List of heads of state of Argentina


has had many different types of heads of state as well as many different types of government. During pre-Columbian times, the territories that today form Argentina were inhabited by nomadic tribes without any defined government. During the Spanish colonization of the Americas, the King of Spain retained the ultimate authority over the territories conquered in the New World, appointing viceroys for local government. The territories that would later become Argentina were first part of the Viceroyalty of Peru and then the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. The May Revolution started the Argentine War of Independence by replacing the viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros with the first national government. It was the Primera Junta, a junta of several members, which would grow into the Junta Grande with the incorporation of provincial deputies. The size of the juntas gave room to internal political disputes among their members, so they were replaced by the First and Second Triumvirate, of three members. The Assembly of the Year XIII created a new executive authority, with attributions similar to that of a head of state, called the Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata. A second Assembly, the Congress of Tucumán, declared independence in 1816 and promulgated the Argentine Constitution of 1819. However, this constitution was repealed during armed conflicts between the central government and the Federal League Provinces. This started a period known as the Anarchy of the Year XX, when Argentina lacked any type of head of state.
There was a new attempt to organize a central government in 1826. A new congress wrote a new constitution and elected Bernardino Rivadavia as president in the process. Rivadavia was the first President of Argentina. However, he resigned shortly after and the 1826 Constitution was repealed. The Argentine provinces then organized themselves as a confederation without a central head of state. In this organization, the governors of Buenos Aires province took some duties such as the payment of external debt or the administration of the foreign relations in the name of all provinces. Those governors were appointed by the Buenos Aires legislature, with the only exception of Juan Lavalle. Juan Manuel de Rosas kept the governor office for seventeen consecutive years until Justo José de Urquiza defeated him at the 1852 Battle of Caseros. Urquiza then called for a new Constitutional Assembly and promulgated the Argentine Constitution of 1853, which is the current Constitution of Argentina through amendments. In 1854, Urquiza became the first President of modern Argentina, acting both as head of government and head of state. However, the Buenos Aires Province had rejected the Constitution and became an independent state until the aftermath of the 1859 Battle of Cepeda, although the internecine conflict continued. Only after the subsequent Battle of Pavón in 1861, the former bonaerense leader Bartolomé Mitre became the first president of an unified Argentine Republic.
The succession line of constitutional presidents run uninterrupted until 1930, when José Félix Uriburu took government through a civic-military coup d'état. For many decades, there was an alternance between legitimate presidents and others that took government through illegitimate means. Those means included coups d'état, but also proscriptions of major political parties and electoral fraud. The last coup d'état occurred in 1976 and resulted in the National Reorganization Process, which ended in 1983. The retrospective recognition as presidents or heads of state of any de facto ruler that exercised its authority outside the Constitutional mandate is a controversial and relevant issue in Argentine politics. However, their government actions were recognized as valid following the de facto government doctrine that used to legitimize them. This doctrine was rejected by the 1994 amendment and would not be applicable for potential future coups. The current head of state is President Alberto Fernandez, who took office on 10 December 2019.

Affiliation keys

United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata (1810–1831)

Junta presidents (1810–1811)

Triumvirates (1811–1814)

Supreme Directors (1814–1820)

Governors of Buenos Aires Province managing international relations (1820–1826)

Between 1820 and 1826, the United Provinces functioned as a loose alliance of autonomous provinces put together by pacts and treaties, but lacking any actual central government until the 1825 Constitutional Congress.

First presidential government (1826–1827)

Governors of Buenos Aires Province managing international relations (1827–1831)

Argentine Confederation (1831–1861)

Governors managing international relations (1831–1852)

Provisional Director of the Argentine Confederation (1852–1854)

Presidents of the Confederation (1854–1861)

Argentine Republic (1861–present)

Presidents (1861–present)

Timeline of head of states of Argentina by affiliation

Timeline of head of states of Argentina by individual


ImageSize = width:1200 height:auto barincrement:10
PlotArea = top:3 bottom:150 right:130 left:20
AlignBars = late
DateFormat = yyyy
Period = from:1810 till:2020
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1810
ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1810
Colors =
id:noinfo value:rgb legend:No_info
id:unitarian value:rgb legend:Unitarian
id:federal value:rgb legend:Federal
id:liberal value:rgb legend:Liberal
id:none value:rgb legend:None_
id:pan value:rgb legend:National/PAN/PAN-Modernist
id:ucr value:rgb legend:UCR/UCR-I/UCR-P
id:military value:rgb legend:Military
id:pdn value:rgb legend:Concordancia/PDN/UCR-A
id:peronist value:rgb legend:Labour/UCR-JR/Independent/Peronist/PJ/FREJULI/FREJUPO/UCD/FPV/FDT
id:alianza value:rgb legend:UCR/FREPASO
id:pro value:rgb legend:PRO
Legend = columns:4 left:200 top:100 columnwidth:210
TextData =
pos: textcolor:black fontsize:M
text:"Political parties:"
BarData =
bar:CornelioSaavedra
bar:DomingoMatheu
bar:FelicianoChiclana
bar:ManueldeSarratea
bar:JuanJoséPaso
bar:JuanMartíndePueyrredón
bar:NicolásRodríguezPeña
bar:AntonioÁlvarezJonte
bar:GervasioAntoniodePosadas
bar:JoséJuliánPérez
bar:JuanLarrea
bar:CarlosMaríadeAlvear
bar:JosédeSanMartín
bar:MatíasdeIrigoyen
bar:ManueldeSarratea
bar:JoséRondeau
bar:IgnacioÁlvarezThomas
bar:AntonioGonzálezdeBalcarce
bar:JuanPedroAguirre
bar:JuanRamónGonzálezBalcarce
bar:IldefonsoRamosMexía
bar:MiguelEstanislaoSoler
bar:ManuelDorrego
bar:MartínRodríguez
bar:JuanGregoriodeLasHeras
bar:BernardinoRivadavia
bar:VicenteLópezyPlanes
bar:JuanLavalle
bar:JuanJoséViamonte
bar:JuanManueldeRosas
bar:ManuelVicenteMaza
bar:JustoJosédeUrquiza
bar:SantiagoDerqui
bar:JuanEstebanPedernera
bar:BartoloméMitre
bar:MarcosPaz
bar:GuillermoRawson
bar:MarcelinoUgarte
bar:LucasGonzález
bar:DomingoFaustinoSarmiento
bar:NicolásAvellaneda
bar:JulioArgentinoRoca
bar:MiguelJuárezCelman
bar:CarlosPellegrini
bar:LuisSáenzPeña
bar:JoséEvaristoUriburu
bar:ManuelQuintana
bar:JoséFigueroaAlcorta
bar:RoqueSáenzPeña
bar:VictorinodelaPlaza
bar:HipólitoYrigoyen
bar:MarceloTorcuatodeAlvear
bar:EnriqueMartínez
bar:JoséFélixUriburu
bar:AgustínPedroJusto
bar:RobertoMaríaOrtiz
bar:RamónCastillo
bar:ArturoRawson
bar:PedroPabloRamírez
bar:EdelmiroJuliánFarrell
bar:JuanDomingoPerón
bar:EduardoLonardi
bar:PedroEugenioAramburu
bar:ArturoFrondizi
bar:JoséMaríaGuido
bar:ArturoUmbertoIllia
bar:PascualPistarini
bar:BenignoIgnacioVarela
bar:AdolfoTeodoroÁlvarez
bar:JuanCarlosOnganía
bar:PedroAlbertoJoséGnavi
bar:AlejandroLanusse
bar:CarlosAlbertoRey
bar:RobertoLevingston
bar:HéctorJoséCámpora
bar:RaúlAlbertoLastiri
bar:IsabelMartínezdePerón
bar:ÍtaloLúder
bar:JorgeRafaelVidela
bar:EmilioEduardoMassera
bar:OrlandoRamónAgosti
bar:RobertoEduardoViola
bar:HoracioTomásLiendo
bar:CarlosAlbertoLacoste
bar:LeopoldoGaltieri
bar:AlfredoOscarSaint-Jean
bar:ReynaldoBignone
bar:RaúlAlfonsín
bar:CarlosMenem
bar:FernandodelaRúa
bar:AdolfoRodríguezSaá
bar:EduardoDuhalde
bar:NéstorKirchner
bar:CristinaFernándezdeKirchner
bar:MauricioMacri
bar:AlbertoFernández
PlotData=
width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift: anchor:till
bar:CornelioSaavedra
from: 1810 till: 1811 color:noinfo text:"Cornelio Saavedra"
bar:DomingoMatheu
from: 1811 till: 1811 color:noinfo text:"Domingo Matheu"
bar:FelicianoChiclana
from: 1811 till: 1812 color:noinfo text:"Feliciano Chiclana"
bar:ManueldeSarratea
from: 1811 till: 1812 color:noinfo
from: 1815 till: 1815 color:noinfo
from: 1820 till: 1820 color:noinfo
from: 1820 till: 1820 color:noinfo text:"Manuel de Sarratea"
bar:JuanJoséPaso
from: 1811 till: 1812 color:noinfo
from: 1812 till: 1813 color:noinfo text:"Juan José Paso"
bar:JuanMartíndePueyrredón
from: 1811 till: 1812 color:noinfo
from: 1816 till: 1819 color:noinfo text:"Juan Martín de Pueyrredón"
bar:NicolásRodríguezPeña
from: 1812 till: 1814 color:noinfo text:"Nicolás Rodríguez Peña"
bar:AntonioÁlvarezJonte
from: 1812 till: 1813 color:noinfo text:"Antonio Álvarez Jonte"
bar:GervasioAntoniodePosadas
from: 1813 till: 1814 color:noinfo
from: 1814 till: 1815 color:noinfo text:"Gervasio Antonio de Posadas"
bar:JoséJuliánPérez
from: 1813 till: 1813 color:noinfo text:"José Julián Pérez"
bar:JuanLarrea
from: 1813 till: 1814 color:noinfo text:"Juan Larrea"
bar:CarlosMaríadeAlvear
from: 1815 till: 1815 color:noinfo text:"Carlos María de Alvear"
bar:JosédeSanMartín
from: 1815 till: 1815 color:noinfo text:"José de San Martín"
bar:MatíasdeIrigoyen
from: 1815 till: 1815 color:noinfo
from: 1820 till: 1820 color:noinfo text:"Matías de Irigoyen"
bar:JoséRondeau
from: 1815 till: 1815 color:noinfo
from: 1819 till: 1820 color:noinfo text:"José Rondeau"
bar:IgnacioÁlvarezThomas
from: 1815 till: 1816 color:noinfo text:"Ignacio Álvarez Thomas"
bar:AntonioGonzálezdeBalcarce
from: 1816 till: 1816 color:noinfo text:"Antonio González de Balcarce"
bar:JuanPedroAguirre
from: 1820 till: 1820 color:noinfo text:"Juan Pedro Aguirre"
bar:JuanRamónGonzálezBalcarce
from: 1820 till: 1820 color:noinfo
from: 1832 till: 1833 color:federal text:"Juan Ramón González Balcarce"
bar:IldefonsoRamosMexía
from: 1820 till: 1820 color:noinfo
from: 1820 till: 1820 color:noinfo text:"Ildefonso Ramos Mexía"
bar:MiguelEstanislaoSoler
from: 1820 till: 1820 color:noinfo
from: 1820 till: 1820 color:noinfo text:"Miguel Estanislao Soler"
bar:ManuelDorrego
from: 1820 till: 1820 color:noinfo
from: 1827 till: 1828 color:federal text:"Manuel Dorrego"
bar:MartínRodríguez
from: 1820 till: 1824 color:noinfo text:"Martín Rodríguez"
bar:JuanGregoriodeLasHeras
from: 1824 till: 1826 color:noinfo text:"Juan Gregorio de Las Heras"
bar:BernardinoRivadavia
from: 1826 till: 1827 color:unitarian text:"Bernardino Rivadavia"
bar:VicenteLópezyPlanes
from: 1827 till: 1827 color:none
from: 1852 till: 1852 color:none text:"Vicente López y Planes"
bar:JuanLavalle
from: 1828 till: 1829 color:unitarian text:"Juan Lavalle"
bar:JuanJoséViamonte
from: 1829 till: 1829 color:federal
from: 1833 till: 1834 color:federal text:"Juan José Viamonte"
bar:JuanManueldeRosas
from: 1829 till: 1831 color:federal
from: 1831 till: 1832 color:federal
from: 1835 till: 1852 color:federal text:"Juan Manuel de Rosas"
bar:ManuelVicenteMaza
from: 1834 till: 1835 color:federal text:"Manuel Vicente Maza"
bar:JustoJosédeUrquiza
from: 1852 till: 1852 color:federal
from: 1852 till: 1854 color:federal
from: 1854 till: 1860 color:federal text:"Justo José de Urquiza"
bar:SantiagoDerqui
from: 1860 till: 1861 color:federal text:"Santiago Derqui"
bar:JuanEstebanPedernera
from: 1861 till: 1861 color:unitarian text:"Juan Esteban Pedernera"
bar:BartoloméMitre
from: 1861 till: 1868 color:liberal text:"Bartolomé Mitre"
bar:MarcosPaz
from: 1868 till: 1868 color:liberal text:"Marcos Paz"
bar:GuillermoRawson
from: 1868 till: 1868 color:none text:"Guillermo Rawson"
bar:MarcelinoUgarte
from: 1868 till: 1868 color:none text:"Marcelino Ugarte"
bar:LucasGonzález
from: 1868 till: 1868 color:none text:"Lucas González"
bar:JoséEvaristoUriburu
from: 1868 till: 1868 color:none
from: 1895 till: 1898 color:pan text:"José Evaristo Uriburu"
bar:DomingoFaustinoSarmiento
from: 1868 till: 1874 color:none text:"Domingo Faustino Sarmiento"
bar:NicolásAvellaneda
from: 1874 till: 1880 color:pan text:"Nicolás Avellaneda"
bar:JulioArgentinoRoca
from: 1880 till: 1886 color:pan
from: 1898 till: 1904 color:pan text:"Julio Argentino Roca"
bar:MiguelJuárezCelman
from: 1886 till: 1890 color:pan text:"Miguel Juárez Celman"
bar:CarlosPellegrini
from: 1890 till: 1892 color:pan text:"Carlos Pellegrini"
bar:LuisSáenzPeña
from: 1892 till: 1895 color:pan text:"Luis Sáenz Peña"
bar:ManuelQuintana
from: 1904 till: 1906 color:pan text:"Manuel Quintana"
bar:JoséFigueroaAlcorta
from: 1906 till: 1910 color:pan text:"José Figueroa Alcorta"
bar:RoqueSáenzPeña
from: 1910 till: 1914 color:pan text:"Roque Sáenz Peña"
bar:VictorinodelaPlaza
from: 1914 till: 1916 color:pan text:"Victorino de la Plaza"
bar:HipólitoYrigoyen
from: 1916 till: 1922 color:ucr
from: 1928 till: 1930 color:ucr text:"Hipólito Yrigoyen"
bar:MarceloTorcuatodeAlvear
from: 1922 till: 1928 color:ucr text:"Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear"
bar:EnriqueMartínez
from: 1930 till: 1930 color:ucr text:"Enrique Martínez"
bar:JoséFélixUriburu
from: 1930 till: 1932 color:military text:"José Félix Uriburu"
bar:AgustínPedroJusto
from: 1932 till: 1938 color:pdn text:"Agustín Pedro Justo"
bar:RobertoMaríaOrtiz
from: 1938 till: 1942 color:pdn text:"Roberto María Ortiz"
bar:RamónCastillo
from: 1940 till: 1943 color:pdn text:"Ramón Castillo"
bar:ArturoRawson
from: 1943 till: 1943 color:military text:"Arturo Rawson"
bar:PedroPabloRamírez
from: 1943 till: 1944 color:military text:"Pedro Pablo Ramírez"
bar:EdelmiroJuliánFarrell
from: 1944 till: 1946 color:military text:"Edelmiro Julián Farrell"
bar:JuanDomingoPerón
from: 1946 till: 1955 color:peronist
from: 1973 till: 1974 color:peronist text:"Juan Domingo Perón"
bar:EduardoLonardi
from: 1955 till: 1955 color:military text:"Eduardo Lonardi"
bar:PedroEugenioAramburu
from: 1955 till: 1958 color:military text:"Pedro Eugenio Aramburu"
bar:ArturoFrondizi
from: 1958 till: 1962 color:ucr text:"Arturo Frondizi"
bar:JoséMaríaGuido
from: 1962 till: 1963 color:ucr text:"José María Guido"
bar:ArturoUmbertoIllia
from: 1963 till: 1966 color:ucr text:"Arturo Umberto Illia"
bar:PascualPistarini
from: 1966 till: 1966 color:military text:"Pascual Pistarini"
bar:BenignoIgnacioVarela
from: 1966 till: 1966 color:military text:"Benigno Ignacio Varela"
bar:AdolfoTeodoroÁlvarez
from: 1966 till: 1966 color:military text:"Adolfo Teodoro Álvarez"
bar:JuanCarlosOnganía
from: 1966 till: 1970 color:military text:"Juan Carlos Onganía"
bar:PedroAlbertoJoséGnavi
from: 1970 till: 1970 color:military
from: 1971 till: 1971 color:military text:"Pedro Alberto José Gnavi"
bar:AlejandroLanusse
from: 1970 till: 1970 color:military
from: 1971 till: 1971 color:military
from: 1971 till: 1973 color:military text:"Alejandro Lanusse"
bar:CarlosAlbertoRey
from: 1970 till: 1970 color:military
from: 1971 till: 1971 color:military text:"Carlos Alberto Rey"
bar:RobertoLevingston
from: 1970 till: 1971 color:military text:"Roberto Levingston"
bar:HéctorJoséCámpora
from: 1973 till: 1973 color:peronist text:"Héctor José Cámpora"
bar:RaúlAlbertoLastiri
from: 1973 till: 1973 color:peronist text:"Raúl Alberto Lastiri"
bar:IsabelMartínezdePerón
from: 1974 till: 1976 color:peronist text:"Isabel Martínez de Perón"
bar:ÍtaloLúder
from: 1975 till: 1975 color:peronist text:"Ítalo Lúder"
bar:JorgeRafaelVidela
from: 1976 till: 1976 color:military
from: 1976 till: 1981 color:military text:"Jorge Rafael Videla"
bar:EmilioEduardoMassera
from: 1976 till: 1976 color:military text:"Emilio Eduardo Massera"
bar:OrlandoRamónAgosti
from: 1976 till: 1976 color:military text:"Orlando Ramón Agosti"
bar:RobertoEduardoViola
from: 1981 till: 1981 color:military text:"Roberto Eduardo Viola"
bar:HoracioTomásLiendo
from: 1981 till: 1981 color:military text:"Horacio Tomás Liendo"
bar:CarlosAlbertoLacoste
from: 1981 till: 1981 color:military text:"Carlos Alberto Lacoste"
bar:LeopoldoGaltieri
from: 1981 till: 1982 color:military text:"Leopoldo Galtieri"
bar:AlfredoOscarSaint-Jean
from: 1982 till: 1982 color:military text:"Alfredo Oscar Saint-Jean"
bar:ReynaldoBignone
from: 1982 till: 1983 color:military text:"Reynaldo Bignone"
bar:RaúlAlfonsín
from: 1983 till: 1989 color:ucr text:"Raúl Alfonsín"
bar:CarlosMenem
from: 1989 till: 1999 color:peronist text:"Carlos Menem"
bar:FernandodelaRúa
from: 1999 till: 2001 color:alianza text:"Fernando de la Rúa"
bar:AdolfoRodríguezSaá
from: 2001 till: 2001 color:peronist text:"Adolfo Rodríguez Saá"
bar:EduardoDuhalde
from: 2002 till: 2003 color:peronist text:"Eduardo Duhalde"
bar:NéstorKirchner
from: 2003 till: 2007 color:peronist text:"Néstor Kirchner"
bar:CristinaFernándezdeKirchner
from: 2007 till: 2015 color:peronist text:"Cristina Fernández de Kirchner"
bar:MauricioMacri
from: 2015 till: 2019 color:pro text:"Mauricio Macri"
bar:AlbertoFernández
from: 2019 till: end color:peronist text:"Alberto Fernández"

Living former Presidents by longevity

As of, there are six living former presidents and one incumbent president. The most recent death of a former president was that of Fernando de la Rúa, on 9 July 2019.
PresidentDate of birthPresidency
Carlos Menem1989-1999
Isabel Martínez de Perón1974-1976
Eduardo Duhalde2002-2003
Adolfo Rodríguez Saá2001
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner2007-2015
Mauricio Macri2015-2019
Alberto Fernández2019-present