Isabel Martínez de Perón
Encyclopedia
María Estela Martínez Cartas de Perón (born February 4, 1931), better known as Isabel Martínez de Perón or Isabel Perón, is a former President
of Argentina
. She was also the third wife of another former President, Juan Perón
. During her husband's third term as president, Isabel served as vice president and following her husband's death in office, Isabel served as president from July 1, 1974 to March 24, 1976. She was the first non-royal female head of state and head of government in the Western Hemisphere
.
In 2007, an Argentine
judge ordered the arrest of Isabel Perón over the forced disappearance
of an activist in February 1976, on the grounds that the disappearance was authorized by her signing of decrees allowing Argentina's armed forces to take action against "subversives". She was arrested near her home in Spain
on 12 January 2007. Spanish courts subsequently refused her extradition to Argentina.
, into a lower middle-class family, daughter of María Josefa Cartas Olguín and Carmelo Martínez. She dropped out of school after the fifth grade, and in the early 1950s became a nightclub dancer, adopting a variant of her patron saint
, Saint Isabel
, as her stage name
.
. Juan Perón, who was 35 years her senior, was attracted by her beauty and believed she could provide him with the female companionship he had been lacking since the death of his second wife, Eva Peron
.
Perón brought Isabel with him when he moved to Madrid
, Spain
, in 1960. Authorities in that Roman Catholic nation did not approve of Perón's living arrangements with the young woman, so on November 15, 1961, the former president reluctantly married for a third time.
became one of her main advisers in Perón's dispute against Steelworkers' leader Augusto Vandor
's faction in the General Confederation of Labour
(CGT); Alonso and Vandor were both later assassinated in as-yet unexplained circumstances.
, an occult
philosopher and fortune teller, around 1965. She was interested in occult matters (and as president reportedly employed astrological divination to determine national policy), so the two quickly became friends. Under pressure from Isabel, Perón appointed López as her personal secretary; he later founded the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance (Triple A), a death squad accused of 1,500 crimes in the 1970s.
to run in the 1973 presidential elections
and won. It was, however, generally understood that Perón held the real power; a popular phrase at the time was "Cámpora al gobierno, Perón al poder" (Cámpora in government, Perón in power). Later that year, Perón returned to Argentina, and Cámpora resigned to allow Perón to run for president. In a surprisingly uncontroversial move, he chose Isabel as his nominee for the Vice Presidency to mollify feuding peronist factions, as these could agree on no other running mate. Perón's return from exile was marked by a growing rift between the right and left wings of the Peronist
movement. Cámpora represented the left wing, while López Rega represented the right wing. Under López Rega's influence, Juan and Isabel Perón favored the right wing. Isabel had very little in the way of political experience or ambitions and she was a very different personality from Evita, who was more involved with politics and had been denied the post of vice president years earlier.
Perón's victory in the ensuing election was a foregone conclusion, and he won with 62% of the vote. He began his third term on October 12, 1973, with Isabel, as Vice President. However, Perón was in precarious health; by at least one account he was actually senile. Isabel had to take over as Acting President on several occasions.
. She was popularly known as La Presidente. Grammatically, she should have been called La Presidenta, but the constitution only referred to El Presidente.
Although she seemed to lack Evita
's charisma, the nation at first rallied to the grieving widow in this, her role of a lifetime. Even extremist groups were publicly offering her support, it seemed, following their falling out with Juan Perón between May and June. Mrs. Perón, however, abruptly canceled a full agenda of meetings with these people, preferring to entertain the likes of Romania
's Nicolae Ceauşescu
, Libya
's Muammar Qaddafi
and the Shah of Iran. The goodwill her husband's death had left her soon dissipated. Following a string of mysterious murders, public threats from leftist extremists and a wave of industrial strikes in September, 1974, she became unpopular for the first time since the public had become acquainted with her.
Her indolence aside, the real source of contention between her and the voters was the increasing undeniability that José López Rega, the Minister of Social Welfare, set the agenda over a broad swath of Mrs. Perón's policies. Vetting nearly all domestic and foreign policy, he became de facto
prime minister
, something not lost on the Argentine public, then benefiting from Latin America's highest access to newspapers, radio, television and education.
Never liked by the public, and loathed by the Roman Catholic Church
and the Armed Forces despite his avowed right-wing views, López Rega was a man considered by others in the halls of power as a borderline psychopath, and, worse, the sport of being the "power behind the throne
," which he leveraged to secure business partnerships with Qaddafi, Zairean
dictator Joseph Mobutu and the Italian
Fascist Licio Gelli
.
More of a mystery at time was the extent of the Social Welfare Minister's involvement in the recently formed Argentine Anticommunist Alliance (Triple A), a seemingly unstoppable commando unit that, between late 1973 and late 1974, had already carried out nearly 300 murders, including that of former President Arturo Frondizi
's brother, Professor Silvio Frondizi
, Congressman Rodolfo Ortega Peña, activist Father Carlos Mugica
, Buenos Aires Province Assistant Police Chief Julio Troxler, and former Córdoba
Vice-Governor Atilio López
among others. Other prominent public servants, such as UCR
Senator Hipólito Solari Yrigoyen and left-wing University of Buenos Aires
President Rodolfo Puiggrós, narrowly escaped Triple A attacks with their lives.
Though the 2006 capture in Spain
of Triple A death-squad overseer Rodolfo Almirón
(then also in charge of López Rega's and Isabel Perón's personal security) later shed light on the extent of Triple A involvement, the public at the time treated the subject with great trepidation and ambivalence, not least because the majority of the political beat press corps had themselves been intimidated (sometimes, worse).
Atrocities were also being committed by left-wing extremists. Organized in 1968, the mysterious Roman Catholic-oriented anarchist Montoneros
had already carried out the murder of former de facto President Pedro Aramburu, popular CGT
union Secretary General José Ignacio Rucci
, construction workers' union leader Rogelio Coria, former Interior Minister Arturo Mor Roig and U.S. Consul John Egan, among other murders and kidnappings. Throughout 1974, moreover, the appearance of a new, nearly equally violent Trotskyite group, the ERP
, sped the vicious cycle of violence. Having gained notoriety after the murder of FIAT
executive Oberdan Sallustro
, they began the year with a violent assault on the Azul barracks and murdered, among others, criminal court Judge Jorge Quiroga and the publisher of La Plata
's centrist El Día, David Kraiselburd
, as well as kidnapping Esso
executive Victor Samuelson. Freed for a ransom of US$12 million, his kidnapping ignited what would become a rash of such crimes.
Following the murder of Buenos Aires Police Chief Alberto Villar (one of López Rega's closest collaborators in the Triple A, as it turned out) and his wife, as well as amid increasing activity by the ERP in the Province of Tucumán, Mrs. Perón was persuaded to declare a state of siege
on November 6 (suspending, among other rights, Habeas Corpus
). Operation Independence
was then initiated in Tucumán on February 5, 1975. This military campaign gained notoriety for the brutality it exacted on not only the violent; but also elected officials, magistrates and University of Tucumán
faculty (even secondary school teachers).
The Peronists' own political mainstay (the labor movement) was also subject to the "subversive" labels and consequent reprisals. The November 1974 election of a left-wing union shop steward at a Villa Constitución
steel mill and its disapproval by steelworkers' leader Lorenzo Miguel
(a leading figure in the paramount CGT), resulted in a brutal March 20, 1975 police assault on the facility. The raid, executed jointly with Triple A heavies, led to the "disappearance" of many of the 300 workers arrested.
López Rega, meanwhile, had many of the most competent policy makers Mrs. Perón had inherited from her husband's brief last turn at the presidency dismissed; by May, 1975, both Economy Minister José Ber Gelbard
and Central Bank President Alfredo Gómez Morales had been replaced with López Rega loyalists. Stacking the State Intelligence Secretariat
(SIDE) with Fascists loyal to him, this policy led the corrupt agency to engage in unprecedented intrigue, culminating in the kidnapping of Jorge and Juan Born, prominent local executives who paid US$60 million for their release (a world record at the time). Using contacts from among the Montoneros' many double agent
s (allegedly including the leader, Mario Firmenich), the agency kept the Born brothers in a known SIDE safehouse for nine months until their June 1975 release without public suspicion of SIDE involvement, a successful false flag
operation that led to others (albeit less ambitious ones) in the following months.
Faced with record trade and budget deficits, though with an otherwise stable economy, the new Economy Minister, Celestino Rodrigo proceeded to apply "shock therapy," ordering a surprise halving of the peso
's value and, by forcing those who could to stampede towards the U.S. dollar, destroying the fragile financial balance that had been maintained to that point. Consumer prices doubled between May and August, alone, and though sharp, mandatory wage hikes had been negotiated between the government, labor and employers, the resulting shock (known as the Rodrigazo
) ignited protest across Argentina, including a two-day general strike by the CGT
(the first ever against a Peronist administration). Following a riot in front of his offices, the now hated José López Rega was hastily appointed Ambassador to Spain and boarded a flight into exile.
López Rega left the country July 19; shortly afterwards, Mrs. Perón dismissed his protégés in the Economy Ministry, Celestino Rodrigo, and in the Armed Forces High Command, General Alberto Numa Laplane, whom she replaced with General Jorge Videla, a quiet career officer with an uneventful military record. A sudden fall in business investment had by then sent the GDP into a sharp recession (practically cancelling growth chalked up during the prosperous 1974) and her appointment of a pragmatic economist, Peronist wheelhorse Antonio Cafiero
and her September 13 announcement of a leave of absence relieved ample sectors of society, from labor unions to business. Designating Senate President Ítalo Lúder
, a moderately conservative Peronist, in her stead, it was widely hoped that her leave would become permanent; but, it was not to be.
Having claimed over 800 lives, violence between Trotskyite and Fascist extremists had abated somewhat since López Rega's July exile; the Montoneros, however, began a series of audacious attacks on military installations, including August dynamiting of a nearly finished Navy destroyer near the port of La Plata
and the attack on a military base in Formosa Province
on October 5. To make matters worse, these groups and (in a bid to control the agenda), the Triple A themselves, both began taking to midnight lightning strikes against civilian targets (such as banks, buses, yachts, parking lots and restaurants), each blaming the other and, as it turned out, both right. This, in any case, forced society into a state of terror very much alien to Argentina's upwardly mobile majority. Anxious to placate the exasperated public, hard-line labor leaders (particularly the steelworkers' Lorenzo Miguel
) and most other Peronists, on October 6 she and Lúder signed new measures giving blanket immunity for the Armed Forces that they may (in her words) "annihilate the subversives." The measure won her just enough support to return from "sick leave" and on October 16, (the day before Peronists' historically central "Loyalty Day"), Mrs. Perón appeared at the balcony of the Casa Rosada
, back at her post.
This was, in effect, an extension nationwide of the state of emergency that had been imposed in Tucumán. That operation's military success and the president's November 17 announcement that elections (scheduled for March 1977) would be held in November 1976 instead, again brought renewed hope that an increasingly rumored coup d'état could yet be averted.
Anxiety over inflation, meanwhile, continued to dominate daily life. Monthly inflation did slow from the (then-record) 35% logged in July to 10-15% monthly between September and January 1976 (a level more familiar to the Argentine consumer); but, though the mid-year recession had reduced the trade deficit significantly, the government's 1975 budget had been derailed by the crisis and by earlier commitments to cancel its then still-modest foreign debt, something which, even so cost Argentina US$2.5 billion that year, alone. The resulting budget deficits (over US$5 billion, in 1975) began to reassert pressure on prices after November, leading to hoarding and shortages.
The appointment of General Héctor Fautario, a loyalist of Mrs. Perón, to the branch's high command, fueled broader in the Air Force
for action against her administration, and on December 18, General Jesús Capellini attempted a coup d'état by seizing the Móron
Air Force base. The military joint chiefs, however, who obtained Fautario's dismissal, stayed the mutiny's hand, secretly concluding that the timing was premature. Partly in response, the nearly defeated ERP
besieged the important Monte Chingolo Armory on December 23. This, the most violent among the numerous such attacks in 1975, cost over 100 lives and marked the end of the ERP's violent campaign.
Economy Minister Antonio Cafiero was dismissed on February 4, 1976 and, within days, the head of the National Business Council, Julio Broner, left Argentina with his family, altogether. CGT Secretary General Casildo Herrera followed suit, announcing from exile that he had "erased" himself. Cafiero's replacement, Eugenio Mondelli, announced a new devaluation of the shredded peso, causing prices to jump by over 60% in two months. Near defeat, though still active, the Montoneros
detonated a bomb at Army headquarters on March 15, killing 29. Soon afterward, allegations surfaced that Mrs. Perón had embezzled large sums from a government-run charity into her personal accounts in Spain. The allegations destroyed her remaining support in Congress, and the UCR initiated impeachment
proceedings against the President with the support of many in her own Justicialist Party. However, it was almost taken for granted that the military would throw her out of office before any impeachment trial took place; indeed, the media were openly counting down the days to the expected coup d'etat. As it turned out, even as the joint chiefs of staff were professing loyalty to La Presidente, they were secretly planning "Operation Aries."
Calling it a day at the Casa Rosada
after working late into the evening of March 23, 1976, in the hope of averting an impending business lockout
, Mrs. Perón celebrated her executive assistant's birthday with staff. Alerted to suspicious military exercises, she boarded the presidential helicopter shortly after midnight. It did not fly her to the Quinta de Olivos
presidential residence as she intended; but, instead to an Air Force base in nearby Jorge Newbery International Airport
, where she was formally deposed and arrested.
, including numerous right-wing Peronists. Isabel Perón herself remained under house arrest in Villa La Angostura
and other secluded locations for five years, eventually sent into exile in Spain
in 1981. She continued to serve as official head of the Peronist
Justicialist Party
until her resignation in 1985, nearly a decade after her fall from power. Though there were some who desired her return and wished for her return to power, she refused to stand for election to the presidency. She lived in Madrid
, maintained close links with Francisco Franco
's family, and sometimes went to Marbella
, a Spanish coastal city.
Following the restoration of democracy
in Argentina, she was pardoned from charges of corruption during her presidency and returned in May 1984 to participate in policy talks arranged by President Raúl Alfonsín
and opposition leaders. Still nominally head of Perón's Justicialist Party
, she played a constructive role in the talks - supporting cooperation between the restive CGT labor union (her party's political base) and Alfonsín. The talks concluded with a weak agreement, and she resigned from her post as titular head of the party. Mrs. Perón resumed residence in Spain under a very low profile.
demanded testimony from Isabel, along with other Peronist ministers of her government, in a case involving forced disappearances during her presidency. On January 12, 2007, she was arrested in Madrid. In particular, she was charged by the Argentine authorities with the disappearance of Héctor Aldo Fagetti Gallego
on February 25, 1976, and her issuance of decrees over her signature calling to "annihilate … subversive elements throughout the country". The Nunca Mas ("Never Again") report released in 1984 by the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons recorded 600 disappearances and 500 assassinations under the Peronist governments from 1973 to 1976, and it is today acknowledged that the Triple A
alone murdered about 600 people. The extradition to Argentina was denied in Spain on March 28, 2008.
President of Argentina
The President of the Argentine Nation , usually known as the President of Argentina, is the head of state of Argentina. Under the national Constitution, the President is also the chief executive of the federal government and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.Through Argentine history, the...
of Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. She was also the third wife of another former President, 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...
. During her husband's third term as president, Isabel served as vice president and following her husband's death in office, Isabel served as president from July 1, 1974 to March 24, 1976. She was the first non-royal female head of state and head of government in the Western Hemisphere
Western Hemisphere
The Western Hemisphere or western hemisphere is mainly used as a geographical term for the half of the Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian and east of the Antimeridian , the other half being called the Eastern Hemisphere.In this sense, the western hemisphere consists of the western portions...
.
In 2007, an Argentine
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
judge ordered the arrest of Isabel Perón over the forced disappearance
Forced disappearance
In international human rights law, a forced disappearance occurs when a person is secretly abducted or imprisoned by a state or political organization or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the...
of an activist in February 1976, on the grounds that the disappearance was authorized by her signing of decrees allowing Argentina's armed forces to take action against "subversives". She was arrested near her home in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
on 12 January 2007. Spanish courts subsequently refused her extradition to Argentina.
Early life
María Estela Martínez Cartas was born in La Rioja, ArgentinaLa Rioja, Argentina
La Rioja is the capital city of the Argentine province of La Rioja, located on the east of the province. The city has a population of almost 150,000 as per the ....
, into a lower middle-class family, daughter of María Josefa Cartas Olguín and Carmelo Martínez. She dropped out of school after the fifth grade, and in the early 1950s became a nightclub dancer, adopting a variant of her patron saint
Patron saint
A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...
, Saint Isabel
Saint Isabel
Saint Isabel may refer to:* Saint Isabel of France * Saint Isabel of Aragon, better known as Elizabeth of Portugal...
, as her stage name
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
.
Juan Perón
She met her future husband during his exile in PanamaPanama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
. Juan Perón, who was 35 years her senior, was attracted by her beauty and believed she could provide him with the female companionship he had been lacking since the death of his second wife, Eva Peron
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...
.
Perón brought Isabel with him when he moved to 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...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, in 1960. Authorities in that Roman Catholic nation did not approve of Perón's living arrangements with the young woman, so on November 15, 1961, the former president reluctantly married for a third time.
Ambassador Isabel
As Perón resumed an active role in Argentine politics, Isabel acted as a go-between from Spain to South America. Having been deposed in a coup years before, Perón was forbidden from returning to Argentina, so his new wife would travel in his stead. The trade unionist José AlonsoJosé Alonso (trade unionist)
José Alonso was an Argentine politician and trade-unionist.- Early life :José Alonso was born in the Montserrat section of Buenos Aires, in 1917. The son of a Spanish tailor, he dedicated himself to the same profession, and was first elected as a union delegate of the tailors in 1938...
became one of her main advisers in Perón's dispute against Steelworkers' leader Augusto Vandor
Augusto Vandor
Augusto Timoteo Vandor was an Argentine trade unionist leader, military and politician.-Career:Vandor was born Bovril, Entre Ríos Province, to a Dutch father and a French mother, in 1923. He enlisted in the Argentine Navy in 1940, and later became an officer in the ARA Comodoro Py warship...
's faction in the General Confederation of Labour
General Confederation of Labour (Argentina)
The General Confederation of Labour of the Argentine Republic is a national trade union centre of Argentina founded on September 27, 1930, as the result of the merge of the USA and the COA trade union centres...
(CGT); Alonso and Vandor were both later assassinated in as-yet unexplained circumstances.
José López Rega
Isabel met José López RegaJosé 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...
, an occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
philosopher and fortune teller, around 1965. She was interested in occult matters (and as president reportedly employed astrological divination to determine national policy), so the two quickly became friends. Under pressure from Isabel, Perón appointed López as her personal secretary; he later founded the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance (Triple A), a death squad accused of 1,500 crimes in the 1970s.
Rise to power
Héctor Cámpora was nominated by Perón's Justicialist PartyJusticialist 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...
to run in the 1973 presidential 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:...
and won. It was, however, generally understood that Perón held the real power; a popular phrase at the time was "Cámpora al gobierno, Perón al poder" (Cámpora in government, Perón in power). Later that year, Perón returned to Argentina, and Cámpora resigned to allow Perón to run for president. In a surprisingly uncontroversial move, he chose Isabel as his nominee for the Vice Presidency to mollify feuding peronist factions, as these could agree on no other running mate. Perón's return from exile was marked by a growing rift between the right and left wings of the Peronist
Peronism
Peronism , or Justicialism , is an Argentine political movement based on the programmes associated with former President Juan Perón and his second wife, Eva Perón...
movement. Cámpora represented the left wing, while López Rega represented the right wing. Under López Rega's influence, Juan and Isabel Perón favored the right wing. Isabel had very little in the way of political experience or ambitions and she was a very different personality from Evita, who was more involved with politics and had been denied the post of vice president years earlier.
Perón's victory in the ensuing election was a foregone conclusion, and he won with 62% of the vote. He began his third term on October 12, 1973, with Isabel, as Vice President. However, Perón was in precarious health; by at least one account he was actually senile. Isabel had to take over as Acting President on several occasions.
The presidency
Juan Perón suffered a series of heart attacks on June 28, 1974. Isabel was summoned home from a European trade mission and secretly sworn in as interim president the next day. Perón died on July 1, 1974, less than a year after his third election to the presidency. Isabel formally assumed the office, becoming the first non-royal female head of state and head of government in the Western HemisphereWestern Hemisphere
The Western Hemisphere or western hemisphere is mainly used as a geographical term for the half of the Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian and east of the Antimeridian , the other half being called the Eastern Hemisphere.In this sense, the western hemisphere consists of the western portions...
. She was popularly known as La Presidente. Grammatically, she should have been called La Presidenta, but the constitution only referred to El Presidente.
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...
's charisma, the nation at first rallied to the grieving widow in this, her role of a lifetime. Even extremist groups were publicly offering her support, it seemed, following their falling out with Juan Perón between May and June. Mrs. Perón, however, abruptly canceled a full agenda of meetings with these people, preferring to entertain the likes of Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
's Nicolae Ceauşescu
Nicolae Ceausescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...
, Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
's Muammar Qaddafi
Muammar al-Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi or "September 1942" 20 October 2011), commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi or Colonel Gaddafi, was the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011.He seized power in a...
and the Shah of Iran. The goodwill her husband's death had left her soon dissipated. Following a string of mysterious murders, public threats from leftist extremists and a wave of industrial strikes in September, 1974, she became unpopular for the first time since the public had become acquainted with her.
Her indolence aside, the real source of contention between her and the voters was the increasing undeniability that José López Rega, the Minister of Social Welfare, set the agenda over a broad swath of Mrs. Perón's policies. Vetting nearly all domestic and foreign policy, he became de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
prime minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
, something not lost on the Argentine public, then benefiting from Latin America's highest access to newspapers, radio, television and education.
Never liked by the public, and loathed by the 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...
and the Armed Forces despite his avowed right-wing views, López Rega was a man considered by others in the halls of power as a borderline psychopath, and, worse, the sport of being the "power behind the throne
Power behind the throne
The phrase power behind the throne refers to a person or group that informally exercises the real power of an office. In politics, it most commonly refers to a spouse, aide, or advisor of a political leader who serves as de facto leader, setting policy through influence or manipulation.The...
," which he leveraged to secure business partnerships with Qaddafi, Zairean
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
dictator Joseph Mobutu and the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Fascist Licio Gelli
Licio Gelli
Licio Gelli is an Italian financier, chiefly known for his role in the Banco Ambrosiano scandal. He was revealed in 1981 as being the Venerable Master of the clandestine Masonic lodge Propaganda Due...
.
More of a mystery at time was the extent of the Social Welfare Minister's involvement in the recently formed Argentine Anticommunist Alliance (Triple A), a seemingly unstoppable commando unit that, between late 1973 and late 1974, had already carried out nearly 300 murders, including that of former President Arturo Frondizi
Arturo Frondizi
Arturo Frondizi Ercoli was the President of Argentina between May 1, 1958, and March 29, 1962, for the Intransigent Radical Civic Union.-Early life:Frondizi was born in Paso de los Libres, Corrientes Province...
's brother, Professor Silvio Frondizi
Silvio Frondizi
Silvio Frondizi was an Argentine intellectual and lawyer, brother of President Arturo Frondizi and of the philosopher Risieri Frondizi....
, Congressman Rodolfo Ortega Peña, activist Father Carlos Mugica
Carlos Mugica
Carlos Mugica was an Argentine Roman Catholic priest and activist.-Early life:Carlos Francisco Sergio Mugica was born in Buenos Aires, in 1930, into a privileged background...
, Buenos Aires Province Assistant Police Chief Julio Troxler, and former Córdoba
Córdoba Province (Argentina)
Córdoba is a province of Argentina, located in the center of the country. Neighboring provinces are : Santiago del Estero, Santa Fe, Buenos Aires, La Pampa, San Luis, La Rioja and Catamarca...
Vice-Governor Atilio López
Atilio López
Not to be confused with Atilio López, lieutenant of Argentine governor Ricardo Obregón Cano.Higinio Atilio López Riveros is a retired football striker and coach from Paraguay.-As player:...
among others. Other prominent public servants, such as UCR
UCR
UCR may refer to:* University of California, Riverside* Unified Cornish Revised, a variety of the Cornish language* Uniform Crime Reports* Under color removal* University of Costa Rica* Unión Cívica Radical, an Argentine political party...
Senator Hipólito Solari Yrigoyen and left-wing 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...
President Rodolfo Puiggrós, narrowly escaped Triple A attacks with their lives.
Though the 2006 capture in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
of Triple A death-squad overseer 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...
(then also in charge of López Rega's and Isabel Perón's personal security) later shed light on the extent of Triple A involvement, the public at the time treated the subject with great trepidation and ambivalence, not least because the majority of the political beat press corps had themselves been intimidated (sometimes, worse).
Atrocities were also being committed by left-wing extremists. Organized in 1968, the mysterious Roman Catholic-oriented anarchist 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...
had already carried out the murder of former de facto President Pedro Aramburu, popular CGT
General Confederation of Labour (Argentina)
The General Confederation of Labour of the Argentine Republic is a national trade union centre of Argentina founded on September 27, 1930, as the result of the merge of the USA and the COA trade union centres...
union Secretary General José Ignacio Rucci
José Ignacio Rucci
José Ignacio Rucci was an Argentine politician and union leader, appointed general secretary of the CGT in 1970...
, construction workers' union leader Rogelio Coria, former Interior Minister Arturo Mor Roig and U.S. Consul John Egan, among other murders and kidnappings. Throughout 1974, moreover, the appearance of a new, nearly equally violent Trotskyite group, the ERP
Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo
Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo or Ejército Popular Revolucionario may refer to:* People's Revolutionary Army * People's Revolutionary Army * People's Revolutionary Army...
, sped the vicious cycle of violence. Having gained notoriety after the murder of FIAT
Fiat
FIAT, an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino , is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial, and industrial group based in Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli...
executive Oberdan Sallustro
Oberdan Sallustro
Oberdan Sallustro was an entrepreneur, Director General of FIAT Concord in Argentina. He was kidnapped and killed in 1972 by the Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo guerrilla group, according to newspaper reports.-Biography:Oberdan Sallustro had been kidnapped on March 21, 1972, by a six-man,...
, they began the year with a violent assault on the Azul barracks and murdered, among others, criminal court Judge Jorge Quiroga and the publisher of La Plata
La Plata
La Plata is the capital city of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and of La Plata partido. According to the , the city proper has a population of 574,369 and its metropolitan area has 694,253 inhabitants....
's centrist El Día, David Kraiselburd
David Kraiselburd
-Life and times:David Kraiselburd was born into a working-class Ukrainian Jewish family in Berisso, a suburb north of La Plata, Argentina, in 1912. In his teens, a high-school writing contest earned him an internship in La Plata's main daily, El Día, after the end of which he was hired by the paper...
, as well as kidnapping Esso
Esso
Esso is an international trade name for ExxonMobil and its related companies. Pronounced , it is derived from the initials of the pre-1911 Standard Oil, and as such became the focus of much litigation and regulatory restriction in the United States. In 1972, it was largely replaced in the U.S. by...
executive Victor Samuelson. Freed for a ransom of US$12 million, his kidnapping ignited what would become a rash of such crimes.
Following the murder of Buenos Aires Police Chief Alberto Villar (one of López Rega's closest collaborators in the Triple A, as it turned out) and his wife, as well as amid increasing activity by the ERP in the Province of Tucumán, Mrs. Perón was persuaded to declare a state of siege
State of Siege
State of Siege is a 1972 French film directed by Costa Gavras starring Yves Montand and Renato Salvatori.-Summary:...
on November 6 (suspending, among other rights, Habeas Corpus
Habeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
). Operation Independence
Operativo Independencia
Operativo Independencia was the code-name of the Argentine military operation in the Tucumán Province, started in 1975, to crush the ERP , a Guevarist guerrilla group which attempted to secede part of Tucuman as an independent nation, in the north-west of Argentina...
was then initiated in Tucumán on February 5, 1975. This military campaign gained notoriety for the brutality it exacted on not only the violent; but also elected officials, magistrates and University of Tucumán
Universidad Nacional de Tucumán
The National University of Tucumán is a national university in the Tucumán Province, in the northwest region of Argentina.-General information:...
faculty (even secondary school teachers).
The Peronists' own political mainstay (the labor movement) was also subject to the "subversive" labels and consequent reprisals. The November 1974 election of a left-wing union shop steward at a Villa Constitución
Villa Constitución
Villa Constitución is a city in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina, and the head town of the Constitución Department. It is located on the south-western banks of the Paraná River between the courses of the Arroyo Pavón and the Arroyo del Medio, about 214 km south from the provincial capital,...
steel mill and its disapproval by steelworkers' leader Lorenzo Miguel
Lorenzo Miguel
Lorenzo Miguel was a prominent Argentine labor leader closely associated with the steelworkers' union.-Early life and his rise in the UOM:...
(a leading figure in the paramount CGT), resulted in a brutal March 20, 1975 police assault on the facility. The raid, executed jointly with Triple A heavies, led to the "disappearance" of many of the 300 workers arrested.
López Rega, meanwhile, had many of the most competent policy makers Mrs. Perón had inherited from her husband's brief last turn at the presidency dismissed; by May, 1975, both Economy Minister José Ber Gelbard
José Ber Gelbard
José Ber Gelbard was an Argentine activist and politician.-Career:Gelbard was born in Radomsko, Poland, in 1917. In 1930 Gelbard emigrated to Argentina with his parents and siblings. They settled in Tucumán, north of Buenos Aires. Those were tough times and Gelbard had to make a living as a...
and Central Bank President Alfredo Gómez Morales had been replaced with López Rega loyalists. Stacking the State Intelligence Secretariat
Secretaría de Inteligencia
Secretaría de Inteligencia is the premier intelligence agency of the Argentine Republic and head of its National Intelligence System....
(SIDE) with Fascists loyal to him, this policy led the corrupt agency to engage in unprecedented intrigue, culminating in the kidnapping of Jorge and Juan Born, prominent local executives who paid US$60 million for their release (a world record at the time). Using contacts from among the Montoneros' many double agent
Double agent
A double agent, commonly abbreviated referral of double secret agent, is a counterintelligence term used to designate an employee of a secret service or organization, whose primary aim is to spy on the target organization, but who in fact is a member of that same target organization oneself. They...
s (allegedly including the leader, Mario Firmenich), the agency kept the Born brothers in a known SIDE safehouse for nine months until their June 1975 release without public suspicion of SIDE involvement, a successful false flag
False flag
False flag operations are covert operations designed to deceive the public in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by other entities. The name is derived from the military concept of flying false colors; that is flying the flag of a country other than one's own...
operation that led to others (albeit less ambitious ones) in the following months.
Faced with record trade and budget deficits, though with an otherwise stable economy, the new Economy Minister, Celestino Rodrigo proceeded to apply "shock therapy," ordering a surprise halving of the peso
Historical exchange rates of Argentine currency
The following table contains the monthly historical exchange rate of the different currencies of Argentina, expressed in Argentine currency units per United States dollar...
's value and, by forcing those who could to stampede towards the U.S. dollar, destroying the fragile financial balance that had been maintained to that point. Consumer prices doubled between May and August, alone, and though sharp, mandatory wage hikes had been negotiated between the government, labor and employers, the resulting shock (known as the Rodrigazo
Rodrigazo
Rodrigazo is the name given to a group of economic policies announced in Argentina on June 4, 1975, and their immediate aftermath. The name Rodrigazo stems from the fact that the policies were announced and implemented by Celestino Rodrigo, the Minister of Economy of Argentina appointed by...
) ignited protest across Argentina, including a two-day general strike by the CGT
General Confederation of Labour (Argentina)
The General Confederation of Labour of the Argentine Republic is a national trade union centre of Argentina founded on September 27, 1930, as the result of the merge of the USA and the COA trade union centres...
(the first ever against a Peronist administration). Following a riot in front of his offices, the now hated José López Rega was hastily appointed Ambassador to Spain and boarded a flight into exile.
Fall from power
Antonio Cafiero
Antonio Francisco Cafiero is an Argentine Justicialist Party politician.-Biography:Cafiero was born in Buenos Aires. He joined Catholic Action in 1938, and enrolled at the University of Buenos Aires, becoming President of the Students' Association...
and her September 13 announcement of a leave of absence relieved ample sectors of society, from labor unions to business. Designating Senate President Ítalo Lúder
Ítalo Argentino Lúder
Ítalo Argentino Lúder was an Argentinian politician who served as the acting President of Argentina from September 13, 1975 until October 16, 1975, for Isabel Perón....
, a moderately conservative Peronist, in her stead, it was widely hoped that her leave would become permanent; but, it was not to be.
Having claimed over 800 lives, violence between Trotskyite and Fascist extremists had abated somewhat since López Rega's July exile; the Montoneros, however, began a series of audacious attacks on military installations, including August dynamiting of a nearly finished Navy destroyer near the port of La Plata
La Plata
La Plata is the capital city of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and of La Plata partido. According to the , the city proper has a population of 574,369 and its metropolitan area has 694,253 inhabitants....
and the attack on a military base in Formosa Province
Formosa Province
Formosa Province is in northeastern Argentina, part of the Gran Chaco Region. Its northeast end touches Asunción, Paraguay, and borders the provinces of Chaco and Salta to its south and west, respectively...
on October 5. To make matters worse, these groups and (in a bid to control the agenda), the Triple A themselves, both began taking to midnight lightning strikes against civilian targets (such as banks, buses, yachts, parking lots and restaurants), each blaming the other and, as it turned out, both right. This, in any case, forced society into a state of terror very much alien to Argentina's upwardly mobile majority. Anxious to placate the exasperated public, hard-line labor leaders (particularly the steelworkers' Lorenzo Miguel
Lorenzo Miguel
Lorenzo Miguel was a prominent Argentine labor leader closely associated with the steelworkers' union.-Early life and his rise in the UOM:...
) and most other Peronists, on October 6 she and Lúder signed new measures giving blanket immunity for the Armed Forces that they may (in her words) "annihilate the subversives." The measure won her just enough support to return from "sick leave" and on October 16, (the day before Peronists' historically central "Loyalty Day"), Mrs. Perón appeared at the balcony of the Casa Rosada
Casa Rosada
La Casa Rosada is the official seat of the executive branch of the government of Argentina, and of the offices of the President. The President normally lives at the Quinta de Olivos, a compound in Olivos, Buenos Aires Province. Its characteristic color is pink, and is considered one of the most...
, back at her post.
Anxiety over inflation, meanwhile, continued to dominate daily life. Monthly inflation did slow from the (then-record) 35% logged in July to 10-15% monthly between September and January 1976 (a level more familiar to the Argentine consumer); but, though the mid-year recession had reduced the trade deficit significantly, the government's 1975 budget had been derailed by the crisis and by earlier commitments to cancel its then still-modest foreign debt, something which, even so cost Argentina US$2.5 billion that year, alone. The resulting budget deficits (over US$5 billion, in 1975) began to reassert pressure on prices after November, leading to hoarding and shortages.
The appointment of General Héctor Fautario, a loyalist of Mrs. Perón, to the branch's high command, fueled broader in the Air Force
Argentine Air Force
The Argentine Air Force is the national aviation branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic. , it had 14,606 military and 6,854 civilian staff.-History:...
for action against her administration, and on December 18, General Jesús Capellini attempted a coup d'état by seizing the Móron
Morón, Buenos Aires
Morón is a city in the Argentine province of Buenos Aires, capital of the Morón Partido, located in the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area, at...
Air Force base. The military joint chiefs, however, who obtained Fautario's dismissal, stayed the mutiny's hand, secretly concluding that the timing was premature. Partly in response, the nearly defeated ERP
Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo
Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo or Ejército Popular Revolucionario may refer to:* People's Revolutionary Army * People's Revolutionary Army * People's Revolutionary Army...
besieged the important Monte Chingolo Armory on December 23. This, the most violent among the numerous such attacks in 1975, cost over 100 lives and marked the end of the ERP's violent campaign.
Economy Minister Antonio Cafiero was dismissed on February 4, 1976 and, within days, the head of the National Business Council, Julio Broner, left Argentina with his family, altogether. CGT Secretary General Casildo Herrera followed suit, announcing from exile that he had "erased" himself. Cafiero's replacement, Eugenio Mondelli, announced a new devaluation of the shredded peso, causing prices to jump by over 60% in two months. Near defeat, though still active, the 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...
detonated a bomb at Army headquarters on March 15, killing 29. Soon afterward, allegations surfaced that Mrs. Perón had embezzled large sums from a government-run charity into her personal accounts in Spain. The allegations destroyed her remaining support in Congress, and the UCR initiated impeachment
Impeachment
Impeachment is a formal process in which an official is accused of unlawful activity, the outcome of which, depending on the country, may include the removal of that official from office as well as other punishment....
proceedings against the President with the support of many in her own Justicialist Party. However, it was almost taken for granted that the military would throw her out of office before any impeachment trial took place; indeed, the media were openly counting down the days to the expected coup d'etat. As it turned out, even as the joint chiefs of staff were professing loyalty to La Presidente, they were secretly planning "Operation Aries."
Calling it a day at the Casa Rosada
Casa Rosada
La Casa Rosada is the official seat of the executive branch of the government of Argentina, and of the offices of the President. The President normally lives at the Quinta de Olivos, a compound in Olivos, Buenos Aires Province. Its characteristic color is pink, and is considered one of the most...
after working late into the evening of March 23, 1976, in the hope of averting an impending business lockout
Lockout (industry)
A lockout is a work stoppage in which an employer prevents employees from working. This is different from a strike, in which employees refuse to work.- Causes :...
, Mrs. Perón celebrated her executive assistant's birthday with staff. Alerted to suspicious military exercises, she boarded the presidential helicopter shortly after midnight. It did not fly her to the Quinta de Olivos
Quinta de Olivos
The Quinta de Olivos is an architectural landmark in the north side Buenos Aires suburb of Olivos and the official residence of the President of Argentina.-Overview:...
presidential residence as she intended; but, instead to an Air Force base in nearby Jorge Newbery International Airport
Aeroparque Jorge Newbery
-Accidents and incidents:*On 17 December 1969, an Austral Líneas Aéreas C-46 Commando, lost engine 1 due to fuel exhaustion shortly after take-off. The plane failed to gain height and made a crash landing in a small sport field...
, where she was formally deposed and arrested.
Detention and exile
The majority of Peronist officials in the national, provincial, and municipal governments were promptly arrested, and many would join the ranks of the "disappeared" during the subsequent Dirty WarDirty War
The Dirty War was a period of state-sponsored violence in Argentina from 1976 until 1983. Victims of the violence included several thousand left-wing activists, including trade unionists, students, journalists, Marxists, Peronist guerrillas and alleged sympathizers, either proved or suspected...
, including numerous right-wing Peronists. Isabel Perón herself remained under house arrest in Villa La Angostura
Villa La Angostura
Villa La Angostura is a village in the south of the Argentine province of Neuquén, on the northwest shore of the Nahuel Huapi Lake.-Geography and climate:...
and other secluded locations for five years, eventually sent into exile in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
in 1981. She continued to serve as official head of the Peronist
Peronism
Peronism , or Justicialism , is an Argentine political movement based on the programmes associated with former President Juan Perón and his second wife, Eva Perón...
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...
until her resignation in 1985, nearly a decade after her fall from power. Though there were some who desired her return and wished for her return to power, she refused to stand for election to the presidency. She lived in 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...
, maintained close links with Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
's family, and sometimes went to Marbella
Marbella
Marbella is a town in Andalusia, Spain. It is situated on the Mediterranean Sea, in the province of Málaga, beneath the La Concha mountain. In 2000 the city had 98,823 inhabitants, in 2004, 116,234, in 2010 approximately 135,000....
, a Spanish coastal city.
Following the restoration of democracy
Argentine general election, 1983
The Argentine general election of 1983 was held on 30 October and marked the return of Democracy after the 1976's dictatorship self-known as National Reorganization Process...
in Argentina, she was pardoned from charges of corruption during her presidency and returned in May 1984 to participate in policy talks arranged by President Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín was an Argentine lawyer, politician and statesman, who served as the President of Argentina from December 10, 1983, to July 8, 1989. Alfonsín was the first democratically-elected president of Argentina following the military government known as the National Reorganization...
and opposition leaders. Still nominally head of 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...
, she played a constructive role in the talks - supporting cooperation between the restive CGT labor union (her party's political base) and Alfonsín. The talks concluded with a weak agreement, and she resigned from her post as titular head of the party. Mrs. Perón resumed residence in Spain under a very low profile.
Arrest in Spain
In November 2006, a judge in Mendoza, ArgentinaMendoza, Argentina
Mendoza is the capital city of Mendoza Province, in Argentina. It is located in the northern-central part of the province, in a region of foothills and high plains, on the eastern side of the Andes. As of the , Mendoza's population was 110,993...
demanded testimony from Isabel, along with other Peronist ministers of her government, in a case involving forced disappearances during her presidency. On January 12, 2007, she was arrested in Madrid. In particular, she was charged by the Argentine authorities with the disappearance of Héctor Aldo Fagetti Gallego
Héctor Aldo Fagetti Gallego
Héctor Aldo Fagetti Gallego was an Argentine activist who disappeared in 1975 during the Presidency of Isabel Perón, who was President of Argentina from July 1, 1974 to March 24, 1976. In January 2007 an Argentine federal judge, Raul Costa, ordered the arrest of former President Isabel Perón over...
on February 25, 1976, and her issuance of decrees over her signature calling to "annihilate … subversive elements throughout the country". The Nunca Mas ("Never Again") report released in 1984 by the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons recorded 600 disappearances and 500 assassinations under the Peronist governments from 1973 to 1976, and it is today acknowledged that the Triple A
Alianza Anticomunista Argentina
The Argentine Anticommunist Alliance was a right-wing death squad active in Argentina during the mid-1970s, particularly active under Isabel Perón's rule . Initially associated with the Peronist right, the organisation was bitterly in conflict with the Peronist left and other left organizations...
alone murdered about 600 people. The extradition to Argentina was denied in Spain on March 28, 2008.