Ricardo Balbín

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Ricardo Balbín (born on July 19, 1904 in Buenos Aires - died September 9, 1981) was an Argentine lawyer and politician, and one of the most important figures of the Unión Cívica Radical party (UCR), for which he was presidential candidate four times: in 1951, 1958, 1972 and 1973. The National Route 1 was named after him in 2004.

Ricardo Balbín was born to Cipriano Balbín and Encarnación Morales in the city of Buenos Aires, but the family moved first to Azul, and later to Ayacucho when he was still a child. In 1909 his mother had to be moved to Spain to treat a serious disease.

In 1916, when Hipólito Yrigoyen became president of the country, Balbín started high-school at the Colegio San José. In 1921 he started his university studies in medicine, but abandoned it shortly after due to financial dfficulties. In 1922 at just 18 years old, Balbín joined the Unión Cívica Radical, and moved to La Plata, where the student atmosphere gave him the incentive to start Law School at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata, obtaining a law degree in 1927.

In 1928 he married Indalia Ponzetti, with whom he would have a daughter and two sons: Lía Elena, Osvaldo and Enrique Balbín. In the year of his marriage he participated actively on the presidential campaign that took Hipólito Yrigoyen again to the presidency. During Yrigoyen's mandate Balbín was named District Attorney during the federal intervention in Mendoza Province.

Short after Balbín returned to La Plata and was elected president of La Plata's Sección Primera Committee in 1930, the year in which José Félix Uriburu's coup d'etat toppled Yrigoyen. In 1931 the military government called elections, and Balbín was elected deputy for Buenos Aires Province, and Honorio Pueyrredón governor of the province. The victory of the Unión Cívica Radical was not expected by the military government, who invalidated the elections.

In 1940 Balbín was again elected deputy for the province, but he resigned his seat in protest at fraud during those elections. In 1945 he participated in the foundation of the Movimiento de Intransigencia y Renovación (MIR) together with, among others, Amadeo Sabattini, Arturo Frondizi, Crisólogo Larralde, Oscar Alende, Moisés Lebensohn and Arturo Illia.

In 1946 Balbín was elected national deputy and he became chief deputy of the so-called "Block of the 44" (Bloque de los 44). His role as one of the opposition leaders to Juan Domingo Perón's government brought him political and judicial prosecution, and he was expelled from congress in 1949, and imprisoned at the Olmos Penal in La Plata. In 1950 he was released, but sent back to jail the very same day of the election for which he was candidate for governor of the province. At the end of that year Perón granted him pardon, but Balbín refused to accept it since he had not yet been sentenced.

Once freed, Balbín was elected presidential candidate for the 1951 national elections with Arturo Frondizi as candidate for vice-president, but Perón was re-elected. In 1954, he was sent again to jail. In 1955 Peronism was forbidden by the coup d'état known as the Revolución Libertadora. In 1957 the Unión Cívica Radical fragmented in two groups, the Unión Cívica Radical Intransigente (UCRI) with Arturo Frondizi and Oscar Alende as the main exponents, and Balbín's Unión Cívica Radical del Pueblo (UCRP). The UCRP chose Balbín as presidential candidate for the 1958 elections, with Santiago del Castillo as vice-president. Arturo Frondizi won with support from factions of the outlawed Peronists.

In 1959 the UCRP chose Arturo Illia as presidential candidate, who won the 1963 elections with Carlos Perette as vice-president. But Illia only governed until 1966, when Juan Carlos Onganía's coup removed him from the presidency. During that period Balbín, together with sections of several political parties, called for the 'return to legality' in a document entitled Without a political solution there cannot be an economical solution (Sin solución política es impensable una solución económica).

In 1972 Balbín was again elected presidential candidate over Raúl Alfonsín, with Eduardo Gamond as vice-president. At the end of that year Perón returned from exile and met Balbín, promising to resolve historical differences to preserve the popular strengths. On March 11, 1973, Peronism once again defeated Balbín, as Héctor Cámpora was elected president with Vicente Solano Lima as vice-president.

At the end of 1973, following the definitive return of Perón to Argentina, the governing body resigned and elections were called again. Balbín was presidential candidate for a forth and last time, with Fernando de la Rúa as vice-presidential candidate. Perón triumphed with his wife María Estela Martínez as vice-president.

On July 1, 1974 Perón died, and Balbín dedicated a warm speech to him. In 1974 and 1975 Balbín focused on avoiding yet another military coup, but on March 24, 1976, president María Estela Martínez was removed, bringing about the military government known as the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional. During this military government Balbín was criticised for not denouncing the human rights violations (see: Dirty War) that were taking place. Upon his death in September 1981, and even though political demonstrations were illegal, a crowd gathered at his funeral to give him a last farewell.

[edit] External links

• (Spanish) Balbín Biography by Felipe Pigna
• (Spanish) Balbín Biography by Diego Barovero
• (Spanish) Speeches and interviews

[edit] References

• Discursos de Ricardo Balbín, recopilation and selection of speeches: Carlos Alberto Giacobone, Ediciones Adelante, 1982.
• Balbín entre rejas, la prisión de Ricardo Balbín en 1950, by César Arrondo, EDULP, Editorial de la Universidad de La Plata, 2002.
• Balbín, el presidente postergado, Centro Editor de América Latina, 1992.