Argentine Revolution

For the 1810 revolution, seeMay Revolution.For the 1905 revolution, seeArgentine Revolution of 1905.

1966 Argentine coup d'état
Part of theCold War
GeneralsJuan Carlos Onganía,Roberto Marcelo LevingstonandAlejandro Agustín Lanusse,the three successive dictators of the "Revolución Argentina".
Date 28 June 1966 Location Buenos Aires,Argentina Result Overthrow of the government ofArturo Umberto Illia.Suspension of theliberal democracyand establishment ofmilitary dictatorship.
Belligerents
Argentine Armed Forces	Government of Argentina
Commanders and leaders
Pascual Pistarini Adolfo Álvarez Benigno Varela	Arturo Umberto Illia

Argentine Revolution(Spanish:Revolución Argentina) was thename given by its leadersto a militarycoup d'étatwhich overthrew the government ofArgentinain June 1966 and began a period ofmilitary dictatorshipby ajuntafrom then until 1973.

TheRevolución Argentinaand the "authoritarian-bureaucratic state"

The June 1966 coup established GeneralJuan Carlos Onganíaasde factopresident, supported by several leaders of theGeneral Confederation of Labour(CGT), including the general secretaryAugusto Vandor.

This was followed by a series ofmilitary-appointed presidents and the implementation ofliberal economicpolicies, supported bymultinational companies,employers' federations, part of the more-or-less corruptworkers' movement,and thepress.

While preceding military coups were aimed at establishing temporary, transitionaljuntas,theRevolución Argentinaheaded by Onganía aimed at establishing a new political and social order, opposed both toliberal democracyand toCommunism,which would give theArmed Forces of Argentinaa leading political and economic role. Political scientistGuillermo O'Donnellnamed this type ofregime"authoritarian-bureaucratic state",in reference to theRevolución Argentina,the1964–1985 Brazilian military regimeandAugusto Pinochet'sregime(starting in 1973).

Onganía's rule (1966–70)

Onganía implementedcorporatistpolicies, experimenting in particular inCórdobaunder the governance ofCarlos Caballero.The newMinister of Economy,Adalbert Krieger Vasena,decreed a wage freeze and a 40% devaluation, which weakened theeconomy– in particular the agricultural sector – and favored foreign capital. Vasena suspendedcollective labour conventions,reformed the "hydrocarbons law" which had established a partial monopoly of theYacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales(YPF) state firm, and passed a law facilitating theevictionof tenants over their non-payment of domestic rent. Finally, theright to strikewas suspended (Law 16,936) and several other laws passed reversing previous progressivelabor legislation(reducing retirement age, etc.).

The workers' movement divided itself between Vandoristas, who supported a "PeronismwithoutPerón"line (Augusto Vandor,leader of theGeneral Confederation of Labour,declared that "to save Perón, one has to be against Perón" ) and advocated negotiation with the junta, alongside "Participationists" headed byJosé Alonso,and Peronists, who formed theGeneral Confederation of Labour of the Argentines(CGTA) in 1968 and were opposed to any kind of participation with the military junta. Perón himself, from his exile inFrancoist Spain,maintained a cautious and ambiguous line of opposition to the regime, rejecting both the endorsement and open confrontation.

Cultural and education policies

The Night of the Long Batons,an Onganía police action againstUniversity of Buenos Airesstudents and faculty came to be known.

Onganía ended university autonomy, which had been achieved by theUniversity of 1918.

He was responsible for the July 1966La Noche de los bastones Largos( "The Night of the Long Truncheons" ), where university autonomy was violated, in which he ordered police to invade the Faculty of Sciences of theUniversity of Buenos Aires.They beat up and arrested students and professors. The university repression led to the exile of 301 university professors, among whom wereManuel Sadosky,Tulio Halperín Donghi,Sergio Bagú,and Risieri Frondizi.

Onganía also ordered repression on all forms of "immoralism", proscribingminiskirts,long hairfor young men, and allavant-gardeartistic movements.This moral campaign alienated the middle classes, who were massively present inuniversities.

Change of direction of the Armed Forces

Towards the end of May 1968, GeneralJulio Alsogaraydissented from Onganía, and rumors spread about a possible coup d'état, with Algosaray leading the opposition to Onganía. At the end of the month Onganía dismissed the leaders of the Armed Forces:Alejandro Lanussereplaced Julio Alsogaray, Pedro Gnavi replaced Benigno Varela, and Jorge Martínez Zuviría replaced Adolfo Alvarez.

Increasing protests

On 19 September 1968, two important events affected Revolutionary Peronism.John William Cooke,former personal delegate of Perón, an ideologist of the Peronist Left and friend ofFidel Castro,died from natural causes. On the same day a group of 13 men and one woman who aimed at establishing afocoinTucumán Province,in order to head the resistance against the junta, was captured;among them was Envar El Kadre, then a leader of thePeronist Youth.

Images of theCordobazo,May–June 1969

In 1969, theCGT de los Argentinos(led byRaimundo Ongaro) headed protest movements, in particular theCordobazo,as well as other movements inTucumán,Santa FeandRosario(Rosariazo). While Perón managed a reconciliation with Augusto Vandor, he followed, in particular through the voice of his delegate Jorge Paladino, a cautious line of opposition to the military junta, criticizing with moderation the neoliberal policies of the junta but waiting for discontent inside the government ( "hay que desensillar hasta que aclare",said Perón, advocating patience). Thus, Onganía had an interview with 46 CGT delegates, among them Vandor, who agreed on" participationism "with the military junta, thus uniting themselves with theNueva Corriente de Opiniónheaded byJosé Alonsoand Rogelio Coria.

In December 1969, more than 20 priests, members of theMovement of Priests for the Third World(MSTM), marched on theCasa Rosadato present to Onganía a petition pleading him to abandon the eradication plan ofvillas miserias(shanty towns).

The same year, the MSTM issued a declaration supporting Socialist revolutionary movements, which led theCatholic hierarchy,by the voice ofJuan Carlos Aramburu,coadjutorarchbishop of Buenos Aires,to proscribe priests from making political or social declarations.

Various armed actions, headed by theFuerzas Armadas de Liberación(FAL), composed by former members of theRevolutionary Communist Party,occurred in April 1969, leading to several arrests among FAL members. These were the first left-wingurban guerrillaactions in Argentina. Beside these isolated actions, theCordobazouprising of 1969, called forth by the CGT de los Argentinos, and its Cordobese leader,Agustín Tosco,prompted demonstrations in the entire country. The same year, thePeople's Revolutionary Army(ERP) was formed as the military branch of the TrotskyistWorkers' Revolutionary Party,leading an armed struggle against the dictatorship.

Levingston's rule (1970–71)

Faced with increasing opposition, in particular following theCordobazo,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 GeneralRoberto M. Levingston,who, far from calling free elections, decided to deepen theRevolución Argentina.Levingston expressed the nationalist-developmentist sector of theArmed Forces,and was supported by the most intransigent military elements. He named the radical economistAldo FerrerasMinister of Economy.

A coalition of political parties issued the statement known asLa Hora del Pueblo( "Time of the People" ), calling for free and democratic elections which would include theJusticialist Party.Under this pressure, Levingston was ousted by an internal coup headed by the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces and strongman of theRevolución Argentina,GeneralAlejandro Agustín Lanusse.

Lanusse's rule (1971–73)

The last of the military presidentsde factoof 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 theHora del Pueblodeclaration by calling elections but excluding Peronists from them, in the so-calledGran Acuerdo Nacional(Great National Agreement). He nominated Arturo Mor Roig (Radical Civic Union) as Minister of Interior, who enjoyed the support of theHora del pueblocoalition of parties, to supervise the coming elections.

There had been no elections since 1966, and armed struggle groups came into existence, such as theEjército Revolucionario del Pueblo(ERP, the armed wing of theWorkers' Revolutionary Party,PRT), the Catholic nationalist PeronistsMontonerosand theFuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias(FAR).

In August 1972, an attempt by several revolutionary members to escape from prison, headed byMario Roberto Santucho(PRT), was followed by what became known as theTrelew massacre.Fernando Vaca Narvaja, Roberto Quieto,Enrique Gorriarán Merloand 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 concerningJuan Perónby increasing the number of years of residency required of presidential candidates, thus excludingde factoPerón from the elections since he had been in exile since the 1955Revolución Libertadora.

Henceforth, Perón decided to appoint as his candidate his personal secretaryHéctor 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).

See also

• History of Argentina

References

• Oscar R. Anzorena,Tiempo de violencia y utopía (1966-1976),Editorial Contrapunto, 1987