Miguel Ángel Juárez Celman

Juárez Celman was born and raised in Córdoba, Argentina, where he studied under the Jesuits at the Colegio de Montserrat. He studied Law, becoming a lawyer in 1869. In 1867, he became an active Freemason.[1] Thanks to his family connections, he came from an aristocratic family, he entered political life early. He was elected Representative just after obtaining his doctorate and from the provincial parliament he headed the movement to promote the secularization of education. Two years later he was elected to the Senate of Argentina and in 1877 became its president. He spent little time as president as after the death of Governor Climaco de la Peña, the new Government of Antonio Del Viso nominated him as Government Minister. His energetic work earned him the nomination and election as Governor of Córdoba on May 17, 1880.

He was Governor-elect when there was an insurrection in Buenos Aires, led by Carlos Tejedor and Lisandro Olmos, opposed to the federalization of Buenos Aires. The federalization succeeded in 1880 and was followed by the establishment of state elementary education in the capital[2] during the presidency of Julio A. Roca.

Having become a national Senator in 1883, and becoming close to President Roca, he obtained Roca's support in his bid to become presidential candidate for the National Autonomist Party (PAN). He won the 1886 national election, not without accusations of fraud, which was not uncommon in the PAN. His Vice-President was Carlos Pellegrini, ex-War Minister under Roca, who had supported his candidacy from the pages of the Sud América newspaper.

His presidency was marked by a degree of paranoia. An 1890 rugby match in Buenos Aires resulted in the arrest of both teams and all 2,500 spectators.[3] Juárez Celman was particularly vigilant after the Revolution of the Park in the city earlier in the year, and the police had suspected that the match was in fact a political meeting.[3]

Most observers expected Juárez Celman's administration to be a continuation of Roca's with the retired president managing from behind the scenes, but in a display of independence, he took control of the PAN with in a more authoritative form becoming what his opponents dubbed the unicato (one-man rule).[2] This, combined with economic regression, led to the formation of the Civic Union, an opposition group that was later split into the National Civic Union and the Radical Civic Union, the latter being still important in Argentinian politics. In 1890, a revolution forced Juárez to resign, and Vice-President Carlos Pellegrini, succeeded him.[4]

Juárez Celman died in Arrecifes, aged 64.