In 2024 30 years of The last reform of the Argentine Constitution. It was the year 1994, Carlos Saúl Menem presided over the country and the decision was consolidated from an agreement with Raúl Alfonsín. The call “Olivos Pact” was the alliance from which the reform was promotedtogether with the basic modifications that should be approved in the new design of the Magna Carta.
The constituent convention in charge of the task met in an opening session in the city of Paraná, on May 25, 1994. But most of his work would take place in the city of Santa Fé, for 3 months, until August 22. It was made up of 305 constituents among which were not only the most important members of Peronism and radicalism but also of minority forces such as the great front led by Chacho Álvarez and the Modin, with Aldo Rico in front.
To celebrate this exceptional event, last year, The journalist Rodis Recalt summoned some of the main figures of the Convention with the idea of recalling their participation in it and analyzing their work in the light of later history. The cycle had 35 interviews that integrated a podcast called “Generation 94” disseminated in Spotify and YouTube. It started with Carlos Pagni, who covered the entire convention and had the scoop of the Olivos Pact and culminated with Cristina Kirchner. In the middle were Coty Nosiglia, Eduardo Duhalde, Elisa Carrió (who entered politics after his work at the Convention), Horacio Massaccesi (main inspiring project), Augusto Alasino, Eugenio Zaffaroni, Carlos Corach, Ricardo Gil Lavedra, Aldo Rico, Rodolfo Barra and many more. This year the project was distinguished by the Buenos Aires Legislature that highlighted the historical and testimonial value of the work.
“It was a founding fact of recent democracy that, curiously, had been a bit forgotten,” I wanted to register the oral memory of a generation that had in her hands the possibility of rewriting the rules of the democratic game in Argentina. “
To reaffirm the important documentary nature of this work, It has just been published in book format for EUDEBA, with the title “Generation 94. Conversations with men and women who reformed the Constitution.” There all interviews are consigned in writing together with a prologue by the author who describes the context of the reform and the political consequences of the Convention.
On the constituents, their relationships, analysis, secrets and anecdotes we talked with Rodis Recalt.
News: What represented in Argentine politics, analyzed from today, that historical moment?
Rodis Recalt: It was a moment of high institutional and political density. On the one hand, it marked the consolidation of the democratic system after a decade of transition. On the other, it was also a very pragmatic power operation between two figures that understood everything: Menem and Alfonsín. From today, it looks like a turning point where politics still had the ability to agree, even with cynicism, but with a long -term idea. Today that capacity seems broken.
News: Is there any element in common, in relation to the Convention, in which all the interviewees have coincided?
Recalt: All, even those who are in ideological antipodes today recognize that there was a climate of respect, listening. Beyond the result, it was lived as an intense, formative and exceptional political experience.
News: What interesting situations or anecdotes were revealed during these talks?
Recalt: Many. What I liked most was to visit the houses and offices of the protagonists. There you breathe something intimate, almost like a personal atmosphere that says much more than the words: the offices, the lights, the objects they choose to keep, the portarretates, the loose roles with annotations, the carefully exhibited memories.
News: What secrets were told?
Recalt: More than secrets, there were confirmations or memories that I had not associated with the Convention. For example, that Rodolfo Barra resigned from the Supreme Court because Menem had ceded places in court to the radicals. Also something that I did not know is that the elimination of compulsory military service happened in parallel to the convention and was unlocked because Claudia Bello heard in a bar that “Chacho” Álvarez was going to present a bill in that line. Then, he went to Menem and anticipated. That anecdote seemed great to understand that sometimes political decisions are not analyzed deep. The reform itself is an example of that.
News: Are there open wounds, born in those days, which did not close?
Recalt: The Constituent of ’94 was not just an institutional reform: it was a turning point in Argentine political history. There many of the seeds were planted that later sprouted, for better or worse, in the following decades. Lilita Carrió and Cristina Kirchner show off in that stage and, after the 2001 crisis, they become central figures. Rosatti begins to build a tour that, many years later, would take him to the presidency of the Court. Chacho Álvarez consolidates his leadership as a progressive figure within the opposition Peronism to Menem and from there launches the alliance with De la Rúa. Many of the tensions, disputes and protagonists of recent history have their first strong act in that scenario. The scars are there, although today they are read in a path more than emotional conflict.
News: What were the most difficult figures to get and convince?
Recalt: Cristina Kirchner, without a doubt, was the most difficult, but because it was complex to find a place on her agenda. But convincing her was not difficult, because all constituents are very proud of having been part of the convention and likes the idea of talking about the process. Another example, Juan Carlos Maqueda while he was judge of the Court gave very few interviews. He was almost 13 years without speaking, but when I contacted him, he did not hesitate to talk and even reported how he learned that he was going to be retired.
News: What were the repercussions of the project among politicians?
Recalt: It was surprising. Many wrote me to thank me or to spend the contact of some other conventional that I had not located. Something like a community around the project was generated. Some were called later to give talks or tell their experiences in universities. Many deputies, lawyers, political scientists and other officials heard podcast.
News: What lesson does that historical moment leave for the present?
Recalt: The exceptional thing, first, was that Menem and Alfonsin understood very well what was happening and decided to advance even despite mutual distrust. The reform had political opposition and justice, the media and the Church, among other corporations, against. Everyone pressed and still could be done. That is why it seems important that if there is a good diagnosis of problems, they all give in to build a common project should be natural in the political leadership.
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