José Ignacio Rucci
Encyclopedia
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...
, and a chief representative of the "syndical bureaucracy" (the trade-union movement
Trade unions in Argentina
Trade unions in Argentina have traditionally played a strong role in the politics of the nation. The largest trade union association, the Confederación General del Trabajo has been a force since the 1930s, and approximately 40% of workers in the formal economy are unionized.- The FORA :The...
's right wing); he was assassinated in 1973.
Trade unionist career
The son of modest Italian immigrantsImmigration to Argentina
Immigration in Argentina, can be divided in several major stages:* Spanish colonization starting in the 16th century, integrating the indigenous inhabitants ....
, he was born in Alcorta
Alcorta
Alcorta is a town in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It has 7,450 inhabitants, according to the census, and lies in the south of the province, on National Route 178, south-southwest of Rosario and south of the provincial capital Santa Fe....
, 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...
, and emigrated to Buenos Aires
Buenos 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...
as a young man to find work. He became a steelworker in the La Ballester-Molina weapons' factory. There, he met Hilario Salvo, leader of the recently founded Unión Obrera Metalúrgica (UOM) steelworkers' union.,
Rucci was present on Plaza de Mayo
Plaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....
, as well as thousands of workers, on 17 October 1945, a historical date in Peronism
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...
. Elected trade union delegate for the first time in 1947, he retained this function until 1953..
Following the self-styled Revolución Libertadora
Revolución Libertadora
The Revolución Libertadora was a military uprising that ended the second presidential term of Juan Perón in Argentina, on September 16, 1955.-History:...
, a military coup which ousted Perón in 1955, Rucci progressively acquired fame by participating in the Peronist Resistance movement, and was jailed several times for breaching decree 4,161, which proscribed the very mention of Perón's name. Following the creation of the 62 Organizations, the political branch of the CGT, to which he ascribed, Rucci quickly progressed inside the unions' hierarchy, alongside fellow UOM 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...
.
At first a unionist leader in the SOMISA steelworking factory in San Nicolás de los Arroyos
San Nicolás de los Arroyos
San Nicolás de los Arroyos is a city in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, on the western shore of the Paraná River, 61 km from Rosario. It has about 138,000 inhabitants . It is the head town of the partido of the same name...
(the nation's largest), he assumed the post of press secretary of the UOM in 1960, and sat on its board of directors alongside Vandor, Paulino Niembro, Avelino Fernández and 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:...
. He was named inspector in 1964 for the San Nicolás de los Arroyos union local, where he later became the general secretary.
Rucci strongly opposed the unionist Agustín Tosco
Agustín Tosco
Agustín Gringo Tosco was an Argentine union leader, member of the CGT de los Argentinos and an important participant in the historic local uprising known as the Cordobazo.-Thought and maturity:At 27 years old, he was the general secretary for Luz y Fuerza...
, the leader of the Córdoba
Córdoba, Argentina
Córdoba is a city located near the geographical center of Argentina, in the foothills of the Sierras Chicas on the Suquía River, about northwest of Buenos Aires. It is the capital of Córdoba Province. Córdoba is the second-largest city in Argentina after the federal capital Buenos Aires, with...
trade union Luz y Fuerza, who held a more leftist position than Rucci, and opposed the syndical bureaucracy's "participationist" (pragmatic) stance towards the military government of General Juan Carlos Onganía
Juan Carlos Onganía
Juan Carlos Onganía Carballo was de facto president of Argentina from 29 June 1966 to 8 June 1970. He rose to power as military dictator after toppling, in a coup d’état self-named Revolución Argentina , the democratically elected president Arturo Illia .-Economic and social...
, installed in 1966.
General secretary of the CGT
The CGT split into the conservative Azopardo branch (named after the headquarters' address in Buenos Aires), and the CGT de los Argentinos (CGTA) following the annulment of left-wing graphist workers' leader Raimundo OngaroRaimundo Ongaro
Raimundo Ongaro is a prominent Argentine labor leader.-Early career and rise to prominence:Raimundo José Ongaro was born to a middle-class family of Italian Argentines from the Lombardy region, in the Argentine seashore city of Mar del Plata in 1924...
as secretary general. The eventual Cordobazo
Cordobazo
The Cordobazo was a civil uprising in the city of Córdoba, Argentina, in the end of May 1969, during the military dictatorship of General Juan Carlos Onganía, which occurred a few days after the Rosariazo, and a year after the French May '68...
of May 1969 led to the CGT-Azopardo's placement in receivership
Receivership
In law, receivership is the situation in which an institution or enterprise is being held by a receiver, a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights." The receivership remedy is an equitable remedy that emerged in...
(the CGTA had been banned from the start), though in December, the order was lifted.
Displacing José Alonso in July 1970, Rucci was elected general secretary of the CGT, by 544 delegates on 618 present,, during the Normalization Congress, which led to deepened differences between the CGT-Azopardo and the CGTA, which claimed a more radical leftist stance opposed to the military junta. Among those 618 delegates present at the Congress, 544 voted for him; those who voted against were the Vandoristas
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...
, on the right-wing (Vandor had spoken in favour of a "Peronism without Perón", supporting the "participationist" tendency among the workers' movement), and the Cordobeses, who were in favour of armed struggle against the junta
As the new general secretary of the CGT (hereafter CGT-Azopardo), Rucci launched the slogan "Nothing Without Perón" (Nada sin Perón) and, after initial optimism, opposed President Alejandro Lanusse's National Accords (Gran Acuerdo Nacional) of July 1971, which outlined a road map to the return to democratic rule, but which preserved the military's vetting power ovr policy. This helped unite Peronist forces towards the goal of Perón's return from exile.
Privately, however, Rucci maintained contacts in the Lanusse regime, and lobbied against repeated wage freeze proposals. Hosting Lanusse in an April 1971 summit with the CGT, Rucci persuaded the president to begin negotiations with Perón and other political leaders, and to return the late 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...
's remains to Argentina. At least as powerful a symbol among Peronists as the leader himself, Evita had been ordered hidden in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
by the regime that overthrew Perón in 1955, and their repatriation would buy all concerned in the negotiations time.
Ongoing delays and the failure of the National Accords led Rucci to public threats of a general strike
General strike
A general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...
, while manitaining his contacts with Lanusse, and giving Perón the opportunity appear magnanimous by urging against them. Privately, however, he came to doubt that the aging Perón would return in time to run again for office, and began exploring a "syndicalist-military option," by which Lanusse would call elections, and the CGT would back an amenable candidate from within the armed forcesmost likely Lanusse's labor liaison, General Tomás Sánchez de Bustamante.
Ultimately, Lanusse agreed to elections, and allow Perón to visit Argentina in preparations. He arrived on November 17, 1972, and secured a number of alliances for the upcoming March 1973 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:...
. Rucci provided a lasting anecdote on the occasion when, during a strong rain, he greeted Perón as the latter deplaned, and spontaneously opened his umbrella to shield the aging leader. Elected by a landslide, Perón's stand-in, Dr. Héctor Cámpora's, took office with a left-wing agenda opposed by Rucci, much of the syndical apparatus, and Perón's influential chief of staff, 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...
. Cámpora allowed Peronism's "Revolutionary Tendency" faction the pick of several cabinet positions and other significant government posts. Perón, in tuth, insisted on the right-wing López Rega's appointment as the Minister of Social Welfare (controlling 30% of the national budget).
Making inflation reduaction a top policy priority, 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...
implemented the Social Pact, which Rucci signed with the Confederación General Económica (CGE) represiting management. The agreement, which proposed a price freeze and an increase of wages, was opposed both by the Peronist Left and by the employers' organizations, who claimed it went against free market
Free market
A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...
precepts. Although Rucci was depicted by the Peronist Left as part of the Syndical Bureaucracy, according to the author Berzaba, he received no support, from either López Rega, UOM 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 top Syndical Bureaucracy figure), or even Gelbard, once the latter had obtained his signature on the Social Pact..
Perón himself returned to Argentina on June 20, three weeks after Cámpora's inaugural. Rucci, Miguel and other syndicalist figures organized the tribune from which Perón was to address the hundreds of thousands of supporters gathered near Ezeiza Airport
Ministro Pistarini International Airport
Ministro Pistarini International Airport , more commonly known as Ezeiza International Airport owing to its location within the Ezeiza Partido in the Greater Buenos Aires, is an international airport located south-southwest of Buenos Aires, the capital city of Argentina...
. Hours before the scheduled landing, snipers following orders from López Rega shot at leftists in the crowd from the tribune. The ensuing Ezeiza Massacre irreparably split Peronists between the revolutionary left wing and the right wing. The latter's benefactor, López Rega, would increasingly wield influence through Perón's neophyte wife, Isabel.
Final days
In the context of increased social conflicts and worsening tensions, Rucci's personal secretary, Osvaldo Bianculli, was assassinated, after which Rucci moved into the CGT's cramped headquarters in an attempt to protect his life. He was increasingly isolated and well aware of the threats on his life.During the truckdrivers' strike in Chile
Chile under Allende
Salvador Allende was the president of Chile from 1970 until 1973, and head of the Popular Unity government; he was the first Marxist ever to be elected to the national presidency of a democracy...
against President Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende Gossens was a Chilean physician and politician who is generally considered the first democratically elected Marxist to become president of a country in Latin America....
's Marxist government, Rucci sent the Chilean president a letter supporting him against the destabilization
Black operation
A black operation or black op is a covert operation typically involving activities that are highly clandestine and often outside of standard military protocol or even against the law.-Origins:...
program advanced by the CIA.
Following snap elections
Argentine general election, September 1973
The second Argentine general election of 1973 was held on 23 September. Turnout was 85.5%, and it produced the following results:-Background:...
in September, which resulted in Perón's return to high office, Rucci returned to his Flores
Flores, Buenos Aires
Flores is a middle class barrio or district in the centre part of Buenos Aires city, Argentina. Flores was considered a rural area of the Province of Buenos Aires until 1888 when it was integrated to the City....
neighborhood home. As he approached his car on the morning of September 25, he was ambushed, and shot twenty-three times. An infamous detail is that he was shot twenty-three times and his body was found in front of a poster for the Traviatta crackers, which were known for having twenty-three small holes punched through them. This led to Rucci being mockingly nicknamed "Traviatta" by some political sectors.
Allegedly led by a 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...
operative known as "Roqué," the commando operation had not been agreed to by the entire leadership of the far-left Montoneros. Carlos Hobert, one of its senior leaders, learned of the assassination by the radio. Some, such as El Barba Gutiérrez, leader of the Peronist Workers' Youth, as well as Juan Carlos Dante Gullo, of the Peronist Youth, believed that Rucci had been assassinated by the CIA, in an attempt to distabilize Peronism. Perón himself declared at Rucci's death: "They killed my son. They cut off my right arm". After Rucci's assassination, Perón went into a state of depression and his health declined further.
Years later, the Montoneros' leadership unofficially recognized their responsibility in Rucci's assassination, which emotionally shook the unsentimental Perón, who cried for the first time in public. The majority of the Montoneros admitted this murder, which prompted Perón to support López Rega's Triple A death squad, to be a major political mistake.
