National Reorganization and the Dirty War

36.2.4: National Reorganization and the Dirty War

The Dirty War began as the government became increasingly fearful and repressive of leftist dissidents.

Learning Objective

Analyze the reasons for the outbreak of the Dirty War

Key Points

  • The Dirty War was the name used by the Argentina Military Government for a period of state terrorism in Argentina from roughly 1974 to 1983.
  • The military, supported by a significant number of the general populace involved in the Radical and Socialist parties, opposed Juan Peron’s populist government and overthrew his regime in 1955 during the Revolucion Libertadora. Afterwards, Peronism was outlawed.
  • Peronists and other revolutionary groups within Argentina began organizing and militarizing, with many groups combining forces.
  • By the early 1970s, guerrilla groups were kidnapping and assassinating high-ranking military and police officers almost weekly, as well as bombing government buildings.
  • Juan Peron returned from exile and after his death, his widow Isabel Martinez de Peron held the presidency, only to be ousted from power during a military coup in 1976.
  • The resulting junta, led by Jorge Rafael Videla until 1981 and subsequently by Roberto Viola and Leopoldo Galtieri until 1983, organized and carried out strong repression of political dissidents via the government’s military and security forces, which they referred to as their National Reorganization Process.
  • The junta was forced to resign power in 1983 following their disastrous defeat to Great Britain in the Falklands War, which paved the way for the resumption of Argentine democracy.

Key Terms

disappeared
A person who is secretly abducted or imprisoned by a state or political organization, or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organization. Following abduction, there is a refusal to acknowledge the person’s fate or whereabouts, essentially placing the victim outside the protection of the law.
Peronism
Also called Justicialism, an Argentine political movement based on the political legacy of former President Juan Domingo Peron and his second wife, Eva Peron.

The Dirty War, also known as the Process of National Reorganization, was the name used by the Argentina Military Government for a period of state terrorism in Argentina from roughly 1974 to 1983. During this time, the military, security forces, and right-wing death squads such as the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance (Triple A) hunted down and killed left-wing guerrillas, political dissidents, and anyone believed to be associated with the socialist movement. A total of 7,158 left-wing activities, terrorists, and militants, including trade unionists, students, journalists, and Marxist and Peronist guerrillas, were victimized. Official records account for 13,000 missing people, known as the “disappeared.” Meanwhile, leftist guerrillas accounted for 6,000 casualties among military and police forces as well as civilians.

Photos of the "disappeared"

Photos of the “disappeared”: Collections of photos from families whose children and grandchildren had disappeared.

Background

The military, supported by a significant number of the general populace involved in the Radical and Socialist parties, opposed Juan Peron’s populist government and attempted to overthrow his regime once in 1951 and twice in 1955 before finally succeeding on a third attempt in 1955 during the Revolucion Libertadora. After taking control, Peronism was outlawed. Peronists began organizing a resistance movement centered around workplaces and trade unions, and the working classes sought economic and social improvements. Over time, as democratic rule was partially restored and promises to allow freedom of expression and other political liberties to Peronists was not respected, resistance groups militarized, forming guerrilla groups.

Jorge Ricardo Masetti, the leader of the Guevarist People’s Guerrilla Army (EGP) that infiltrated Bolivia’s army in 1964, is considered by some to be Argentina’s first disappeared person. Prior to 1973, the major revolutionary groups within Argentina were the Peronist Armed Forces (FAP), the Marxist-Leninist-Peronist Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR), and the Marxist-Leninist Armed Forces of Liberation (FAL). Over time, many of these guerrilla forces combined or were effectively eradicated by the government. For example, FAR joined the Montoneros, formerly an urban group of intellectuals and students, and FAP and FAL were absorbed into the Marxist People’s Revolutionary Army (ERP). Meanwhile, the EGP and the Peronist Uturuncos were small enough to be overcome by government forces and ceased to exist.

A Decade of Violence

By the early 1970s, the consolidated guerrilla groups that remained were kidnapping and assassinating high-ranking military and police officers almost weekly. The extreme left bombed and destroyed numerous military and police buildings in its campaign against the government, but unfortunately a number of civilian and non-governmental buildings were targeted as well. For instance, the Sheraton Hotel in Buenos Aires was bombed in 1972, killing a woman and injuring her husband. A crowded theater in downtown Buenos Aires was also bombed in 1975. In 1978, a powerful bomb meant to kill an Argentine admiral ripped through a nine-story apartment building, killing three civilians and trapping many others under the debris.

In 1973, as Juan Peron returned from exile, the Ezeiza massacre marked the end of an alliance between left- and right-wing factions of Peronism. In the subsequent year, Peron withdrew his support of the Montoneros shortly before his death. During the presidency of his widow Isabel Martinez de Peron, the far-right paramilitary death squad Triple A emerged, increasing armed struggles. In 1975, Isabel signed a number of decrees empowering the military and the police to step up efforts to destroy left-wing subversion, particularly the ERP. Isabel was ousted from power the subsequent year, 1976, by a military coup.

U.S. Involvement

In August 2016, the U.S. State Department released 1,080 pages of declassified State Department documents that revealed a growing hostility between the administration of US President Jimmy Carter and the 1976 junta that overthrew Isabel. Carter took issue in particular with Argentina’s growing list of human rights violations, although the previous administration under Gerald Ford was strongly sympathetic to the junta, with Secretary of State Henry Kissinger even advising Argentina’s Foreign Minister, Cesar Guzzetti, to carry out anti-Communist policies before Congress was back in session. Despite this, there is no documentation suggesting that the U.S. government had direct involvement or knowledge of the developments leading up to or following the coup that ousted Isabel.

The National Reorganization Process

The juntas, led by Jorge Rafael Videla until 1981 and subsequently by Roberto Viola and Leopoldo Galtieri until 1983, organized and carried out strong repression of political dissidents via the government’s military and security forces, which they referred to as their National Reorganization Process. They were responsible for illegal arrests, torture, killings, and the forced disappearance of an estimated 9,000 to 30,000 people. Assassinations occurred via mass shootings and throwing live citizens from airplanes to their death in the ocean below. Additionally, 12,000 prisoners, many of whom had not been convicted via any legal processes, were detained in a network of 340 secret concentration camps located throughout Argentina. The government coordinated actions with other South American dictatorships as well.

Memorial to the disappeared

Memorial to the disappeared; Photographs of victims of the 1976-83 dictatorship.

Faced with increasing public opposition and severe economic problems, the military tried to regain popularity by occupying the disputed Falkland Islands. It suffered a lopsided defeat against Great Britain, which was in possession of the territories, during the subsequent Falklands War, and was forced to resign governing powers in disgrace, paving the way for the restoration of Argentinian democracy.

Attributions