Alsogaray, Álvaro (1913–2005)

An Argentine economist, politician, and military man, Álvaro Alsogaray was born on June 23, 1913, in Esperanza, in the province of Santa Fe. He studied at the Military College and received a degree in engineering. After serving as minister of industry for the military dictatorship that overthrew Juan Domingo Perón in 1955, was called on by President Arturo Frondizi (1958–1962), who was under intense pressure from the military, to be his minister of economy. He was replaced when Frondizi was forced to resign, but returned to head the ministry during the José María Guido administration (1962–1963). He is remembered for the phrase "We have to get through the winter," justifying the orthodox adjustment policies he prescribed for overcoming the country's economic crisis at that time, and is the emblematic figure of Argentine orthodox liberalism.

In 1966, after supporting the military coup, he was named ambassador to the United States, and he remained there until 1968. In 1982 he founded the Union of the Democratic Center (UCD) and ran as a presidential candidate for the liberal right. Between 1983 and 1999, he served in the national chamber of deputies and was an adviser to the executive during the presidency of Peronist Carlos Saúl Menem (1989–1999). During this period, he fiercely defended the process of privatizing state enterprises. He died on April 1, 2005.

See alsoArgentina: The Twentieth Century; Frondizi, Arturo; Guido, José María; Menem, Carlos Saúl; Perón, Juan Domingo.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cavarozzi, Marcelo. Autoritarismo y Democracia, 1955–1996. La transición del estado al mercado en La Argentina. Buenos Aires: Ariel, 1997.

Potash, Robert A: El ejército y la política en Argentina 1962–1973, Vol. 2: De la caída de Frondizi a la restauración Peronista. Buenos Aires, Sudamericana, 1994.

                                       Vicente Palermo