| Operation Primicia | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theDirty War | |||||
 Entrance to the barracks (1975) | |||||
| |||||
| Belligerents | |||||
 Montoneros |  Argentine Army | ||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||
| 15 killed | 12 killed | ||||
| 3 civilians killed | |||||
Operation Primicia ("Scoop") was a largeguerrilla assault that took place on 5 October 1975, inFormosa, Argentina. It was the largest attack ever launched by the paramilitary groupMontoneros, which attempted to seize the barracks of the 29th Forest Infantry Regiment. The incident escalated theDirty War, which led to the1976 Argentine coup d'état the following year.[1]
The attack was carried out in five phases. As a first step,Montoneros hijacked a flight ofAerolíneas Argentinas from the province ofCorrientes (with 102 passengers and six crew). Then the airliner, aBoeing 737-200, was redirected to Formosa. TheFormosa International Airport was captured at the same time by Montoneros gunmen already in the province. During this initial attack they fired arocket propelled grenade at a police patrol vehicle, killing a police officer and wounding another. The group held 200 hostages at the airport. Then, they assaulted the 29th Infantry Regiment.[citation needed]
The surviving militants escaped in the Boeing and aCessna 182. The Boeing landed in the countryside nearRafaela,Santa Fe Province, and the Cessna on a ricefield inCorrientes Province.[1][2]
The attack was planned byRaúl Yaguer and approved by Montoneros' commandersMario Firmenich,Roberto Perdía andRoberto Quieto.[1]
Montoneros attacked the Regiment facilities at 16:25, the time of the localsiesta. Most military personnel were on leave: some of them had a day off, and others were sleeping at the military neighbourhood next to the regiment. Montoneros thought that the remaining soldiers, most of them just youngconscripts, would join them, but they did not. Ten conscripts and two policemen died during the attack, and a total of 28 people died during the whole operation.[1] Montoneros expected to seize some 200FN FAL assault rifles, but could only take 50.[3]
The acting president of Argentina at that time wasÍtalo Lúder, asIsabel Perón had taken a leave of absence. Lúder signed three decrees urging the military to"annihilate the subversive elements". The armed forces were already waging theOperativo Independencia against theMaoistERP in theTucumán Province. This decree expanded their area of operations to the whole country.
There was wide support for Lúder to stay as president, but Isabel Perón returned to the presidency.[4] The military deposed her during the1976 Argentine coup d'état, and continued theDirty War during theNational Reorganization Process. Montoneros and ERP were eventually defeated. The military fell from power in 1983, and theNational Commission on the Disappearance of Persons (CONADEP) listed several thousandforced disappearances carried out by the military during the conflict with the guerrillas.[1]
The late presidentNéstor Kirchner made a controversial change to the CONADEP report in 2006. He included the gunmen that died during the attacks as victims ofstate terrorism, allowing their relatives to receive state compensations.[1][5]