Argentine Revolution
Argentine Revolution (Spanish: Revolución Argentina) was the name given by its leaders to a military coup d'état which overthrew the government of Argentina in June 1966 and began a period of military dictatorship by a junta from then until 1973.
For the 1810 revolution, see May Revolution. For the 1905 revolution, see Argentine Revolution of 1905.The Revolución Argentina and the "authoritarian-bureaucratic state"[edit]
The June 1966 coup established General Juan Carlos Onganía as de facto president, supported by several leaders of the General Confederation of Labour (CGT), including the general secretary Augusto Vandor.
This was followed by a series of military-appointed presidents and the implementation of liberal economic policies, supported by multinational companies, employers' federations, part of the more-or-less corrupt workers' movement, and the press.
While preceding military coups were aimed at establishing temporary, transitional juntas, the Revolución Argentina headed by Onganía aimed at establishing a new political and social order, opposed both to liberal democracy and to Communism, which would give the Armed Forces of Argentina a leading political and economic role. Political scientist Guillermo O'Donnell named this type of regime "authoritarian-bureaucratic state",[1] in reference to the Revolución Argentina, the 1964–1985 Brazilian military regime and Augusto Pinochet's regime (starting in 1973).
Levingston's rule (1970–71)[edit]
Faced with increasing opposition, in particular following the Cordobazo, General Onganía was forced to resign by the military junta, composed of the chiefs of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force. He was replaced by General Roberto M. Levingston, who, far from calling free elections, decided to deepen the Revolución Argentina. Levingston expressed the nationalist-developmentist sector of the Armed Forces, and was supported by the most intransigent military elements. He named the radical economist Aldo Ferrer as Minister of Economy.
A coalition of political parties issued the statement known as La Hora del Pueblo ("Time of the People"), calling for free and democratic elections which would include the Justicialist Party. Under this pressure, Levingston was ousted by an internal coup headed by the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces and strongman of the Revolución Argentina, General Alejandro Agustín Lanusse.
Lanusse's rule (1971–73)[edit]
The last of the military presidents de facto of this period, Alejandro Lanusse, was appointed in March 1971. He was as unpopular as his predecessors. His administration started building infrastructure projects (roads, bridges, etc.) necessary for the development of the country, without responding to popular demands concerning social and economic policies.
General Lanusse tried to respond to the Hora del Pueblo declaration by calling elections but excluding Peronists from them, in the so-called Gran Acuerdo Nacional (Great National Agreement). He nominated Arturo Mor Roig (Radical Civic Union) as Minister of Interior, who enjoyed the support of the Hora del pueblo coalition of parties, to supervise the coming elections.
There had been no elections since 1966, and armed struggle groups came into existence, such as the Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo (ERP, the armed wing of the Workers' Revolutionary Party, PRT), the Catholic nationalist Peronists Montoneros and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias (FAR).
In August 1972, an attempt by several revolutionary members to escape from prison, headed by Mario Roberto Santucho (PRT), was followed by what became known as the Trelew massacre. Fernando Vaca Narvaja, Roberto Quieto, Enrique Gorriarán Merlo and Domingo Menna managed to complete their escape, but 19 others were re-captured. 16 of them, members of the Montoneros, the FAR, and the ERP, were killed, and 3 managed to survive. On the same night of August 22, 1972, the junta approved law 19,797, which proscribed any information concerning guerrilla organizations. The massacre led to demonstrations in various cities.
Finally, Lanusse lifted the proscription of the Justicialist Party, although he maintained it concerning Juan Perón by increasing the number of years of residency required of presidential candidates, thus excluding de facto Perón from the elections since he had been in exile since the 1955 Revolución Libertadora.
Henceforth, Perón decided to appoint as his candidate his personal secretary Héctor José Cámpora, a leftist Peronist, as representative of the FreJuLi (Frente Justicialista de Liberación, Justicialist Liberation Front), composed of the Justicialist Party and minor, allied parties. The FreJuLi's electoral slogan was "Cámpora in Government, Perón in power" (Cámpora al Gobierno, Perón al poder).