Day of National Sovereignty
Encyclopedia
The Day of National Sovereignty is a national public holiday of Argentina
Public holidays in Argentina
The following are the National public holidays and other observances of Argentina.Though holidays of many faiths are respected, public holidays usually include most Catholic holidays...

, celebrated during November 20. It commemorates the Battle of Vuelta de Obligado
Battle of Vuelta de Obligado
The naval Battle of Vuelta de Obligado took place on the waters of the Paraná River on November 20, 1845, between the Argentine Confederation, under the leadership of Juan Manuel de Rosas, and an Anglo-French fleet.- Background :...

, when a small Argentine army stood against an Anglo-French navy that broke into the Paraná River, against the will of the Argentine Confederation
Argentine Confederation
The Argentine Confederation is one of the official names of Argentina, according to the Argentine Constitution, Article 35...

. Although the battle itself ended with an Argentine defeat, the losses of Britain and France in the whole military campaign were so high that they both surrendered to Juan Manuel de Rosas
Juan Manuel de Rosas
Juan Manuel de Rosas , was an argentine militar and politician, who was elected governor of the province of Buenos Aires in 1829 to 1835, and then of the Argentine Confederation from 1835 until 1852...

. It was enacted as a national observance in 1974, following a request from the revisionist historian José María Rosa
José María Rosa
José María Rosa , also lnown as "Pepe Rosa", was an Argentine historian, one of the most notable of the Argentine nationalist revisionist historians.-Biography:...

, and promoted into a national holiday in 2010.

History

José María Rosa
José María Rosa
José María Rosa , also lnown as "Pepe Rosa", was an Argentine historian, one of the most notable of the Argentine nationalist revisionist historians.-Biography:...

 was the first one to make reference to November 20 as the Argentine Day of National Sovereignty. It was in 1950, during the second administration of Juan Domingo Perón. The Peronist government did not endorse openly the historical revisionism of the history of Argentina (which sought to modify the mainstream perspectives over Juan Manuel de Rosas
Juan Manuel de Rosas
Juan Manuel de Rosas , was an argentine militar and politician, who was elected governor of the province of Buenos Aires in 1829 to 1835, and then of the Argentine Confederation from 1835 until 1852...

), but it allowed public manifestations of it. Perón himself admired Rosas and the battle of Vuelta de Obligado since his time in the military school, but did not engage in the historiographical controversy during his presidency: he mantained that "I have enough problems with living people, to fight with dead people as well". The Rosist revisionism was forbidden during the peronist proscription of the Revolución Libertadora
Revolución Libertadora
The Revolución Libertadora was a military uprising that ended the second presidential term of Juan Perón in Argentina, on September 16, 1955.-History:...

. The first official mention to the date was done by the governor of Buenos Aires province Carlos Aloé in 1953.

In 1954 José María Rosa and Ernesto Palacio
Ernesto Palacio
Ernesto Palacio is a Peruvian tenor, particularly associated with Rossini and Mozart roles.Palacio first studied theology before turning to music...

 created the "Popular organization for the repatriation of the remains of General Rosas". Rosas died in 1877 in Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...

, and his body hadn't been returned to Argentina yet. There was a project of law 20769 to both repatriate the body of Rosas and create a Day of National Sovereignty, proposed by Senator Cornejo Linares. The proposal was approved on November 14, 1973 by the Senate. It was approved with amendments by the Chamber of Deputees, returning to the senate. The new version did not include anymore the new observance but just the repatriation. As a result, deputee Gallo made a new project, the law 20.770, specifically for the new observance. Both laws were approved during the September 25 and 26, 1974. The law 20.770 was promulgated by the executive power the following October 3.

In 2010, year of the Argentina Bicentennial
Argentina Bicentennial
The Argentina Bicentennial is a series of celebrations and observances celebrated on May 25, 2010, and throughout the year. They commemorated the 200th anniversary of the May Revolution, a sequence of historical events that led to the Viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros' being ousted from office...

, president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner , commonly known as Cristina Fernández or Cristina Kirchner is the 55th and current President of Argentina and the widow of former President Néstor Kirchner. She is Argentina's first elected female president, and the second female president ever to serve...

, who openly supports the Argentine historical revisionism, made a new proposal to increase the number of holidays in Argentina. One of the proposals was to turn the Day of National Sovereignty into a national holiday, instead of just an observance. The proposal was later promulgated by a Necessity and Urgency Decree
Necessity and Urgency Decree
A Necessity and Urgency Decree is a special kind of order issued by the President of Argentina. Unlike regular decrees, which are used in Argentina for rulemaking, a DNU has the force of law...

 on November 3.

First celebration

The new holiday was first celebrated in 2010 at Obligado, the site of the battle, in an act with the presence of the president, revisionist historian Pacho O'Donnell
Pacho O'Donnell
Mario O'Donnell , best known as Pacho O'Donnell, is an Argentine writer, politician and physician who specializes in psychoanalysis....

 and other politicians. The celebration included the inauguration of a monument of the event, created by Rogelio Polesello.

The Radical Civic Union
Radical Civic Union
The Radical Civic Union is a political party in Argentina. The party's positions on issues range from liberal to social democratic. The UCR is a member of the Socialist International. Founded in 1891 by radical liberals, it is the oldest political party active in Argentina...

 (UCR) was Rosist at its early times, and praised the ideas of the old federalists
Federales (Argentina)
Federales was the name under which the supporters of federalism in Argentina were known, opposing the Unitarios that claimed a centralised government of Buenos Aires Province, with no participation of the other provinces of the custom taxes benefits of the Buenos Aires port...

. The colours of the shield, red and white, reflect that affiliation: federalists weared red badges, and white is the colour of the White Party from Uruguay (the modern National Party
National Party (Uruguay)
The National Party , also known as the White Party , is a major right-wing conservative political party in Uruguay, currently the major opposition party to the ruling Frente Amplio government....

), of Rosas' ally Manuel Oribe
Manuel Oribe
Manuel Ceferino Oribe y Viana was the fourth president of Uruguay.-Biography:Manuel Oribe was the son of Captain Francisco Oribe and María Francisca Viana, a descendant of the first governor of Montevideo, José Joaquín de Viana...

. The UCR distanced from those ideas in later years, embracing the anti-rosist historiography instead. For this reason, some people was surprised with the presence of Leopoldo Moreau, one of the leaders of the UCR, among the invited guests.

The new holiday did not generate any political controversy.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK