Everything about the Radical Civic Union totally explained
The
Radical Civic Union (in Spanish,
Unión Cívica Radical,
UCR) is a
political party in
Argentina. The party's positions on issues range from
liberal to
social democratic. The UCR is a member of the
Socialist International.
The
Unión Cívica Radical (UCR) is the oldest existing political party in Argentina. It was founded in
1891 by radical
liberals and held power for 28 years. For many years the party was either in opposition to
Peronist governments or illegal during military rule.
History
The party was a spin-off of the
Civic Union, which was led by
Bartolomé Mitre and
Leandro Alem The party unsuccessfully led an attempt to force the early departure of President
Miguel Juárez Celman in the
Revolution of the Park (
Revolución del Parque). Eventually a compromise was reached with Juárez Celman's government. Hard-liners who opposed this agreement founded the current UCR, led by Alem's nephew, the young and charismatic
Hipólito Yrigoyen. In 1893 and 1905 the party led unsuccessful revolutions to overthrow the government. With the introduction of free, fair and secret elections based on
universal suffrage in
1912 the Party managed to win the general elections of
1916, when Hipólito Yrigoyen became president. The Radical Civic Union remained in power during the next 14 years: Yrigoyen was succeded by Marcelo T. de Alvear in 1922 and by himself in 1928. The first coup in Argentina's modern history occurred on September 6, 1930 and ousted an aging Yrigoyen amid an economic crisis resulting from the United States'
Great Depression.
From 1930 to 1958 the Radical Civic Union was confined to be the main opposition party, either to the Conservatives and the military during the 1930s and the early 1940s or to the Peronism during the late 1940s - early 1950s. It was only in 1958 when a faction of the party allied with banned peronists (the so called Intransigent Radical Civic Union) came back to power, led by
Arturo Frondizi. The growing tollerance of Frondizi towards its peronist allies provoked unrest in the army, which ousted the president in March 1962. After a brief military government, presidential elections took place in 1963 with the Peronist Party banned (as in 1958). The outcome of the elections saw the candidate of the People's Radical Civic Union (the other party's faction)
Arturo Illia coming in the first place but with only 25% of the votes (approximately 19% of the votes were blank due to the peronism's banning). Although Argentina witnessed during Illia's presidency one of the best economic performances in its history, the president was ousted by the army in June 1966. Illia's peaceful and ordered style of governing - sometimes considered too "slow" and "boring" - was being heavily critized at the time.
During the 1970s peronist government (1973-1976), the Radical Civic Union was the second most voted party, but this didn't actually grant the party the role of being the political opposition. In fact, the peronist government's most important criticisms came from the same Peronist Party (now called
Justicialist Party). The UCR's leader in those times,
Ricardo Balbín, saluted Peron's coffin (Perón had died on July 1, 1974, during his third mandate as president) with the famous sentence "This old adversary salutes a great friend", thus marking the end of the peronist-radical rivalry that had marked the pace of the Argentine political scene until then. The growing fight between left-wing and right-wing peronists took the country into chaos and many UCR members were targeted by both factions. The subsequent coup in 1976 ended the peronist experience and "disappeared" many members of the UCR party as well.
Between
1983 and
1989 its leader,
Raúl Alfonsín, was the first democratically elected
president after the
military dictatorship headed by generals such as
Jorge Videla,
Leopoldo Galtieri and
Reynaldo Bignone. Alfonsín was succeeded by
Carlos Menem of the Peronist
Justicialist Party (PJ).
In
1997 the UCR participated in elections in coalition with
Front for a Country in Solidarity (FREPASO), itself an alliance of many smaller parties. This strategy brought
Fernando de la Rúa to the presidency in the
1999 elections. During
major riots triggered by economic reforms implemented by the UCR government (with the advice of the
International Monetary Fund), President de la Rúa resigned and fled the country to prevent further turmoil. After three consecutive acting presidents assumed duties in the following weeks,
Eduardo Duhalde of the PJ took office until new elections could be held.
After the
2001 legislative elections it became the second largest party in the federal
Chamber of Deputies, winning 71 of 257 seats. It campaigned in an alliance with the smaller, more leftist FREPASO. The party has subsequently declined markedly and its candidate for President in 2003 gained just 2.34% of the vote, beaten by three Peronists and more seriously, by two former radicals,
Ricardo López Murphy of
Recrear and
Elisa Carrió of
ARI, who have leached members, support and profile from the UCR. In the
2005 legislative elections, the UCR was reduced to 35 deputies and 13 senators, but remains the second force in Argentine politics.
Current status
In recent years the UCR has been riven by an internal dispute between those who support the broadly left-wing policies of Peronist President
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and her husband and predecessor
Nestor Kirchner, and those who wish to oppose their governments. An influential faction led by five provincial governors nicknamed the
Radicales K back the Kirchners.
Ahead of the 2007 election, the remaining Radicals divided between those who wanted to find an internal candidate and those who wanted to back a candidate from another movement, mostly former Economy Minister
Roberto Lavagna, supported by former president Raúl Alfonsín.
In
May 2005, the National Committee of the UCR, then led by
Ángel Rozas, intervened (suspended of authorities of) the Provincial Committee of the UCR in
Tierra del Fuego Province after Radical governor
Jorge Colazo spoke in favour of Kirchner's reelection. The intervention was rejected by the Provincial Committee.
A party convention held in
Rosario in
August 2006 officially rejected the possibility of alliances with Kirchner's faction of Justicialism and granted former Party President
Roberto Iglesias the permission to negotiate with other political forces. This led to several months of talks with Lavagna.
The continued dissidence of the
Radicales K prompted the intervention of the UCR Provincial Committee of
Mendoza on
1 November 2006, due to the public support of President Kirchner by Mendoza's governor, the Radical
Julio Cobos. The measure was short-lived, as the Mendoza Province Electoral Justice overturned it three days later.
Deputy and UCR National Committee Secretary General
Margarita Stolbizer stated that the party is virtually "broken due to the stance of the leaders who support the alliance [withKirchner]".
Roberto Iglesias eventually resigned the presidency of the party in November 2006 due to differences with Lavagna, having reached the conclusion that an alliance with him would be a mistake, and joined Stolbizer's camp, maintaining that the party should look for its own candidate (the so-called
Radicales R). On
1 December 2006 the National Committee appointed
Jujuy Province Senator
Gerardo Morales as its new president. Morales stated that he wanted to follow the mandate of the Rosario convention (that is, looking for a possible alliance with Roberto Lavagna).
Morales went on to become Lavagna's running mate in the
presidential election of October 2007, coming third. Although this campaign represented the mainstream of the national UCR leadership, substantial elements backed other candidates, notably the
Radicales K. Cobos was elected Vice President as the running mate of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and several Radicals were elected to Congress as part of the Kirchners'
Front for Victory faction. The official UCR ranks in Congress were reduced to 30 in the
Argentine Chamber of Deputies and 10 in the
Argentine Senate.
Provincial factions
The UCR has become fragmented politically and geographically. Besides the interventions in Tierra del Fuego and Mendoza, already in September 2006 the party leaders had admitted that they reviewing requests of intervention against the provincial committees of
Río Negro and
Santiago del Estero.
In
Santa Fe, the UCR has teamed up with the
Socialist Party to support Socialist candidate for governor
Hermes Binner, in exchange for the vice-governorship. Binner has ignored the candidate proposed by the UCR's leadership and is courting the UCR's bases and municipal governments. The UCR is currently debating whether to break the alliance or submit to the Socialists' requirements that the vice-governor be from
Santa Fe City and (if possible) a woman.
Leaders of the UCR
The Party is headed by a National Committee; its President is the de facto leader of the party. A national convention brings together representatives of the provincial parties and affiliated organisations such as
Franja Morada and Radical Youth, and is itself represented on the National Committee.
Presidents of the National Committee:
Further Information
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