José López Rega was Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

's Minister of Social Welfare during the Peronist

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...

 government started in 1973 by 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...

 and continued after Perón's death in 1974 by his third wife and vice-president, Isabel Martínez de Perón

Isabel Martínez de Perón

María Estela Martínez Cartas de Perón , better known as Isabel Martínez de Perón or Isabel Perón, is a former President of Argentina. She was also the third wife of another former President, Juan Perón...

 (1974–76), until the coup d'etat

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...

 of 1976 that initiated the so-called National Reorganization Process

National Reorganization Process

The National Reorganization Process was the name used by its leaders for the military government that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. In Argentina it is often known simply as la última junta militar or la última dictadura , because several of them existed throughout its history.The Argentine...

 (1976–83) under Jorge Videla's direction. Earlier a Federal Police

Policía Federal Argentina

The Policía Federal Argentina is a police force of the Argentine federal government. The PFA has detachments throughout the country, but its main responsibility is policing the Federal District of Buenos Aires...

 corporal

Corporal

Corporal is a rank in use in some form by most militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. It is usually equivalent to NATO Rank Code OR-4....

, he was made Comisario General of police, the highest rank, under Isabel Perón's rule. He was known as El Brujo and the Argentine Evola, in reference to fascist esotericist Julius Evola

Julius Evola

Barone Giulio Cesare Andrea Evola also known as Julius Evola, was an Italian philosopher and esotericist...

.

Before Juan Perón's return

López Rega's mother died giving birth to him in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

. According to his biography

Biography

A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...

 by Marcelo Larraquy (2002), he was a respectful, introverted boy, who had a library covering an entire wall and a special interest in spiritual topics (which would later turn into a passion for esoterism and occultism). He married at the age of 27. In 1944 he joined the Federal Police; with the help of police chief Filomeno Velazco he joined the guard which protected 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...

, seat of the executive, with the rank of corporal

Corporal

Corporal is a rank in use in some form by most militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. It is usually equivalent to NATO Rank Code OR-4....

.

In 1951, he met Victoria Montero who introduced him in the subject of esoterism. López Rega was a frequent visitor in Montero's home, where he met members of the freemasons organization. A common interest for esoterism linked him to Isabel, Perón's third wife, in 1965. Sent to Argentina by Perón, exiled in Spain 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:...

" coup, she organized a meeting in the house of major Bernardo Alberte, Perón's delegate and sponsor of various left-wing Peronist movement, among which the CGT de los Argentinos, a labor union federation which, between 1968 and 1972, gathered opponents to a pact with Juan Carlos Onganía

Juan 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...

's dictatorship, and which had an important role in the 1969 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...

insurrection. After winning Isabel's trust, López Rega traveled to Spain, where he worked first for Perón's security before becoming the couple's personal secretary.

Perón's return and the September elections

When 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...

 was elected president on March 11, 1973, for the first general elections since 1963, as Perón's stand-in since the latter was forbidden from running himself, José López Rega, sent by Perón, became Minister of Social Welfare. From there, he opposed himself to Esteban Righi and others representatives of the Peronist left-wing. Perón returned to Argentina on June 20, 1973, acclaimed by the masses. The Ezeiza massacre, organized by López Rega on the day of Perón's return from a 20 years-old exile, led to a definitive split between left and right-wing Peronism, with Cámpora as representative of the left-wing and López Rega as representative of the right-wing. López Rega had positionned snipers under Perón's stage, who opened up fire upon the masses and the left-wing Peronist organizations, such as the 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...

, etc. On the following days, 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:*...

, leader of the Guevarist 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), held a press conference during which he accused López Rega and Colonel José Manuel Osinde of the massacre. Perón and López Rega, who, while in Spain, had supported left-wing Peronists, strongly criticized them this time around. López Rega openly criticized president Cámpora's position during the cabinet's meeting. After finding out about Perón's meeting with José Ignacio Rucci

José Ignacio Rucci

José Ignacio Rucci was an Argentine politician and union leader, appointed general secretary of the CGT in 1970...

 and other right-wing CGT

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...

 leaders and also with the Army

Argentine Army

The Argentine Army is the land armed force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of the country.- History :...

, Cámpora and his vice-president Vicente Solano Lima

Vicente Solano Lima

Vicente Solano Lima was a moderately conservative newspaper publisher and politician who served as Vice President of Argentina from May 25, 1973 to July 13, 1973.-Life and times:...

 resigned. All of Cámpora's followers were sacked from all government positions, and López Rega's son-in-law, Raúl Alberto Lastiri

Raúl Alberto Lastiri

Raúl Alberto Lastiri was an Argentine politician who was interim president of Argentina from July 13, 1973 until October 12, 1973. Lastiri, who presided over the Argentine Chamber of Deputies, was promoted to the presidency of the country after Héctor Cámpora and Vicente Solano Lima resigned...

, also a member of P2

Propaganda Due

Propaganda Due , or P2, was a Masonic lodge operating under the jurisdiction of the Grand Orient of Italy from 1945 to 1976 , and a pseudo-Masonic or "black" or "covert" lodge operating illegally from 1976 to...

, became interim president and organized the elections. On September 23, 1973, Perón won them with almost 62% of the votes, naming his third wife Isabel Perón as vice-president.

Beside Raúl Lastiri's interim presidency, López Rega's success in the expulsion of the left-wing Peronists from power was confirmed on August 4, 1973, during the National Congress of 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...

 (official name of Perón's party), with the nomination of his protector Isabel as candidate for vice-presidency. On September 23, the Perón-Perón ticket won comfortably, with 61.85% of the votes. Troubled by the right-wing shift of Peronism and of the government, the Montoneros, a left-wing Peronist group, assassinated CGT's leader José Ignacio Rucci on September 25, 1973. The latter had also been involved in the creation of the Triple A. This assassination gave a pretext to López Rega to decree the prohibition of all armed groups and the closure of El Mundo, a left-wing newspaper. A month later, radical senator Hipólito Solari Yrigoyen was seriously injured in the first terrorist attack claimed by the Triple A. Federal Police Chief Rodolfo Almirón had been suspected of organizing this attack.

Juan Perón's death and Isabel Perón's presidency

Among Juan Perón's first actions after taking office were tougher sentences against "sedition" and "subversion". Started after the Ezeiza massacre, the split with the Peronist left-wing became even more visible with the resignation of eight deputies belonging to the Juventud Peronista (Peronist Youth). When Perón died on July 1, 1974, Isabel assumed power and López Rega almost became her Prime minister, assuming the direction of all ministers in the Presidency's orbit. He decided almost by himself on the composition of the new cabinet, keeping for himself the title of Minister of Social Welfare. He was promoted to Comisario General, the highest rank in the Federal Police

Policía Federal Argentina

The Policía Federal Argentina is a police force of the Argentine federal government. The PFA has detachments throughout the country, but its main responsibility is policing the Federal District of Buenos Aires...

; he had reached the rank of corporal when a member of the police force.

As Isabel Perón's Minister of Social Welfare, López Rega conducted an unpopular policy of fiscal conservatism. In 1975 his protegé Celestino Rodrigo, Minister of Economy, devalued

Devaluation

Devaluation is a reduction in the value of a currency with respect to those goods, services or other monetary units with which that currency can be exchanged....

 the Argentine peso

Argentine peso

The peso is the currency of Argentina, identified by the symbol $ preceding the amount in the same way as many countries using dollar currencies. It is subdivided into 100 centavos. Its ISO 4217 code is ARS...

 by 50%, causing a massive economic havoc, inflation

Inflation

In economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a...

, loss of savings, and general hardship on the middle and lower classes (in particular, public employees and retirees). López Rega came under attack from the leftist factions of the Peronist Party, accused of being a counter-revolutionary and a fascist

Fascism

Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...

.

In July 1975 he was formally accused by the main party organ of instigating the action of the Argentine Anti-Communist Alliance (known as Triple A). A terrorist group organized with his other protege Rodolfo Almirón

Rodolfo Almirón

Rodolfo Almirón Sena was a former Argentine police officer and a leader of an extreme right-wing death squad known as the Triple A, operating in Argentina during the mid-1970s...

 and funded by the Ministry of Social Welfare, this death squad was responsible for the death of 1,500 persons and the exile of hundreds more. Starting with the June 20, 1973 Ezeiza massacre, it initiated the "Dirty War

Dirty War

The Dirty War was a period of state-sponsored violence in Argentina from 1976 until 1983. Victims of the violence included several thousand left-wing activists, including trade unionists, students, journalists, Marxists, Peronist guerrillas and alleged sympathizers, either proved or suspected...

" in Argentina which was later taken up by Jorge Videla

Jorge Rafael Videla

Jorge Rafael Videla Redondo is a former senior commander in the Argentine Army who was the de facto President of Argentina from 1976 to 1981. He came to power in a coup d'état that deposed Isabel Martínez de Perón...

's junta (1976–83) during which 30,000 persons were "disappeared."

Attacked because of Celestino Rodrigo's economic policies, López Rega had to resign on July 11, 1975; he was hurriedly appointed ambassador

Ambassador

An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....

 to Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 by Isabel Perón and fled to Franco's Spain with Rodolfo Almirón; Almirón later became the chief of security of Manuel Fraga

Manuel Fraga Iribarne

Manuel Fraga Iribarne is a Spanish People's Party politician. Fraga's career as one of the key political figures in Spain straddles both General Francisco Franco's dictatorial regime and the subsequent transition to democracy. He served as the President of the Xunta of Galicia from 1990 to 2005...

, leader of the People's Alliance

People's Alliance

People's Alliance may refer to:*The People's Alliance , Belgian political party which split in 2001 into the Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie and Spirit...

 post-Franco conservative party, but was arrested in Spain in December 2006.

López Rega's fall

On 24 March 1976, President Isabel Perón was deposed by the military Junta, which in turn organized the so-called "National Reorganization Process

National Reorganization Process

The National Reorganization Process was the name used by its leaders for the military government that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. In Argentina it is often known simply as la última junta militar or la última dictadura , because several of them existed throughout its history.The Argentine...

" and generalized the "Dirty War". López Rega spent the following ten years fleeing justice abroad, leaving Spain for Switzerland, where he lived near Geneva until 1982. Discovered by a photographer, he then fled to the Bahamas. He lived between Miami and the Bahamas until 1986. In 1986, three years after the return to democracy, he was arrested in the United States while trying to renew his passport, and extradited

Extradition

Extradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another nation or state. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...

 to Argentina, where he was wanted for corruption, conspiracy, and multiple homicide. He died of diabetes on 9 June 1989 in Buenos Aires, while awaiting trial in prison.

Sources

• Biography of José López Rega (in Spanish)
• López Rega. La biografía. Marcelo Larraquy. Editorial Sudamericana. 473 pages. ISBN 9500724413.
• Bra, Gerardo, "La 'P-2- en la Argentina", in Félix Luna (ed) et al., Todo es historia, No. 214, Feb 1985, pp. 12–15