Jorge Rafael Videla
Jorge Rafael Videla (/vɪˈdɛlə/ vid-EL-ə; Spanish: [ˈxoɾxe rafaˈel βiˈðela]; 2 August 1925 – 17 May 2013) was an Argentine military officer and dictator who was the 47th President of Argentina and as well as the 1st President of the National Reorganisation Process from 1976 to 1981. His rule, which was during the time of Operation Condor, was among the most infamous in Latin America during the Cold War due to its high level of human rights abuses and severe economic mismanagement.
Jorge Rafael Videla
Vacant
Jorge Daniel Nanclares
Carlos Alfredo Imbaud
2 August 1925
Mercedes, Buenos Aires, Argentina
17 May 2013 (aged 87)
Marcos Paz, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Memorial Cemetery, Pilar, Buenos Aires
None
7
Military
1944–1981
(Pre-1991 epaulette) Lieutenant General
Argentine Army (1976–1981)
Crimes against humanity; illegal repression during the last military dictatorship
Marcos Paz Prison
He came to power in a coup d'état that deposed Isabel Perón. In 1985, two years after the return of a representative democratic government, he was prosecuted in the Trial of the Juntas for large-scale human rights abuses and crimes against humanity under his rule including the widespread abduction, torture and murder of activists and political opponents along with their families at secret concentration camps. An estimated 13,000[1] to 30,000[2] political dissidents vanished during this period. Videla was also convicted of the theft of many babies born during the captivity of their mothers at the illegal detention centres and passing them on for illegal adoption by associates of the regime. Videla maintained the female guerrilla detainees allowed themselves to become pregnant in the belief they would not be tortured or executed.[3] Videla remained under house arrest until 10 October 2008, when he was sent to a military prison.[4]
On 5 July 2010, Videla took full responsibility for his army's actions during his rule.[5] Following a new trial, on 22 December 2010, Videla was sentenced to life in a civilian prison for the deaths of 31 prisoners following his coup.[6][7] On 5 July 2012, Videla was sentenced to 50 years in civilian prison for the systematic kidnapping of children during his tenure.[8] The following year, Videla died in the Marcos Paz civilian prison five days after suffering a fall in a shower.[9]
Early life and family[edit]
Jorge Rafael Videla was born on 2 August 1925 in the city of Mercedes. He was the third of five sons born to Colonel Rafael Eugenio Videla Bengolea (1888–1951) and María Olga Redondo Ojea (1897–1987) and was christened in honor of his two older twin brothers, who had died of measles in 1923. Videla's family was a prominent one in San Luis Province, and many of his ancestors had held high public offices. His grandfather Jacinto had been governor of San Luis between 1891 and 1893, and his great-great-grandfather Blas Videla had fought in the Spanish American wars of independence and had later been a leader of the Unitarian Party in San Luis.[10]
On 7 April 1948, Videla married Alicia Raquel Hartridge (28 September 1927 – 5 November 2021[11]) daughter of Samuel Alejandro Hartridge Parkes (1891–1969), an English Argentine professor of physics and Argentine ambassador to Turkey, and María Isabel Lacoste Álvarez (1893–1939).[12] They had seven children: María Cristina (1949), Jorge Horacio (1950), Alejandro Eugenio (1951–1971), María Isabel (1954), Pedro Ignacio (1956), Fernando Gabriel (1961) and Rafael Patricio (1963). Two sons (Rafael Patricio and Fernando Gabriel) joined the Argentine Army.[10]