page_title: Raúl Alfonsín
section_title: First days
hierarchical_section_title: Raúl Alfonsín / Presidency / First days
caption_attribution_description: Alfonsín asume tras la dictadura más oscura de la historia argentina
context_page_description: Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín Foulkes was an Argentine lawyer and statesman who served as the President of Argentina from 10 December 1983 to 8 July 1989. Alfonsín was the first democratically elected president after more than seven years of military dictatorship and is considered the "father of modern democracy in Argentina". Ideologically, he identified as a Radical and social democrat, serving as Leader of the Radical Civic Union from 1983 to 1991, 1993 to 1995, 1999 to 2001, with his political approach called Alfonsinism.
  Born in Chascomús, Buenos Aires Province, he began his studies of law at the National University of La Plata and was a graduate of the University of Buenos Aires.
  He was affiliated with the Radical Civic Union, joining the faction of Ricardo Balbín after the party split.
  He was elected a deputy in the legislature of the Buenos Aires province in 1958, during the presidency of Arturo Frondizi, and a national deputy during the presidency of Arturo Umberto Illia. He opposed both sides of the Dirty War, and several times filed a writ of Habeas corpus, requesting the freedom of victims of forced disappearances, during the National Reorganization Process.
context_section_description: The presidential inauguration of Alfonsín was attended by Isabel Perón. Despite internal recriminations for the defeat, the Peronist party agreed to support Alfonsín as president, to prevent a return of the military. By this time, the left-wing terrorism had been neutralized and was no longer a menace. There were still factions in the military ambitious to keep an authoritarian government, and groups such as the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo seeking reparations for the actions of the military during the Dirty War.
  Three days after taking office, Alfonsín sent a bill to the Congress to revoke the self-amnesty law established by the military. This made it possible for the judiciary to investigate the crimes committed during the Dirty War. During the campaign, Alfonsín had promised that he would do this while Luder had been non-committal. Alfonsín also ordered the initiation of judicial cases against guerrilla leaders Mario Firmenich, Fernando Vaca Narvaja, Ricardo Obregón Cano, Rodolfo Galimberti, Roberto Perdía, Héctor Pardo and Enrique Gorriarán Merlo; and military leaders Jorge Videla, Emilio Massera, Orlando Agosti, Roberto Viola, Armando Lambruschini, Omar Graffigna, Leopoldo Galtieri, Jorge Anaya and Basilio Lami Dozo. He also requested the extradition of guerrilla leaders who were living abroad.
  Most of the first cabinet, organised in Chascomús, was composed of trusted colleagues of Alfonsín. Alfonsín appointed as minister of labour Antonio Mucci, who belonged to a faction of the UCR that sought to reduce the influence of Peronism among labour unions, and promptly sent a bill to Congress designed to promote independent unions. Facing an economic crisis, he appointed Bernardo Grinspun as minister of the economy. He appointed Aldo Neri minister of health, Dante Caputo minister of foreign relations, Antonio Tróccoli minister of interior affairs, Roque Carranza minister of public works, Carlos Alconada Aramburu minister of education, and Raúl Borrás minister of defense. Juan Carlos Pugliese led the chamber of deputies, and Edison Otero was the provisional president of the senate. Many presidential negotiations took place at the Quinta de Olivos, the official residence of the president, rather than at the Casa Rosada.
caption: Raúl Alfonsín's presidential inauguration, 1983
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