José Félix Uriburu

Uriburu was born on July 20, 1868 in Salta Province to José de Uriburu y Poveda and Serafina de Uriburu y Álvarez de Arenales, who were cousins. He was also the nephew of President José Evaristo Uriburu and a descent of Juan Antonio Álvarez de Arenales, a general in the Spanish American wars of independence. According to genealogist Narciso Binayán Carmona, he was descended from Spanish conquistador Domingo Martínez de Irala.[3] On March 17, 1885, he entered the Colegio Militar de la Nación as a cadet. With the rank of sublieutenant, he was one of the 33 officers that participated in the organization of the Revolution of the Park in 1890.

On November 19, 1894, he married Aurelia Madero Buján (1873–1959), the daughter of Eduardo Madero and Marcelina Buján Ellauri, with whom he had three children: Alberto Eduardo, Elena, Teresa, and Marta Mercedes.[3] He served as an assistant to his uncle José Uriburu and to president Luis Sáenz Peña. In 1905, he supported President Manuel Quintana in the suppression of the Radical Revolution of 1905. In 1907, he became the director of the Superior School of War and was later sent to Germany for three years to perfect his training program. When he returned to Buenos Aires, he attended the scientific conventions for the Centennial celebrations and later took the command of Chief of Staff in the Argentine borderlands. In 1913, he returned to Europe as a military attaché to Germany and the United Kingdom. When he returned to Argentina in 1914, he was elected to the Argentine National Congress. In 1921, he ascended to the rank of Division General, and the following year was appointed inspector general of the army by Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear. He was a member of the Supreme Council of War until 1926, when Yrigoyen forced him to reitre for having reached the age of retirement.

On September 10, 1930, Uriburu was recognized as President of the Nation by means of an infamous and controversial ruling by the Supreme Court, which gave rise to the De facto government doctrine.[10] This doctrine legitimized the new government, "as long as it executes the administrative and political function derived from its possession of the force as guarantee of order and social security."[11] He dissolved the National Congress, declared a state of siege, replaced the governors of the provinces with radical governors through federal intervention, and attempted to establish a neo-corporatist government. In this system of government, similar to fascism, Uriburu saw an example of peace and political order.[12] On September 18, 1930, the ambassadors from the United States and England (a country Uriburu had served as an attaché), recognized his provisional government.

José Félix Uriburu, wearing a Gala uniform and the Presidential Sash

Though Uriburu publicly claimed to respect the Constitution, he personally felt that it was necessary to return the country to the rule of a conservative government as was the case prior to the Law of Sáenz Peña, which had established a secret vote for all men over 18. In a speech given to the Superior School of War, Uriburu expressed his opposition to universal suffrage:

We must try to achieve a political authority based in reality rather than purely theory... Aristotle defined democracy as a government by those best fit to rule. The difficulty is in making those who are best fit the rulers. It is difficult to make that happen in any country where, like ours, there is a 60% illiteracy rate, therefore it is clear and evident that it is those 60% that govern the country, because in legal elections, they are the majority.[9]

The four Argentine Presidents of the Infamous Decade: José Félix Uriburu, Agustín P. Justo, Roberto Ortiz, and Ramón Castillo

He established a repressive regime that included for the first time the systematic use of torture against political opponents, particularly anarchists, communists, and radical yrigoyenists, using the Sector of Public Order of the Capital Police, with Leopoldo Lugones, Jr. at the helm.[13] He declared martial law and secretly executed anarchist militants such as Severino Di Giovanni, Gregorio Galeano, José Gatti, Joaquín Penina, Paulino Scarfó and Jorge Tamayo Gavilán. He imprisoned several political leaders, such as former president Hipólito Yrigoyen; censured news publications; and took over the nation's universities, eliminating the autonomy and co-government that they had enjoyed since the University Reform of 1918. Once the coup had taken place, the newly-founded General Confederation of Labor (CGT) adopted an attitude of complacency towards the military regime.[14]

In the economic sphere, the Great Depression had an impact on the country and caused a significant decrease in revenue, a decline in consumption, and an increase in unemployment. In the political sphere, Uriburu attempted a highly repressive model of government, with martial law and military courts to try civilians who opposed the de facto government. His idea was to establish a corporative regime in the style of Italian fascist Benito Mussolini,[15] but the result of the elections demonstrated that it did not have popular support and he was unable to follow through with the plan.

In early 1931, he called elections in the Province of Buenos Aires, but later annulled them after the Radical Civic Union (UCR) won. In November of that year, he again called elections after prohibiting UCR candidates and organizing a system that was broadly recognized as fraudulent, marking the beginning of the so-called Infamous Decade in Argentina. It was under these conditions that General Agustín P. Justo was elected President, representing the party that had earlier been wiped out by the Sáenz Peña Law.

In March 1931, Uriburu received Edward Windsor, then Prince of Wales and later King Edward VIII, with whom he visited the Campo de Mayo, the National Hippodrome, and the seaside resort of Mar del Plata to inaugurate the British Exposition of Arts and Industries at La Rural.

Ernesto Bosch, Minister of Foreign Affairs under President Uriburu

After turning his power over to Agustín P. Justo, he left the country for health reasons and died in Paris two months later after undergoing surgery for stomach cancer. His body was later repatriated and inhumed at the Recoleta Cemetery.[16]

During the 20th Century, several busts and memorial were created and streets named in the dictator's honor, many during de facto governments. However, during the 21st century, these monuments have been removed and the streets renamed.

In the city of San Carlos de Bolívar, there was a bust of Uriburu in Las Acollaradas Park, but in 2012 the City Council voted to remove it.[17] In the city of Balcarce, there is still a monument on Avenida Favaloro, previously named Avenida Uriburu. While the City Council approved its removal in 2014, the monument still remains.[18] Until 2015, there was a bust of Uriburu in Park Mitre in the city of Olavarría just a few meters from the Monument to Liberty erected by the French. It was removed in 1966 and kept in a municipal warehouse. Later, the municipal leader Enrique Mario Alfieri, put in by de facto President Juan Carlos Onganía, placed it on his desk, and in 1973, another conservative municipal leader, Juan Ángel Moya, this time put in by de facto President Roberto M. Levingston, returned the bust to the park, just before that year's March 11 Democratic Elections. In January 2019, the bust was finally removed after City Council approval.[19]

• Newspaper clippings about José Félix Uriburu in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW