1976 Argentine coup d'état
| 1976 Argentine coup d'état | |
|---|---|
| Part of Dirty War and the Cold War | |
| Type | Coup d'état |
| Location |
Casa Rosada, Buenos Aires |
| Planned by | Argentine Armed Forces |
| Objective | |
| Date | 24 March 1976 |
| Outcome | Overthrow of Isabel Martínez de Perón. Jorge Rafael Videla becomes President of Argentina |
The 1976 Argentine coup d'état was a right-wing coup that overthrew Isabel Perón as President of Argentina on 24 March 1976. A military junta was installed to replace her; this was headed by General Jorge Rafael Videla, Admiral Emilio Eduardo Massera and Brigadier-GeneralOrlando Ramón Agosti. The junta took the official name of "National Reorganization Process", and remained in power until 10 December 1983.
Although political repression was happening before the coup (Military disappearing people and killing), it was also heavily extended after the coup ended. The result of those years were more than 30.000 people forced disappearances. And many others were killed.
The coup had been planned since October 1975, and the United States Department of State learned of the preparations two months before its execution. The American secretary of state Henry Kissinger would meet several times with Argentinian military leaders after the coup, urging them to destroy their opponents quickly before outcry over human rights abuses grew in the United States.
President Juan Perón died on July 1, 1974. He was succeeded by his wife María Estela Martínez de Perón, affectionately called "Isabelita." Despite her claim as the country's rightful ruler, María rapidly lost political influence and power. A group of military officials, tasked by Perón himself to aide María, took control in an effort to revitalize Argentina's deteriorating political and social climate. This shift in governance paved the way for the ensuing coup.
On February 5, 1975 Operativo Independencia was launched. This Vietnam-style intervention aimed to eliminate the guerrillas in the Tucumán jungle, who had maintained strongholds in the area as early as May 1974. In October the country was divided into five military zones, with each commander given full autonomy to unleash a carefully planned wave of repression.
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Wikipedia