He had suffered from pneumonia and lung cancer and last appeared in public in October, when the current president unveiled a bust in his honour.

A medical team had been tending to him at his home in Buenos Aires.

Mr Alfonsin was elected president in 1983, after the fall of the military regime which had held power since 1976.

Critics point out that he failed to stave off a deep economic crisis but his political achievement was summed up by current President Cristina Fernandez, when she unveiled his bust last year.

"Whether you like it or not, you are a symbol of the return of democracy," she said.