Carlos Humberto Perette

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Carlos Humberto Perette (Paraná, Entre Ríos, 1915 - 1992) was an Argentine Radical Civic Union politician and lawyer. He was a provincial legislator, national deputy, senator, Vice-President and ambassador.

Perette was educated at the National University of the Littoral where he qualified as a lawyer. He was a keen footballer and played in the first division at Estudiantes de Paraná. His brother Francisco Perette would become President of the Argentine Football Association (AFA).

Perette became involved in the Radicals at a young age and in the late 1930s served as President of the Radical Youth of Paraná then of Entre Ríos. In 1943 he was elected to the Entre Ríos legislature, in elections that were won by his party headed by Eduardo Laurencena who was elected governor. Laurencena was prevented from taking office, however, by military intervention. Perette was elected a provincial deputy once again in 1946, a leading opponent of Peronist governor Hector Maya. Following his re-election in 1950, Perette served as President of the Radical bloc in the legislature.

In 1952 Perette was elected as a national deputy and headed the greatly reduced Radical bloc towards the end of the second term of President Juan Domingo Perón. Perette was a leading 'unionist', the wing of his party which set up the Unión Civica Radical del Pueblo (UCRP) in the Radical split of 1956/57. To Perette is attributed the Pueblo ('People') tag of the party, meant to differentiate from the opposing ideas of Arturo Frondizi. Returning to the Argentine Chamber of Deputies between 1958 and 1962, he was the Vice President of the UCRP bloc. In the subsequently annulled elections of 18 March 1962 Perette was decisively beaten for the governorship of his province by the UCRI ('Intransigent Radical') candidate.

In 1963, Perette was elected Vice President of Argentina as the running mate of Arturo Illia, serving until the coup of 28 June 1966. He continued to follow Ricardo Balbín's style of Radicalism - the 'National Line' (Línea Nacional) - within the reunited Radical Party. He was elected to the Argentine Senate in 1973 and headed the Radical bloc until 1976. Following the fall of the military government, Perette stood as the running mate of Fernando De La Rua on the National Line slate in the internal selections for the 1983 Presidential elections, but they eventually withdrew their candidacy. The eventually successful Radical President Raúl Alfonsín named Perette Ambassador to Uruguay, serving between 1983 and 1989.

Perette was an enthusiastic supporter of co-operatives and introduced legislation to support them. He played a decisive role in the construction of the Uranga-Begnis tunnel under the Paraná River between the cities of Paraná and Santa Fe, ending the isolation of the Argentine Mesopotamia.