Civic Union of the Youth

President Julio Argentino Roca was succeeded by his brother-in-law, Miguel Juárez Celman, whose administration was characterized by authoritarian tactics and denunciations of corruption.

It would be difficult, if not impossible, to answer that, because there first arose a vague hope, which later grew along with the sentiment of disgust, and while Tomás Santa Coloma was preparing the ground with his patriotic solemnities at the Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima, and Barroetaveña was raising the alarm with his courageous articles, the faithful were rallying opinion and building to an explosion.

¡Unión Cívica!On August 20, 1889, Francisco Barroetaveña, a young lawyer from Entre Ríos, published an article in La Nación titled "Tu quoque juventud (en tropel al éxito)" — "You too, youth (in the rush to success)" — in which he challenged the youth who remained loyal to President Celman: This affiliation is nothing more than the renunciation of civic life by the young, in favor of absorption into a superior will that converts them into the mere instruments of the ExecutiveThe article produced a massive response.

The Unión Cívica de la Juventud was founded, and its platform approved: it would seek to broaden the spectrum of opposition to the regime of Miguel Juárez Celman and his supporters in the National Autonomist Party.

The Civic Union of the Youth established "honorary" affiliations to certain opposition politicians deemed friendly to their cause, including Leandro Alem, Aristóbulo del Valle, Bartolomé Mitre, Pedro Goyena, Vicente Fidel López, and Bernardo de Irigoyen.