Active in the centrist Radical Civic Union (UCR), Martínez entered politics and was elected to the Provincial Senate, in 1962.
He was elected Mayor of Córdoba in 1963 and remained in the post until a coup d'état removed President Arturo Illia (a fellow UCR figure), in 1966.
Continuing to teach at the university, he served on government advisory panels on the local, provincial, and national levels on the subject of land law.
He was unable, however, to prevent their defeat of Alfonsín's Labor Union Reform Law of 1984 or of the proposed, 1987 transfer of the nation's capital to Viedma (both, key issues to the President).
[4] He resumed his land law practice afterwards and received numerous international awards, including the Grand Cross of the Crown of Italy.