Eduardo Ernesto Lonardi Doucet (; September 15, 1896 – March 22, 1956) was an Argentine Lieutenant General and served as de facto president from September 23 to November 13, 1955.
Biography
Lonardi was born on September 15, 1896. His father, Eduardo Policarpo Lonardi Monti was born in Ospitaletto (Brescia), while his mother, Blanca Delia Doucet Santa Ana, was from Rosario.
Lonardi was appointed military attaché to Chile during the presidency of Ramón Castillo in 1942, shortly afterward he was declared persona non grata by the Chilean government on accusations of espionage. Returning to Argentina, he participated in the coup that overthrew Castillo. He then was appointed military attaché to Washington, D.C. around 1946 where he stayed for a few years. He then permanently returned to Argentina.
President of Argentina
thumb | left | Cover of a magazine after Lonardi came to power.
Eduardo Lonardi, a Catholic nationalist, assumed leadership of the Revolución Libertadora junta that overthrew Juan Perón on September 16, 1955. He was greeted by chants of Cristo Vence ("Christ is Victorious") when arriving in Buenos Aires. Favoring a transition with "neither victors nor vanquished", his conciliatory approach was deemed too soft by the liberal faction of the armed forces, who deposed him less than two months into his de facto presidency and replaced him with hard-liner Pedro Aramburu. besides this he also embraced conservative liberalism.
In terms of economics he supported economic liberalization however in practice the economist Raul Prebisch influenced him.