Leandro Nicéforo Alem was an Argentine politician, a founder and leader of the Radical Civic Union. Alem was the uncle and political teacher of Hipólito Yrigoyen. He was also an active Freemason. Born in Buenos Aires, his father was the chief of Governor of Buenos Aires ProvinceJuan Manuel de Rosas' political police, the Mazorca, who was executed after the battle of Caseros. The young Leandro changed his surname from Alén to Alem to mitigate associations with him. In 1859, being only 18 years old, he took part in the battles of Cepeda and Pavón, and in 1865, he joined the war against Paraguay. After this, he returned to Buenos Aires to finish his law studies. He had democratic, anti-authoritarian ideas, and in 1868, he joined Adolfo Alsina's Autonomist Party, where he showed a skill for incisive rhetoricsin public debates. Alem was elected diputado at the provincial legislature of Buenos Aires in 1871. In 1874, he went on to become National Representative, and then Senator. He opposed the federalization of the city of Buenos Aires, required by the Constitution. When the bill was passed by the legislature, he resigned his seat and became the intellectual leader of a group of discontents that sought to produce changes in Argentine politics. In 1877, he and his friend Aristóbulo del Valle founded the Republican Party. In 1889, Argentina was going through a deep political and economic crisis, worsened by the corruption and abuse of power of President Miguel Juárez Celman. In this context, Alem organized the Civic Union of the Youth,. In July 1890, Alem was one of the leaders of the Revolución del Parque revolt that forced Juárez Celman to resign. When Vice-President Carlos Pellegrini took charge in his stead, Alem renewed his opposition, lending support to uprisings against the national government in the provinces. After a failed uprising in 1893, Alem saw many of his supporters leave him. Feeling disappointed and betrayed, he died by suicide on 1 July 1896, by shooting himself in his right temple inside a carriage. His remains are buried in the Memorial to the Fallen in the 1890 Revolution, in the La Recoleta Cemetery of Buenos Aires.
