Mariano Grondona (born 19 October 1932 inBuenos Aires) is anArgentine lawyer, sociologist, political scientist, essayist, and commentator. He has been a journalist for several decades, contributing to print media and television, and has authored numerous books. Additionally, he has held teaching positions in several universities, both in Argentina and abroad.
Grondona studied Law and Social Sciences at theUniversity of Buenos Aires (UBA). He pursuedpostgraduate studies inSociology at theUniversity of Madrid and inPolitical Science at the Political Studies Institute of Madrid. Since 1984, he has been a professor of Political Law at UBA.
Mr. Grondona wrote for and, in its final years, directedVisión:La Revista Latinoamericana, the most significant post-war hemispheric magazine, from 1978 to 1995. He served as the international news writer for the daily newspaperLa Nación from 1987 to 1996. Later, he became a political op-ed writer for the same newspaper, a position he has held since 1996.[1]
Since 1989, he has hosted his weekly TV program.
In 1997, he received the Platinum and DiamondKonex Award for Communication-Journalism and was awarded the Konnex Merit Diploma in the field of Political Analysis in 1987.[2]
During the 2000s, he hosted two radio shows:Las claves del día andPensando con Mariano Grondona.
Grondona's views are consideredright-wing, with a strongCatholic element, contrasting with the moreliberal but still conservative ideology of other right-wing opinion leaders, such as the lateÁlvaro Alsogaray. Regarding Argentine foreign policy, he supports alignment with theUnited States.
In the mid-1960s, Grondona supported the coup that brought dictatorJuan Carlos Onganía to the presidency and subsequently held public office in his government. However, he grew disappointed with the outcome and was eventually dismissed. He stated that he "had tried to make ade Gaulle of Onganía, and got aFranco instead".
In the 1970s, Grondona was a supporter of presidentsHéctor José Cámpora andJuan Perón. After Perón's death during his term, Grondona aligned with the policies ofIsabel Perón's Welfare Minister,José López Rega, who was the founder of theArgentine Anti-Communist Alliance.
As Isabel Perón's government fell apart, Grondona advocated the participation of the military and welcomed the beginning of theNational Reorganization Process in 1976. A non-authorized biography of Grondona,El Doctor, byMartín Sivak (2005), pointed out that he worked as an advisor of military junta member BrigadierBasilio Lami Dozo, on whose request he wrote a government programme titledBases Políticas para la Reorganización Nacional (echoingJuan Bautista Alberdi'sBases and Points of Departure for the Political Organization of the Argentine Republic).[3][4][5]
In his program "Hora Clave" on March 16, 2003, he declared about the dictatorship in Argentina from 1976 to 1983 that "The rational behavior, in any war, is to be on the side of the winners". On the day of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet's death, he declared in the same program that "If Allende had stayed in power, Chile would have probably become a communist country", as well as "I can understand that someone that has a fascist ideology, will try to live by what he considers his "principles" [...], but what really disappointed me is the fact that he had bank accounts in Switzerland. That is intolerable".
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