Isaac Rojas | |
|---|---|
 Isaac Rojas, 1955 | |
| 24th Vice President of Argentina | |
| In office September 23, 1955 – May 1, 1958 | |
| President | Eduardo Lonardi Pedro Eugenio Aramburu |
| Preceded by | Alberto Teisaire |
| Succeeded by | Alejandro Gómez |
| Personal details | |
| Born | December 3, 1906 Buenos Aires |
| Died | April 13, 1993(1993-04-13) (aged 86) Buenos Aires |
| Nationality | Argentine |
| Political party | none |
| Spouse | Lía Edith Sánchez |
| Profession | Military |
Isaac Francisco Rojas Madariaga (December 3, 1906 – April 13, 1993) was anArgentine Admiral of theNavy and de facto Vice President of Argentina. He joined the Argentine Navy and had an unremarkable career until the 1946 election ofJuan Perón.
He wasNaval attache in Brazil and Uruguay, and later he became close to the influential First Lady,Eva Perón, and served as her navalaide-de-camp until her death in 1952. He was then named head of the Río Santiago Naval Academy (close to the site ofan important naval shipyard), though in August 1955, he was persuaded to take part in thecoup d'état that toppled Perón on September 19. Credited with leading the Navy during the rebellion, Rojas obtained Perón's resignation and exile by commandeering theARA General Belgrano - threatening to bombard theYPF refinery inEnsenada (then the nation's largest).
On 23 September 1955 he was rewarded with the vice presidency at the Navy's insistence, and remained in the post until PresidentPedro Aramburu relinquished power to elected authorities in May 1958.
Rojas imposed a staunch anti-Peronist and anti-Communist as vice president, though he supported Aramburu's call forConstitutional Assembly elections in 1957, overcoming objections from the largely conservative Navy.[1] Peronism was banned, and remained so until 1972.
In 1958 as commander of Naval Operations of theArgentine Navy he was involved in theSnipe incident, when he ordered the destruction of the Chilean lighthouse and its replacement with an Argentine one.[2]
Following the return to democracy with the election of PresidentArturo Frondizi, Rojas remained a vocal supporter of military action to prevent the return ofPeronism, and participated in the failedApril 1963 coup attempt against PresidentJosé María Guido (who was himself appointed in Frondizi's replacement for the sake of preventing a Peronist resurgence at the polls). Following Army ChiefJuan Carlos Onganía's defeat of the coup attempt, Rojas was confined to hisuptown Buenos Aires apartment, after which he largely limited his contact with the public to occasional columns in conservative newspapers such asLa Prensa andLa Nación. He opposed theAntarctic Treaty of 1961 and later to theBeagle Channel Arbitration. He was founder of the “Movimiento Pro-impugnación del Laudo Arbitral del Beagle”[3] and was a staunch supporter of the ill-fatedFalklands War against Britain. He died inBuenos Aires, making it his dying wish that his ashes be scattered at the site of thesinking of the Belgrano during the 1982 conflict.[4]
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Vice President of Argentina 1955–1958 | Succeeded by |
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| Other | |
