The secret history of the coup d'état of March 24, 1976

The last months and the last days of Isabel Perón in power

The military coup of March 24, 1976 required a long process of military meetings in the middle of a climate of violence in the streets of Argentina and, in particular, an internal crisis within the Peronist party in its political and trade union fields. There was a special moment and it was after a relaxing season in Ascochinga, Córdoba, that President Isabel Martínez de Perón decided to take back the power that held until then Senator Ítalo Luder. His return to the center of politics was to take place on October 17, not less than the Day of Judicial Loyalty.

In those days, a privileged observer like Robert Hill, Ambbadador of the United States, informed the State Department of Isabel Perón: "His authority and position are so mined that he can not take the reins of power. The way you leave these reins of good will will have a lot to do with who will replace it. Should he return on October 17 to take over the presidency and devote himself to governing shortly after a coup by the military, probably by the end of the year? "

On Friday, October 17, 1975, it was hot and sunny. Isabel Perón was overlooking the balcony of Plaza de Mayo late in the afternoon. The columns of workers, carefully framed behind the distinctive elements of their organizations, have cheered her by shouting: "If they touch Isabel, there will be a flawless war".

The folders of blows. A "liquid plan". Both shots

Historians often delve into the past the day and the hour when the decision was made to dismiss the widow of Peron. In the army the idea has matured with the pbadage of weeks after the taking over of Jorge Rafael Videla as commander of the army (August 1975). Then, it was decided to prepare a file containing general guidelines: a liquid plan to act in any situation of political emergency that would occur and that would be used without a date. The plot had two very well defined levels. One with the help of civilian advisers, while in the strictly military framework were superimposed directives intended to carry out capital retaliation.

Nobody could imagine what was planned. Years later, former president Raúl Alfonsín said that he thought the military response to subversion would not be so brutal. That it was going to be a "dictablanda" like that of Lanusse. Impossible At that time, there was no existing Federal Criminal Division (El Camarón), as it had been dissolved in 1973 and its judges, secretaries and prosecutors had been persecuted. Some (Jorge Vicente Quiroga) killed by the ERP-22 (one of his killers walks freely in the street); others went into exile (Judge Jaime Smart, for example). It was difficult to measure the depth of the hatred that prevailed in the armyaggression on their garrisons; murders of officers – and wives – in the street or in combat; kidnapping followed by death (Argentino del Valle Larrabure or Colonel Jorge R. Ibarzábal) and "jails of the city" where they were tortured.

At army meetings, several alternatives were macerated to deal with the evolution of events. At one of these meetings (November 6, 1975), presided over by Videla, this was noted in one of the notebooks of General Albano Harguindeguy, then Deputy Commander of the powerful Army Corps of the 1st army, the five alternatives that the army has studied:

"ATTITUDE (of the) FORCE: Possible actions.
1-Maintenance of the political attitude of the Force.
2-Bordering of the process.
3-Departure from the executive (PE) – before him – an acting Luder to create a real power.
4-Renunciation – law of acefalía – facilitate a real power.
5-Take the power of the armed forces, the situation can be resolved with some of these basic action plans (AC). "

Monsignor Tortolo is trying the impossible

Three facts of armed characteristics paralyzed the life of the Argentineans December 1975, contributing his actions of drama and concussion. The civil war that everyone was talking about was at its culmination: 1) On 3 December, Brigadier General (D) Jorge Esteban Cáceres Monié and his wife are murdered. 2) On the 18th, there is an uprising within the Air Force and the Movement for Integration and Development (MID) has announced its separation from the Justicialist Front for Liberation, which he had been part of for three years; (3) On the 23rd, the depot of the arsenals battalion, 601 "Domingo Viejobueno", is badaulted.

On Monday, December 29, 1975, the military vicar, Msgr. Servando Tortolo, visited Isabel Perón. They conversed alone. On this occasion, he reportedly conveyed to Mrs. Perón the insistence of the three commanders-in-chief that she should move away from power. In turn, she indicated her willingness to change cabinet, to free herself from her private secretary Julio González and union leader Lorenzo Miguel, but insisted that he should remain in control of the company. 39; executive without any restrictive conditions. The three general commanders responded through the intermediary of Tortolo that its own elimination of power was the only non-negotiable point. " (Report No. 08456 of the United States Embbady).

At the time, the Catholic magazine "Criterio" wrote: "The country is drifting … During the year 1975, there were 4 ministers of the Interior, 4 ministers of the Economy, 5 Social Welfare Ministers, 3 Labor Ministers, 3 Foreign Ministers, 3 Defense Ministers, 3 General Commanders of the Army, 3 Inspectors at Mendoza, 4 trust "of the President and 5 secretaries in the Press and Broadcasting."

The cost of living rose in January by 14% and in February by 20%. The increase in wages (by 18%, with a minimum of 150,000 pesos) granted by Minister Cafiero on January 22 was absorbed by inflation in a few days. The dollar rose between January and the first 10 days of February, from 12,500 to 32,000 pesos. And soon, it would reach 38,000 on the parallel market. For the worse, of Parliament, they did not treat the laws which he promulgated and, in his figure, they threw all the types of expletives of own Peronism; even to be a model of his second, Guido Di Tella. "This situation has reached the limit of what is tolerable," said one of his closest badociates. On Wednesday, February 4, Emilio Mondelli became Minister of the Economy. Miguel Unamuno also replaced Carlos Ruckauf in the Labor Party.

On Friday, February 7, 1976, the black Rambler who transferred the governor of the province of Buenos Aires, the trade unionist Victorio Calabró, entered the presidential residence of Olivos a minute before 19 hours. I was going to meet President Perón after a long period of disagreements. The meeting lasted more than an hour during which the governor of Buenos Aires practically spoke. A monologue, only interrupted by a "clear", a "yes" or an "Ares note" by Isabel Perón. Calabró flew over the national panorama of those days. He talked about the seriousness of the economic situation and the lack of coherence; he invited the widow of Peron to visit the country; end their isolation and resume dialogue with all sectors and political parties. The meeting ended around 9 pm, then Calabró and his companions withdrew to eat a barbecue in the area. While cutting a bunch of roast, he commented, "Well, they will not be able to complain, I made them happy, but it does not work. It's like talking to a wall, we do not understand anything"

Raúl Quijano with Henry Kissinger. What the State Department thought

February 11 Chancellor Raúl Quijano met with Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State of the United States. The meeting was held in the residence of the Argentine ambbadador, Rafael Vázquez, close to the circle of Dupont. The agenda was frank and open. At one point in the conversation, Quijano invited Kissinger to visit Argentina. Without losing cordiality, he replied negatively: "I would need four divisions to protect me."

For the meeting with Quijano, the State Department prepared a 7-page project ("Briefing Memorandum", 10 February 1976) detailing the situation in Argentina. He wore the signature of Harol H. Saunders. The bottom line is that, in the subtitle "Government after the coup", the American report states: "If the armed forces took control of power for a long time, the Argentineans would be subject to rules of severity unprecedented. Military leaders would probably opt for a very rigid and austere economic program that would require (a) considerable repression to be implemented"

The Minister of Economy informs the CGT

On Wednesday, March 10 at 6:30 pm, in front of the television cameras, with the help of the President, Minister Emilio Mondelli, Casildo Herreras, Lorenzo Miguel and General Secretaries of Trade Unions, Isabel Perón delivered a speech at Salón Felipe Vallese of the CGT. When he finished, he noted that he had not expressed the optimism and support he needed. Quick thinking, tried to spread confidence. She said: "I see too many sad faces, I know that when you have to adjust your belt, you become sad, but I also tell you that you must not lose your optimism, because if you were not sure that we Let's go ahead, you would not be sitting here in front of you. Boys, do not whistle a lot to poor Mondelli"

In this climate, Tuesday, July 16, Ricardo Balbín faced television cameras: […] from there, I invoke the national group, so that we can show the Republic in a few hours a program, a decision, so that pride can be slaughtered in this regard. I say it up and down. Do not walk with bads, you have to walk with a moral sense of life […] Some badume that I come to give solutions. I do not have them, but there are some. "Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize, these words come from the depths of my thoughts that may not have any meaning, but which have depth and sincerity. I do not like poets very much, but I followed a poet from my country: "All incurables have a cure, five minutes before death … I would like the Argentines not to start count now for five minutes. "

A race against the clock. Casildo Herrera went to Montevideo

On Monday, March 22, after more than eighteen years in exile, businessman Jorge Antonio returned to his country (with the guarantee of General Dalla Tea). He was one of the great friends of former President Perón. A few hours later, he gave a press conference in a hotel in downtown Buenos Aires. The old friend of Juan Domingo Perón said: "If the armed forces come to bring order, respect and stability, welcome"He ended up saying that he was back when many" wanted to leave … when others escaped ".

Specifically, the coverage of La Nación on Tuesday, March 23, 1976, reported that the leader, Casildo Herreras, secretary general of the CGT, had gone to Uruguay. When the journalism found it, he only commented "I do not know anything, I have effaced myself". After many years of that moment, one of his confidants told me that Herrera knew that the military coup was imminent and took advantage of the call to a union meeting in Montevideo. After the coup, a "patota" attempted to kidnap but US embbady staff took him to the Mexican embbady. . They thanked him for his attitude in the CGT within the AFL-CIO (international union). After traveling to Mexico, the former secretary general of the CGT settled in Madrid, Spain, where he spent his exile years modestly.

On page 6 of the Sunday edition of March 21, the conservative leader Álvaro Alsogaray appeared, questioning the possibility of a coup of military state: "Nothing would be more contrary to the interests of the country than to to precipitate a coup d'état for the moment, a coup d'etat to free political leaders from their guilt, why turn them into poorly understood martyrs of democracy, precisely at the moment when they will be forced to declare their great failure? ".

The end: the meeting with the general commanders. The last hours of Isabel Perón at Casa Rosada

"The crisis has favored the coup of the military state, which in turn has aggravated the crisis in a clearly cumulative relationship.This is not the threat of a coup that caused the crisis but the The last vestiges of the authority were diluted before the announced coup d'etat, "said José Alberto Deheza. Minister of Defense, afternoon of Monday, March 22, 1976. Therefore, the next day, I was going to ask for a clear definition of the general commanders.

On Tuesday, November 23, at 11 am, he met with the military leaders and said: "All morning papers coincide by pointing out that today is the day of major decisions, this is also understood by the government in whose name I'm asking for a definition of the imminence of the coup d'etatHe then read a document containing suggestions from the armed forces that the government had received on January 5. The three commanders responded that the document contained suggestions and not a requirement of the armed forces.

"One minute" contains, in addition to the words of the Minister, other revelations. The response of Admiral Emilio Eduardo Mbadera on behalf of the three: "Minister, if you tell us that the President is grieved and blocked by unionism, if she also asks us to see how we can l & rsquo; The answer is clear: You have the power. If you have it, use it, otherwise, the president will resign"The meeting was closed and the commanders met to deliberate in their own commandos.

Years later, Jorge Rafael Videla said to me: "When we left (after the appointment with Deheza), the commanders entered the Libertador building (headquarters of the general command of the army. We ask ourselves: what will we do, tomorrow will be the same, you can not expect anything from these people. The plans for the "Aries operation" (code name of the coup) were completed, as were the "Bag" and "Pertridge" (target holding) guidelines.

When we arrived at the office (Videla), we contacted the "Colorado" Fernández and asked him how things were going on here. "Good," was the answer from the head of the military house of the presidency. Very well, tell the President that, for safety reasons, she will go to Olivos by helicopter. "This was the message that Fernández was to receive to begin the detention operation of Isabel Perón.

The presidential helicopter was slow to arrive from Olivos. When she did, Isabel Perón decided to travel. She was sent back to the roof of the Government House by members of her guard and two or three grenadier officers.

"The partridge has fallen into the trap." The arrest of Isabel Perón

According to most historians, the helicopter faded at 0:50 on March 24, 1976 with the president; Julio González, his private secretary; Rafael Luisi, responsible for personal care; a young officer of the infantry regiment I Patricios, the aide de camp (lieutenant of the frigate Antonio Diamante) and two pilots of the air force. In full flight, the older pilot informed the president that the aircraft was defective and that he had to get off at Aeroparque. When they go down, Luisi watches a suspicious movement of men and tries to maltreat his gun. "Rest badured," Peron said. In spite of Luisi's suspicions, she went downstairs and went into the offices of the head of the base. When he entered, the doors of the other members of the delegation were closed. Around 1 am, General José Rogelio Villarreal, Admiral Pedro Santamaría and Brigadier Basilio Lami Dozo entered the main hall of the building.

-Villarreal: "Madam, the armed forces took over political power and you were fired"

-Mrs Péron: "They will shoot me?"

-Villarreal: "No. Your physical integrity is guaranteed by the armed forces"

Then she dispersed in a long parliament. "There must be an error, an agreement has been reached with the three commanders, we can close the Congress, the CGT and the 62 answer me completely, Peronism is mine, the opposition supports me. I give you four ministries and the three commanders will be able to accompany me in the difficult task of governing"

At one point in the conversation, he threatened to "shed blood" for the country after his dismissal, union mobilization and popular protests. He said that the armed forces would not be able to contain the popular protest following his fall. Like any answer, he was told: "Madam, you have been attracted to an ideal country, a country that does not exist."

In those minutes, another senior official communicated with the commanders general. He pbaded the pbadword: "The partridge has fallen into the trap." Isabel Martínez de Perón had been arrested.

While Isabel was speaking with the three military delegates, she sent for "Rosarito" (the employee who accompanied her to Spain) to Olivos. Previously, he had been ordered to make two suitcases with clothes for the lady. At 1:50 am, an air force aircraft departed with the former president as an inmate bound for Neuquén.

At 10:40, the Military Junta took power, in the midst of great public tranquility.