Juan Atilio Bramuglia

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Juan Atilio Bramuglia
Minister of Foreign Relations
In office
June 4, 1946 – August 11, 1949
PresidentJuan Perón
Preceded byJuan Isaac Cooke
Succeeded byHipólito Jesús Paz
Federal Interventor
of Buenos Aires Province
In office
January 12, 1945 – September 19, 1945
Preceded byRoberto Vanetta
Succeeded byRamón del Río
Personal details
BornJanuary 1, 1903
Chascomús
DiedSeptember 4, 1962(1962-09-04) (aged 59)
Buenos Aires
Nationality Argentina
SpouseEsther Bramuglia
Alma materUniversity of Buenos Aires

Juan Atilio Bramuglia (January 1, 1903 – September 4, 1962) was an Argentine labor lawyer who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs during the administration of President Juan Perón.

Life and times

Early life and career

Bramuglia was born in

juris doctor in 1925.[1]

He began his legal career as a lawyer for the Unión Ferroviaria, an employer-sponsored rail workers' union, and in 1929, became its chief counsel. The union eclipsed more combative rivals in the nation's important

military coup in June 1943, he joined the leader of the rival rail union La Fraternidad, Francisco Capozzi, and a colleague in the CGT, retail employees' union leader Ángel Borlenghi, in alliance that sought a role within the new government. Their representative, Colonel Domingo Mercante (whose father had been a Fraternidad labor organizer), quickly established a liaison with the new Labor Secretary, Colonel Juan Perón.[2]

Their alliance would result in the development of the first working relationship between the Department of Labor and

social benefits whose enactment would earn Perón lasting support from the nation's working class.[3]

His efforts, and Vice President Perón's paramount role in the dictatorship of General

Edelmiro Farrell, earned Bramuglia an appointment as Federal Interventor of Buenos Aires Province in January 1945. His tenure promoted educational and labor law improvement, though his association with Perón resulted in his dismissal by President Farrell in September amid a simmering power struggle with the popular Vice President.[2]

He had returned to his post of chief counsel to the Unión Ferroviaria when, on October 13, Perón was arrested. The populist leader's mistress and close collaborator,

Eva Duarte, called on Bramuglia's legal acumen for assistance during the crisis. Bramuglia, however, believed that a lawsuit would be counterproductive and refused; although Perón was released following mass demonstrations on October 17, this decision by Bramuglia would earn him the lasting enmity of the influential future First Lady.[4]

Minister of Foreign Affairs

Bramuglia was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs upon Perón's inaugural in June 1946. The new Foreign Minister had privately aspired to become Minister of Labor, which he considered would be the most important policy-making post in the new, populist government.

Pan American Union, signed the Rio Treaty (which promoted U.S. influence in the foreign policy of other Western Hemisphere nations) against the opposition of many in his party,[7] and made personal efforts to foster good relations with U.S. diplomats, themselves.[8]

Bramuglia was appointed

Andrei Vyshinsky and British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin in their first joint meeting regarding the crisis;[8] following these and further talks, as well as the success of the ongoing Berlin Airlift, the blockade was lifted on May 12, 1949.[9]

The skilled Foreign Minister could not escape misgivings harbored toward him by the First Lady, however. This antagonism became irreconcilable when Bramuglia opposed to Mrs. Perón's

Harry Truman, or his accomplishments. She had the Foreign Minister's photo left out of relevant print articles, even ordering his image airbrushed from group photos in Democracia, a former UCR news daily expropriated by the state.[4]

These disputes, as well as those with the

Argentine Ambassador to the U.S., Jerónimo Remorino, and the Ambassador to the United Nations, José Arce,[3] led Bramuglia to repeatedly submit his resignation to the President, who accepted on August 11 following a sixth attempt by the Foreign Minister to do so. The heated argument that resulted led Remorino to challenge Bramuglia to a duel, which the latter prevented at the last minute; Bramuglia believed Remorino to be responsible for his fall from grace.[10] He returned to his labor law practice and taught in the discipline at his alma mater.[5]

The Popular Union

President Perón was ultimately deposed in a violent

Pedro Aramburu, and was, in turn, publicly condemned by the exiled Perón.[5]

Increasingly repressive measures on the part of Aramburu further polarized Argentine politics, however, and led to General Juan José Valle's failed revolt against Aramburu in June 1956 (for which 31 were executed). Bramuglia issued conciliatory statements in a number of news magazines, including the highly anti-peronist Ahora, whose publication of the Bramuglias' address and phone number led to threats and harassment. He declared that "every family is looking forward to peace, and to shaping the future through a political culture that includes political parties," and thus distanced himself from Perón's rhetoric, which, during 1956, was largely inflammatory in nature.[2]

The UP adopted the Peronist tenets of

personality cult Perón and the late Evita had engendered. The party received a significant boost when Alejandro Leloir, the last Chairman of the Peronist Party' executive committee before Perón's overthrow, joined the UP. Bramuglia was not the only Neo-Peronist leader to emerge in 1955; these also included Cipriano Reyes, who formed the Labor Party, and Vicente Saadi, who formed the Populist Party. All three were Peronists who played key roles in the movement's earliest days, and who later fell out with the populist leader. Each one openly defied Perón by forming these alternatives to his line, and more so by fielding candidates for elections to the Constitutional Assembly of 1957 (tasked with replacing Perón's 1949 Constitution).[5]

Leloir soon became a rival within the UP, and Bramuglia was forced to cancel its participation in the July 28 election. Their alliance endured despite this, and he nominated Leloir for the upcoming

blank ballot option, as he had done in 1957), and persuaded Leloir to withdraw. Leloir, who consulted Frondizi instead of his UP partner, left Bramuglia no choice but to call for blank ballots himself.[3]

The UP elected no Congressmen in 1958, and was barred from running in 1960. President Frondizi lifted the ban ahead of the

Governor of Buenos Aires would then receive an unexpected endorsement: that of Perón, who believed these elections would give Peronism a role in government. Joined on the ticket by Marcos Anglada, Framini's unofficial slogan was unequivocal: "Framini-Anglada, Perón to the Rosada!" [2]

The clear reference to the Casa Rosada (the president's executive office building) rekindled fears of Perón's return among the military and other anti-Peronists. The UP placed third with 18% of the vote, and won 10 of 14 governorships at stake (including Framini's victory in the paramount Province of Buenos Aires).[11] President Frondizi was forced to annul UP victories by the military, and on March 28, he was overthrown.[2]

Legacy

Bramuglia died in September of that year at age 59; the UP, banned during the 1963 election, would be allowed to participate in 1965, and its strong showing would again prompt a military coup.[2]

The Vice President of the

University of Tel Aviv, Professor Ranaan Rein, authored detailed studies of both Bramuglia and the Popular Union. He emphasized that the former Foreign Minister, whom he considered "the most eminent and talented cabinet member of Perón's first term," was a needed pragmatic influence in a country whose politics "have oscillated between ideological inconsistency and the narrowest dogmatism."[1]

In the 1996 film Evita Bramuglia is portrayed by Gary Brooker, singing the song "Rainbow Tour".

References

  1. ^ a b Girbal-Blacha, Noemí (2006). "Los muchachos peronistas" (PDF). Revista de Historiografía Argentina. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-01-19.
  2. ^
    ISBN 9780394522975
    .
  3. ^ a b c Rein, Ranaan (2006). Juan Atilio Bramuglia: Bajo la sombra del líder (PDF). Editorial Lumière.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ a b Crassweller, Robert (1987). Perón and the Enigmas of Argentina. W.W. Norton and Company.
  5. ^ a b c d Rein, Ranaan. "El primer peronismo sin Perón: la Unión Popular durante la Revolución Libertadora" (PDF). University of Tel Aviv.
  6. ^ "Historia general de las relaciones exteriores de la República Argentina". CEMA-CARI.
  7. ^ "Argentina: The Senate Assents". Time. September 2, 1946. Archived from the original on February 12, 2009.
  8. ^ a b "Argentina: Top of the Ladder". Time. December 20, 1948. Archived from the original on February 1, 2011.
  9. ^
    ISBN 9780520043855
    .
  10. ^ "Six Tries & Out". Time. August 22, 1949. Archived from the original on January 31, 2011.
  11. ^ Nohlen, Dieter (2005). Elections in the Americas. Oxford University Press.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Juan_Atilio_Bramuglia&oldid=1186234362"