran, had endorsed independent candidate Roberto Lavagna in the 2007 presidential race, and Lavagna, in turn, backed Congressman Jorge Sarghini for governor. Ultimately, none of the three won their respective races. Alfonsín lost his father on 31 March 2009, when three days of national mourning were declared. A month earlier, he formed an alliance with former fellow UCR lawmaker Margarita Stolbizer (who had established her own party, GEN) and accepted the second spot in the GEN/UCR

party list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can c ...

ahead of the 28 June 2009 mid-term elections. The list came in third in the Province of Buenos Aires, though it secured enough votes to elect both to the Lower House of Congress, where they would be seated on 10 December. As part of a compromise with the ruling Front for Victory caucus (representing Kirchnerism), the latter would retain the Presidency of the Lower House, and Alfonsín was elected 1st Vice President of the body on 4 December. Alfonsín clinched his party's nomination for the 2011 presidential elections when Senator Ernesto Sanz withdrew on 28 April. The Civic and Social Agreement alliance with GEN and the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

was broken in June, so he endorsed the

Federal Peronism Federal Peronism (), also known as Dissident Peronism (), is the faction or branch of either moderate, centrist or right-wing Peronism (a political movement in Argentina), that is currently identified mostly by its opposition to Kirchnerism, t ...

candidate Francisco de Narváez for Governor of Buenos Aires and appointed former Central Bank President Javier González Fraga as running mate. They placed third with 11% of the vote. On 8 September 2014, his list 27 won in internal elections the leadership of the Buenos Aires radicalism after triumphing against Daniel Salvador's 2015 list from 59.01% to 40.99% (Salvador had already held the presidency of the Provincial Committee UCR 2008-2010). After the victory Alfonsín announced that he would resist the agreement with the PRO since he wanted to maintain the Frente Amplio UNEN. Between 2014 and 2016 he was accompanied on the Committee: Héctor Luis Baldo as vice president, Ricardo Sánchez as general secretary and Graciela San Martín as treasurer. In August 2020, he was appointed as ambassador to Spain and joined the ruling

Frente de Todos The Frente de Todos (translated as "Everyone's Front") was a centre-left political coalition of political parties in Argentina formed to support President Alberto Fernández and Vice President Cristina Kirchner. Fernández won the 2019 gen ...

coalition.

References

External links

Ricardo Alfonsín 2011

Biography by CIDOB
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alfonsin, Ricardo 1953 births Living people Argentine people of Basque descent Argentine people of Galician descent Argentine people of German descent Argentine people of Welsh descent Argentine people of Falkland Islands descent People from Chascomús University of Buenos Aires alumni 20th-century Argentine lawyers Members of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies elected in Buenos Aires Province Argentine deputies 2015–2017 Argentine deputies 2013–2015 Argentine deputies 2011–2013 Argentine deputies 2009–2011 Members of the Buenos Aires Province Chamber of Deputies Candidates for President of Argentina Radical Civic Union politicians Children of presidents of Argentina Ambassadors of Argentina to Spain