Carlos Mugica
Encyclopedia
Carlos Mugica was an Argentine Roman Catholic priest and activist.
, in 1930, into a privileged background. His father, Adolfo Mugica, had been one of the founders of the Conservative Party (opponents of suffrage activist and populist President Hipólito Yrigoyen
), and his mother was Carmen Echagüe - herself born to one of Argentina's premier landowners. Mugica was the only one of seven siblings to have completed both his primary and secondary education in secular schools, and he graduated from the prestigious public college preparatory school, the Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires
.
Mugica enrolled at the University of Buenos Aires
in 1949 and was accepted into its Law School; but in 1952, following a year in Europe
, he resolved to enter the priesthood.
He entered the Villa Devoto
Seminary and in 1954 was assigned to the Parish of Saint Rose of Lima, from where he began ministering to the faithful in tenements in Buenos Aires' working-class Constitución
area. He contributed articles and commentary to the ecclesiastical Seminario magazine from 1957 and in 1959, was ordained as a priest by the local Roman Catholic Church
.
(one of Argentina's least developed), and was then appointed vicar
for the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Antonio Cardinal Caggiano. Cardinal Caggiano assigned his new vicar to a number of both Catholic and secular institutions, including the University of Buenos Aires, where he sponsored a 1965 symposium, "Dialogue between Catholics and Marxists." He taught as Professor of Theology, Child Psychology and Law in the prominent University of the Savior
, and became known for his weekly homilies on the Municipal Radio station. Mugica, however, also accepted the post of chaplain
at the Paulina de Mallinkrodt School - a charitable institution within the slum
adjacent to the city's port.
Mugica became a regular guest at the leftist Young Catholic Students organization (JEC), with whom he worked in a rural Santa Fe Province
mission. A number of the JEC's membership, however, formed the violent Montoneros
organization in 1968, and Mugica took some distance from these individuals, though he stopped short of breaking with them entirely. He was increasingly at odds with conservatives both in the University of Buenos Aires faculty (notably executive and Agricultural Law Professor José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz
) and in the local archdiocese (particularly Bishop Juan Carlos Aramburu, who increasingly managed the aging Cardinal Caggiano's activities). These frictions were exacerbated by Mugica's 1967 mission to Bolivia
for the sake of recovering revolutionary Che Guevara
's remains.
in support of the historic May 1968 protests. During that stay, he visited Argentina's exiled populist leader, Juan Perón
, in his Madrid
home. Perón, who at the time was occupied with cultivating alliances with the far left in Argentina, spent ten days in Cuba
with Father Mugica who, on his return to Paris, joined the Movement of Priests for the Third World
.
Mugica's growing involvement in politics led to his replacement at the Mallinkrodt school, whereby he obtained an appointment in the slum's new "Christ the Worker" Chapel, as well as Cardinal Caggiano's ordainment for the post. Continuing to teach university classes, he also served as vicar to the San Francisco Solano
Parish in Buenos Aires' working-class Villa Luro
neighborhood. His continued activism as a Third World Priest earned Bishop Armaburu's growing opposition, however, and in 1970, the Bishop banned the organization in the archodiocese. These differences reached a flash point when a fellow JEC priest, Father Alberto Carbone, was detained on charges of complicity in the Montoneros' murder of former President Pedro Aramburu. Mugica increasingly became a target, being regularly criticized in more conservative Argentine newspapers for his "justification of violence," as well as being put under surveillance by State Intelligence
.
He defied orders by presiding over the September 1970 funerals of a number of executed Montoneros figures, which led to his suspension for 30 days by Bishop Aramburu. Following the suspension, Aramburu began actively pressing Mugica to renounce his vows, and he began taking increasingly intricate steps for conceal his whereabouts at night. Mugica improvised makeshift quarters at his parents' Recoleta
district apartment building; but on July 2, 1971, a bomb exploded at the address. He then divided his time between the port-area slum and Friar Mamerto Menapace's Benedictine
monastery
in Los Toldos
(a pampas town well-known for the birthplace of former first lady Eva Perón
). During a press conference following the blast, he declared that:
, who had been allowed to temporarily return to Argentina by President Alejandro Lanusse ahead of upcoming elections
. Within Perón's Justicialist Party
, Mugica was perhaps closest to Dr. Héctor Cámpora, a left-leaning dentist and longtime advisor to Perón whom the aging leader made the party's nominee; Cámpora offered Mugica a candidacy for a seat in Congress, which he refused. Peronists won the 1973 election handily, and though Cámpora took office on May 25, Perón was the new government's principal figure. His ongoing manipulation of both the left and the right in his movement was illustrated by his allowing Cámpora to name Father Mugica as an unpaid, senior consultant to the powerful Minister of Social Welfare - a post Perón filled with his personal secretary and leading fascist voice, José López Rega
.
López Rega used the important cabinet position (and its control of 30% of the national budget) to organize and arm his Argentine Anticommunist Alliance (Triple A). The resulting return of revenge killings between the Triple A and the far left led Mugica to leave his government post, as well as to break with the Montoneros, by December 1973. He became the subject of increasingly heated political debate, and numerous unauthorized compilations of his works appeared - with each arranging his prolific past articles in the order most amenable to their agenda. Mugica's repudiation of these did little to deter the practice, and he accepted RCA Victor's offer to create a recorded version of his recently-written Mass for the Third World. The reading, set to indigenous music and chorus, was ordered destroyed by Perón in early 1974, however.
by Aramburu, he retreated briefly to Los Toldos in April. He then returned to Buenos Aires, where he resumed his daily schedule of services. Following Saturday morning services on May 11 at the San Francisco Solano Parish, Rodolfo Almirón
(a Triple A operative) discharged five shots of a Mac-10
pistol into Father Mugica; he did not immediately die from his wounds and was rushed to a nearby hospital, where his last words were to a nurse: Now more than ever, we must be with the people.
Early life
Carlos Francisco Sergio Mugica was born in Buenos AiresBuenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, in 1930, into a privileged background. His father, Adolfo Mugica, had been one of the founders of the Conservative Party (opponents of suffrage activist and populist President Hipólito Yrigoyen
Hipólito Yrigoyen
Juan Hipólito del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Irigoyen Alem was twice President of Argentina . His activism became the prime impetus behind the obtainment of universal suffrage in Argentina in 1912...
), and his mother was Carmen Echagüe - herself born to one of Argentina's premier landowners. Mugica was the only one of seven siblings to have completed both his primary and secondary education in secular schools, and he graduated from the prestigious public college preparatory school, the Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires
Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires
Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires is a public high school in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In the tradition of the European gymnasium it provides a free education that includes classical languages such as Latin and Greek. The school is one of the most prestigious in Argentina...
.
Mugica enrolled at the University of Buenos Aires
University of Buenos Aires
The University of Buenos Aires is the largest university in Argentina and the largest university by enrollment in Latin America. Founded on August 12, 1821 in the city of Buenos Aires, it consists of 13 faculties, 6 hospitals, 10 museums and is linked to 4 high schools: Colegio Nacional de Buenos...
in 1949 and was accepted into its Law School; but in 1952, following a year in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, he resolved to enter the priesthood.
He entered the Villa Devoto
Villa Devoto
Villa Devoto is a barrio or district in the northern part of Buenos Aires, Argentina, located in the area defined by Campana, San Martín avenue, Francisco Beiró avenue, Joaquín V. González, Baigorria, Lope de Vega Avenue and General Paz Avenue...
Seminary and in 1954 was assigned to the Parish of Saint Rose of Lima, from where he began ministering to the faithful in tenements in Buenos Aires' working-class Constitución
Constitución, Buenos Aires
Constitución is a barrio or neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina, approximately two kilometers south of the city's center.It is centered around Constitución Station and the square of the same name and can be reached by subway, by bus and enjoys easy access by car via 9 de Julio, San Juan and...
area. He contributed articles and commentary to the ecclesiastical Seminario magazine from 1957 and in 1959, was ordained as a priest by the local Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
.
The priesthood and work among the poor
He spent most of 1960 in a parish in Chaco ProvinceChaco Province
Chaco is an Argentine province located in the north of the country, near the border with Paraguay. Its capital is Resistencia on the Paraná River opposite the city of Corrientes...
(one of Argentina's least developed), and was then appointed vicar
Vicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...
for the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Antonio Cardinal Caggiano. Cardinal Caggiano assigned his new vicar to a number of both Catholic and secular institutions, including the University of Buenos Aires, where he sponsored a 1965 symposium, "Dialogue between Catholics and Marxists." He taught as Professor of Theology, Child Psychology and Law in the prominent University of the Savior
Universidad del Salvador
The Universidad del Salvador is a Jesuit university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In addition to its main Campus, it has instructional and research facilities in Pilar, Buenos Aires; San Miguel, Buenos Aires; Santa Cruz, Misiones; and Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires...
, and became known for his weekly homilies on the Municipal Radio station. Mugica, however, also accepted the post of chaplain
Chaplain
Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...
at the Paulina de Mallinkrodt School - a charitable institution within the slum
Villa miseria
A villa miseria is a form of shanty town or slum found in Argentina, mostly around the largest urban settlements. The term is a compound noun made of the Spanish words villa "village, small town" and miseria "misery, dejection"...
adjacent to the city's port.
Mugica became a regular guest at the leftist Young Catholic Students organization (JEC), with whom he worked in a rural Santa Fe Province
Santa Fe Province
The Invincible Province of Santa Fe, in Spanish Provincia Invencible de Santa Fe , is a province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco , Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Santiago del Estero...
mission. A number of the JEC's membership, however, formed the violent Montoneros
Montoneros
Montoneros was an Argentine Peronist urban guerrilla group, active during the 1960s and 1970s. The name is an allusion to 19th century Argentinian history. After Juan Perón's return from 18 years of exile and the 1973 Ezeiza massacre, which marked the definitive split between left and right-wing...
organization in 1968, and Mugica took some distance from these individuals, though he stopped short of breaking with them entirely. He was increasingly at odds with conservatives both in the University of Buenos Aires faculty (notably executive and Agricultural Law Professor José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz
José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz
José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz was an Argentine executive and policy maker. He served as Minister of the Economy under de facto President Jorge Rafael Videla between 1976 and 1981, and shaped economic policy during the self-styled National Reorganization Process military dictatorship.-Early...
) and in the local archdiocese (particularly Bishop Juan Carlos Aramburu, who increasingly managed the aging Cardinal Caggiano's activities). These frictions were exacerbated by Mugica's 1967 mission to Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
for the sake of recovering revolutionary Che Guevara
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
's remains.
A Third World priest
He stayed to ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in support of the historic May 1968 protests. During that stay, he visited Argentina's exiled populist leader, Juan Perón
Juan Perón
Juan Domingo Perón was an Argentine military officer, and politician. Perón was three times elected as President of Argentina though he only managed to serve one full term, after serving in several government positions, including the Secretary of Labor and the Vice Presidency...
, in his Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
home. Perón, who at the time was occupied with cultivating alliances with the far left in Argentina, spent ten days in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
with Father Mugica who, on his return to Paris, joined the Movement of Priests for the Third World
Movement of Priests for the Third World
The Movement of Priests for the Third World was a tendency among the Catholic Church in Argentina which aimed at combining reform ideas which followed the Second Vatican Council with a strong political and social participation...
.
Mugica's growing involvement in politics led to his replacement at the Mallinkrodt school, whereby he obtained an appointment in the slum's new "Christ the Worker" Chapel, as well as Cardinal Caggiano's ordainment for the post. Continuing to teach university classes, he also served as vicar to the San Francisco Solano
San Francisco Solano
San Francisco Solano is a city in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is forms part of the Greater Buenos Aires agglomeration. It is divided between the Quilmes and Almirante Brown partidos.-History:...
Parish in Buenos Aires' working-class Villa Luro
Villa Luro
Villa Luro is a barrio of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is located in the western part of Capital Federal.The district owes its name to Dr. Pedro Luro, a prominent local physician and real-estate developer who, during the 1870s, sold most of his property in the area as residential lots.-External...
neighborhood. His continued activism as a Third World Priest earned Bishop Armaburu's growing opposition, however, and in 1970, the Bishop banned the organization in the archodiocese. These differences reached a flash point when a fellow JEC priest, Father Alberto Carbone, was detained on charges of complicity in the Montoneros' murder of former President Pedro Aramburu. Mugica increasingly became a target, being regularly criticized in more conservative Argentine newspapers for his "justification of violence," as well as being put under surveillance by State Intelligence
Side
Side was an ancient Greek city in Anatolia, in the region of Pamphylia, in what is now Antalya province, on the southern Mediterranean coast of Turkey...
.
He defied orders by presiding over the September 1970 funerals of a number of executed Montoneros figures, which led to his suspension for 30 days by Bishop Aramburu. Following the suspension, Aramburu began actively pressing Mugica to renounce his vows, and he began taking increasingly intricate steps for conceal his whereabouts at night. Mugica improvised makeshift quarters at his parents' Recoleta
Recoleta
Recoleta is a downtown residential neighborhood in the city of Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina; it is an area of great historical and architectural interest, due, particularly to the Recoleta Cemetery located there...
district apartment building; but on July 2, 1971, a bomb exploded at the address. He then divided his time between the port-area slum and Friar Mamerto Menapace's Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
in Los Toldos
Los Toldos
Los Toldos is a small city in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, situated in the of General Viamonte Partido, which developed around a station of the same name on the Buenos Aires Western Railway...
(a pampas town well-known for the birthplace of former first lady Eva Perón
Eva Perón
María Eva Duarte de Perón was the second wife of President Juan Perón and served as the First Lady of Argentina from 1946 until her death in 1952. She is often referred to as simply Eva Perón, or by the affectionate Spanish language diminutive Evita.She was born in the village of Los Toldos in...
). During a press conference following the blast, he declared that:
Distancing from the Church and Perón
His sermons at the Christ the Worker Chapel enjoyed growing popularity, and were often visited by politicians, football players and other celebrities. The chapel received an inpromptu visit on December 6, 1972, by Juan PerónJuan Perón
Juan Domingo Perón was an Argentine military officer, and politician. Perón was three times elected as President of Argentina though he only managed to serve one full term, after serving in several government positions, including the Secretary of Labor and the Vice Presidency...
, who had been allowed to temporarily return to Argentina by President Alejandro Lanusse ahead of upcoming elections
Argentine general election, March 1973
The first Argentine general election of 1973 was held on 11 March. Voters chose both the President and their legislators and with a turnout of 85.5%, it produced the following results:-President:...
. Within Perón's Justicialist Party
Justicialist Party
The Justicialist Party , or PJ, is a Peronist political party in Argentina, and the largest component of the Peronist movement.The party was led by Néstor Kirchner, President of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, until his death on October 27, 2010. The current Argentine president, Cristina Fernández de...
, Mugica was perhaps closest to Dr. Héctor Cámpora, a left-leaning dentist and longtime advisor to Perón whom the aging leader made the party's nominee; Cámpora offered Mugica a candidacy for a seat in Congress, which he refused. Peronists won the 1973 election handily, and though Cámpora took office on May 25, Perón was the new government's principal figure. His ongoing manipulation of both the left and the right in his movement was illustrated by his allowing Cámpora to name Father Mugica as an unpaid, senior consultant to the powerful Minister of Social Welfare - a post Perón filled with his personal secretary and leading fascist voice, José López Rega
José López Rega
José López Rega was Argentina's Minister of Social Welfare during the Peronist government started in 1973 by Juan Perón and continued after Perón's death in 1974 by his third wife and vice-president, Isabel Martínez de Perón , until the coup d'etat of 1976 that initiated the so-called National...
.
López Rega used the important cabinet position (and its control of 30% of the national budget) to organize and arm his Argentine Anticommunist Alliance (Triple A). The resulting return of revenge killings between the Triple A and the far left led Mugica to leave his government post, as well as to break with the Montoneros, by December 1973. He became the subject of increasingly heated political debate, and numerous unauthorized compilations of his works appeared - with each arranging his prolific past articles in the order most amenable to their agenda. Mugica's repudiation of these did little to deter the practice, and he accepted RCA Victor's offer to create a recorded version of his recently-written Mass for the Third World. The reading, set to indigenous music and chorus, was ordered destroyed by Perón in early 1974, however.
Assassination
Amid frequent death threats and warnings of his imminent defrockingDefrocking
To defrock, unfrock, or laicize ministers or priests is to remove their rights to exercise the functions of the ordained ministry. This may be due to criminal convictions, disciplinary matters, or disagreements over doctrine or dogma...
by Aramburu, he retreated briefly to Los Toldos in April. He then returned to Buenos Aires, where he resumed his daily schedule of services. Following Saturday morning services on May 11 at the San Francisco Solano Parish, Rodolfo Almirón
Rodolfo Almirón
Rodolfo Almirón Sena was a former Argentine police officer and a leader of an extreme right-wing death squad known as the Triple A, operating in Argentina during the mid-1970s...
(a Triple A operative) discharged five shots of a Mac-10
MAC-10
The MAC-10 is a highly compact, blowback operated machine pistol developed by Gordon B. Ingram in 1964.-Design:The M-10 was built predominantly from steel stampings...
pistol into Father Mugica; he did not immediately die from his wounds and was rushed to a nearby hospital, where his last words were to a nurse: Now more than ever, we must be with the people.