César Barros Hurtado

César Jorge Barros Hurtado was a lawyer from Tres Arroyos who studied at the National University of La Plata and became associated with Arturo Frondizi. His writings addressed political party organization, international law, and contemporary society. Frondizi appointed him ambassador to the United States in 1958, with concurrent representation at the Organization of American States. ¹

In Washington, Barros Hurtado took part in the effort to secure economic and military assistance for the new government. In March 1959 he expressed frustration when an American agreement in principle to consider military requests proved subject to an overall financial ceiling. He had reported the approval to Buenos Aires without knowing that limit and complained that separate Argentine Army emissaries had bypassed the embassy. He pressed the cases of the air force and navy while trying to reconcile competing service expectations. ²

The same discussions concerned Argentina's request for Public Law 480 agricultural assistance and its simultaneous wheat loan to Uruguay, which he defended as a necessary political gesture. Barros Hurtado later served in Moscow, resigning shortly before Frondizi's overthrow in March 1962, and subsequently maintained links between La Plata's law faculty and American universities. ^{2, 1}