Background
Leandro Alem was born on 11 March, 1842 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Leandro Alem was born on 11 March, 1842 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
His organizational activities led to the formation of the Unión Civica Radical (UCR) in 1891. Since then the UCR has provided the main thrust of middle-class opposition to the Argentine oligarchy and to the military.
He fought in the Paraguayan War and afterward was elected to the national congress.
In 1877 Alem and his friend Aristóbulo del Valle attempted to organize a political party (the Republican Party) but failed. Alem was then elected a national senator, becoming a major critic of the Carlos Pellegrini government.
The Radical Civic Union, created under Alem’s leadership in 1891, became the primary vehicle for the reformers who opposed the corrupt political practices of the dominant oligarchy.
In 1896 Alem committed suicide, claiming that division and opposition within the Radicals was the cause. He was succeeded as Radical leader by his nephew Hipólito Yrigoyen.
Alem played a central role in the unrest of 1889 and in the 1890 revolt that led to the resignation of President Juárez Celman.
The UCR’s main focus was a drive for electoral honesty. The movement represented primarily the urban middle class, but it also attracted other opponents of the government. The Radicals, with Alem playing an important part, attempted a number of unsuccessful provincial revolts against the national government in the early 1890s.
Almost from its inception, the party was weakened by dissent and factionalism.
He galvanized those who were unhappy with the dishonesty of the national political process, who wanted more representation in national politics, and who opposed the oligarchy’s domination of the national scene.
