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José López Rega | |
|---|---|
 López Rega in 1974. | |
| Argentine Ambassador to Spain | |
| In office 11 July 1975 – 18 June 1976 | |
| President | Isabel Perón |
| Minister of the Social Security | |
| In office 25 May 1973 – 11 July 1975 | |
| President | Héctor Cámpora, Raúl Lastiri, Juan Perón, Isabel Perón |
| Preceded by | Oscar Puiggrós |
| Succeeded by | Carlos Villone |
| Chief of the Triple A | |
| In office 13 July 1973 – 18 June 1976 | |
| Preceded by | Title established |
| Succeeded by | Title abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1916-11-17)17 November 1916 |
| Died | 9 June 1989(1989-06-09) (aged 72) Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Political party | Peronist Party |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
| Profession | Police officer,diplomat |
| Nickname(s) | "The Warlock", "Argentine Evola" |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Argentine Federal Police |
| Years of service | 1945–1976 |
| Rank | Police commissioner Captain Corporal |
José López Rega (17 November 1916 – 9 June 1989) was an Argentine politician who served as Minister of Social Welfare from 1973 to 1975, first underJuan Perón and continuing underIsabel Perón, Juan Perón's third wife and presidential successor. Lopez Rega exercised an allegedlyRasputin-like power and influence over Isabel Perón during her presidency, and used both this and his unique access to become thede factopolitical boss of Argentina.[1] Hisorthodox Peronist and far-right politics and interest inoccultism earned him the nicknameEl Brujo ("the Warlock"). López Rega had one daughter, Norma Beatriz, who went on to become the spouse of PresidentRaúl Lastiri.
López Rega's mother died giving birth to him inBuenos Aires. According to hisbiography by Marcelo Larraquy (2002), he was a respectful, introverted boy, who had a library covering an entire wall and a special interest in spiritual topics (which would later turn into a passion foresotericism andoccultism). He married at the age of 27. In 1944 he joined the Federal Police; with the help of police chief Filomeno Velazco, he joined the guard which protected theCasa Rosada, seat of the executive, with the rank ofcorporal.
In 1951, he met Victoria Montero who introduced him in the subject of esotericism. López Rega was a frequent visitor in Montero's home, where he met members of thefreemasons organization. A common interest in esotericism linked him to Isabel, Perón's third wife, in 1965. (Evidently, Rega's esotericism included the writings of Alice Bailey: "Also found in his [Rega's] home were 12 volumes by Alice Bailey on telepathy and Cosmic Fire..."[2]) Sent to Argentina by Perón, exiled in Spain since the 1955 "Revolución Libertadora" coup, she organized a meeting in the house of major Bernardo Alberte, Perón's delegate and sponsor of various left-wing Peronist movements, among which theCGT de los Argentinos, a labour union federation which, between 1968 and 1972, gathered opponents to a pact withJuan Carlos Onganía's dictatorship, and which had an important role in the 1969Cordobazo insurrection. After winning Isabel's trust, López Rega travelled to Spain, where he worked first for Perón's security before becoming the couple's personal secretary.
WhenHéctor José Cámpora was elected president on 11 March 1973, for the first general elections since 1963, as Perón's stand-in since the latter was forbidden from running himself, José López Rega, sent by Perón, became Minister of Social Welfare. From there, he opposed himself toEsteban Righi and other representatives of the Peronist left-wing. Perón returned to Argentina on 20 June 1973, acclaimed by the masses. TheEzeiza massacre, organized by López Rega on the day of Perón's return from an 18-year exile, led to a definitive split between left and right-wing Peronism, with Cámpora as representative of the left-wing and López Rega as representative of the right-wing. López Rega had positioned snipers under Perón's stage, who opened up fire upon on members of the left-wing Peronist organizations, such as theMontoneros. On the following day,Mario Roberto Santucho, leader of the GuevaristEjército Revolucionario del Pueblo (ERP), held a press conference during which he accused López Rega and Colonel José Manuel Osindi of the massacre. Perón and López Rega, who, while in Spain, had supported left-wing Peronists, strongly criticized them this time around. López Rega openly criticized president Cámpora's position during the cabinet's meeting. After finding out about Perón's meeting withJosé Ignacio Rucci and other right-wingCGT leaders and also with theArmy, Cámpora and his vice-presidentVicente Solano Lima resigned. All of Cámpora's followers were sacked from all government positions and López Rega's son-in-law,Raúl Alberto Lastiri, also a member ofP2, became interim president and organized the elections. On 23 September 1973, Perón won them with almost 62% of the votes, naming his third wife Isabel Perón as vice-president.
Besides Raúl Lastiri's interim presidency, López Rega's success in the expulsion of the left-wing Peronists from power was confirmed on 4 August 1973, during the National Congress of Perón'sJusticialist Party, with the nomination of his protector Isabel as a candidate for the vice-presidency. On 23 September, the Perón-Perón ticket won comfortably, with 61.85% of the votes. Troubled by the right-wing shift of Peronism and of the government, the Montoneros, a left-wing Peronist group, assassinated CGT's leader José Ignacio Rucci on 25 September 1973. The latter had also been involved in the creation of the Triple A (Alianza Argentina Anticomunista — Argentine Anticommunist Alliance). This assassination gave a pretext to López Rega to decree the prohibition of all armed groups and the closure ofEl Mundo, a left-wing newspaper. On 21 November 1973,radical senator Hipólito Solari Yrigoyen was seriously injured in the first terrorist attack claimed by the Triple A. Federal Police Chief Rodolfo Almirón had been suspected of organizing this attack.
Among Juan Perón's first actions after taking office were tougher sentences against "sedition" and "subversion". Started after theEzeiza massacre, the split with the Peronist left-wing became even more visible with the resignation of eight representatives belonging to theJuventud Peronista (Peronist Youth). When Perón died on 1 July 1974, Isabel assumed power and López Rega became a sort of Prime minister, assuming the direction of all ministries in the Presidency's orbit. He decided almost by himself on the composition of the new cabinet, keeping for himself the title of Minister of Social Welfare. He was promoted toComisario General, the highest rank in theFederal Police; he had reached the rank of corporal when a member of the police force.
As Isabel Perón's Minister of Social Welfare, López Rega conducted an unpopular policy of fiscal conservatism. In 1975 his protégé Celestino Rodrigo, Minister of Economy,devalued theArgentine peso by 50%, causing massive economic havoc,inflation, loss of savings, and general hardship on the middle and lower classes (in particular, public employees and retirees). López Rega came under attack from the leftist factions of the Peronist Party, accused of being a counter-revolutionary and afascist.
In July 1975 he was formally accused by the main party organ of instigating the action of theArgentine Anti-Communist Alliance (Triple A). A terrorist group organized with his other protégéRodolfo Almirón and funded by the Ministry of Social Welfare, this death squad was responsible for the death of 1,500 people and the exile of hundreds more. Starting with the 20 June 1973 Ezeiza massacre, it initiated the "Dirty War" in Argentina which was later taken over byJorge Videla's militaryjunta (1976–83) during which around 30,000 people were "disappeared" (the Argentinian army acknowledged 22,000 disappearances between 1975 and 1979[3] 8000 more in 5 years are a conservative guess). López Rega was a member ofLicio Gelli'sPropaganda Due, who often visited him as a friend.[4]
Under heavy criticism due to Celestino Rodrigo's economic policies, López Rega was forced to resign on 11 July 1975; he was hurriedly appointedambassador toSpain by Isabel Perón and fled toFranco's Spain with Rodolfo Almirón; Almirón later became the chief of security ofManuel Fraga, leader of thePeople's Alliance post-Franco conservative party, but was arrested in Spain in December 2006.
On 24 March 1976, President Isabel Perón was deposed by the military Junta, which in turn organized the so-called "National Reorganization Process" and generalized the "Dirty War". López Rega spent the following ten years fleeing prosecution abroad, leavingSpain forSwitzerland, where he lived nearGeneva until 1982. Discovered by a photographer, he then fled to theBahamas. He lived betweenMiami and the Bahamas until 1986, when he was arrested in the United States while trying to renew his passport, andextradited to Argentina, where he was wanted for corruption, conspiracy, and multiple homicides. He died ofdiabetes on 9 June 1989 in Buenos Aires, while awaiting trial in prison.
In the 2013 filmPuerta de Hierro, el exilio de Perón, Fito Yanelli plays López Rega during Perón's exile in Madrid. López Rega is dismissed by Perón but allowed back because of his wife's intercession.
