Summary of 33 - De la Revolución del Parque a Roca (1890 - 1898)

The video covers the political developments in Argentina from 1890 to 1898, focusing on the opposition to the ruling regime established in 1880. The institutional structure of the time marginalized opposition, preventing peaceful competition for power and pushing dissenters toward resistance or revolution.

In April 1890, the Civic Union was formed as a heterogeneous opposition party combining various dissatisfied sectors, including liberals led by Leandro Alem and Bartolomé Mitre, and marginalized Catholic groups. They denounced corruption, illegal banknote emissions, and demanded free suffrage and adherence to the Constitution. This coalition led to the Revolution of the Park in July 1890, where rebels, supported by part of the army, occupied the artillery park. Although the revolution was defeated and Mitre fled the country, it forced the resignation of President Juárez Celman.

Following the revolution, the Civic Union split due to differing goals: Mitre’s conservative faction sought to regain power in alliance with President Roca’s supporters, while Alem’s Radical Civic Union (UCR) pushed for genuine democratic reforms, free elections, and honest governance. The new president Pellegrini, backed by a loan from Argentine elites, implemented austerity measures, nationalized waterworks, created a currency board, and founded the Bank of the Argentine Nation to restore investor confidence.

The Radical Civic Union emerged as Argentina’s first modern political party in 1891, initially a small elite movement but gradually gaining support from disenfranchised farmers, the middle class, professionals, and popular sectors. Their persistent demands for representative democracy and transparency exposed systemic corruption and deepened political crises within the ruling elite.

In 1892 and 1893, the radicals led uprisings against the regime, but these failed, resulting in imprisonment and exile for leaders like Alem and Hipólito Irigoyen. The government weakened, with President Luis Sáenz Peña resigning in 1895 amid ongoing border tensions with Chile that increased military spending.

Leandro Alem, disillusioned by political failures and corruption, committed suicide in 1896, passing leadership to his nephew Hipólito Irigoyen, who continued the radical tradition of revolutionary intransigence.

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