Chapter 9: The Dirty War

Don’t Cry For Me Argentina!

Juan Perón was at first the Secretary of Labor for Argentina before ever becoming the president. He had a very strong following amongst the working class citizens. Perón was elected president in 1946. Under his leadership, Perón unionized the industrial workforce, sought to nationalize foreign-owned companies, expanded social services, expanded bureaucracy, had a 5-year industrialization plan, and often had conflicts with the Vatican. It was not until 1955 that the military overthrew him and sent him into exile, and then shortly after the “Dirty Wars” began.

During the 1960s, even though living in exile, Perón was still wielding power in Argentina. The Argentinean military became suspicious of the middle-class and their purported belief in Marxism. From 1959-1969, Argentina had experienced three failed attempts of rural guerrilla warfare against the military’s dictatorship (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/argentina.htm). Over time, this set up the scene for the official beginning of the “Dirty War” in 1976.

The “Dirty War” was the Argentinean military campaign against suspected left-leaning political opponents. Isabel Perón, Juan Perón’s third wife, came into power on July 1^st, 1974 and was ousted on March 24^th, 1976. It was only five days after this that the military junta filled the presidency with the Lieutenant General Jorge Rafaél Videla. Under his direction, the junta shut down the National Congress, imposed censorship, banned trade unions, and brought state and municipal government under military control (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/165129/Dirty-War).

The junta set up thousands of military detention camps throughout the country and imprisoned and prosecuted suspected insurgents. During this period of time, Argentina was in a state of terror as it was unknown who would become part of the “los desaparecidos” or “the disappeared”. While the true count of how many people disappeared is unknown, the suspected count is between 10-20,000. Due to the bloodshed and terror, mothers and grandmothers dressed in white and marched in the plaza and demanded to know what happened to their loved ones from the government. These women became known as las madres de la plaza de mayo.

These women brought national and worldwide attention to the terror in Argentina. Due to them being mothers and grandmother, the military became paralyzed and could not take action against them. If they did, the world would heavily scrutinize the military and may peak the interest of the United Nations. Finally in 1983, democracy was returned to Argentina with the elected president, Raúl Alfonsín. He repealed the law that granted those in the military who were accused of crimes and human rights violations amnesty. With the repeal of this law, hundreds of military personnel were prosecuted. In 1985, nine former junta generals were brought to trail. Five of them were prosecuted, including Jorge Rafaél Videla.

From the election of Perón, to his exile, through a military junta, which terrorized the country, to the eventual election of a president, Argentina has remained strong politically and economically. While the total of  “los desaparecidos” will never be known, the conviction of the generals gave some Argentineans closure to this violent chapter in their country.