166-592: Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri Castelli ( Spanish pronunciation: [leoˈpolðo foɾtuˈnato ɣalˈtjeɾi kasˈteli] ; 15 July 1926 – 12 January 2003) was an Argentine general who served as President of Argentina from December 1981 to June 1982. Galtieri exercised his control over Argentina as a military ruler during the National Reorganization Process as leader of the Third Junta with Jorge Anaya and Basilio Lami Dozo . Galtieri
332-457: A Presidential pension, but a judge denied it. In her ruling, the judge stated that his presidency had been illegal due to his never having been elected, and she also ordered him to pay court costs. In May 2002, he was invited to the military parade of the Argentine Army for the celebrations of Argentine Army Day (Día del Ejército Argentino): the presence of the former "president de facto" caused
498-664: A cable sent by Robert Scherrer , an FBI agent in Buenos Aires on 22 September 1976, where he mentions in passing that Michael Townley , later convicted of the assassination on 21 September 1976 of former Chilean minister Orlando Letelier in Washington, D.C., had also taken part to the interrogation of the two Cubans. The former head of the DINA confirmed to Argentine federal judge María Servini de Cubría on 22 December 1999, in Santiago de Chile ,
664-643: A clandestine organization. José López Rega organized the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance (AAA) to fight against them and the People's Revolutionary Army (ERP). Perón died in July 1974 and was succeeded by his wife, who signed a secret decree empowering the military and the police to "annihilate" the left-wing subversion, stopping ERP's attempt to start a rural insurgence in Tucumán province. Isabel Perón
830-579: A coup ( Revolución Libertadora ) three months after the Bombing of Plaza de Mayo , a failed coup attempt considered by some as state terrorism. Since then Peronism was proscribed and hostility against it and against populist politics dominated Argentine politics. Pedro Eugenio Aramburu 's Decree Law 4161/56 prohibited the use of Perón's name and when General Lanusse , who was part of the Argentine Revolution , called for elections in 1973, he authorized
996-667: A critical role in the party, died of cancer in 1952. As the economy continued to tank, Perón started losing popular support, and came to be seen as a threat to the national process. The Navy took advantage of Perón's withering political power, and bombed the Plaza de Mayo in 1955. Perón survived the attack, but a few months later, during the Liberating Revolution coup, he was deposed and went into exile in Spain. The new head of State, Pedro Eugenio Aramburu , proscribed Peronism and banned
1162-533: A detention and interrogation center, staffed and operated by the Federal Police, was already in existence in 1975 during the Peronist government of Maria Estela Martinez de Peron. Judge Alicia Vence was in charge of the investigation of acts of State terrorism committed in facilities and with the participation of authorities of the companies Ford and Mercedes-Benz. According to witnesses, the center at Mercedes Benz
1328-569: A document which said "Sign, or it will cost you your daughter's life and your own". In September 1978, a group of businessmen, among whom were Ernestina Herrera de Noble and Hector Magnetto from Grupo Clarín and Bartolomé Luis Mitre from La Nación, along with members of the military junta inaugurated the Papel Prensa plant in San Justo . In 2016, Magnetto, Mitre and Noble were declared innocent. Federal Judge Julián Ercolini ruled that there
1494-458: A final heart attack on Monday, 1 July 1974, and died at 13:15. He was 78 years old. After his death, Isabel Perón , his wife and vice president, succeeded him in office. During her presidency, a military junta, along with the Peronists' far-right fascist faction, once again became the de facto head of state . Isabel Perón served as President of Argentina from 1974 until 1976, when she was ousted by
1660-431: A health issue and designated Interior Minister Horacio Liendo as his successor. In reality, Viola was removed from power due to his regime's inability to reverse the economic crisis which caused infighting within the military. Galtieri retained direct control of the army whilst President of the governing Military Junta and did not appoint a new commander-in-chief. Galtieri instituted limited political reforms which allowed
1826-495: A huge controversy in public opinion after he was confronted and questioned by the journalist Martín Ciccioli in the television programme Kaos en la Ciudad . In July 2002, new civil charges were brought concerning the kidnapping of children and the disappearance of 18 leftist sympathizers in the late 1970s (while Galtieri was commander of the Second Army Corps), and the disappearance or death of three Spanish citizens at about
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#17331056562691992-707: A kidnapping attempt. A Peugeot representative was kidnapped and later released for a reported US$ 200,000, and FAP guerrillas killed John Swint, the American general manager of the Ford Motor Company. On December, the director of Peugeot in Argentina was kidnapped. In 1974, FAP guerrillas killed the labour relations manager of the IKA-Renault Motor Company in Córdoba. In 1975 a manager of an auto parts factory and
2158-547: A left-wing Peronist, who took office on 25 May 1973. A month later, in June, Perón returned from Spain. One of Cámpora's first presidential actions was to grant amnesty to members of organizations that had carried out political assassinations and terrorist attacks, and to those who had been tried and sentenced to prison by judges. Cámpora's months-long tenure in government was beset by political and social unrest. Over 600 social conflicts, strikes , and factory occupations took place within
2324-604: A man who came from Miami to interrogate them. The two Cuban diplomats, charged with the protection of the Cuban ambassador to Argentina Emilio Aragonés, had been kidnapped on 9 August 1976 by 40 armed SIDE agents who blocked off all sides of the street with their Ford Falcons , the cars used by the security forces during the dictatorship. According to John Dinges , the FBI as well as the CIA were informed of their abduction. In his book, Dinges published
2490-718: A military coup d'état led by General Arturo Rawson toppled the democratically elected government of Ramón Castillo . Under pressure from the United States, later Argentina declared war on the Axis Powers (on 27 March 1945, roughly a month before the end of World War II in Europe ). During the Rawson dictatorship a relatively unknown military colonel named Juan Perón was named head of the Labour Department. Perón quickly managed to climb
2656-471: A military junta, headed by General Jorge Rafael Videla , Admiral Emilio Eduardo Massera and General Orlando Agosti and was installed. The junta, which dubbed itself National Reorganization Process , systematized the repression, in particular through the way of "forced disappearances" ( desaparecidos ), which made it very difficult as was the case in Augusto Pinochet 's Chile to file legal suits as
2822-489: A naval task force to retake the islands militarily if Argentina refused to comply with a United Nations resolution demanding an immediate Argentine withdrawal. Argentina did not comply with the resolution which resulted in a surrender to British forces on 14 June 1982. On 14 June 1982, the Falklands' capital, Stanley , was retaken by British forces . The fact that an administration ruled by military figures failed to contain
2988-514: A number of attacks during this period such as bombings at the Goodyear and Firestone distributors, Riker and Eli pharmaceutical laboratories, Xerox Corporation, and Pepsi-Cola bottling companies. Director-general of the Fiat Concord company in Argentina was kidnapped by ERP guerrillas in Buenos Aires on 21 March 1972 and found murdered on 10 April. In 1973, a Ford Motor Company executive was killed in
3154-414: A party of the enemy". ProQuest 821676937 Other junta targets were people who uncovered evidence of government corruption and those thought to hold left-wing views (including French nuns Léonie Duquet and Alice Domon , kidnapped by Alfredo Astiz ). Ramón Camps told Clarín in 1984 that he had used torture as an interrogation method and orchestrated 5,000 forced disappearances. He had justified
3320-468: A political or ideological threat to the junta. According to human rights organisations in Argentina, between 1,900 and 3,000 Jews were among the 30,000 who were targeted by the Argentine military junta. It is a disproportionate number, as Jews comprised between 5–12% of those targeted but only 1% of the population. All were killed in an attempt by the junta to silence social and political opposition. By
3486-423: A presidential decree settled the country's name as "Argentine Republic", and that year's constitutional amendment ruled all the names since 1810 as legally valid. In English , the country was traditionally called "the Argentine", mimicking the typical Spanish usage la Argentina and perhaps resulting from a mistaken shortening of the fuller name 'Argentine Republic'. 'The Argentine' fell out of fashion during
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#17331056562693652-658: A production manager of Mercedes-Benz were kidnapped by Montoneros, and an executive of the US Chrysler Corporation and a manager of the Renault plant in Córdoba were killed. In 1976, Enrique Aroza Garay of German-owned Borgward automobile factory and a Chrysler executive were killed. In all, 83 servicemen and policemen were killed in left-wing guerrilla incidents. In 1975, the Guevarist People's Revolutionary Army (ERP), inspired by Che Guevara 's foco theory , began
3818-603: A proposal known as the Inca plan of 1816, which proposed that the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (Present Argentina) should be a monarchy, led by a descendant of the Inca . Juan Bautista Túpac Amaru (half-brother of Túpac Amaru II ) was proposed as monarch. Some examples of those who supported this proposal were Manuel Belgrano , José de San Martín and Martín Miguel de Güemes . The Congress of Tucumán finally decided to reject
3984-610: A second term . With the economy beginning to decline in 1995, and with increasing unemployment and recession, the UCR, led by Fernando de la Rúa , returned to the presidency in the 1999 elections . De la Rúa left Menem's economic plan in effect despite the worsening crisis, which led to growing social discontent. Massive capital flight from the country was responded to with a freezing of bank accounts , generating further turmoil. The December 2001 riots forced him to resign. Congress appointed Eduardo Duhalde as acting president, who revoked
4150-411: A single month. Even though far-left terrorist organisations had suspended their armed struggle, their joining with the participatory democracy process was interpreted as a direct threat by the Peronist right-wing faction. Amid a state of political, social, and economic upheaval, Cámpora and Vice President Vicente Solano Lima resigned in July 1973, calling for new elections, but this time with Perón as
4316-561: A small rural insurgency in the province of Tucumán with no more than 100 men and women, but were soon defeated by the Argentine Army. In February 1975, Isabel Perón signed the secret presidential decree 261, which ordered the army to illegally neutralize and/or "annihilate" the insurgency in Tucumán , the smallest province in Argentina. Operativo Independencia granted power to the armed forces to "execute all military operations necessary for
4482-406: A superior officer or the state. Estela de Carlotto , president of the Argentine human rights non-governmental organization Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo states: [That term] is a way to minimize state terrorism and is a term born outside the country. It is a totally wrong concept; there was no war, dirty nor clean. In 1955, former army officer Juan Perón was ousted from the presidency by
4648-414: A system of social assistance for the most vulnerable sectors of society. The economy began to decline in 1950 due in part to government expenditures and the protectionist economic policies. He also engaged in a campaign of political suppression. Anyone who was perceived to be a political dissident or potential rival was subject to threats, physical violence and harassment. The Argentine intelligentsia ,
4814-602: A third country. Chilean General Carlos Prats had already been assassinated by the Chilean DINA in Buenos Aires in 1974, with the help of former DINA agents Michael Townley and Enrique Arancibia . Cuban diplomats were also assassinated in Buenos Aires in the infamous Automotores Orletti torture center, one of the 300 clandestine prisons of the dictatorship, managed by the Grupo de Tareas 18 , headed by Aníbal Gordon , previously convicted for armed robbery and who answered directly to
4980-537: A tight monetary policy , and ordered salaries frozen (amid 130% inflation). The Central Bank Circular 1050, which tied mortgage rates to the value of the US dollar locally, was maintained, however, leading to further deepening of the crisis; GDP fell by 5%, and business investment by 20% over the weakened levels of 1981. One of Galtieri's closest allies, the head of the First Army Corps, General Guillermo Suárez Mason ,
5146-538: Is plateado and prateado , although argento for 'silver' and argentado for 'covered in silver' exist in Spanish. Argentina was first associated with the silver mountains legend , widespread among the first European explorers of the La Plata Basin . The first written use of the name in Spanish can be traced to La Argentina , a 1602 poem by Martín del Barco Centenera describing the region. Although "Argentina"
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5312-524: Is a regional power , and retains its historic status as a middle power in international affairs. A major non-NATO ally of the United States, Argentina is a developing country with the second-highest HDI (human development index) in Latin America after Chile . It maintains the second-largest economy in South America, and is a member of G-15 and G20 . Argentina is also a founding member of
5478-530: Is the name used by the military junta or civic-military dictatorship of Argentina (Spanish: dictadura cívico-militar de Argentina ) for its period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983. During this campaign, military and security forces and death squads in the form of the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance (AAA, or Triple A) hunted down any political dissidents and anyone believed to be associated with socialism , left-wing Peronism , or
5644-618: The Cordobazo and the Rosariazo . The terrorist guerrilla organization Montoneros kidnapped and executed Aramburu. The newly chosen head of government, Alejandro Agustín Lanusse , seeking to ease the growing political pressure, allowed Héctor José Cámpora to become the Peronist candidate instead of Perón. Cámpora won the March 1973 election , issued pardons for condemned guerrilla members, and then secured Perón's return from his exile in Spain. On
5810-608: The Argentine Republic , is a country in the southern half of South America . Argentina covers an area of 2,780,400 km (1,073,500 sq mi), making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil , the fourth-largest country in the Americas , and the eighth-largest country in the world. It shares the bulk of the Southern Cone with Chile to the west, and is also bordered by Bolivia and Paraguay to
5976-517: The Argentine Supreme Court ruled they were unconstitutional. Under the presidency of Nestor Kirchner , the Argentine government re-opened its investigations on crimes against humanity and genocide in 2006 and began the prosecution of military and security officers. The term "Dirty War" was used by the military junta, which claimed that a war, albeit with "different" methods (including the large-scale application of torture and rape ),
6142-565: The Bombing of Plaza de Mayo in 1955. The Trelew massacre of 1972, the actions of the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance commencing in 1973, and Isabel Perón 's "annihilation decrees" against left-wing guerrillas during Operativo Independencia (Operation Independence) in 1975, are also possible events signaling the beginning of the Dirty War. Onganía shut down Congress, banned all political parties, and dismantled student and worker unions. In 1969, popular discontent led to two massive protests:
6308-710: The Centralists and the Federalists —a move that would define Argentina's first decades of independence. The Assembly of the Year XIII appointed Gervasio Antonio de Posadas as Argentina's first Supreme Director . On 9 July 1816, the Congress of Tucumán formalized the Declaration of Independence , which is now celebrated as Independence Day, a national holiday. One year later General Martín Miguel de Güemes stopped royalists on
6474-685: The Charrúa , Minuane and Guaraní in the northeast, with slash and burn semisedentary existence; the advanced Diaguita sedentary trading culture in the northwest, which was conquered by the Inca Empire around 1480; the Toconoté and Hênîa and Kâmîare in the country's centre, and the Huarpe in the centre-west, a culture that raised llama cattle and was strongly influenced by the Incas. Europeans first arrived in
6640-617: The Ezeiza massacre marked the end of the alliance between left- and right-wing factions of Peronism. In 1974, Perón withdrew his support for Montoneros shortly before his death. By the time his widow Isabel was president, the Minister of Social Welfare José López Rega had already organized the far-right death squad known as Argentine Anticommunist Alliance (AAA, or Triple A). In 1975, during Operativo Independencia , Isabel Perón and later her replacement Ítalo Lúder signed four decrees empowering
6806-785: The Falkland Islands , South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands , the Southern Patagonian Ice Field , and a part of Antarctica . The earliest recorded human presence in modern-day Argentina dates back to the Paleolithic period. The Inca Empire expanded to the northwest of the country in Pre-Columbian times. The country has its roots in Spanish colonization of the region during the 16th century. Argentina rose as
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6972-496: The Falkland Islands , a United Kingdom territory subject to a long-standing Argentine claim. Initially the invasion was popular in Argentina, and the anti-junta demonstrations were replaced by patriotic demonstrations in support of Galtieri. Galtieri and most of his government mistakenly believed the United Kingdom would not respond militarily. The British government led by the prime minister, Margaret Thatcher , dispatched
7138-515: The Laborioust candidate. The Labour Party (later renamed Justicialist Party ), the most powerful and influential party in Argentine history, came into power with the rise of Juan Perón to the presidency in 1946. He nationalized strategic industries and services, improved wages and working conditions, paid the full external debt and claimed he achieved nearly full employment . He pushed Congress to enact women's suffrage in 1947, and developed
7304-500: The Macri Government introduced neoliberal austerity measures intended to tackle inflation and overblown public deficits. Under Macri's administration, economic recovery remained elusive with GDP shrinking 3.4%, inflation totaling 240%, billions of US dollars issued in sovereign debt, and mass poverty increasing by the end of his term. He ran for re-election in 2019 but lost by nearly eight percentage points to Alberto Fernández ,
7470-644: The Montoneros movement. It is estimated that between 22,000 and 30,000 people were killed or disappeared , many of whom were impossible to formally document due to the nature of state terrorism; however, Argentine military intelligence at the time estimated that 22,000 people had been murdered or disappeared by 1978. The primary targets were communist guerrillas and sympathisers but also included students, militants, trade unionists , writers, journalists, artists and any citizens suspected of being left-wing activists . The disappeared included those thought to be
7636-616: The National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons ( Comisión Nacional sobre la Desaparición de Personas , CONADEP) to investigate crimes committed during the Dirty War, and heard testimony from hundreds of witnesses and began to build cases against offenders. The commission organized a tribunal to conduct a transparent prosecution of offenders, holding the Trial of the Juntas in 1985. Among
7802-456: The National Reorganization Process . Fearing military uprisings, Argentina's first two presidents sentenced only the two top Dirty War former commanders. The Punto Final Law stated that military personnel involved in torture were doing their "jobs". In 1994, President Carlos Menem praised the military in their "fight against subversion". In 2003, Congress repealed the Pardon Laws, and in 2005
7968-455: The Southern Cone . The Dirty War involved state terrorism in Argentina and elsewhere in the Southern Cone against political dissidents, with military and security forces employing urban and rural violence against left-wing guerrillas, political dissidents, and anyone believed to be associated with socialism or somehow contrary to the neoliberal economic policies of the regime. Victims of
8134-471: The U.S. Department of State , fifty-five disappearances were occurring per month, or approximately two per day. Additionally, people who sought to stay "peaceful" during the attacks were targeted by the government, based on the belief that if left alone, they would pose an even greater danger. This was despite the fact that 80 percent of Argentine torture victims had no knowledge of subversive activities. In December 1976, 22 captured Montoneros responsible for
8300-669: The United Nations , World Bank , World Trade Organization , Mercosur , Community of Latin American and Caribbean States and the Organization of Ibero-American States . The description of the region by the word Argentina has been found on a Venetian map in 1536. In English, the name Argentina comes from the Spanish language ; however, the naming itself is not Spanish, but Italian . Argentina ( masculine argentino ) means in Italian '(made) of silver, silver coloured', derived from
8466-645: The absolutist monarchy that ruled the country. As in the rest of Spanish America, the overthrow of Ferdinand VII during the Peninsular War created great concern. Beginning a process from which Argentina was to emerge as successor state to the Viceroyalty, the 1810 May Revolution replaced the viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros with the First Junta , a new government in Buenos Aires made up from locals. In
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#17331056562698632-408: The anti-communist Contras guerrillas during the Nicaraguan civil war. In domestic policy, General Galtieri continued the Dirty War with the 601 Intelligence Battalion death squad reporting directly to him. Galtieri's declining popularity due to his human rights abuses and the worsening economic stagnation caused him to order an invasion of the Falkland Islands in April 1982. Galtieri
8798-471: The expression of dissent , and anti-junta demonstrations soon became common, as did agitation for a return to democracy . Galtieri appointed conservative economist and publisher Roberto Alemann as Economy Minister . Alemann inherited an economy in deep recession in the aftermath of José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz 's economic policies of the late 1970s. Alemann slashed spending , began selling off government-owned industries (with only minor success), enacted
8964-440: The neo-Keynesian economic policies laid by Duhalde, Kirchner ended the economic crisis attaining significant fiscal and trade surpluses, and rapid GDP growth. Under his administration, Argentina restructured its defaulted debt with an unprecedented discount of about 70% on most bonds, paid off debts with the International Monetary Fund , purged the military of officers with dubious human rights records, nullified and voided
9130-406: The working classes sought to protect the economic and social improvements obtained under Perón's rule. Over time, as democratic rule was partially restored, but promises of legalizing the expression and political liberties for Peronism were not respected, guerrilla groups began to operate in the 1960s, namely Uturuncos and the EGP (People's Guerrilla Army). As Perón returned from exile in 1973,
9296-463: The 1916 election . He enacted social and economic reforms and extended assistance to small farms and businesses. Argentina stayed neutral during World War I . The second administration of Yrigoyen faced an economic crisis, precipitated by the Great Depression . In 1930, Yrigoyen was ousted from power by the military led by José Félix Uriburu . Although Argentina remained among the fifteen richest countries until mid-century, this coup d'état marks
9462-408: The 1980s, economic collapse, public discontent, and the disastrous handling of the Falklands War resulted in the end of the junta and the restoration of democracy in Argentina, effectively ending the Dirty War. Many members of the junta are currently in prison for crimes against humanity and genocide . The Dirty War left a profound impact on Argentine culture, which is still felt to this day. In
9628-569: The Atlantic Ocean". A vast majority of those who were killed disappeared without a trace and no record of their fate. The junta referred to their policy of suppressing opponents as the National Reorganization Process ( Proceso de Reorganización Nacional ). Argentine military and security forces also created paramilitary death squads , operating behind "fronts" as supposedly independent units. Argentina coordinated actions with other South American dictatorships during Operation Condor . Faced with increasing public opposition and severe economic problems,
9794-432: The British military response provoked an unprecedented crisis inside the Junta. Galtieri was blamed for the defeat and was removed from power, and he spent the next 18 months at a well-protected country retreat while democracy was restored to Argentina. Along with other members of the former junta, he was arrested in late 1983 and charged in a military court with human rights violations during the Dirty War and with mismanaging
9960-415: The Falkland Islands . The United Kingdom dispatched a task force to regain possession. Argentina surrendered on 14 June and its forces were taken home. Street riots in Buenos Aires followed the humiliating defeat and the military leadership stood down. Reynaldo Bignone replaced Galtieri and began to organize the transition to democratic governance. Raúl Alfonsín won the 1983 elections campaigning for
10126-409: The Falklands War. Following his release from prison, he moved to the Villa Devoto suburb of Buenos Aires, and lived modestly with his wife Lucía. He became a recluse and refused most requests for interviews by journalists, though in a rare interview he stated he had "no regrets" over anything he had done during the Dirty War. He lived on an army pension of 9,000 pesos per month, and attempted to claim
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#173310565626910292-438: The Falklands War. The Argentine Army's internal investigation, known as the Rattenbach report after the general who led it, recommended that those responsible for the misconduct of the war be prosecuted under the Code of Military Justice. In 1986 he was sentenced to twelve years in prison. Galtieri was cleared of the civil rights charges in December 1985, but (together with the Air Force and Navy commanders-in-chief) in May 1986 he
10458-431: The Full Stop and Due Obedience laws, ruled them as unconstitutional, and resumed legal prosecution of the Junta's crimes. He did not run for reelection, promoting instead the candidacy of his wife, senator Cristina Fernández de Kirchner , who was elected in 2007 and reelected in 2011 . Fernández de Kirchner's administration established positive foreign relations with countries such as Venezuela, Iran, and Cuba, while at
10624-636: The General Commandant of the SIDE , Otto Paladino. Automotores Orletti was the main base of foreign intelligence services involved in Operation Condor. One of its survivors, José Luis Bertazzo, who was detained for two months there, identified Chileans, Uruguayans, Paraguayans and Bolivians among the prisoners. These captives were interrogated by agents from their own countries. According to John Dinges 's Los años del Cóndor , Chilean MIR prisoners in Orletti center told José Luis Bertazzo that they had seen two Cuban diplomats, Jesús Cejas Arias and Crescencio Galañega, tortured by Gordon's group and interrogated by
10790-439: The Inca plan, creating instead a republican, centralist state. The 1820 Battle of Cepeda , fought between the Centralists and the Federalists, resulted in the end of the Supreme Director rule . In 1826 Buenos Aires enacted another centralist constitution , with Bernardino Rivadavia being appointed as the first president of the country. However, the interior provinces soon rose against him, forced his resignation and discarded
10956-508: The Justicialist Party candidate. President Alberto Fernández and Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner took office in December 2019, just months before the COVID-19 pandemic hit Argentina and among accusations of corruption , bribery and misuse of public funds during Nestor and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner's presidencies . On 14 November 2021, the center-left coalition of Argentina's ruling Peronist party, Frente de Todos (Front for Everyone), lost its majority in Congress, for
11122-490: The Justicialist Party nominee. Perón won the election with his wife Isabel Perón as vice president. Perón's third term was marked by escalating conflict between left and right-wing factions within the Peronist party, as well as the return of armed terror guerrilla groups such as the Guevarist ERP , leftist Peronist Montoneros , and the state-backed far-right Triple A . After a series of heart attacks and signs of pneumonia in 1974, Perón's health deteriorated quickly. He suffered
11288-402: The Latin argentum for silver. In Italian, the adjective or the proper noun is often used in an autonomous way as a substantive and replaces it and it is said l'Argentina . The name Argentina was probably first given by the Venetian and Genoese navigators, such as Giovanni Caboto . In Spanish and Portuguese, the words for 'silver' are respectively plata and prata and '(made) of silver'
11454-590: The Operation Condor's beginning in March 1976 is still debated, but some sectors claim the long political conflict started in 1969 as individual cases of state-sponsored terrorism against Peronism and the left can be traced back to the bombing of Plaza de Mayo and Revolución Libertadora in 1955. The Trelew massacre of 1972, the actions of the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance since 1973 and Isabel Martínez de Perón's "annihilation decrees" against left-wing guerrillas during Operativo Independencia (Operation Independence) in 1975 have also been suggested as dates for
11620-403: The Pencils , an operation directed by Ramón Camps , General and head of the Buenos Aires Provincial Police from April 1976 to December 1977. The rationale behind attacks against non-combatants was the belief that anyone not sharing government ideology or supporting its actions was a threat; it was believed that "any party that has supported or continues to support the enemy shall be considered
11786-472: The Peronist Carlos Menem won the 1989 election . Soon after, riots forced Alfonsín to an early resignation . Menem embraced and enacted neoliberal policies: a fixed exchange rate , business deregulation , privatizations , and the dismantling of protectionist barriers normalized the economy in the short term. He pardoned the officers who had been sentenced during Alfonsín's government. The 1994 Constitutional Amendment allowed Menem to be elected for
11952-474: The Senate Ítalo Luder from the Peronist party, replacing Isabel (who was ill for a short period), issued three decrees, 2770, 2771 and 2772. These created a Defense Council headed by the president and including his ministers and chiefs of the armed forces. It was given the command of the national and provincial police and correctional facilities and its mission was to "annihilate [...] subversive elements throughout
12118-785: The Socialist Sandinista government in Nicaragua during the Nicaraguan Revolution . In August, he sent advisers to help organize the Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN, for a time the principal Contra group), as well as training FDN leaders in Argentine bases. His support for this initiative allowed Galtieri to remove a number of rival generals. On 22 December 1981, Galtieri was appointed President of Argentina one week after ousting General Roberto Viola , who had been in power since March. Officially Viola resigned due to
12284-488: The United States government during the Johnson , Nixon , Ford , Carter , and Reagan administrations. The exact chronology of the repression is still debated, yet the roots of the long political war may have started in 1969 when trade unionists were targeted for assassination by Peronist and Marxist paramilitaries. Individual cases of state-sponsored terrorism against Peronism and the left can be traced back even further to
12450-562: The United States'—led to a near-reinvention of Argentine society and economy that by 1908 had placed the country as the seventh wealthiest developed nation in the world. Driven by this immigration wave and decreasing mortality, the Argentine population grew fivefold and the economy 15-fold: from 1870 to 1910, Argentina's wheat exports went from 100,000 to 2,500,000 t (110,000 to 2,760,000 short tons) per year, while frozen beef exports increased from 25,000 to 365,000 t (28,000 to 402,000 short tons) per year, placing Argentina as one of
12616-583: The adopted children of military servicemembers, as in the case of Silvia Quintela , a member of the Montoneros guerrillas movement. For three decades, the Mothers and Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo , a group founded in 1977, has demanded the return of these kidnapped children, estimated to number as many as 500. In 1979, security forces violently arrested and threatened the members of this group, made up predominantly of mothers who held weekly silent demonstrations in
12782-548: The allegiance of escaped Filipinos in San Blas who defected from the Spanish to join the Argentine navy, due to common Argentine and Philippine grievances against Spanish colonization. Jose de San Martin's brother, Juan Fermín de San Martín , was already in the Philippines and drumming up revolutionary fervor prior to this. At a later date, the Argentine sign of Inca origin, the Sun of May
12948-425: The appropriation of newborns from their imprisoned mothers "because subversive parents will raise subversive children". The individuals who suddenly vanished are called los desaparecidos , meaning "the missing ones" or "disappeared". The people that disappeared throughout the 1970s came from a variety of backgrounds: not just suspected terrorists, but also non-combatants. According to a declassified 1979 document from
13114-474: The beginning of the Dirty War. The discontent with Perón in 1973 started due to his drift to the right after having been a popular leftist leader for the first half of the 20th century. Many of the groups that supported him throughout the 1940s and 1950s argued that "Peron was betraying the movement by aligning himself with industrialists foreign interests." CIA research paper, "Insurgent Success and Failure: Selected Case Studies." Secret, May 1983 The attacks by
13280-535: The bodies were never found. This generalization of state terror tactics has been explained in part by the information received by the Argentine military in the infamous School of Americas and also by French instructors from the secret services , who taught them " counter-insurgency " tactics first experimented during the Algerian War (1954–1962). By 1976, Operation Condor was at its height. Chilean exiles in Argentina were threatened again and had to seek refuge in
13446-514: The border, and the appropriation of the indigenous territories. The first conquest consisted of a series of military incursions into the Pampa and Patagonian territories dominated by the indigenous peoples, distributing them among the members of the Sociedad Rural Argentina , financiers of the expeditions. The conquest of Chaco lasted up to the end of the century, since its full ownership of
13612-410: The complicity between large companies and armed forces. She found six companies in which dozens of union representatives were kidnapped and tortured, often detained inside the companies and transferred to clandestine detention centers (CDC) in vehicles provided by the companies. In the case of Dálmine Siderca, a CDC had been installed next to the factory, connected through a door. In the case of Acindar,
13778-610: The constitution. Centralists and Federalists resumed the civil war; the latter prevailed and formed the Argentine Confederation in 1831, led by Juan Manuel de Rosas . During his regime he faced a French blockade (1838–1840), the War of the Confederation (1836–1839), and an Anglo-French blockade (1845–1850), but remained undefeated and prevented further loss of national territory. His trade restriction policies, however, angered
13944-507: The country was becoming engulfed in financial, social and political disorder. The months preceding his return were marked by important social movements as in the rest of South America and in particular of the Southern Cone before the military intervention of the 1970s, thus during Héctor Cámpora 's first months of government (May–July 1973) approximately 600 social conflicts, strikes and factory occupations had taken place. Upon Perón's arrival at Buenos Aires Airport, snipers opened fire on
14110-486: The country was slow to meet its original goals of industrialization: after the steep development of capital-intensive local industries in the 1920s, a significant part of the manufacturing sector remained labour-intensive in the 1930s. Between 1878 and 1884, the so-called Conquest of the Desert occurred, with the purpose of tripling the Argentine territory by means of the constant confrontations between natives and Criollos in
14276-782: The country". Isabel Perón's government ordered a raid on 20 March 1975, which involved 4,000 military and police officers, in Villa Constitución , Santa Fe in response to various trade-unionist conflicts. Many citizens and 150 activists and trade unionists leaders were arrested while the Unión Obrera Metalúrgica's subsidiary in Villa Constitución was closed down with the agreement of the trade unions' national direction, headed by Lorenzo Miguel . Repression affected trade unionists of large firms such as Ford , Fiat , Renault , Mercedes-Benz , Peugeot and Chrysler and
14442-411: The crowds of left-wing Peronist sympathizers. Known as the 1973 Ezeiza massacre , this event marked the split between left-wing and right-wing factions of Peronism. Perón was re-elected in 1973, backed by a broad coalition that ranged from trade unionists in the center to fascists on the right (including members of the neo-fascist Movimiento Nacionalista Tacuara ) and socialists like the Montoneros on
14608-526: The day Perón returned to Argentina, the clash between Peronist internal factions— right-wing union leaders and left-wing youth from the Montoneros—resulted in the Ezeiza Massacre . Overwhelmed by political violence, Cámpora resigned and Perón won the following September 1973 election with his third wife Isabel as vice-president. He expelled Montoneros from the party and they became once again
14774-717: The death of General Cáceres Monié and the attack on the Argentine Army 29th Mountain Infantry Regiment were tortured and executed during the massacre of Margarita Belén in the military Chaco Province , for which Videla would be found guilty of homicide during the 1985 Trial of the Juntas, in addition to the guilty verdicts against Cristino Nicolaides, junta leader Leopoldo Galtieri and Santa Fe Provincial Police chief Wenceslao Ceniquel. The same year, 50 unknown persons were illegally executed by firing squad in Córdoba. Victims' relatives uncovered evidence that some children taken from their mothers soon after birth were being raised as
14940-568: The death of President Juan Perón in 1974, his widow and vice president, Isabel Perón , ascended to the presidency, before being overthrown in 1976 . The following military junta , which was supported by the United States , persecuted and murdered thousands of political critics, activists, and leftists in the Dirty War , a period of state terrorism and civil unrest that lasted until the election of Raúl Alfonsín as president in 1983 . Argentina
15106-464: The decades before the 1976 coup , the Argentine military, supported by the Argentine establishment, opposed Juan Perón 's populist government and attempted a coup in 1951 before succeeding in 1955 with the Revolución Libertadora . After taking control, the armed forces proscribed Peronism , a decision that triggered the organization of Peronist resistance in workplaces and trade unions , as
15272-642: The development of pottery , such as the Selk'nam and Yaghan in the extreme south. The second group are advanced hunters and food gatherers which include the Puelche , Querandí and Serranos in the centre-east; and the Tehuelche in the south—all of them conquered by the Mapuche spreading from Chile —and the Kom and Wichi in the north. The last group are farmers with pottery, such as
15438-453: The effects of neutralizing or annihilating the action of subversive elements acting in the Province of Tucumán ". Extreme right-wing death squads used their hunt for far-left guerrillas as a pretext to exterminate any and all ideological opponents on the left and as a cover for common crimes. In July, there was a general strike . The government, presided temporarily by provisional president of
15604-404: The first ballotage in Argentina's history, beating Front for Victory candidate Daniel Scioli and becoming president-elect. Macri was the first democratically elected non- peronist president since 1916 that managed to complete his term in office without being overthrown. He took office on 10 December 2015 and inherited an economy with a high inflation rate and in a poor shape. In April 2016,
15770-578: The first clashes of the Independence War the Junta crushed a royalist counter-revolution in Córdoba , but failed to overcome those of the Banda Oriental , Upper Peru and Paraguay , which later became independent states. The French-Argentine Hippolyte Bouchard then brought his fleet to wage war against Spain overseas and attacked Spanish California , Spanish Peru and Spanish Philippines . He secured
15936-439: The first time in almost 40 years, in midterm legislative elections . The election victory of the center-right coalition, Juntos por el Cambio (Together for Change) limited President Alberto Fernandez's power during his final two years in office. Losing control of the Senate made it difficult for him to make key appointments, including to the judiciary. It also forced him to negotiate with the opposition every initiative he sends to
16102-424: The fixed exchange rate established by Menem, causing many working- and middle-class Argentines to lose a significant portion of their savings. By late 2002, the economic crisis began to recede, but the assassination of two piqueteros by the police caused political unrest, prompting Duhalde to move elections forward. Néstor Kirchner was elected as the new president . On 26 May 2003, he was sworn in. Boosting
16268-491: The government after elected labour movement officials were forcefully replaced by Peronist puppets from the Peronist Party . Reyes was soon arrested on charges of terrorism, though the allegations were never substantiated. Reyes, who was never formally charged, was tortured in prison for five years and only released after the regime's downfall in 1955. Perón managed to get re-elected in 1951 . His wife Eva Perón , who played
16434-601: The help of Washington, the junta was aided with $ 50 million in military aid. Prior to the 1976 coup, the Alianza Anticomunista Argentina, otherwise known as Triple A, was another far right group which provoked many deaths and installed methods that continued to be used by the dictatorship. Both the juntas and Triple A targeted young professionals, high school and college students and trade union members. These groups of people became main targets because of their involvement in political organizations that resisted
16600-448: The interior provinces and in 1852 Justo José de Urquiza , another powerful caudillo , beat him out of power . As the new president of the Confederation, Urquiza enacted the liberal and federal 1853 Constitution. Buenos Aires seceded but was forced back into the Confederation after being defeated in the 1859 Battle of Cepeda . Overpowering Urquiza in the 1861 Battle of Pavón , Bartolomé Mitre secured Buenos Aires' predominance and
16766-639: The intervention of security forces to resolve internal conflicts of Peronism". On 19 January 1974, the Trotskyist People's Revolutionary Army attacked the military garrison in the Buenos Aires city of Azul , prompting a harsh response from the then constitutional president Juan Perón and contributing to his shift towards the rightist faction of the justicialist movement during the last months of his life. Extreme right wing vigilante organizations - linked to Triple A or its kind of "subsidiary" Córdoba "Comando Libertadores de América" - assassinated
16932-477: The junta said its objective was to eradicate guerrilla activity because of its threat to the state, it conducted wide-scale repression of the general population. It worked against all political opposition and those it considered on the left: trade unionists (half of the victims), students, intellectuals including journalists and writers, rights activists and other civilians and their families. Many others went into exile to survive and many remain in exile today despite
17098-439: The junta's rule, Congress was suspended, trade unions , political parties , and provincial governments were banned, and in what became known as the Dirty War , between 9,000 and 30,000 people deemed left-wing subversives disappeared from society with torture and mass executions being commonplace. Argentina's economy had been in dire condition prior to the coup and recovered for a short time. An impending economic collapse
17264-527: The left were met by ruthless action by the government and the Argentina Anticommunist Alliance (AAA), a group known since the 1930s for its violent and brutal stance towards leftist groups. Targets of the junta were anyone believed to be associated with activist groups, including trade union members and students. These included underage students, like the ones tortured and murdered in the Night of
17430-543: The left-wing. By the end of 1976, the Montoneros had lost nearly 2,000 members and by 1977, the ERP was completely subdued. Nevertheless, the severely weakened Montoneros launched a counterattack in 1979, which was quickly put down, effectively ending the guerrilla threat and securing the junta's position in power. In March 1982, an Argentine force took control of the British territory of South Georgia and, on 2 April, Argentina invaded
17596-639: The left. Following the Ezeiza massacre and Perón's denouncing of "bearded immature idealists", Perón sided with the Peronist right, the trade unionist bureaucracy and Radical Civic Union of Ricardo Balbín , Cámpora's unsuccessful rival at the May 1973 elections. Some leftist Peronist governors were deposed, among them Ricardo Obregón Cano , governor of Córdoba , who was ousted by a police coup in February 1974. According to historian Servetto, "the Peronist right... thus stimulated
17762-544: The legislature. In April 2023, President Alberto Fernandez announced that he will not seek re-election in the next presidential election . The 19 November 2023 election run-off vote ended in a win for libertarian outsider Javier Milei with close to 56% of the vote against 44% of the ruling coalition candidate Sergio Massa . On 10 December 2023, Javier Milei was sworn in as the new president of Argentina. Dirty War [REDACTED] Argentina Supported by: The Dirty War ( Spanish : Guerra sucia )
17928-573: The mid-to-late 20th century, and now the country is referred to as "Argentina". The earliest traces of human life in the area now known as Argentina are dated from the Paleolithic period, with further traces in the Mesolithic and Neolithic . Until the period of European colonization, Argentina was relatively sparsely populated by a wide number of diverse cultures with different social organizations, which can be divided into three main groups. The first group are basic hunters and food gatherers without
18094-418: The middle-class, university students, and professors were seen as particularly troublesome. Perón fired over 2,000 university professors and faculty members from all major public education institutions. Perón tried to bring most trade and labour unions under his thumb, regularly resorting to violence when needed. For instance, the meat-packers union leader, Cipriano Reyes , organized strikes in protest against
18260-423: The military and the police to "annihilate" left-wing "subversive elements". The junta, calling itself the National Reorganization Process , organized and carried out strong repression of political dissidents (or perceived as such) through the government's military and security forces. They were responsible for the arrest, torture, killings and/or forced disappearances of an estimated 22,000 to 30,000 people. With
18426-403: The military tried to regain popularity by occupying the disputed Falkland Islands . During the resulting Falklands War , the military government lost any remaining popularity after Argentina's defeat by Britain, forcing it to step aside in disgrace and allow for free elections to be held in late 1983. The democratic government of Raúl Alfonsín was elected to office in 1983. Alfonsín organized
18592-597: The military, he continued his studies in engineering until the mid-1950s. In 1949 he graduated from the US Army School of the Americas . In 1958, he became a professor of engineering at the Senior War College. Galtieri was married to Lucía Noemí Gentili, and the couple had one son and two daughters. In 1975, after more than 25 years as a combat engineer , Galtieri became commander of the Argentine engineering corps. He
18758-408: The military. Her short presidency was marked by the collapse of Argentine political and social systems, leading to a constitutional crisis that paved the way for a decade of instability, left-wing terrorist guerrilla attacks, and state-sponsored terrorism. The "Dirty War" (Spanish: Guerra Sucia ) was part of Operation Condor , which included the participation of other right-wing dictatorships in
18924-582: The most combative trade unions were closed and their leaders arrested. In August 1974, Isabel Perón's government took away the rights of trade unionist representation of the Federación Gráfica Bonaerense , whose Secretary General Raimundo Ongaro was arrested in October 1974. During the same month of August 1974, the SMATA Córdoba trade-union, in conflict with the company Ika Renault, was closed by
19090-583: The national direction of trade unions and the majority of its leaders and activists arrested. Most of them were assassinated during the 1976–1983 dictatorship. Atilio López, General Secretary of the CGT of Córdoba and former Vice Governor of the Province, was assassinated in Buenos Aires on 16 September 1974. Peronist guerrillas, estimated at 300 to 400 active members (Montoneros) in 1977 (and 2000 at its peak in 1975, though almost half of them related to militia ), committed
19256-498: The national economic system only took place when the mere extraction of wood and tannin was replaced by the production of cotton . The Argentine government considered indigenous people as inferior beings, without the same rights as Criollos and Europeans. In 1912, President Roque Sáenz Peña enacted universal and secret male suffrage , which allowed Hipólito Yrigoyen , leader of the Radical Civic Union (or UCR), to win
19422-489: The nearly 300 people prosecuted, many of the leading officers were charged, convicted and sentenced for their crimes. The Argentine armed forces opposed subjecting more of its personnel to the trials, threatening the civilian leadership with another coup. In 1986, the military forced the passage of the Ley de Punto Final (Full Stop Law) in 1986, which "put a line" under previous actions and ended prosecutions for crimes committed by
19588-556: The north, Brazil to the northeast, Uruguay and the South Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Drake Passage to the south. Argentina is a federal state subdivided into twenty-three provinces , and one autonomous city , which is the federal capital and largest city of the nation, Buenos Aires . The provinces and the capital have their own constitutions, but exist under a federal system . Argentina claims sovereignty over
19754-496: The north, and General José de San Martín . He joined Bernardo O'Higgins and they led a combined army across the Andes and secured the independence of Chile; then it was sent by O'Higgins orders to the Spanish stronghold of Lima and proclaimed the independence of Peru . In 1819 Buenos Aires enacted a centralist constitution that was soon abrogated by federalists. Some of the most important figures of Argentine independence made
19920-521: The other private partners negotiated the sale of their shares on November 2, 1976. She, along with Graiver's brother and father, were illegally detained by the Buenos Aires Province Police on March 14, 1977, on suspected financial connections her late husband had with the guerrilla organization Montoneros , and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, though an appeals court later cleared the defendants of all charges. According to Papaleo,
20086-445: The party from any future elections. Arturo Frondizi from the UCR won the 1958 general election . He encouraged investment to achieve energetic and industrial self-sufficiency, reversed a chronic trade deficit and lifted the ban on Peronism; yet his efforts to stay on good terms with both the Peronists and the military earned him the rejection of both and a new coup forced him out. Amidst
20252-417: The political ladder, being named Minister of Defence by 1944. Being perceived as a political threat by rivals in the military and the conservative camp, he was forced to resign in 1945, and was arrested days later. He was finally released under mounting pressure from both his base and several allied unions. He would later become president after a landslide victory over the UCR in the 1946 general election as
20418-414: The political turmoil, Senate leader José María Guido reacted swiftly and applied anti- power vacuum legislation, ascending to the presidency himself; elections were repealed and Peronism was prohibited once again. Arturo Illia was elected in 1963 and led an increase in prosperity across the board; however he was overthrown in 1966 by another military coup d'état led by General Juan Carlos Onganía in
20584-577: The population's support. The program of extermination of dissidents was referred to as genocide by a court of law for the first time during the trial of Miguel Etchecolatz , a former senior official of the Buenos Aires Provincial Police . Crimes committed during this time ( genocide of civilian population and other crimes against humanity ) are not covered under the laws of war ( jus in bello ), which shields enlisted personnel from prosecution for acts committed under orders given by
20750-787: The presence of Townley and Cuban Guillermo Novo Sampoll in the Orletti center. The two men traveled from Chile to Argentina on 11 August 1976 and "cooperated in the torture and assassination of the two Cuban diplomats". According to the " terror archives " discovered in Paraguay in 1992, 50,000 persons were murdered in the frame of Condor, 22,000–30,000 disappeared (desaparecidos) and 400,000 incarcerated. There were also some companies complicit in crimes against humanity. There has been participation of senior executives of Ford , Mercedes-Benz , Acindar, Dálmine Siderca, Ingenio Ledesma, and Astarsa Victoria Basualdo, from Columbia University, investigated
20916-508: The prosecution of those responsible for human rights violations during the Proceso : the Trial of the Juntas and other martial courts sentenced all the coup's leaders but, under military pressure, he also enacted the Full Stop and Due Obedience laws, which halted prosecutions further down the chain of command . The worsening economic crisis and hyperinflation reduced his popular support and
21082-551: The region with the 1502 voyage of Amerigo Vespucci . The Spanish navigators Juan Díaz de Solís and Sebastian Cabot visited the territory that is now Argentina in 1516 and 1526, respectively. In 1536 Pedro de Mendoza founded the small settlement of Buenos Aires , which was abandoned in 1541. Further colonization efforts came from Paraguay —establishing the Governorate of the Río de la Plata — Peru and Chile. Francisco de Aguirre founded Santiago del Estero in 1553. Londres
21248-459: The repression in 1973 as Carlos Bache was assassinated on 21 August 1973; Enrique Damiano, of the Taxis Trade Union of Córdoba, on 3 October; Juan Avila, also of Córdoba, the following day; Pablo Fredes, on 30 October in Buenos Aires; and Adrián Sánchez, on 8 November 1973 in the Province of Jujuy . Assassinations of trade unions, lawyers and so on continued and increased in 1974 and 1975 while
21414-553: The repression of the social movements had already started before the attempt on Yrigoyen's life: on 17 July 1973, the CGT section in Salta was closed while the CGT, SMATA and Luz y Fuerza in Córdoba were victims of armed attacks. Agustín Tosco, Secretary General of Luz y Fuerza, successfully avoided arrest and went into hiding until his death on 5 November 1975. Trade unionists were also targeted by
21580-498: The return of democracy in 1983. During the Trial of the Juntas, the prosecution established that the guerrillas were never strong enough to pose a real threat to the state and could not be considered a belligerent as in a war: The guerrilla had not taken control of any part of the national territory; they had not obtained recognition of interior or anterior belligerency, they were not massively supported by any foreign power, and they lacked
21746-673: The return of political parties. However, Perón, who had been invited back from exile, was barred from seeking office. In May 1973, Peronist Héctor José Cámpora was elected as president, but everyone understood that Perón was the real power behind him, as Cámpora's campaign stated. Peronism has been difficult to define according to traditional political classifications and different periods must be distinguished. A populist and nationalist movement, it has sometimes been accused of fascist tendencies. Following nearly two decades of weak civilian governments, economic decline and military interventionism, Perón returned from exile on 20 June in 1973, as
21912-514: The sale was made under duress. She had been receiving death threats and had been told by Papel Prensa's president, Pedro Martínez Segovia, who said was representing then Minister of Economy José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz , that she should sell her stake in the company. She, along with her family, attended a night meeting at the La Nación offices on November 2. There, she testified, that the representative of Clarín , Hector Magnetto , presented her with
22078-606: The same time relations with the United States and the United Kingdom became increasingly strained. By 2015, the Argentine GDP grew by 2.7% and real incomes had risen over 50% since the post-Menem era. Despite these economic gains and increased renewable energy production and subsidies, the overall economy had been sluggish since 2011. On 22 November 2015, after a tie in the first round of presidential elections on 25 October , center-right coalition candidate Mauricio Macri won
22244-420: The same time. Galtieri faced prosecution with 28 other officials, but due to his poor health, he was allowed to remain at home. Leopoldo Galtieri underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer on 16 August 2002 at a hospital in Buenos Aires. He died there of a heart attack on 12 January 2003, aged 76. His body was interred in a small mausoleum at La Chacarita Cemetery . Argentina Argentina , officially
22410-512: The self-proclaimed Argentine Revolution , creating a new military government that sought to rule indefinitely. Following several years of military rule, Alejandro Agustín Lanusse was appointed president by the military junta in 1971. Under increasing political pressure for the return of democracy, Lanusse called for elections in 1973. Perón was banned from running but the Peronist party was allowed to participate. The presidential elections were won by Perón's surrogate candidate, Hector Cámpora ,
22576-549: The silver and gold mines in Bolivia and Peru, and as such it became part of the Viceroyalty of Peru until the creation of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in 1776 with Buenos Aires as its capital. Buenos Aires repelled two ill-fated British invasions in 1806 and 1807. The ideas of the Age of Enlightenment and the example of the first Atlantic Revolutions generated criticism of
22742-434: The start of the steady economic and social decline that pushed the country back into underdevelopment. Uriburu ruled for two years; then Agustín Pedro Justo was elected in a fraudulent election , and signed a controversial treaty with the United Kingdom . Argentina stayed neutral during World War II , a decision that had full British support but was rejected by the United States after the attack on Pearl Harbor . In 1943
22908-503: The successor state of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata , a Spanish overseas viceroyalty founded in 1776. The declaration and fight for independence (1810–1818) was followed by an extended civil war that lasted until 1861, culminating in the country's reorganization as a federation . The country thereafter enjoyed relative peace and stability, with several waves of European immigration , mainly Italians and Spaniards , influencing its culture and demography . Following
23074-458: The supposed threat was used for the coup. In 1975, President Isabel Perón , under pressure from the military establishment, appointed Jorge Rafael Videla commander-in-chief of the Argentine Army. "As many people as necessary must die in Argentina so that the country will again be secure", declared Videla in 1975 in support of the death squads. He was one of the military heads of the coup that overthrew Isabel Perón on 24 March 1976. In her place,
23240-474: The union leader and ex-Peronist governor of Córdoba, Atilio López , as well as leftist lawyers Rodolfo Ortega Peña and Silvio Frondizi - brother of the ousted former Argentine president Arturo Frondizi , who had served as first president between May 1, 1958, and March 29, 1962. Also in 1974, the Third World priest Carlos Mugica and dozens of political activists from left. Juan Perón died on 1 July 1974 and
23406-450: The violence in Argentina alone included an estimated 15,000 to 30,000 left-wing activists and militants, including trade unionists, students, journalists, Marxists , Peronist guerrillas , and alleged sympathizers. Most of the victims were casualties of state terrorism . The opposing guerrillas' victims numbered nearly 500–540 military and police officials and up to 230 civilians. Argentina received technical support and military aid from
23572-533: The work of the right-wing group. Assassinations were carried out via mass shootings and " death flights ", the throwing of people from airplanes into the South Atlantic. Additionally, 12,000 prisoners, many of whom had not been convicted through legal processes, were detained in a network of 340 secret concentration camps located throughout Argentina. Military personnel, such as Navy captain Adolfo Scilingo , who
23738-510: The world's top five exporters. Its railway mileage rose from 503 to 31,104 km (313 to 19,327 mi). Fostered by a new public, compulsory, free and secular education system, literacy quickly increased from 22% to 65%, a level higher than most Latin American nations would reach even fifty years later. Furthermore, real GDP grew so fast that despite the huge immigration influx, per capita income between 1862 and 1920 went from 67% of developed country levels to 100%: In 1865, Argentina
23904-572: Was adopted as a symbol by the Filipinos in the Philippine Revolution against Spain. He also secured the diplomatic recognition of Argentina from King Kamehameha I of the Kingdom of Hawaii . Historian Pacho O'Donnell affirms that Hawaii was the first state that recognized Argentina's independence. He was finally arrested in 1819 by Chilean patriots. Revolutionaries split into two antagonist groups:
24070-561: Was already in common usage by the 18th century, the country was formally named " Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata " by the Spanish Empire , and " United Provinces of the Río de la Plata " after independence. The 1826 constitution included the first use of the name "Argentine Republic" in legal documents. The name "Argentine Confederation" was also commonly used and was formalized in the Argentine Constitution of 1853 . In 1860
24236-467: Was already one of the top 25 nations by per capita income. By 1908, it had surpassed Denmark, Canada and the Netherlands to reach 7th place—behind Switzerland, New Zealand, Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Belgium. Argentina's per capita income was 70% higher than Italy's, 90% higher than Spain's, 180% higher than Japan's and 400% higher than Brazil 's. Despite these unique achievements,
24402-418: Was also suspected participation from national media outlets such as Clarin , La Nación and La Razón , the three most important Argentine newspapers at the time. Together they negotiated the buyout of Papel Prensa , the largest national manufacturer of newsprint , then owned by the widow of David Graiver , Lidia Papaleo and his family estate, after his death in a plane crash on August 7, 1976. Papaleo and
24568-407: Was an enthusiastic supporter of the March 1976 coup d'état that overthrew President Isabel Perón and started the self-styled National Reorganisation Process , the establishment of a right-wing military junta government in Argentina. This helped him rise through the ranks, becoming a major general in 1977, and commander-in-chief of the army in 1980 with the rank of lieutenant general . During
24734-521: Was born on 15 July 1926 in Caseros , Buenos Aires Province to working-class Italian Argentine parents Francisco Rosario Galtieri and Nélida Victoria Castelli. In 1943, at 17 years-old, he enrolled at the National Military Academy to study civil engineering , and his early military career was as an officer in the engineering branch of the Argentine Army . As well as rising through the ranks of
24900-426: Was chief combat engineer of the Argentine Army and a supporter of the 1976 military coup d'état which helped him become commander-in-chief of the army in 1980. Galtieri overthrew Roberto Viola and was appointed President and established Argentina as a strong Cold War ally of NATO and the United States , while introducing fiscally conservative economic reforms, and increasing Argentine covert support for
25066-404: Was elected as the first president of the reunified country. He was followed by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento and Nicolás Avellaneda ; these three presidencies set up the basis of the modern Argentine State. Starting with Julio Argentino Roca in 1880, ten consecutive federal governments emphasized liberal economic policies . The massive wave of European immigration they promoted—second only to
25232-425: Was found guilty of mishandling the war and sentenced to prison. All three appealed in a civil court, and the prosecution appealed for heavier sentences. In November 1988 the original sentences were confirmed, and all three commanders were stripped of their rank. In 1989, Galtieri and 39 other officers of the dictatorship received President Carlos Menem 's pardon . Galtieri was heavily blamed for Argentina's defeat in
25398-413: Was founded in 1558; Mendoza , in 1561; San Juan , in 1562; San Miguel de Tucumán , in 1565. Juan de Garay founded Santa Fe in 1573 and the same year Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera set up Córdoba . Garay went further south to re-found Buenos Aires in 1580. San Luis was established in 1596. The Spanish Empire subordinated the economic potential of the Argentine territory to the immediate wealth of
25564-399: Was led by the racing driver Juan Manuel Fangio . In 2015, an investigation was conducted to investigate these claims. José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz , president of the metallurgical company Acindar, who was Minister of Economy between 1976 and 1980, was criminally prosecuted in the case of the kidnapping of the businessmen Federico and Miguel Gutheim, owners of SADECO cotton company. There
25730-590: Was named Chairman of Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales (YPF), at the time the state petroleum concern, and the largest company of any type in Argentina. Suárez Mason's role would contribute to a US$ 6 billion loss for the company, the largest recorded corporate loss in the world, up to that point. Galtieri supported the Central Intelligence Agency in its fight against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, while he
25896-460: Was necessary to maintain social order and eradicate political subversives. This explanation has been questioned in court by human rights NGOs, as it suggests that a "civil war" was going on and implies justification for the killings. During the 1985 Trial of the Juntas , public prosecutor Julio Strassera suggested that the term "Dirty War" was a "euphemism to try to conceal gang activities" as though they were legitimate military activities. Although
26062-524: Was not enough evidence of any wrongdoing to accuse them. During a 1981 interview whose contents were revealed by declassified CIA documents in 2000, former DINA agent Michael Townley explained that Ignacio Novo Sampol, member of the CORU anti-Castro organization, had agreed to involve the Cuban Nationalist Movement in the kidnapping in Buenos Aires of the president of a Dutch bank. The abduction
26228-552: Was one of the main justifications for the overthrow of Perón and the civilian government. In March 1981, Galtieri visited the United States and was warmly received, as the Reagan administration viewed the regime as a bulwark against communism . National Security Advisor Richard V. Allen described him as a "majestic general". An adherent to the Argentine military's Cold War -era doctrine of "ideological frontiers", Galtieri secured his country's support for Contra rebel groups opposing
26394-448: Was organized by civilian SIDE agents to obtain a ransom. Townley said that Novo Sampol had provided $ 6,000 from the Cuban Nationalist Movement , forwarded to the civilian SIDE agents to pay for the preparation expenses of the kidnapping. After returning to the United States, Novo Sampol sent Townley a stock of paper, used to print pamphlets in the name of Grupo Rojo (Red Group), an imaginary Argentine Marxist terrorist organization, which
26560-506: Was ousted one year later by a junta of the combined armed forces, led by army general Jorge Rafael Videla . They initiated the National Reorganization Process , often shortened to Proceso . The Proceso shut down Congress, removed the judges on the Supreme Court, banned political parties and unions, and resorted to employing the forced disappearance of suspected guerrilla members including individuals suspected of being associated with
26726-521: Was removed from power after Argentina’s defeat by the British armed forces in the Falklands War in June, which led to the restoration of democracy and, in 1986, his court martial prosecution and conviction for war crimes and other offenses. Galtieri was pardoned by Carlos Menem in 1989 and lived in obscurity until his arrest for new charges shortly before his death in 2003. Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri
26892-650: Was replaced by his vice president and third wife, Isabel Perón , who ruled Argentina until she was overthrown in March 1976 by the military. The 1985 CONADEP human rights commission counted 458 assassinations from 1973 to 1975 in its report Nunca Más ( Never Again ): 19 in 1973, 50 in 1974 and 359 in 1975, carried out by paramilitary groups, who acted mostly under the José López Rega 's parapolice and paramilitary Triple A death squad (according to Argenpress , at least 25 trade-unionists were assassinated in 1974). However,
27058-432: Was sometimes carried on with support from the firms' executives and from the trade unionist bureaucracies. The sentence at the Trials of the Juntas stated the following: "The subversives had not taken control of any part of the national territory; they had not obtained recognition of interior or anterior belligerency, they were not massively supported by any foreign power, and they lacked the population's support". However,
27224-417: Was to claim credit for the abduction of the Dutch banker. Townley declared that the pamphlets were distributed in Mendoza and Córdoba together with false flag bombings perpetrated by SIDE agents. The aim was to establish the existence of the fake Grupo Rojo. However, the SIDE agents procrastinated too much and the kidnapping was never carried out. The exact chronology of the repression occurring before
27390-578: Was tried for genocide, 30 counts of murder, 93 of causing injury, 255 of terrorism and 286 of torture. These actions against victims called desaparecidos because they simply "disappeared" without explanation were confirmed via Scilingo, who has publicly confessed his participation in the Dirty War, stating that the Argentine military "did worse things than the Nazis". In 1983, the National commission on Disappeared People forced Scilingo to testify where he described how "prisoners were drugged, loaded onto military planes, and thrown, naked and semi-conscious, into
27556-453: Was warmly welcomed during his visit to the White House . Argentina support became the principal source of funds and training for the Contras during Galtieri's tenure. Argentine military and intelligence cooperation with the Reagan Administration ended in 1982 when Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands . By April 1982, Galtieri had been in office for four months and his popularity was low. On 2 April, on his orders, Argentine forces invaded
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