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| 1966 Argentine coup d'état | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theCold War | |||||||
 At the top, the commanders of the Revolutionary Junta, and below, GeneralsJuan Carlos Onganía,Roberto Marcelo Levingston, andAlejandro Lanusse, the three successive dictators of the Argentine Revolution whode facto held the office ofPresident of the Argentine Nation. | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Argentine Armed Forces rebels | |||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Arturo Umberto Illia | |||||||
TheArgentine Revolution (Spanish:Revolución Argentina) is the self-styled name of thecivil-military dictatorship that overthrew the constitutional presidentArturo Illia through acoup d'état on June 28, 1966, and ruledthe country until May 25, 1973, when democratic elections were held once again. The dictatorship did not present itself as a "provisional government" (as all the previous coups had done in Argentina), but rather sought to establish itself as a new permanent dictatorial system later associated with the concept of thebureaucratic-authoritarian State.
The June 1966 coup established GeneralJuan Carlos Onganía as thede facto president and dictator, 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 economic policies, supported bymultinational companies, employers' federations/industrial capitalists, and a section of theworkers' movement —which by the 1960s had become bureaucratized and corrupt in some ofArgentina's trade unions—, as well as most of thepress.
While preceding military coups were aimed at establishing temporary and transitionaljuntas, the "Revolución Argentina" headed by Onganía aimed at establishing a new political and social order, opposed both toliberal democracy and toCommunism, which would give theArmed Forces of Argentina a leading political and economic role, all with the aim of staying in power for decades. Political scientistGuillermo O'Donnell named this type ofregime "authoritarian-bureaucratic state",[1] in reference to theRevolución Argentina, the1964–1985 Brazilian military regime andAugusto Pinochet'sregime (starting in 1973).
From its onset, the Onganía regime proposed to eliminate the existing organizational scheme and restructure the entire state apparatus. Article 2 of the "Estatuto de la Revolución Argentina" announced a new law to establish the number of ministries and Secretariats of State that would be entrusted with the affairs of State, as well as their functions and interdependence.[2]
The careers of the new members of the state were marked by technical specialization. This attribute gave them a technocratic legitimacy, useful for modernizing public offices without political components. Thus, both the origin of economic or cultural activities and the technocratic attributes of the new ministerial layer gave a corporate tone to the formation of the first cabinet of the Argentine Revolution.[3] An example in this sense is the Secretary of Housing whose heads were construction entrepreneurs and an architect.[4]
For its part, the ministry of economy was briefly headed by Salimei, a businessman in the oilseed trade,[5] while the other two ministers (Adalbert Krieger Vasena and Jose Maria Dagnino Pastore) listed prior experience in government and academe. Also worth noting is the appointment of private sector executives to the secretariats, in Agriculture, farmer Lorenzo Raggio; in Energy and Mining, businessman of a foreign electrical material firm, Luis Gotelli; and in Public Works, the director of a cement company contracted by the State, Esteban Guaia.[6] With a study even affirming that 76% of the Onganía Regime came from private business backgrounds.[7]
This way, each ministerial sector was confined to a businessman from the sector, evidencing the attempt to promote the integration of representatives of the vital forces of development in decision-making.[3] This new paradigm of participation and representation breaks with the model of ministerial integration of previous governments, which were mainly staffed by party accountants with regard to economic functions.[8]
The Onganía regime had a corporatist ideology, experimenting in particular inCórdoba under the governance ofCarlos Caballero. Although in practice, it represented a type of exclusive corporatism, where only private interests were represented through organizations. They were given representation in the State in exchange for accepting certain controls.
In reality, this led to many functions and structures of the State passing into private hands, but in an unbalanced way. Business and religious groups ended up taking control of important areas of the government. As a result, the state's ability to act independently and efficiently was greatly reduced, which also explains why resistance to these measures arose.[9]
For instance, some Catholic fundamentalists were in the Ministry of Social Welfare (although with a short stay), such as Minister Roberto Petracca and the Secretary of Promotion and Community Assistance (SEPAC), Roberto Gorostiaga. Both were Catholic militants, members of Ciudad Católica, of the Verbo Magazine and followers ofJacques de Mahieu. Together with these, in 1967, there were also other types of Catholic groups in the Ministry of Social Welfare, with social Christian principles and modernizing for the time. In this spectrum were the minister, Julio Álvarez, the secretary of SEPAC, Raúl Puigbó, the undersecretary of SEPAC, Antonio Critto, and the undersecretary of Security.
During Onganía's government, the idea of "community development" of the organizations and Catholics came together and allowed the formation of the framework of intervention of the Ministry of Social Welfare. Based above all on the need to decentralize and give importance to the different sectors of the community in the development of some social initiatives.
Thus, the integration of the ministries offers a clear example of the corporatist element of this period. Especially, as it opened institutional areas to the representation of some interests of civil society. However, this opening occurred selectively, including mainly groups that already supported the government. The private actors that were incorporated had a limited role, as they could only provide information and technical advice, since this was considered to be the best form of participation.[10][11]
The newMinister of Economy, Adalbert Krieger Vasena in December 1966 inaugurated a period that would last until May 1969, characterized by the absence of a well-organized and unified civil opposition.[12]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 theeviction of tenants over their non-payment of domestic rent. Finally, theright to strike was 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 "Peronism withoutPerón" 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.
Onganía ended university autonomy, which had been achieved by theUniversity Reform of 1918.[13]
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.[14]
Onganía also ordered repression on all forms of "immoralism", proscribingminiskirts,long hair for young men, and allavant-garde artistic movements.[13] This moral campaign alienated the middle classes, who were massively present inuniversities.[13]
Towards the end of May 1968, GeneralJulio Alsogaray dissented 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 Lanusse replaced Julio Alsogaray, Pedro Gnavi replaced Benigno Varela, and Jorge Martínez Zuviría replaced Adolfo Alvarez.
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 afoco inTucumán Province, in order to head the resistance against the junta, was captured; among them was Envar El Kadre, then a leader of thePeronist Youth.[15]
In 1969, theCGT de los Argentinos (led byRaimundo Ongaro) headed protest movements, in particular theCordobazo, as well as other movements inTucumán,Santa Fe andRosario (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 Opinión headed byJosé Alonso and Rogelio Coria.
In December 1969, more than 20 priests, members of theMovement of Priests for the Third World (MSTM), marched on theCasa Rosada to present to Onganía a petition pleading him to abandon the eradication plan ofvillas miserias (shanty towns).[16]
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.[17]
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 guerrilla actions in Argentina. Beside these isolated actions, theCordobazo uprising 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.
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 Ferrer asMinister 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.
The last of the military presidentsde 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 theHora del Pueblo declaration 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 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 theEjército Revolucionario del Pueblo (ERP, the armed wing of theWorkers' Revolutionary Party, PRT), the Catholic nationalist PeronistsMontoneros and 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 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 concerningJuan Perón by increasing the number of years of residency required of presidential candidates, thus excludingde facto Perón 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).
