José Félix Uriburu

Who was José Félix Uriburu?

Lieutenant General José Félix Benito Uriburu y Uriburu was the first de facto President of Argentina; he achieved the position through a military coup, and his tenure lasted from September 6, 1930, to February 20, 1932.

Uriburu was born in Salta Province, and was a nephew of President José Evaristo Uriburu. He graduated from the military college in 1890. Prior to World War I, he served as military attache to Germany and the United Kingdom. When he returned to Argentina in 1914, he was elected to the Argentine National Congress. He was appointed inspector general of the army by Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear in 1922.

In September 1930, he led a military coup against democratically-elected President Hipólito Yrigoyen, in which the far-right Argentine Patriotic League participated. The coup marked the start of what was later called the Infamous Decade. His regime was strongly supported by rightist intellectuals such as Rodolfo and Julio Irazusta and Juan Carulla.

He stayed as head of the government until 1932, implementing several reforms including cutting of government employees' salaries by more than 10 percent.