Former president Raul Alfonsin was buried today in Recoleta Cemetery aftering passing away two days ago from lung cancer. Elected in 1983, he was the first president after the military dictatorship and was widely respected for taking on the military in trials during the mid 1980s and generally stregthening democray in Argentina.
Alfonsin is before my time following things here in Argentina. I know the history but I don't have a feeling for who he was as a politician. Obviously, he was greatly respected in a way that no other former [or current] president is. Large crowds thronged the cemetery, congress, where his body was on view yesterday, and his home on Avenida Santa Fe. Beatrice has some excellent pictures on flickr of the night he died. GoodAirs has a very good write-up if you're unfamiliar with Alfonsin. And finally, Clarin has a photo gallery of today's burial.
Update: I want to recommend this excellent post over at the Argentine Post on Kirchner viewing Alfonsin's body and the broader meaning of Alfonsin's death in today's politics in Argentina.
2 comments:
Great story. Great photos. Nice choice on the singled out marcher guy.
I visited the cemetery on Thursday afternoon. Just for a moment, we did not passed by each other.
Despite my disagreement with several political decissions Alfonsín took during his government and afterwards, I feel very respectful to him as a President and Statesman.
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