Osvaldo Cacciatore
Encyclopedia
Osvaldo Cacciatore was an Argentine Air Force
officer and former de facto Mayor of Buenos Aires during the National Reorganization Process
military dictatorship.
in 1924. He enrolled at the School of Military Aviation in 1946 and on September 28, 1951, joined an attempted coup d'état
against populist President Juan Perón
. The putsch, led by retired General Benjamín Menéndez, was a bid to thwart the upcoming 1951 general elections
(in which Perón was re-elected). It quickly failed, however, and Menéndez, Cacciatore and a number of others escaped to neighboring Montevideo
, Uruguay
, whose government was at odds with Perón's.
Cacciatore returned to Argentina and was reinstated into the Air Force. Following a collapse in Church-state relations in Argentina in late 1954, Cacciatore joined a second mutiny against the President, led by Rear Admiral Samuel Toranzo Calderón. On the eve of the planned, June 16, 1955, attack, Toranzo had decided to postpone the move; but unaware of the decision, an Air Force detachment, which included Cacciatore, carried out the brutal bombing of Plaza de Mayo
(the public square facing the presidential offices, the Casa Rosada
) as scheduled, and during a Peronist rally. Piloting one of the Gloster Meteor
jets deployed for the raid, Cacciatore was among the pilots whose attack took over 300 civilian lives, after which the pilots flew to safety in Uruguay.
An Army
revolt led by General Eduardo Lonardi
in September 1955 ultimately succeeded in deposing Perón, and following the September 23 installation of the Revolución Libertadora
regime, Cacciatore returned. An uneventful career in subsequent years was capped by his appointment in 1972 as Acting Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by President Alejandro Lanusse, whose military regime was in its final days. Elections
called by Lanusse for March 1973, would include, for the first time since Perón's ouster, a lifting of the ban on Peronism
, and Cacciatore chaired the government delegation to negotiate terms for Perón's preliminary November 17, 1972, Argentine visit.
The return of Peronism to power in 1973 exacerbated political frictions in Argentina, however, and was ultimately followed by a March 1976 coup and the installation of the National Reorganization Process
, the last Argentine dictatorship. Replacing nearly all elected officials, the new regime named Cacciatore to the post of Mayor of Buenos Aires, whose economy is nearly a fourth of the nation's total.
, for which two football stadia in the Buenos Aires, the Vélez Sársfield
and River Plate, were to be made available as part of the schedule of matches. The city, however, suffered from a number of serious logistical problems, as well: the rapid growth in automobile traffic since the 1950s, which by 1976 totaled 1.5 million vehicles daily, had not been met by appropriate infrastructure improvements, and the unrelenting flow of migrants from both the less developed Argentine north and neighboring countries such as Bolivia
and Paraguay
had resulted in the formation of over 30 villas miseria
(shantytowns, with varying levels of squalor, illegally built on empty lots); these latter were, by 1976, believed to be home to around 200,000 people (6% of the city's population).
The mayor moved quickly, and appointed a local civil engineer
, Dr. Guillermo Laura, to design a new city transport master plan. Dr. Laura's ambitious project, originally published in 1970, called for the eventual construction of a network of nine city freeways (two were already in use), which would total 74 km (46 mi). Preparation for the plan resulted in the expropriation and demolition of over 3,000 homes during 1977-78, and construction on the first two freeways began in November 1978. Totaling 14 km (9 mi) and opened in December 1980, they were granted to the Spanish-Argentine AUSA consortium as toll road
s with a concession until 2006.
Slum clearance was addressed with the mayor's July 13, 1977, ordinance, which mandated the eradication of all shantytowns, as well as of public housing for around 16,000 people, whose inhabitants would be relocated to the Greater Buenos Aires
area (mainly La Matanza
and Esteban Echeverría
Counties, west of the city). Following a census of these communities and a spate of restrictions, such as those on new edifications, on the dwellings' sale, and on cottage industry therein, the Department of Internal Vigilance began their demolition; as many slum inhabitants were unwilling to relocate, these were often violent and resulted in numerous injuries and deaths.
These incidents and the Housing Commission's own stipulation that slum clearance could only legally occur after suitable housing had been arranged for those affected helped result in a December 1979 injunction
against further removals by a court of appeals
, curbing the worst abuses. The 1980 Census revealed that the city's slums were home to no more than 30,000 people, prompting Cacciatore's Housing Commissioner (and successor as mayor), Guillermo del Cioppo, to declare that living in Buenos Aires is not for just anyone, but for those who deserve it and are willing to accept life in a proper community - a better city for the best people.
These controversial accomplishments were complemented by the opening 64 public schools and of numerous public parks, as well as by the successful World Cup event (won by Argentina
) and the closure of the city's tens of thousands of apartment building incinerators, whose noxious disposal of the city's 3,000 daily tons of refuse was replaced by curbside pickup service operated by Manliba, a consortium between Waste Management, Inc. and local businessman Francisco Macri
.
Cacciatore's dynamic record was clouded, however, by the dictatorship's own Dirty War
against dissidents and its resulting 30,000 deaths and disappearances (most of which were known by the regime to be non-violent dissidents, and for which 15 detention centers were opened in Buenos Aires, alone), and by financial irregularities in the mayor's many projects, themselves. The two completed freeways, budgeted at US$ 222 million, cost nearly a billion dollars, and their less-than-projected use by toll-paying motorists helped lead to the suspension of work on the other five in 1981; one planned freeway was cancelled only after the demolition of a several block-long swath in a residential area, and its effects on the residential Saavedra
neighborhood were only remedied in the late 1990s (three other freeways were ultimately completed).
Cacciatore's deal with Manliba also came under fire for its cost and for the consortium's failure to adequately maintain new landfill
s. His decision to force San Lorenzo de Almagro, a major local football team, to sell their Boedo
-area stadium and the land's subsequent US$8 million resale to French retailer Carrefour
has likewise never been clarified. His efforts to redevelop the dilapidated Villa Soldati
section of the city led to the construction of the Parque de la Ciudad
after 1977 on what had been a landfill, though the bankruptcy of the developer, Interama, in 1980 led to controversy when Cacciatore had the city absorb the group's debts; in the end, the amusement park's planned 15 million yearly visitors never came (attendance has never topped 1 million).
, then derelict docklands) by an economic crisis triggered in part by Economy Minister José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz
's wholesale deregulation of finance. The mayor handed over reins of the city to Housing Commissioner Guillermo del Cioppo on April 1, 1982, and the latter served as caretaker until elections
in late 1983. Cacciatore became a partner in Juncadella, an armored transport
firm, and was a defendant in numerous lawsuits stemming from the lucrative deals he sponsored as mayor.
Following the return of democracy in 1983, many of the slum-dwellers expelled by Cacciatore returned. This in part prompted him to enter politics as a candidate for Congress
on the conservative UCeDé
ticket in 1993 and for a seat in the Buenos Aires City Legislature
in 1997, though he was unsuccessful both times. He died in Buenos Aires on July 28, 2007 at age 83.
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:...
officer and former de facto Mayor of Buenos Aires during the National Reorganization Process
National Reorganization Process
The National Reorganization Process was the name used by its leaders for the military government that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. In Argentina it is often known simply as la última junta militar or la última dictadura , because several of them existed throughout its history.The Argentine...
military dictatorship.
Early life
Osvaldo Andrés Cacciatore 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 1924. He enrolled at the School of Military Aviation in 1946 and on September 28, 1951, joined an attempted coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
against populist 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...
. The putsch, led by retired General Benjamín Menéndez, was a bid to thwart the upcoming 1951 general elections
Argentine general election, 1951
The Argentine general election of 1951, the first to have enfranchised women at the national level, was held on 11 November. Voters chose both the President and their legislators and with a turnout of 88.0%, it produced the following results:-President:...
(in which Perón was re-elected). It quickly failed, however, and Menéndez, Cacciatore and a number of others escaped to neighboring Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
, Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
, whose government was at odds with Perón's.
Cacciatore returned to Argentina and was reinstated into the Air Force. Following a collapse in Church-state relations in Argentina in late 1954, Cacciatore joined a second mutiny against the President, led by Rear Admiral Samuel Toranzo Calderón. On the eve of the planned, June 16, 1955, attack, Toranzo had decided to postpone the move; but unaware of the decision, an Air Force detachment, which included Cacciatore, carried out the brutal bombing of Plaza de Mayo
Bombing of Plaza de Mayo
The bombing of Plaza de Mayo was a massacre which took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on June 16 1955.At 12:40 pm, a number of aircraft from the Argentine Navy and Air Force strafed and bombed Plaza de Mayo square in Buenos Aires, in what remains to this day the largest aerial bombing ever on...
(the public square facing the presidential offices, 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...
) as scheduled, and during a Peronist rally. Piloting one of the Gloster Meteor
Gloster Meteor
The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies' first operational jet. It first flew in 1943 and commenced operations on 27 July 1944 with 616 Squadron of the Royal Air Force...
jets deployed for the raid, Cacciatore was among the pilots whose attack took over 300 civilian lives, after which the pilots flew to safety in Uruguay.
An Army
Argentine Army
The Argentine Army is the land armed force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of the country.- History :...
revolt led by General Eduardo Lonardi
Eduardo Lonardi
Eduardo A. Lonardi Doucet served as de facto president of Argentina from September 23, 1955 until November 13, 1955.-Biography:He was born on September 15, 1896....
in September 1955 ultimately succeeded in deposing Perón, and following the September 23 installation of the 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:...
regime, Cacciatore returned. An uneventful career in subsequent years was capped by his appointment in 1972 as Acting Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by President Alejandro Lanusse, whose military regime was in its final days. 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:...
called by Lanusse for March 1973, would include, for the first time since Perón's ouster, a lifting of the ban on 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...
, and Cacciatore chaired the government delegation to negotiate terms for Perón's preliminary November 17, 1972, Argentine visit.
The return of Peronism to power in 1973 exacerbated political frictions in Argentina, however, and was ultimately followed by a March 1976 coup and the installation of the National Reorganization Process
National Reorganization Process
The National Reorganization Process was the name used by its leaders for the military government that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. In Argentina it is often known simply as la última junta militar or la última dictadura , because several of them existed throughout its history.The Argentine...
, the last Argentine dictatorship. Replacing nearly all elected officials, the new regime named Cacciatore to the post of Mayor of Buenos Aires, whose economy is nearly a fourth of the nation's total.
Mayor of Buenos Aires
At the helm of what was then still South America's largest city, Cacciatore inherited an agenda topped by wave of political violence and concerns over readiness for the 1978 FIFA World Cup1978 FIFA World Cup
The 1978 FIFA World Cup, the 11th staging of the FIFA World Cup, was held in Argentina between 1 June and 25 June. The 1978 World Cup was won by Argentina who beat the Netherlands 3–1 after extra time in the final. This win was the first World Cup title for Argentina, who became the fifth...
, for which two football stadia in the Buenos Aires, the Vélez Sársfield
Estadio José Amalfitani
The Estadio José Amalfitani is a stadium located in the Liniers neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The venue is mainly used for football matches and is the home of the Argentine Primera División club Vélez Sársfield. The stadium is nicknamed El Fortín or El Fortín de Liniers...
and River Plate, were to be made available as part of the schedule of matches. The city, however, suffered from a number of serious logistical problems, as well: the rapid growth in automobile traffic since the 1950s, which by 1976 totaled 1.5 million vehicles daily, had not been met by appropriate infrastructure improvements, and the unrelenting flow of migrants from both the less developed Argentine north and neighboring countries such as 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...
and Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
had resulted in the formation of over 30 villas miseria
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"...
(shantytowns, with varying levels of squalor, illegally built on empty lots); these latter were, by 1976, believed to be home to around 200,000 people (6% of the city's population).
The mayor moved quickly, and appointed a local civil engineer
Civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
, Dr. Guillermo Laura, to design a new city transport master plan. Dr. Laura's ambitious project, originally published in 1970, called for the eventual construction of a network of nine city freeways (two were already in use), which would total 74 km (46 mi). Preparation for the plan resulted in the expropriation and demolition of over 3,000 homes during 1977-78, and construction on the first two freeways began in November 1978. Totaling 14 km (9 mi) and opened in December 1980, they were granted to the Spanish-Argentine AUSA consortium as toll road
Toll road
A toll road is a privately or publicly built road for which a driver pays a toll for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels. Non-toll roads are financed using other sources of revenue, most typically fuel tax or general tax funds...
s with a concession until 2006.
Slum clearance was addressed with the mayor's July 13, 1977, ordinance, which mandated the eradication of all shantytowns, as well as of public housing for around 16,000 people, whose inhabitants would be relocated to the Greater Buenos Aires
Greater Buenos Aires
Greater Buenos Aires is the generic denomination to refer to the megalopolis comprising the autonomous city of Buenos Aires and the conurbation around it, over the province of Buenos Aires—namely the adjacent 24 partidos or municipalities—which nonetheless do not constitute a single administrative...
area (mainly La Matanza
La Matanza Partido
La Matanza is a partido located in the Greater Buenos Aires in Buenos Aires Province in Argentina....
and Esteban Echeverría
Esteban Echeverría Partido
Esteban Echeverría Partido is a partido located in the Gran Buenos Aires urban area, in Buenos Aires Province in Argentina.The provincial subdivision has a population of about 298,814 inhabitants in an area of , and its capital city is Monte Grande, which is located from Buenos Aires.The partido...
Counties, west of the city). Following a census of these communities and a spate of restrictions, such as those on new edifications, on the dwellings' sale, and on cottage industry therein, the Department of Internal Vigilance began their demolition; as many slum inhabitants were unwilling to relocate, these were often violent and resulted in numerous injuries and deaths.
These incidents and the Housing Commission's own stipulation that slum clearance could only legally occur after suitable housing had been arranged for those affected helped result in a December 1979 injunction
Injunction
An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a court order that requires a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. A party that fails to comply with an injunction faces criminal or civil penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions...
against further removals by a court of appeals
Court of Appeals
A court of appeals is an appellate court generally.Court of Appeals may refer to:*Military Court of Appeals *Corte d'Assise d'Appello *Philippine Court of Appeals*High Court of Appeals of Turkey*United States courts of appeals...
, curbing the worst abuses. The 1980 Census revealed that the city's slums were home to no more than 30,000 people, prompting Cacciatore's Housing Commissioner (and successor as mayor), Guillermo del Cioppo, to declare that living in Buenos Aires is not for just anyone, but for those who deserve it and are willing to accept life in a proper community - a better city for the best people.
These controversial accomplishments were complemented by the opening 64 public schools and of numerous public parks, as well as by the successful World Cup event (won by Argentina
Argentina national football team
The Argentina national football team represents Argentina in association football and is controlled by the Argentine Football Association , the governing body for football in Argentina. Argentina's home stadium is Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti and their head coach is Alejandro...
) and the closure of the city's tens of thousands of apartment building incinerators, whose noxious disposal of the city's 3,000 daily tons of refuse was replaced by curbside pickup service operated by Manliba, a consortium between Waste Management, Inc. and local businessman Francisco Macri
Francisco Macri
Francisco Macri is a prominent Argentine businessman and father of Mauricio Macri, current mayor of Buenos Aires.-Childhood in Italy:...
.
Cacciatore's dynamic record was clouded, however, by the dictatorship's own Dirty War
Dirty 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...
against dissidents and its resulting 30,000 deaths and disappearances (most of which were known by the regime to be non-violent dissidents, and for which 15 detention centers were opened in Buenos Aires, alone), and by financial irregularities in the mayor's many projects, themselves. The two completed freeways, budgeted at US$ 222 million, cost nearly a billion dollars, and their less-than-projected use by toll-paying motorists helped lead to the suspension of work on the other five in 1981; one planned freeway was cancelled only after the demolition of a several block-long swath in a residential area, and its effects on the residential Saavedra
Saavedra, Buenos Aires
Saavedra is a barrio of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is located in the Northern end of the city proper, close to Belgrano and Villa Urquiza. Its northern border is General Paz Avenue. Among the main features of the neighbourhood is Saavedra Park, which has large picnic areas and sports facilities...
neighborhood were only remedied in the late 1990s (three other freeways were ultimately completed).
Cacciatore's deal with Manliba also came under fire for its cost and for the consortium's failure to adequately maintain new landfill
Landfill
A landfill site , is a site for the disposal of waste materials by burial and is the oldest form of waste treatment...
s. His decision to force San Lorenzo de Almagro, a major local football team, to sell their Boedo
Boedo
Boedo is a working class barrio of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The neighborhood and one of its principal streets were named after Mariano Boedo, a leading figure in the Argentine independence movement....
-area stadium and the land's subsequent US$8 million resale to French retailer Carrefour
Carrefour
Carrefour S.A. is an international hypermarket chain headquartered in Levallois-Perret, France. It is one of the largest hypermarket chains in the world...
has likewise never been clarified. His efforts to redevelop the dilapidated Villa Soldati
Villa Soldati
Villa Soldati is a neighbourhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina, located in the South-West of the city. It has a population of approximately 41,000 people, 40 % of which live in Barrio Soldati, a public housing development built between 1973 and 1979....
section of the city led to the construction of the Parque de la Ciudad
Parque de la Ciudad
The Parque de la Ciudad is an amusement park in Buenos Aires, Argentina.-History:The park was planned by the administration of Mayor Osvaldo Cacciatore in 1978. Cacciatore, appointed by Argentina's last military government, envisaged the park as the centerpiece of efforts to revitalize the...
after 1977 on what had been a landfill, though the bankruptcy of the developer, Interama, in 1980 led to controversy when Cacciatore had the city absorb the group's debts; in the end, the amusement park's planned 15 million yearly visitors never came (attendance has never topped 1 million).
Later life
Cacciatore was forced to waylay a number of other urban renewal projects (notably an ambitious plan to urbanize Puerto MaderoPuerto Madero
Puerto Madero, also known within the urban planning community as the Puerto Madero Waterfront, is a barrio of the Argentine capital at Buenos Aires CBD, occupying a significant portion of the Río de la Plata riverbank and representing the latest architectural trends in the city of Buenos...
, then derelict docklands) by an economic crisis triggered in part by Economy Minister 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...
's wholesale deregulation of finance. The mayor handed over reins of the city to Housing Commissioner Guillermo del Cioppo on April 1, 1982, and the latter served as caretaker until elections
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 late 1983. Cacciatore became a partner in Juncadella, an armored transport
Armored car (valuables)
A common meaning of armored car is as an armored van or truck, used in transporting valuables, such as large quantities of money . The armored car is a multifunctional vehicle designed to protect and ensure the well being of the transported individuals and/or contents...
firm, and was a defendant in numerous lawsuits stemming from the lucrative deals he sponsored as mayor.
Following the return of democracy in 1983, many of the slum-dwellers expelled by Cacciatore returned. This in part prompted him to enter politics as a candidate for Congress
Argentine Chamber of Deputies
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Argentine National Congress. This Chamber holds exclusive rights to create taxes, to draft troops, and to accuse the President, the ministers and the members of the Supreme Court before the Senate....
on the conservative UCeDé
Union of the Democratic Centre (Argentina)
The Union of the Democratic Centre is a conservative political party in Argentina. It was founded in 1982 by Álvaro Alsogaray who stood for the Party in the 1983 and 1989 presidential elections....
ticket in 1993 and for a seat in the Buenos Aires City Legislature
Buenos Aires City Legislature
The Buenos Aires City Legislature is a central part of the Government of the City of Buenos Aires, as well as an architectural landmark in the city's Montserrat section.-History:...
in 1997, though he was unsuccessful both times. He died in Buenos Aires on July 28, 2007 at age 83.