History of Argentina (1966-1973)
Encyclopedia
Military dictatorship
A military dictatorship is a form of government where in the political power resides with the military. It is similar but not identical to a stratocracy, a state ruled directly by the military....
from 1966 to 1973, spawned by the June 1966 military coup
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
, and self-proclaimed
Self-proclaimed
Self proclaimed or soi-disant is when a legal title is only recognized by the declaring person and not any recognized legal authority. It can be the status of a noble title or the status of a nation...
by the Military junta
Military junta
A junta or military junta is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term derives from the Spanish language junta meaning committee, specifically a board of directors...
as "the Argentine Revolution".
The Revolución Argentina and the "authoritarian-bureaucratic state"
Along with worker unrest, this led to another coup in June 1966, misnamed as the Revolución Argentina, which established General Juan Carlos OnganíaJuan Carlos Onganía
Juan Carlos Onganía Carballo was de facto president of Argentina from 29 June 1966 to 8 June 1970. He rose to power as military dictator after toppling, in a coup d’état self-named Revolución Argentina , the democratically elected president Arturo Illia .-Economic and social...
as De facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
president, supported by several leaders of the General Confederation of Labour
General Confederation of Labour (Argentina)
The General Confederation of Labour of the Argentine Republic is a national trade union centre of Argentina founded on September 27, 1930, as the result of the merge of the USA and the COA trade union centres...
(CGT), among whom the general secretary Augusto Vandor
Augusto Vandor
Augusto Timoteo Vandor was an Argentine trade unionist leader, military and politician.-Career:Vandor was born Bovril, Entre Ríos Province, to a Dutch father and a French mother, in 1923. He enlisted in the Argentine Navy in 1940, and later became an officer in the ARA Comodoro Py warship...
. This led to a series of military-appointed presidents and the implementation of neoliberal policies, supported by multinationals, employers' federations, part of the more or less corrupt workers' movement, and the press.
While preceding military coups were aimed at establishing temporary, transitional juntas
Military dictatorship
A military dictatorship is a form of government where in the political power resides with the military. It is similar but not identical to a stratocracy, a state ruled directly by the military....
, the Revolución Argentina headed by Onganía aimed at establishing a new political and social order, opposed both to liberal democracy
Liberal democracy
Liberal democracy, also known as constitutional democracy, is a common form of representative democracy. According to the principles of liberal democracy, elections should be free and fair, and the political process should be competitive...
and Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
, which gave to the Armed Forces of Argentina a leading, political role in the economic rationalization of the country. The political scientist Guillermo O'Donnell
Guillermo O'Donnell
Guillermo O'Donnell was a prominent Argentine political scientist, named the Helen Kellogg Professor of Government and International Studies at the University of Notre Dame in the United States. His brother, Pacho O'Donnell, is a well-known politician and writer.-Biography:O'Donnell was born in...
named this type of regime "authoritarian-bureaucratic state", in reference both to the Revolución Argentina, the Brazilian military regime (1964–1985), Augusto Pinochet
Augusto Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, more commonly known as Augusto Pinochet , was a Chilean army general and dictator who assumed power in a coup d'état on 11 September 1973...
's regime (starting in 1973) and Juan María Bordaberry
Juan María Bordaberry
Juan María Bordaberry Arocena was a Uruguayan politician and cattle rancher, who first served as President from 1972 until 1976, including as a dictator from 1973 until his ouster in a 1976 coup...
's regime in Uruguay
History of Uruguay
This is about the history of Uruguay.-Pre-Columbian times and colonization:The only documented inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were the Charrua, a small tribe driven south by the Guaraní of Paraguay...
.
Onganía's rule (1966-1970)
Onganía implemented corporatismCorporatism
Corporatism, also known as corporativism, is a system of economic, political, or social organization that involves association of the people of society into corporate groups, such as agricultural, business, ethnic, labor, military, patronage, or scientific affiliations, on the basis of common...
policies, experimenting in particular in Cordoba
Córdoba, Argentina
Córdoba is a city located near the geographical center of Argentina, in the foothills of the Sierras Chicas on the Suquía River, about northwest of Buenos Aires. It is the capital of Córdoba Province. Córdoba is the second-largest city in Argentina after the federal capital Buenos Aires, with...
, underneath Carlos Caballero's governance. His Minister of Economy, Adalbert Krieger Vasena, decreed a freeze of wages' increase and a 40% devaluation, which strongly affected the state of the Argentinian economy
Economy of Argentina
This article provides an overview of the Economic history of Argentina.-Emergence into the world economy:Prior to the 1880s, Argentina was a relatively isolated backwater, dependent on the wool, leather and hide industry for both the greater part of its foreign exchange and the generation of...
, in particular of the agricultural sector, favorizing foreign capital. Vasena suspended collective labour conventions
Collective bargaining
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiations between employers and the representatives of a unit of employees aimed at reaching agreements that regulate working conditions...
, reformed the hydrocarburs law which had established a partial monopoly of the Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales
Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales
Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales is an Argentine oil company.Founded in 1922 under President Hipólito Yrigoyen's administration, it was privatized in 1993 by Carlos Menem, and bought by the Spanish firm Repsol; the resulting merger in 1999 produced Repsol YPF...
(YPF) state firm, as well as passing a law facilitating expulsions in case of fault of payment of rent. Finally, the right to strike was suspended (Law 16,936) and several other laws reversed progress made concerning labor laws (lenghtening of age of retirement, etc.) through-out the preceding years.
The workers' movement divided itself between Vandoristas, who supported a "Peronism
Peronism
Peronism , or Justicialism , is an Argentine political movement based on the programmes associated with former President Juan Perón and his second wife, Eva Perón...
without Perón
Juan Perón
Juan Domingo Perón was an Argentine military officer, and politician. Perón was three times elected as President of Argentina though he only managed to serve one full term, after serving in several government positions, including the Secretary of Labor and the Vice Presidency...
" line (Augusto Vandor
Augusto Vandor
Augusto Timoteo Vandor was an Argentine trade unionist leader, military and politician.-Career:Vandor was born Bovril, Entre Ríos Province, to a Dutch father and a French mother, in 1923. He enlisted in the Argentine Navy in 1940, and later became an officer in the ARA Comodoro Py warship...
, leader of the General Confederation of Labour
General Confederation of Labour (Argentina)
The General Confederation of Labour of the Argentine Republic is a national trade union centre of Argentina founded on September 27, 1930, as the result of the merge of the USA and the COA trade union centres...
, declared that "to save Perón, one has to be against Perón") and advocated negotiation with the junta, alongside "Participationists" headed by José Alonso
José Alonso (trade unionist)
José Alonso was an Argentine politician and trade-unionist.- Early life :José Alonso was born in the Montserrat section of Buenos Aires, in 1917. The son of a Spanish tailor, he dedicated himself to the same profession, and was first elected as a union delegate of the tailors in 1938...
, and Peronists, who formed the CGT de los Argentinos in 1968, opposed to any kind of participation with the military junta. Perón himself, from his exile in Franquist Spain, maintained a cautious and ambiguous line of opposition to the regime, rejecting both full endorsement and open confrontation.
Cultural and education policies
He was responsible for the July 1966 La Noche de los Bastones Largos
La Noche de los Bastones Largos
La Noche de los Bastones Largos was the violent dislodge of five faculties of the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina on July 29, 1966 by the Federal Police...
("The Night of the Long Batons"), where university autonomy was violated, in which he ordered police to invade the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Buenos Aires
University of Buenos Aires
The University of Buenos Aires is the largest university in Argentina and the largest university by enrollment in Latin America. Founded on August 12, 1821 in the city of Buenos Aires, it consists of 13 faculties, 6 hospitals, 10 museums and is linked to 4 high schools: Colegio Nacional de Buenos...
; students and professors were beaten up and arrested. The university repression led to the exile of 301 university professors, among whom were Manuel Sadosky
Manuel Sadosky
Manuel Sadosky was an Argentine mathematician, born in Buenos Aires to Jewish Russian immigrants fleeing the pogroms. He is widely considered the father of computer science studies in Argentina....
, Tulio Halperín Donghi
Tulio Halperín Donghi
Tulio Halperín Donghi is an Argentine historian.Halperín Donghi was born in Buenos Aires, in 1926. He received both a juris doctor and a Doctorate in History from the University of Buenos Aires, in 1955. Halperín Donghi has since become among Latin America's most renowned historians...
, Sergio Bagú
Sergio Bagú
Sergio Bagú was an Argentinian Marxist historian, sociologist and political philosopher.Bagú, who was born in Buenos Aires, was a lecturer at the University of Illinois, Middlebury College and the University of Buenos Aires. As a university professor, he was exiled by the military junta in...
and Risieri Frondizi.
Onganía also ordered repression on all forms of "immoralism", proscribing miniskirts, long hair
Long hair
Long hair is a hairstyle. Exactly what constitutes long hair can change from culture to culture, or even within cultures. For example, a woman with chin-length hair in some cultures may be said to have short hair, while a man with the same length of hair in some of the same cultures would be said...
for boys, and all avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
artistic movements. This moral campaign favorized the radicalization of middle classes, who were massively present in universities
Education in Argentina
Education in Argentina is a responsibility shared by the national government, the provinces and federal district and private institutions, though basic guidelines have historically been set by the Ministry of Education...
.
Change of direction of the Armed Forces
End of May 1968, General Julio AlsogarayJulio Alsogaray
Julio Alsogaray was an Argentine Army general.-Life and times:Julio Alsogaray was born in Esperanza, Santa Fe to Julia Elena Bosch and Álvaro Enrique Alsogaray, in 1918...
dissented from Onganía, and rumors spread about a possible coup d'état, Algosaray leading the conservative opposition to Onganía. Finally, at the end of the month, Onganía dismissed the leaders of the Armed Forces: Alejandro Lanusse replaced Julio Alsogaray, Pedro Gnavi replaced Benigno Varela, and Jorge Martínez Zuviría replaced Adolfo Alvarez.
Increasing protests
On 19 September 1968, two important events affected Revolutionary Peronism. On one hand, John William Cooke, former personal delegate of Perón and ideologist of the Peronist Left, as well as a friend of Fidel CastroFidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
, died from natural causes. On the other hand, a small group (13 men and one woman) who aimed at establishing a foco
Foco
The foco theory of revolution by way of guerrilla warfare, also known as focalism , was inspired by Marxist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, based upon his experiences surrounding the rebel army's victory in the 1959 Cuban Revolution, and formalized as such by Régis Debray.Its central principle...
in Tucuman Province
Tucumán Province
Tucumán is the most densely populated, and the smallest by land area, of the provinces of Argentina. Located in the northwest of the country, the capital is San Miguel de Tucumán, often shortened to Tucumán. Neighboring provinces are, clockwise from the north: Salta, Santiago del Estero and...
, in order to head the resistance against the junta, was captured. Among them, Envar El Kadre, then a leader of the Peronist Youth.
Raimundo Ongaro
Raimundo Ongaro is a prominent Argentine labor leader.-Early career and rise to prominence:Raimundo José Ongaro was born to a middle-class family of Italian Argentines from the Lombardy region, in the Argentine seashore city of Mar del Plata in 1924...
) headed social movements, in particular the Cordobazo
Cordobazo
The Cordobazo was a civil uprising in the city of Córdoba, Argentina, in the end of May 1969, during the military dictatorship of General Juan Carlos Onganía, which occurred a few days after the Rosariazo, and a year after the French May '68...
, as well as other movements in Tucuman, Santa Fe
Santa Fe, Argentina
Santa Fe is the capital city of province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It sits in northeastern Argentina, near the junction of the Paraná and Salado rivers. It lies opposite the city of Paraná, to which it is linked by the Hernandarias Subfluvial Tunnel. The city is also connected by canal with the...
and Rosario
Rosario
Rosario is the largest city in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the western shore of the Paraná River and has 1,159,004 residents as of the ....
(Rosariazo
Rosariazo
The Rosariazo was a protest movement that consisted in demonstrations and strikes, in Rosario, , between May and September 1969, during the military dictatorial rule of de facto President General Juan Carlos Onganía...
). While Perón managed a reconciliation with Augusto Vandor
Augusto Vandor
Augusto Timoteo Vandor was an Argentine trade unionist leader, military and politician.-Career:Vandor was born Bovril, Entre Ríos Province, to a Dutch father and a French mother, in 1923. He enlisted in the Argentine Navy in 1940, and later became an officer in the ARA Comodoro Py warship...
, head of the CGT Azopardo, he followed, in particular through the voice of his delegate Jorge Paladino, a cautious line of opposition to the military junta, criticizing with moderation the neoliberal policies of the junta but waiting for discontent inside the government ("hay que desencillar hasta que aclare", said Perón, advocating patience). Thus, Onganía had an interview with 46 CGT delegates, among whom Vandor, who agreed on "participationism" with the military junta, thus uniting themselves with the Nueva Corriente de Opinión headed by José Alonso
José Alonso (trade unionist)
José Alonso was an Argentine politician and trade-unionist.- Early life :José Alonso was born in the Montserrat section of Buenos Aires, in 1917. The son of a Spanish tailor, he dedicated himself to the same profession, and was first elected as a union delegate of the tailors in 1938...
and Rogelio Coria.
In December 1969, more than 20 priests, members of the Movimiento de Sacerdotes para el Tercer Mundo (MSTM, Movement of Priests for the Third World), marched on the Casa Rosada
Casa Rosada
La Casa Rosada is the official seat of the executive branch of the government of Argentina, and of the offices of the President. The President normally lives at the Quinta de Olivos, a compound in Olivos, Buenos Aires Province. Its characteristic color is pink, and is considered one of the most...
to present to Onganía a petition pleading him to abandon the eradication plan of villas miserias (shanty towns).
The same year, the Movement of Priests for the Third World issued a declaration supporting Socialist revolutionary movements, which lead the Catholic hierarchy
Roman Catholicism in Argentina
The Catholic Church in Argentina is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope, the Curia in Rome, and the Argentine Episcopal Conference....
, by the voice of Juan Carlos Aramburu, coadjutor archbishop of Buenos Aires, to proscribe priests from making political or social declarations.
Various armed actions, headed by the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación (FAL), composed by former members of the Revolutionary Communist Party, occurred in April 1969, leading to several arrests among FAL members. These were the first left-wing urban guerrilla actions in Argentina. Beside these isolated actions, the Cordobazo
Cordobazo
The Cordobazo was a civil uprising in the city of Córdoba, Argentina, in the end of May 1969, during the military dictatorship of General Juan Carlos Onganía, which occurred a few days after the Rosariazo, and a year after the French May '68...
uprising of 1969, called forth by the CGT de los Argentinos, and its Cordobese leader, Agustín Tosco
Agustín Tosco
Agustín Gringo Tosco was an Argentine union leader, member of the CGT de los Argentinos and an important participant in the historic local uprising known as the Cordobazo.-Thought and maturity:At 27 years old, he was the general secretary for Luz y Fuerza...
, prompted demonstrations in the entire country. The same year, the People's Revolutionary Army
People's Revolutionary Army (Argentina)
The Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo was the military branch of the communist Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores in Argentina...
(ERP) was formed as the military branch of the Trotskyist Workers' Revolutionary Party, leading an armed struggle against the dictatorship.
Levingston's rule (1970-1971)
Faced with increasing opposition, in particular following the CordobazoCordobazo
The Cordobazo was a civil uprising in the city of Córdoba, Argentina, in the end of May 1969, during the military dictatorship of General Juan Carlos Onganía, which occurred a few days after the Rosariazo, and a year after the French May '68...
, General Onganía was forced to resign by the military junta, composed of the chiefs of the Army, the Navy and the Air Forces. He was replaced by General Roberto Marcelo Levingston, who, far from calling to elections, decided to deepen the so-called Revolución Argentina. Levingston expressed the nationalist-developmentist sector of the Armed Forces, and was supported by the most intransigent military elements. He named the radical economist Aldo Ferrer
Aldo Ferrer
Aldo Ferrer is a prominent Argentine economist and policy maker.-Early career:Aldo Ferrer was born in Buenos Aires in 1927, and enrolled at the University of Buenos Aires School of Economics, where he received a Doctorate in 1949...
as Minister of Economy.
Pressed to call for free and democratic elections, which would include the Justicialist Party
Justicialist Party
The Justicialist Party , or PJ, is a Peronist political party in Argentina, and the largest component of the Peronist movement.The party was led by Néstor Kirchner, President of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, until his death on October 27, 2010. The current Argentine president, Cristina Fernández de...
, by a coalition of political parties who issued the statement known as La Hora del Pueblo, Levingston was ousted by an internal coup headed by the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces and strongman of the Revolución Argentina, General Alejandro Agustín Lanusse
Alejandro Agustín Lanusse
Alejandro Agustín Lanusse Gelly was the 38th president of the Argentine Republic between March 22, 1971 and May 25, 1973, during the penultimate military dictatorship.- Career :...
.
Lanusse's rule (1971-1973)
The last of the military presidents de facto, Alejandro Lanusse, was thus appointed in March 1971. As the preceding administrations, Lanusse was very unpopular among the population. His administration started building several national infrastructures (roads, bridges...) necessary for the development of the country, without responding however to popular claims concerning social and economic policies.General Lanusse tried to respond to the Hora del Pueblo declaration by calling forth elections, but excluding Peronism
Peronism
Peronism , or Justicialism , is an Argentine political movement based on the programmes associated with former President Juan Perón and his second wife, Eva Perón...
from them, in the so-called Gran Acuerdo Nacional (Great National Agreement). He nominated Arturo Mor Roig (Radical Civic Union
Radical Civic Union
The Radical Civic Union is a political party in Argentina. The party's positions on issues range from liberal to social democratic. The UCR is a member of the Socialist International. Founded in 1891 by radical liberals, it is the oldest political party active in Argentina...
) as Minister of Interior, who enjoyed the support of the Hora del pueblo coalition of parties, in order to supervise the coming elections.
However, by excluding the population from democratic means of expression, the dictatorship, in power since 1966, had favorized armed struggle groups, such as the Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo
People's Revolutionary Army (Argentina)
The Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo was the military branch of the communist Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores in Argentina...
(ERP, the armed wing of the Workers' Revolutionary Party, PRT), the Catholic nationalist Peronists Montoneros
Montoneros
Montoneros was an Argentine Peronist urban guerrilla group, active during the 1960s and 1970s. The name is an allusion to 19th century Argentinian history. After Juan Perón's return from 18 years of exile and the 1973 Ezeiza massacre, which marked the definitive split between left and right-wing...
, or the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias (FAR).
In August 1972, an escape attempt of several revolutionary members from the regime's prison, headed by Mario Roberto Santucho
Mario Roberto Santucho
Mario Roberto Santucho was an Argentine revolutionary. He was the leader of ERP . He was killed by the military in a shootout after his hideout was undercovered in 1976. His wife Liliana Delfino was also killed by the military of Argentina the same year.-References:*...
(PRT), ended up in the Massacre of Trelew. Fernando Vaca Narvaja, Roberto Quieto, Enrique Gorriarán Merlo
Enrique Gorriarán Merlo
Enrique Haroldo Gorriarán Merlo was an Argentine guerrilla insurgency leader, born in San Nicolás de los Arroyos, Buenos Aires Province....
and Domingo Menna managed to escape, but 19 other were re-captured. 16 of them (members of the Montoneros, the FAR, and the ERP) were illegally executed, and 3 managed to survive. On the same night of August 22, 1972, the junta approved law 19,797, which proscribed any information concerning guerrilla organizations. The massacre led to demonstrations in various cities.
Finally, Lanusse lifted the proscription of the Justicialist Party, although he maintained it concerning Juan Perón
Juan Perón
Juan Domingo Perón was an Argentine military officer, and politician. Perón was three times elected as President of Argentina though he only managed to serve one full term, after serving in several government positions, including the Secretary of Labor and the Vice Presidency...
, by increasing the number of residency years necessary to present oneself to presidential elections, hence excluding de facto Perón from the elections, since the old leader was in exile since the 1955 Revolución Libertadora
Revolución Libertadora
The Revolución Libertadora was a military uprising that ended the second presidential term of Juan Perón in Argentina, on September 16, 1955.-History:...
.
Henceforth, Perón decided to appoint as his candidate his personal secretary Héctor José Cámpora
Héctor José Cámpora
Héctor José Cámpora Demaestre was president of Argentina from 25 May until 13 July 1973.Cámpora, affectionately known as el Tío , was born in the city of Mercedes, in the Province of Buenos Aires...
, a leftist Peronist, as representant of the FreJuLi (Frente Justicialista de Liberación, Justicialist Liberation Front), composed of the Justicialist Party and minor, allied parties. The FreJuLi's electoral slogan was "Cámpora in Government, Perón in power" (Cámpora al Gobierno, Perón al poder).