Héctor José Cámpora

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Héctor José Cámpora

Héctor José Cámpora (born March 26, 1909 in Mercedes , † December 19, 1980 in Mexico City ) was an Argentine politician and the 39th President of Argentina . His term of office lasted only 49 days, from May 25, 1973 to July 12, 1973.

Life

Cámpora, affectionately known as el Tío (the uncle), was the son of small retailers who immigrated to Argentina from Italy. He wanted to study medicine in Rosario , but then started studying dentistry at the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba . He worked as a dentist in his hometown until he moved to nearby San Andrés de Giles , where he raised a family and was president of a popular sports club.

1944-1970

In 1944 he was appointed mayor by the government that emerged from the June 4, 1943 military coup. He met General Juan Perón when he visited San Andrés de Giles in 1944 as Minister of Labor. After Perón was elected president in 1946, Cámpora won a seat in the Chamber of Deputies as the leader of an independent coalition of workers and radicals , of which he was president from 1948 to 1952. As ambassador plenipotentiary he was commissioned in 1953 to undertake a diplomatic trip to 17 countries. After the Revolución Libertadora , which overthrew Perón in 1955, he was arrested and charged with corruption and embezzlement. He escaped Argentina in 1956 but returned three years later after all charges were dropped.

1971 – July 1973

Perón, who lived in exile in Spain, made him his “personal delegate” in 1971. He ran in the 1973 presidential election to circumvent the dictator Alejandro Lanusse's veto against Perón's participation in the election. His vice-presidential candidate was Vicente Solano Lima . While Cámpora itself had leftist tendencies, Solano Lima belonged to the Conservative People's Party . Cámpora won the election in March 1973 with 49.5% of the vote. The leader of the radicals, Ricardo Balbín , came in second with 25%, which was enough to participate in the runoff, since an absolute majority was required in the first ballot. In order to avoid a national crisis, however, the latter withdrew his candidacy and declared his defeat. Cámpora was inaugurated on May 25, 1973 in the presence of the Presidents of Chile and Cuba, Salvador Allende and Osvaldo Dorticós . A million people had gathered in the Plaza de Mayo to cheer the new president.

As one of his first acts, he granted amnesty to the political prisoners arrested during the dictatorship. On May 28, Argentina resumed diplomatic relations with Cuba, which subsequently received Argentine aid, mainly food and industrial products, to break the United States' embargo on Cuba . During Cámpora's short term in office, there were around 600 social conflicts, strikes and occupations of factories.

The revolutionary left had meanwhile given up its armed struggle and joined the democratic process. At the same time, the clashes between the left and right wing of the Peronist movement grew sharper. Cámpora's ideology contrasted with the right-wing tendencies in Peronism. When Perón returned to Argentina on June 20, 1973, his plane had to be diverted to a military airfield as fighting broke out between armed Peronist factions who had gathered at Buenos Aires International Airport to welcome him. 13 people died and more than three hundred were injured; the event went down in history as the Ezeiza massacre .

José Ber Gelbard , the chairman of the CGE, an association of small and medium-sized enterprises, was installed as Minister of the Economy. He tried to forge a "social pact", which contained a price moratorium and broad wage increases, between the workers organized in the CGT and the bourgeoisie.

July 1973–1980

On July 13, 1973, Cámpora resigned to allow Perón to return to power. The election of Perón took place on September 23, twelve days after the coup in Chile. Cámpora later became Argentina's ambassador to Mexico , but returned to Buenos Aires before 1976.

After the coup in March 1976, in which Perón's successor, his widow Isabel Perón , was overthrown, Cámpora fled to the Mexican embassy in Buenos Aires, where he stayed for three years. After he was diagnosed with cancer, he was allowed to fly to Mexico, where he died a few months after his arrival. Eleven years later, his body was returned to Argentina and he was buried in San Andrés de Giles.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. Hugo Moreno: Le désastre argentin. Péronisme, politique et violence sociale (1930-2001) . Editions Syllepses, Paris, 2005, p. 109 (French).
  2. Manuel Justo Gaggero: El general en su laberinto . In: Página / 12 , February 19, 2007.
  3. Fernando Sabsay: Los presidentes argentinos. Quiénes fueron, qué hicieron, cómo vivieron . El Ateneo, Buenos Aires 2001, ISBN 950-02-6358-0 , p. 368.
  4. Urgente 24: El odontólogo Cámpora y la reconstruction de la historia. March 13, 2012, Retrieved March 9, 2019 (Spanish).
  5. ^ Eduardo Lazzari: Héctor José Cámpora, el presidente más nombrado y bastante poco conocido - El Liberal. April 8, 2018, Retrieved March 9, 2019 (Spanish).
predecessor Office successor
Alejandro Agustín Lanusse President of Argentina
1973
Raúl Alberto Lastiri