Miguel Ángel Juárez Celman

Miguel Angel Juárez Celman (Córdoba, September 29, 1844 – Arrecifes, April 14, 1909) was President of Argentina from 12 October 1886 to 6 August 1890. A lawyer and politician, his career was defined by the influence of his kinsman, Julio Argentino Roca, whom propelled him into a legislative career. He was a staunch promoter of separation of church and state and an aristocratic liberal.

As president of Argentina, he promoted public works, but was not capable of maintaining economic stability and had to contend with the powerful opposition of the Civic Union Party, and his leader Leandro N. Alem. After the Revolución del Parque even though having defeated the uprising, he was forced to resign and retired from political life.

Youth

Juárez Celman was born and raised in Córdoba, where he studied under the Jesuits at the Colegio de Montserrat. He studied Law, becoming a lawyer in 1869. Thanks to his family connections, he came from an aristocratic family, he entered political life early. He was elected Representative just after obtaining his doctorate and from the provincial parliament he headed the movement to promote the secularization of education. Two years later he was elected to the Senate of Argentina and in 1877 became its president. He spent little time as president as after the death of Governor Climaco de la Peña, the new Government of Antonio Del Viso nominated him as Government Minister. His energetic work earned him the nomination and election as Governor of Córdoba on May 17, 1880

Governor

He was Governor-elect when there was an insurrection in Buenos Aires, led by Carlos Tejedor and Lisandro Olmos, opposed to the federalization of Buenos Aires. The federalization succeeded in 1880 and was followed by the establishment of state elementary education in the capital^[1] during the presidency of Julio A. Roca.

President

Having become a national Senator in 1883 and becoming close to President Roca, he obtained his support in his bid to become candidate for president for the National Autonomist Party (PAN). He won the 1886 national election, not without accusations of fraud, which was not uncommon in the PAN. His Vice-President was Carlos Pellegrini, ex-War Minister under Roca, who had supported his candidacy from the pages of the Sud América newspaper.

His presidency was marked by a degree of paranoia. An 1890 rugby match in Buenos Aires resulted in both teams, and all 2,500 spectators being arrested.^[2] Celman was particularly vigilant after the Revolution of the Park in the city earlier in the year, and the police had suspected that the match was in fact a political meeting.^[2]

Most observers expected Juárez Celman's administration to be a continuation of Roca's with the retired president managing from behind the scenes, but in a display of independence, he took control of the PAN with in a more authoritative form becoming what his opponents dubbed the unicato (one-man rule)^[3]. This, combined with economic regression, led to the formation of the Civic Union, an opposition group that was later split into the National Civic Union and the Radical Civic Union, the latter being still important in Argentinian politics. In 1890, a revolution forced Celman to resign, and Vice-President Carlos Pellegrini, succeeded him.^[4]

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