Raúl Alfonsín

The Argentine president who championed democracy

Raúl Alfonsín

1927–2009

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Raúl Alfonsín, who has died of lung cancer at 82, was the living embodiment of Argentine democracy. In 1983, he became his country’s first popularly elected leader after decades of brutal authoritarian rule; when he left office six years later, it was the first time since 1928 that power had passed peacefully to another party. “My inspiration comes from an ethic, rather than an ideology—an ethic that believes in the freedom of man,” he said.

The short, mustachioed Alfonsín was a military school graduate who rejected army life, said the London Times. Instead, he got a law degree and became a human-rights activist. In the 1950s he joined Argentina’s Radical Civic Union, “a party with a long tradition of upholding democratic values,” eventually serving two congressional terms and becoming party leader in 1981. Jailed three times for publicly opposing Argentina’s various juntas, Alfonsín offered free legal services “to the families of people who had been kidnapped by the security forces.”

Alfonsín’s pivotal moment came with the collapse of the military government of Gen. Leopoldo Galtieri, who had launched the disastrous Falklands war in 1982, said the London Independent. In the ensuing election, Alfonsín “just squeaked by with 52 percent of the vote. But it was a watershed as chastened militarists ceded power to a moderate politician.” The new president set about “building a civic culture after years of dictatorship,” prosecuting many officials who had killed up to 9,000 civilians during Argentina’s “dirty war” against so-called subversives. But “dark military elements continued to lurk in the background.” After escaping three coup attempts, Alfonsín reluctantly halted the trials. “It was impossible to put 2,000 members of the military on trial,” he explained. “We had no weapons.” In 1989 he left office five months early amid “food shortages, street disturbances, and uncontrolled hyperinflation.”

Argentines later embraced him for his courage and enlightenment. His final public appearance was in October, when President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner unveiled a bust of Alfonsín to commemorate the 25th anniversary of his election. “You are a symbol,” Kirchner declared, “of the return of democracy.” Alfonsín is survived by his wife and six children.