Argentina: The War Goes On
Autentico, Movimiento Peronista
FROM PERON TO VIDELA I. The Isabel Martinez [de Per6n ]-Jos6 Lopez Rega * Project The death of General Juan Domingo Per6n in July 1974 marked the beginning of a new imperialist project in...
...The U.S...
...This trend in Argentine foreign policy has been wa received by the United States, Brazil and its neighb countries...
...The Weaknesses of the Model Let us analyze two concrete situations in order to illustrate these statements...
...The Argentine working class, the vanguard of the popular sectors, has been forced to develop its struggles within a framework of extreme repression...
...The advocates of "dirty" repression were not certain of the efficacy of the above methods...
...The Martinez de Hoz economic program will also affect the small and medium-sized bourgeoisie...
...But looking beyond the temporary situation, the reality is that the institutional scheme as a whole does not contemplate a role for these forces, even after the suspension has been reversed...
...A complete list of prisoners has not been published, nor has information been given about their present status...
...Beyond a doubt, the armed structures of the Montoneros are carrying out the most vital and intense opposition to the military regime established on March 24...
...New leadership arose and became dominant...
...The People's Armed Organizations Although these and other forms of resistance are develop- ing, nevertheless the major source of opposition to the government comes from those sectors whose organization and experience, having developed under conditions of extreme repression and official violence, therefore are in the best operational conditions to oppose the Junta...
...The Junta guards the management of the President and limits his authority compared to a constitutional president (for example, the appointment of the members of the Supreme Court, the declaration of war and peace, etc...
...Strikes reappear, the specter of organized sabotage worries the business sector, the actions of the Montoneros increase with an unimaginable effectiveness, and Peronism, through its Partido Peronista Autdntico, publicly states its decision to assume the leadership of the resistance...
...These prisoners are subject to an inhuman treatment in the jails and many of them remain in prison without charges ever being brought against them or without ever undergoing trial...
...There is a ban as well on the publication of news about the appearance of dead bodies and the disappearance or kidnapping of individuals...
...They preferred indiscriminate methods of repression, whether legal or illegal...
...At the same time, the Armed Forces and the government developed a concept which they later used as a basis for the exceptionally harsh repression which they put into effect during November 1975...
...There existed a power vacuum unprecedented in Argentine history: to the absolute lack of real legitimacy or power of Isabel Martinez must be added the crisis of legitimacy of the demo-liberal scheme itself...
...Thwarted from returning to the foreground after Per6n's death, it encouraged Isabel Martinez' proposals...
...This organization has come to replace the official leadership of the trade unions, and has succeeded in paralyzing entire cities...
...However, there were no demonstrations in support of, or in sympathy with, the military either...
...The answer: the big landowners involved in agriculture and stock-raising, and their perspectives look even brighter with the price of livestock at its highest level in history...
...The crisis, causing the concentration of production in a few hands, will be a determining element in the increasing proletarianization of broad social sectors of the petty bourgeoisie...
...The most optimistic hypotheses about continental alliances were also conceived, which saw the possibility of bringing Argentina into the anti-imperialist camp by playing on its contradictions with Brazil...
...This repression reached its highest level with the military occupation of entire provinces such as Tucumtn, or military intervention into labor disputes, such as those at Graffa and Sierra Grande, which resulted in a number of deaths, kidnappings, dismissals and arrests...
...This deliberative and complex structure has been hailed by the apologists and mentors of the coup as the height of perfection...
...But soon discrepancies began to appear: the issue of whom to repress, with what methods, became subjects of internal debate and causes for splits in the pro-coup forces...
...For obvious reasons, the government, as well as the media, have been absolutely silent with regard to repression against striking workers...
...As far as the future is concerned, the regime of "national reorganization" seems more hopeful in securing investments for the oil, mining and even agricultural sectors rather than for large industrial projects...
...Until now, the Partido Peronista Autdntico has been the only political organization that has clearly stated its opposition to the government and its determination to fight the Junta until the end...
...Now it has another image and is objectively different...
...The objective of this commission was to oversee the fulfillment of agreed policies...
...C. Kidnappings It is impossible to determine the number of kidnappings...
...The specter of Pinochet breathes down their necks...
...These forces are determined to destroy the guerrilla movement and they do not care about the internal or external political cost of such a decision...
...To mention just one example: "to offend the dignity or honor of the military, police or security personnel" carries with it a sentence of up to ten years in prison...
...Perhaps the Argentine Junta's attitude toward these matters could be called economic pragmatism...
...Newspapers were informed that the rules of the game were simple: there was to be no criticism of the actions of the government, rather the government was to be supported...
...Over 300 workers were arrested, 400 lost their jobs, and the army and police remained at the mines to oversee production...
...Their bodies were thrown into the Uruguay River and surfaced on the eastern [Uruguayan] shore...
...Also, the foreign policy of the Armed Forces clearly demonstrates their integration into imperialist schemes, with Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Bolivia and Uruguay considered their best friends and allies in this part of the continent...
...Argentina, dominated by'imperialism, would signify a marked retreat in the possibilities for structural change in this part of the continent...
...Fifty days after the speech, no concrete measures have been taken in this area...
...The Armed Forces began their campaign by suspending or rescinding the most important rights granted to workers by the existing labor laws...
...they have nothing to offer the middle classes, not even the possibility of social peace...
...The measure also tended to reinforce the labor bureaucracy's control of the unions by lengthening the time between union elections, etc...
...They carefully tried to maintain this position in their documents and declarations...
...Seven guerrillas, including ERP leader Mario Santucho, escaped to Chile on a hijacked plane...
...This suspension theoretically affected all business sectors...
...Torture became a daily routine and a normal method of interrogation...
...This climate of covert and overt violence will grow increasingly worse as the economic crisis becomes more severe...
...Rather, it was interested in creating the conditions to continue the massacres in a way which would not affect the public image of the Junta...
...VIII...
...The first effects of this cleanup were seen in Sierra Grande and Graffa...
...People are disappearing or being assassinated every day...
...THE JUNTA'S FOREIGN POLICY According to General Videla, the Junta wanted to be "Western and Christian," a friend of those nations that "secure man's right to freedom...
...It is rather the result of the existence of a political program deeply rooted in the Armed Forces...
...The structure resembles the Brazilian dictatorship, which is presented as an example of the excellence and endurance of the model...
...The double pressure imposed by frozen wages and deteriorating working conditions, on the one hand, and by the establishment of free market prices, on the other, will result in an increase in exploitation and a decline of real wages, the latter having already reached its lowest level in Argentina in the last 30 years...
...This potential disequilibrium is what the U.S., Brazilian and South African navies would like to counteract...
...The country's image abroad increasingly declines as "dirty" repression continues through kidnappings and massacres...
...the denationalization of the exploration and exploitation of oil as well as the introduction of private capital into aspects of oil exploitation previously under State control (such as the oil refining process, etc...
...Without question it was the resistance, combativeness and heroism of the Argentine people...
...Despite its vacilations and shortcomings, the CGE was the only organization to defend the interests of small and medium-sized producers in Argen- tina...
...On April 7, ten more people were assassinated in Buenos Aires and the surrounding areas...
...The Junta was highly praised by the continent's media when it took power: "The mission of the Armed Forces in Argentina is to reestablish public order...
...Lorenzo Miguel argued for a policy of close collaboration between capital and labor...
...Within this structure, there is no single leader but a series of counterbalances in the style of parliamentary governments...
...The small and medium-sized bourgeoisie will be as harshly affected by bankruptcies and unemployment as the working class...
...To achieve that it is necessary to increase the workers' exploitation and repress any opposition in order to establish peace through government violence in the factories...
...imperialism is concerned about the MPLA victory and Soviet influence in Angola and other African countries situated on the Atlantic coast...
...The Army, together with other branches of the Armed Forces, was the cautious and silent protagonist in the development of this program...
...Some refugees no longer face that risk: dozens of Uruguayans and Chileans have been assassinated and several have been deported to their native countries...
...They run the risk of being deported to their countries of origin...
...Through these measures, Rodrigo expected an improvement in the country's deteriorating balance of payments...
...They cannot offer anything to the popular masses, not even a populist image...
...Furthermore, we state that the revolutionary forces will take advantage of these objective conditions as they move along the hard road to victory...
...In fact, except in very sporadic cases, there is no official recognition of arrests, motive for arrests, location of prisoners, rules applied in prisons, etc...
...imperialism...
...The methods applied by Bordaberry in Uruguay now are being applied in Argentina...
...Rigorous control was established over galley proofs before newspapers were allowed to publish...
...The new legal structure is extremely harsh: all inhabitants of the country are now subject to the Code of Military Justice...
...The article concluded by * The original document concludes with a lengthy section detailing the Montonero's resistance activities between March 24 and May 19, 1976...
...Another element that created confusion was that the overthrown government was not a popular anti-imperialist government, but rather a disguised fascism on its way to defeat...
...News blackouts have extended to other areas of repression as well, such as the repression against sabotage organized by workers to defend their interests...
...But the differences in methodology, more in terms of time periods than anything else, should not confuse the public, nor should they create doubts about how the public should relate to the Argentine military dictatorship or about the Junta's intimate links and alliances with the most reactionary governments of the continent set up to serve the interests of imperialism...
...The following day seven new victims were added to the list, all from Buenos Aires...
...The Argentine working class and the popular sectors who have one of the richest historical experiences and highest levels of political development in the world, "face a real challenge today...
...In 1975 he was named a regional vice president of the World Bank...
...The Army took increasing control of the means of repression, justifying that control under a cloak of "professionalism" that concealed its own political weaknesses...
...they do not have mass organizations to support them...
...Finallythegovernment intervened in the General Confed- eration of Workers [CGT] and several other trade unions (a total of 28), considered to be the most powerful in the country, among them the Metallurgic Workers Union, Con- struction Workers Union, Textile Workers Association, SMATA (auto workers union...
...Only unprofitable operations such as the railroads, the merchant fleet, etc., will continue under State ownership although the management of these corporations will be in private hands...
...The workers' right to organize to defend their interests has been severely hit...
...An official decree bans the publication of any news related to subversive activities unless it comes from an official source...
...As reserve forces of the "Free World...
...64 (September 1976), 3-11.9 medicine, which had been frozen, increased by 100%, cigarettes increased by 100%, rice by 198%, noodles by 120%, and pork by 79% in the last week and 500% in the last three months...
...Shortly after he was named Economic Minister, he adopted a series of economic "shock" measures (popularly known as the "Rodrigazo") which included a massive devaluation of the Argentine peso and increased prices for all basic necessities.4 ment...
...In addition, and importantly, there is a type of military parliament in CAL which functions as a deliberative body within the Armed Forces...
...Along the same lines, to damage a car or material belonging to the Armed Forces can bring imprisonment for an indefinite period of time...
...In short, the destruction of the revolutionary forces by armed force rather than gradual attack became a priority...
...The conditions imposed by this ally were the following: Brazil had already been chosen as the sub-metropolis and gendarme of the region and Argentina had to subordinate itself to that decision...
...This repression is also essential for achieving the key objective of the economic policies of Martinez de Hoz: the reconstruction of a high rate of profit...
...The military could not accumulate sufficient political-military power to smash a popular resistance which refused to pay the social cost of such a plan...
...During that period more than 40 persons were kidnapped in C6rdoba and no news was heard from most of them...
...Neither the AAA nor the Comando Libertadores de America sign their deeds, however, no one is deceived...
...The Program of the Armed Forces The central theme of the following pages is a demonstration that the Argentine Armed Forces, confronted with the historical alternative between liberation and dependency, and lacking any intermediate options, fulfilled their historic vocation by choosing dependency...
...there is no official list of prisoners...
...The days prior to the coup revealed the truth of this...
...10 By the last months of Isabel Martinez's regime, no Argentine remained unclear about the identity of members of the AAA...
...Their program of repression also points to the Armed Forces' consciousness and acceptance of the political and social cost of the plan...
...The preceding examples clearly indicate the existence of contradictory policies within the Armed Forces on the issue of which is the best way to destroy the guerrilla movement...
...The vacuum of legitimacy left by obsolete political and labor union apparatuses has largely been filled by new and qualitatively different forces, in which the Movimiento Peronista Auttntico [Authentic Peronist Movement] plays a fundamental role...
...The Law of Professional Associations was passed at the end of 1973 by right-wing sectors of the Peronist labor move- ment who sought to solidify their control over the labor federations and confederations...
...If the contradictions are solved through the use of arms, we will have a crisis period similar to the one in 1962-63...
...The latter implied a unity of force which obviously would have meant making concessions to other sectors...
...The Junta has also deemed it convenient to honor those economic agreements signed with Cuba during Per6n's government, some of which granted credits to Cuba...
...Subsequent ministers of economy have done little more than administer it with greater or lesser ability, by means of "gradualist" or "shock" measures, but always in the name of and on behalf of imperialist interests...
...In addition, the Junta plans to be a "moderating" influence in that international forum...
...January and February marked the height of the actions of this group...
...individuals whose only sin is to be the father, mother, brother or sister of political prisoners and resistance fighters...
...The effects of this sabotage had been felt deeply days before May I [. .. ) It is in this context that, during meetings at the end of April, Army officers asked the Economy Minister for explanations as to the future evolution of real wages...
...The existence of more than 6,000 political prisoners is pallid testimony to the actions of the military and police...
...The Fascist Alliance in the South Atlantic No official information was given about the true motives of the Brazilian Admiral's visit to Argentina...
...The participation of the Armed Forces in repressive activities must be analyzed separately...
...Its political objective was to destroy Peronism as a Jos6 Lopez Rega was Perbn's most powerful ally, heading the Ministry of Social Welfare...
...A. Political Prisoners There is no official information about political prisoners in Argentina...
...There has also been an increase in profits for the monopolies in all industrial sectors substantially due to two factors: the increase in the rate of exploitation of labor and their ability to control pricing through their hold on the 500 "leading corporations...
...A trade union leader from Mendoza was sentenced to eight years in prison "for resisting authority and offending the Armed Forces...
...Wages were frozen at the same time that all price controls were abolished...
...the former will have free access to domestic sources of credit, etc...
...It is clear that the example of Pinochet, an image of a totally isolated dictator, is not to be followed in Argentine foreign policy...
...No longer was any political, union or corporate sector a legitimate representative of the Argentine people, and no political program was capable of achieving hegemony over the whole structure...
...Foreign capital will not be treated differently from domestic capital...
...In other words, opposition to the government is carried out by those armed organizations and their political affiliates which have experience in underground struggles: the Montoneros, ERP and other forces of the Left...
...two former Uruguayan legislators, Zelmar Michelini and Hictor Gutierrez, were kidnapped and assassinated in Argentina, and more than ten Uruguayan residents in Argentina were brutally killed a short while ago...
...banner: destruction of the guerrilla movement...
...The rationale for this was to avoid damaging an international image which they had carefully created and were interested in maintaining...
...After the Armed Forces intervened, 300 workers were arrested and 400 lost their jobs, accused of being Montonero supporters...
...They accept the existence of a strong deliberative state, even though they realize that6 leadership needs to be unwavering and homogeneous...
...students who are sometimes assassinated just for being students...
...This is the case of the small and medium-sized entrepreneurs...
...The final move had been made...
...The first was carried out by the security forces, police and military, and was under the leadership of the Army...
...Kidnappings and executions began...
...It is important to remember that the productive structure of the country has been declared to be within the interests of the military...
...the clumsy attempts of Isabel and Lopez Rega to convince them that this pro-imperialist project was the only avenue open to safeguard the popular interests...
...Its main purpose was to unleash inflation in order to recoup the rate of profit for the corporations and to devalue the Argentine peso in order to facilitate exports and discourage imports...
...This apparent contradiction becomes clear if we consider that the Soviet Union was the major purchaser of Argentine products in the third quarter of 1975...
...denationalization of the mining industry...
...The declaration of Peronismo Autintico, advocating re- sistance, the consolidation of the Movement and the forma- tion of the Front, is a good indicator that this is a viable path and that important popular sectors are already travelling it...
...As stated publicly by the Fartido Peronista Autintico when it assumed the leadership of the resistance against the Junta: "The political process has not ended, the time for true politics has arrived...
...military occupation of factories in the industrial zones such as occurred in the factories of General Motors and Ford, among others...
...Popular resistance continues and prevents the'consolidation of the monopolistic program...
...REPRESSION 1. Introduction In order to speak about the repression imposed by the Military Junta, it is necessary first to describe the levels of repression reached during the last stages of Isabel Martinez's presidency...
...National Liberation Movement by draining it of its revolutionary content and transforming it into a bureaucratic party of passive masses at the service of monopolistic interests...
...Thus, it is no surprise that official government propaganda holds that the present crisis is only the tip of the iceberg...
...As the Military Inter- ventor of Buenos Aires put it: "This fnew] process is not directed against anyone, rather it is in favor of the country...
...They are forceful advocates of the "bloodbath" theory which is very seductive to the most fascistic sectors of the continent...
...During that time, Argentina was successively ruled by Generals Ongania, Livingston, and Lanusse.7 Isabel Martinez de Peron branches of the Armed Forces-so decides, this commission itself can modify or veto the President's laws...
...The government reserved the right to censor any information judged to be "erroneous...
...The appearance of bodies during the second part of April was denied by official statements...
...In this regard, it is also important that the Junta not jeopardize the moderate image that it wants to project internationally...
...Members of revolutionary organizations represent a minimum number among these victims since the structure and functions of such organizations make them poor targets for indiscriminate repression...
...The differences refer fundamentally to the relationship with civilian society, that is, with the corporate and political organizations representative of social classes...
...Hence, massacres reappear...
...At the same time that the state maintains that it has a monopoly over violence, the Partido Peronista Autintico denounces daily kidnappings of dozens of popular militants...
...The Future of Liberation Struggles in Argentina Given the perspective for resistance which this plan will engender among the people, clearly this conjuncture is an extremely serious one for the regime and the threat of failure for the Armed Forces is a possibility which cannot be ruled out...
...This is another reason the government wants .to silence the newspapers...
...The Armed Forces clearly control the country and have the monopoly on repression...
...The inability of the Armed Forces to dominate the programs of repression has forced them to implement their repressive methods in a haphazard form...
...The first form of resistance was the systematic employment of organized sabotage...
...A set of initials-AAA--quickly achieved grim notoriety...
...The country was in the midst of the most serious economic crisis in its history...
...It is difficult to imagine a more explicit acknowledgement from the police and the military about their participation in the massacre...
...After the official denials, the government decided to ban the publication of news related to the appearance of bodies, kidnappings, and disappearance of individuals...
...Lately, the situation described above has become more desperate...
...The Montoneros, again in the lead, publicized this fact...
...There was a tremendous increase in armed operations carried out against the repressive forces as well as actions linked to the struggle for immediate demands in the factories...
...And, while political prisoners are treated with the same harsh or even harsher treatment used in regular jails, prisoners who are under investigation for charges of corruption are comfortably lodged in the ship's staterooms and have their meals with the ship's officers...
...The pace and conditions established by the Junta in preparing and executing the Argentine coup is similar to that established by Bordaberry in Uruguay...
...These measures yielded profitable results...
...In its Communique No...
...A correspondent for a magazine and two radio stations, this Swiss reporter was arrested, placed under the jurisdiction of "Executive Power," and finally expelled from the country for sending "propagandistic" news about subversive activities...
...The majority of the victims are members of the popular sectors: workers who are repressed under the pretext of eliminating "industrial guerrillas...
...THE JUNTA'S ECONOMIC POLICY The economic policy of the Military Junta was basically outlined in a speech to the country delivered by Economy Minister Jose Alfredo Martinez de Hoz and in the concrete measures adopted by the government in the ensuing days...
...The workers' opposition to the Mondelli plan had other goals as well: to guarantee the realization of new general elections planned for April and to support workers' demands in their collective bargaining...
...Another particularity of the Comando was its tendency to concentrate its actions in places where the Armed Forces had their greatest operational control, especially in the provinces of Tucumin and C6rdoba...
...Prices that are highly profitable to the traditional oligarchic sectors are being fixed for the 1976 grain harvest...
...Member of right-wing paramilitary squad The declarations and actions of the Junta, now in power, are moving to destroy this illusion...
...It develops with a level of coambativity and violence unknown in Argentine history...
...The entire military institution lines up under one * The Metallurgical Workers Union, headed by Lorenzo Miguel, formed the bastion of the right-wing Peronist labor movement and, as such, was a staunch ally of Lopez Rega following Per6n's death...
...affirming that these union leaders were the same as those active during the Peronist government and that in a very short time, the labor movement seems to be recovering the image it had during the previous government...
...It is clear that a good institutional system is no panacea and does not solve deeper contradictions...
...It is within this context that the Armed Forces took over the government...
...In addition, several revolutionary organizations had been declared illegal such as the ERP-PRT and the Partido Peronista Auttntico, electoral arm of the Movimiento Peronista Autbntico, led by the Montoneros...
...Workers in La Plata, C6rdoba and the entire industrial zone of metropolitan Buenos Aires, the surrounding areas and the coast, threatened to move beyond the narrow limits established by the Army for the trade unions and paralyze the country's industrial production, 80% of which is concentrated in these regions...
...As a result, anyone can face summary trial before a War Council...
...Argentine history continually demonstrated that this project could not be consolidated...
...The creative energy of the Peronist masses transcended...
...There is no doubt that in the future the economic crisis, far from ending, will become more acute, reaching dramatic levels...
...In late 1975 the armed forces and police actively intervened in a number of labor conflicts, including those at Graffa and Sierra Grande...
...The same conclusions could be drawn from the references to the Christian and Western character of Argentine foreign policy...
...This censorship was lifted a week later...
...The ghost of Trelew * also * In August 1972, the ERP, Montoneros and the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) jointly carried out a prison break from Rawson penitentiary in southern Argentina...
...The first of these measures to be adopted was the suspension of political activity of all existing legal parties of the Left, with the exception of the pro-Soviet Communist Party...
...Solidarity with those nations that supposedly "secure man's right to freedom," should be understood as a rapprochement with countries whose propaganda is based on abstract proclamations about "freedom," such as the United States and its best allies, the most reactionary Latin American dictatorships...
...The argument maintained that subversion had taken root in the factories and therefore the destruction of the Peronist guerrilla must imply the destruction of its rank-and-file support in the industrial centers...
...The right to strike and protection against arbitrary dismissal of all public employees and teaching personnel were suspended...
...foreign political refugees accused of being part of an "international subversive plot...
...The economic program also envisions the return of a large number of public (The FMI is the International Monetary Fund) corporations to private, and eventually foreign, owners,'or at least a reduction of the State's participation in them...
...The first steps taken by the Junta strengthen these hypotheses...
...Many new penal measures have been instituted which tend to punish any form of protest or resistance with such severe sentences as death or indefinite imprisonment...
...Within the framework of the government's weakness and isolation, the only hope was to get credits, arms and training to finish off the resistance, then sit back and wait for the influx ot investment from the multinational corporations...
...In this respect, the balance sheet of the first sixty days of the military regime is significant...
...Furthermore, the Partido Peronista Autrntico, another organizational structure directed by the Montoneros, has called for the creation of a movement and National Liberation Front...
...Many legends were woven around this confrontation, having to do with the nationalism of the Argentine militarya rare variant of nationalist liberalism and pro-imperialism...
...The domestic and foreign monopolies are also favored by this economic strategy since they benefit from the State's having left the arena of foreign trade...
...The legislative power is organized in a singularly complex fashion: the President has the initiative to pass laws...
...The official response to these massacres was the same as the one given during the peak of the AAA's activities: not a word of official condemnation, not a single arrest, not even a single suspect...
...These contradictory decisions to a large extent jeopardize the already weak and unstable alliance between the military and fractions of the dominant classes...
...The seriousness of this is exemplified by the situation in one of the most important factories of the automobile industry...
...Within this framework of failures, the movement of the Armed Forces to the foreground became inevitable...
...The economic minister in charge of the project, Celestino Rodrigo *, launched a policy of economic "shock" treat* A senior bureaucrat from the Ministry of Social Welfare and close ally of Lopez Rega, Celestino Rodrigo headed the Economic Ministry from June 2, 1975 until late July 1975 when he, along with Lopez Rega, was forced out of the government by a series of strikes...
...V. The Role of International Solidarity Throughout the period prior to the coup, official spokes- persons publicly proclaimed that Videla was not of the Pinochet mold...
...visitors would have gone unnoticed had there not been a comment about their visit in Jornal do Brasil on April 9. Despite official reservations, the comments published by Brazilian and Argentine newspapers coincide in so many ways that it is possible to consider their hypotheses as semi-official...
...Their summary trial lasted less than a week during which time the government "substanti-14 ated" the charges...
...they face serious internal contradictions and their single unifying element is their decision to destroy the popular forces once and for all...
...There is little worth praise in the bureaucracies, entrenched in the top echelons of the CGT, however nothing positive can be expected from the military officials' intervention in the trade unions...
...The response of the most organized sectors of the popular camp, especially the Montoneros, has forced the government to ban any news about their activities...
...The Comando sometimes acts differently: many of the persons kidnapped never reappear, either dead or alive...
...Hence, in this case, the Army conceded to those needs and separated itself from the plan of simple annihilation of the revolutionary forces...
...I'he destruction of Peronism was too ambitious a project for the governing duet...
...During the latter part of April there was an increase in the level of workers' resistance activities...
...It is important to remember as well that the resolution of the Argentine revolutionary war would play an important role in future revolutionary possibilities in the Southern Cone...
...Nevertheless, the sectors of the Armed Forces that advocated a Pinochet-style regime are not happy with the present situation which, in their opinion, has not yielded sufficient results...
...Execution of the wounded and prisoners became a common practice...
...The case of a Swiss reporter demonstrates how far the government would go to enforce the so-called "responsibility" of foreign reporters...
...Next the Army institutionalized its role in the * The Comando Libertadores de Ambrica [Liberating Commandos of America] is a right-wing terrorist squad based in the military which was organized by associates of former Argentine dictator Juan Carlos Ongania...
...The Latin American press varied in its appraisal of the new government, their comments ranging from the vague "objectivity" of the Peruvians to the inflated praise of the Brazilians, Uruguayans and Chileans...
...III...
...At that time, there were coups and counter coups...
...In addition to a lack of newspapers, books or magazines, prisoners are subjected to inadequate meals, beatings, virtually no visitors, opened mail, etc...
...In short, the North American and Brazilian visitors came to Argentina to discuss security problems in the South Atlantic with their naval colleagues...
...the price of * Argentina's new foreign investment law was published on August 13, 1976 (Law 21,382), and essentially sets forth the "principle of equality between foreign and national investors...
...The only alternatives left were national liberation and the road to socialism or the consolidation of dependency on a more solid basis...
...The most significant measure taken by the government in this regard is the suspension of the activities of business associations and professional groups...
...When the Armed Forces took power in Argentina, the country faced conditions similar to those currently existing in Chile...
...For the full text of the law, see Economic Information of Argentina (Buenos Aires: Ministry of Economy), No...
...As usual, people were tortured, shot and burned in order to prevent their identification...
...Censorship eliminates any possibility of obtaining documented information...
...Recent statements about Argentina's participation in the group of non-aligned countries would seem to contradict what was said above until it becomes evident that the objective of the Junta is to secure international support for its claim to the [British-controlled] Malvina Islands...
...B. Massacres Shortly after the coup, Argentine newspapers began to publish lists of people who had been massacred by the AAA...
...U.S...
...Neither Geisel, who considers Brazil an emerging power in the Third World, nor Banzer [of Bolivia] would conceive their foreign policy in such obsolete terms, considering that the present world is characterized by socialist advances and unity between antiimperialist countries...
...Who was responsible for that failure...
...During the same period, the Army also took part in the "dirty" forms of repression, through the formation of the Comando Libertadores de Amrrica, competitor-or collaborator, depending on one's viewpoint-of the AAA...
...Dirty" forms of repression developed alongside legal forms, applied as an alternative when it became evident that the Armed Forces were unable to stop the development of political or economic struggles...
...This is conspicuous in terms of the provincial governments which the Army has traditionally controlled...
...Beginning with the military occupation of TucumAn, it then intervened in labor union disputes like Graffa and Sierra Grande...
...The objectives of the Junta's economic program are to promote exports (fundamentally traditional agro-livestock exports), reduce the State deficit in order to decrease the rate of inflation, and reconstruct a high rate of profit...
...Nor was it disclosed that his visit coincided with the visits of Admirals James Sagerholm and George Ellis, Commander and ViceCommander, respectively, of the South Atlantic Command...
...Union rights have been suspended and the government began a study of the Professional Association Law with an eye toward modifying it...
...No more new lines of credit have been opened, though the possibility of more aid cannot be discounted...
...Naturally, all are responsible for these assassinations, that is, the advocates of "dirty" repression who carry out the massacres as well as the advocates of "legal" repression...
...Without examining this new conjuncture at length, it is important to point out what the popular response has been...
...The Rodrigo plan had been destablized and buried through a popular mobilization that by June 1975, reached one of the highest levels in Argentine history...
...Their henchmen govern from the Economy Ministry...
...It seems that imperialism wants more than good will from Argentina...
...For those who distrusted the veracity of these accusations, definitive and conclusive proof was established by the arms found in the headquarters of the Metallurgic Workers Union led by Lorenzo Miguel, * and in the basement of the Ministry of Social Welfare...
...popular resistance continues as vigorously as ever, despite the strength of the repressive apparatus, the 6,000 political prisoners, the torture, kidnappings, and massacres committed by the AAA and the Comando Libertadores de America...
...The Facts of Repression It is difficult to give a complete picture of repression in Argentina today, to overcome obstacles such as a vacuum of * The General Economic Confederation is an association of small and medium-sized businesses...
...The purpose of the interrogation is to physically and psychologically destroy the prisoners...
...412 IV...
...Martinez de Hoz, a product of the agro-export oligarchy, dreams of Argentina as an agricultural country with a limited industrial base, accepting the model which imperialism seems to have decided upon for the division of labor in Latin America...
...They would like the country to become one big prison...
...Confronted with the crisis of the system and fearful of the masses, Argentina resorted to its only possible ally, the United States...
...In a country occupied by its own military, the only forces with the operational capacity to murder hundreds of people with the same methods and the same impunity as previouslygiven that the groups organized from the Ministry of Social Welfare are unarmed and dispersed-are the Armed Forces, police, and security forces themselves...
...The impact of the program will be seen in a reduction of the domestic market due-to the decrease of the workers' purchasing power, the reduction of investment, and the process of concentration of capital in the hands of the big international monopolies...
...He asked them to be moderate in their price increases since the stability of the capitalist system in Argentina was at stake...
...New regulations empower the Military Junta to deport refugees to their countries of origin if they have been sentenced in those countries or if they "are a menace to social peace and public order," in Argentina...
...Working class mobilizations against the economic policy of the government became generalized despite the bureaucratic leadership of the labor unions...
...The trial in C6rdoba of more than a 1,000 workers from the IKA-Renault industrial complex clearly demonstrated the government's inability to deal with the working class...
...The increase in reactionary and repressive violence was countered by the strengthening of organizational forms, underground struggle and the increasing development of military forces within the popular camp such as the ERP [People's Revolutionary Army] and the combat and militia groups of the Montoneros...
...The operational methods used by the military and police are similar to those used by the groups which kidnap and kill...
...Reliable sources, whose information obviously cannot be confirmed officially, estimate the existence of close to 5,000 political prisoners...
...Furthermore, this structure institutionalizes a new fact...
...Most disputes are led by the Coordinating Board of Trade Unions in Struggle (Coordina* Emilio Mondelli was Economic Minister from February 1976 until the military coup of March 24...
...It is now necessary to call all sectors of the popular camp to the formation of a national liberation movement and to unite with anti-imperialist allies for the establishment of a front for national liberation...
...It expects effective progress in the country before making more explicit commitments...
...According to UPI, May 1 was8 marked by strikes, acts of sabotage and demonstrations...
...Only in this way is it possible to understand the extremely difficult situation confronting the working class and the masses in their struggles and to place the repressive policies of the Military Junta in the context of what they really represent: an intensification of a plan that had already been" implemented...
...Reaction was almost immediate...
...The first interventor appointed' by the Junta to the General Confederation of Labor [CGT] called a meeting of some labor unions which were so submissive as to request permission to participate in the government...
...Therefore, it is impossible to determine whether a missing person has been kidnapped or killed...
...The sentences imposed in these trials are, for all practical purposes, unappealable...
...National Defense Council, took absolute control of the repressive forces, and finally assumed complete power...
...they wrote...
...The challenge to both camps is decisive...
...International solidarity with the Argentine struggle, hesitant until March 24, on the pretext that despite everything Isabel Martinez was running a parliamentary regime, cannot delay in transforming itself into active, public and efficient solidarity with the cause of National Resistance...
...With regard to economic assist e mInternationai monetary rund grantedu rgentina its 1rst credits after the coup, overcoming any hesitancy it had during Isabel Martinez' government...
...At the same time, the new legal order established severe penalities for those who do not respect the rules of the game...
...There will be an increase in unemployment, more layoffs in the public sector, and in general more unemploy- ment caused by the recession and bankruptcy of small and medium.sized enterprises...
...The Military Junta in Argentina has produced, though over a more extended period, a record of deaths and prisoners that matches that of the Chilean dictatorship [during its first months in power...
...A very difficult conjuncture has begun as well for the popular masses...
...approval i being expressed very concretely...
...intellectuals "guilty" of believing in national liberation, etc...
...On Perbn's death, he continued as the main prop of Isabel Perbn, in effect running her government from his ministry...
...Toward an Agricultural Argentina The question remains: who will benefit from the economic program...
...Paradoxically, the objective of destroying mass organizations by means of repression has been the least successful...
...A comparison between the two countries shows notable differences between the scheme set up in Argentina and the one implemented in Brazil...
...Its fundamental objective was to renegotiate Argentina's dependency, that is, to relocate the country firmly within the sphere of U.S...
...For many people, there is no doubt that the Comando Libertadores is formed by operative groups under the leadership and control of the Armed Forces...
...Dirty" repression was meted out through armed gangs such as the infamous Argentine Anti-Communist Alliance, known throughout the world as the AAA...
...The "liberating Revolution" (1955-58) and the "Argentine Revolution" (1966-73) * organized the State on the basis of the election of a single leader who came from the Army and who virtually had all the functions and authority of a dictator...
...After the Montoneros accused the Minister of Social Welfare, Jose Lopez Rega, of being the leader of the AAA, other accusations followed...
...Some came directly from "disillusioned" members of the organization itself, who accused eminent government officials of being their leaders...
...On November 17, 1975, the Armed Forces took charge of the repression, subordinating under their command other minor [security] forces...
...Argentina, Brazil, South Africa and, lately, Venezuela and Uruguay are preparing to sign the South Atlantic version of a NATO15 treaty with the result that all of these countries, inch Argentina, obviously, would become completely sut nated to the military strategy of imperialism...
...This situation necessarily is reflected in the forms and mechanisms utlized by the government which consequently determine the particularities of the system...
...The activities of associations representing agricultural and industrial monopolies, and commerce and banking, on the other hand, only have been suspended...
...All of these increases took place despite the warnings of the Economy Minister to the industrialists...
...Its partisans are a group of traitors to the popular Peronist movement, to the program that had carried them to power, and to the struggles of the workers who had paved the way for them...
...It also has a great number of political possibilities...
...Those forces who advocated "legal" repression were concerned with establishing a juridical order tailored to their needs, selecting their enemies and utilizing a methodology of repression adjusted, where possible, to the adopted legal order...
...These gangs were organized by Lopez Rega from his post as Minister of Social Welfare...
...In contrast to the points mentioned above, the new regime has not broken relations with any socialist country, explicitly stating that agreements with socialist countries will be maintained...
...Political activity, already severely curtailed and not significantly representative of the political life of the country, disappeared from the public sphere altogether and returned to the sphere of underground resistance activities particularly characteristic of historical periods under repressive regimes...
...Quite simply, it is a desperate situation...
...Repression too exceeded all past limits: 6,000 political prisoners in two years, hundreds of tortured, and more than5 a thousand leftists brutally assassinated by the AAA and the Comando Libertadores de Ambrica...
...That is, individual rights guaranteed by the National Constitution had been suspended...
...The process of denationalization of Argentina is clearly demonstrated in the conception of the economic strategy as a whQle since it means the return of Argentina to being an agricultural country...
...The cruelty of the sentences in the case of light offenses like the ones mentioned above shows how military justice renders its verdicts...
...But 19 others were captured and 16 of them were quickly murdered by the military at Trelew naval base, under the pretext of having tried to escape.11 reappears...
...Consequently, the Junta is cautious, adopting certain measures designed to counteract any possible opposition...
...on April 9, four more people were killed...
...The latter have sometimes been temporarily closed for printing "too much" information...
...South Africa has not visibly been integrated into this naval alliance because of the international stigma attached to any agreement signed with its racist regime...
...They have promised to turn trade unions into "professional associa- tions" adjusted to their "specific roles...
...At the same time, new permanent tribunals were established and began trials in other parts of the country...
...investments in banking and finance...
...In order to increase the rate of profit, free market prices will be established and wages will be frozen...
...The presidential succession, that is, the dismissal or appointment of a new president, is in the hands of the Junta through a mechanism that has yet to be determined...
...In the past, though, it has been dominated by large national capital.13 SMATA (auto workers unton) protest at Mercedes Benz plant information created by the Junta, self-censorship of newspapers, the latest legal measures taken by the government, as well as the "cautiousness" of foreign newspapers...
...VII...
...Foreign reporters were informed that it was their responsibility to avoid the publication of news abroad that might "misrepresent" the actions of the Junta...
...i.e., the Army's greater weakness with regard to the other branches: the President is weak vis-a-vis thd Junta in the same way thatethe Army is weak with respect to the Navy and Air Force...
...Beginning in 1966, the more advanced sectors of Argentina's bourgeoisie conceived of strategies whose common objective was to integrate Argentina into the Yankee sphere...
...A complete list of these loans and credits is included in this issue...
...The first and most well known of these was implemented by Krieger Vasena * under the Ogania presidency...
...However, the stability of the Brazilian political model does not rest on the perfection of the institutional model alone...
...It is no surprise either that the government keeps calling for "austerity and patience," and asks people not to be "too optimistic," or "to have too much confidence in (the prospects of] peace, stability and progress," even though the government itself keeps promising them these things...
...In other words, it is obvious that unless the popular resistance makes it known, this type of news will only be published if it can no longer be hidden...
...This, of course, does not preclude one from assuming what has happened...
...The warm interchanges with Pinochet and Bordaberry, the harangues about good relations with Bolivia, the visit of the Naval Minister from Brazil, the willingness to rediscuss agreements with Paraguay about the course of rivers which travel through both countries, all point to the direction the government will follow...
...They took another step recently by organizing partial work stoppages and work slowdowns despite the absolute ban imposed on such activity by the government and the severe penalities imposed on anyone who fails to respect it...
...The situation has become more serious in the last few days, especially in the automobile industry, in the plants located in Buenos Aires and surround- ing areas as well as in C6rdoba...
...Repression After the Coup As the Military Junta and President Videla himself have clearly stated, the main objective of the coup is the destruction of the subversive forces, considered by the Armed Forces to be the necessary condition for a solution to the economic and political crisis of Argentina...
...It is clear what the consequences are for economies subjected to these measures...
...Any violation of the ban on strikes was dissuaded by military occupation of the factories and arrest of trade union activists who could receive long-term sentences delivered by the military War Councils...
...It promises suffering and struggle but points to real possibilities of victory on the horizon...
...Furthermore, the only business association intervened by the government is the General Economic Confederation (CGE...
...After these meetings, and despite official denials, a wage increase was granted...
...The right of political prisoners to ask for expulsion from the country has been suspended, which has meant that the 5,000 prisoners already in prison before the coup may remain there for an indefinite period of time...
...Another objective which made the coup inevitable was the desire of the Armed Forces to centralize power and unify the leadership of military and political forces...
...In March Mondelli came out with a series of "shock" measures prescribed by the International Monetary Fund to stabilize the economy...
...Only in exceptional cases is news published about popular movements and [negative] opinions about the government...
...It is also necessary to point out who are the victims of these massacres...
...The program was strengthened once the [popular] mobilizations of 1968 and 1969 and the subsequent armed resistance were brought under control by the dictatorship...
...These included a devaluation of the Argentine peso, a wage freeze and a series of price rises...
...That is, according to the police, justice had been meted out to these people...
...Along with the AAA, there appeared a new group called the Comando Libertadores de Am&rica, whose objectives were the same as those of the AAA...
...In order to promote exports, the rate of foreign exchange is being modified to favor meat and grain exporters...
...This clearly does not take into consideration the 6,000 political prisoners who already existed under Isabel Martinez's government...
...Logically, this imprisonment is also applicable to thousands of people who have been arrested after the coup and to those who will be arrested in the future...
...The demonstrations of good will toward the neighboring dictatorships have gone beyond rhetoric...
...A month after the announcement of these policies, one can observe their consequences on the already impoverished budgets of the masses...
...These workers are accused of being "strikers," which the Military Junta considers to be a serious crime...
...In practice though, it only hit those sectors which do not have representatives in the government ministries...
...The North American press, for its part, stated: "Videla is a disciplined anti-communist and not power hungry...
...POPULAR RESISTANCE During the first months of 1976, Argentina was in a state of internal war...
...Nonetheless, this decision frightened them...
...In other words, the most powerful, monopolistic corporations have benefitted from this economic program...
...This economic strategy is different from that of Krieger Vasena which was still rooted in Argentina's dispute with Brazil over who would be dominant in Latin America...
...Thus, they became engaged in a reactionary plan, possibly the most reactionary and subordinated project conceivable...
...In a recently published editorial, La Naci6n voiced its concern about industrial sabotage and pointed out its alarming implications...
...Nevertheless, when the Legislative Advisory Commission (Comisi6n de Asesoramiento Legislativo, CAL)-which repre- sents the opinion of the officer corps from the three * The military saw the period of their rule between the overthrow of Peron in September 1955 and the election of Arturo Frondizi in 1958 as the "Liberating Revolution...
...The Armed Forces had understandable misgivings about the situation, conscious as they were of their role as the reserve forces of imperialism...
...As opposed to the labor unions which were tightly controlled (in many cases) from the Ministry of Labor, the federations and confederations of labor unions maintained a large degree of autonomy until the passage of this law...
...According to a statement by the Press Secretary of the Junta, the government was certain that the newspapers would "impose self-censorship...
...These are the forces who, unable to crush the guerrilla and popular movements, resort to assassinations...
...In case of disagreement with the President, the Junta makes the final decision, which cannot be appealed...
...The more internal contradictions the Junta faces, the less torturous and long the road to victory will be...
...V. Repression Against the Working Class Movement Repression against the working class movmement is part of the Armed Forces campaign to secure their main objective: the destruction of what is generally called "subversion...
...With the "Rodrigazo," the crisis was consolidated...
...For instance, the magazine Correo, published by Francisco Manrique, a well known CIA agent, states in a commentary published on April 23: "As was to be expected, in more than a few cases, the trade union leaders have gone beyond their right to solicit wage adjustments for individual workers...
...In that factory, the trade union leaders organized a lengthy strike despite the Armed Forces' intervention...
...This has been more noticeable in Buenos Aires than in provincial newspapers...
...In conclusion, they want to appear strong although they feel weak, as can be easily learned from an analysis of the institutional program they have adopted...
...Essentially, these statements mean that the Junta has abandoned the "Third Worldism" characteristic of Per6n, a policy which had been rejected in practice, although not publicly, by Isabel Martinez...
...The utilization of all forms of struggle meant adequately combining [long-range] political and military perspectives with a struggle for immediate demands...
...This front would wage the decisive battle against the Military Junta to achieve national liberation and pave the way towards socialism...
...In response the government proposed a series of "anti-terrorist" laws.16 doras de Gremios en Lucha), an organization led by the Montoneros and other leftist forces...
...Repression Against the Petty Bourgeoisie The economic policy of the Junta will undercut the living standards of the petty bourgeoisie...
...Time and struggle will demonstrate the possibilities of defeating the military's plan in the same manner that other imperialist programs were defeated in Argentina...
...Their new project means a change in the traditional content of "nationalism...
...The writer, "Escribano," clearly a spokesperson for the Armed Forces, believes that industrial sabotage can create more serious economic disasters than any other method of struggle...
...They refered to the period of military government between 1967 and 1973 as the "Argentine Revolution...
...Evidently, one sector of the Armed Forces opposed the strengthening of ties with the remains of the trade union bureaucracy, preferring the purity of their project to the possibility of widening their base of support by making some concessions...
...The new minister, [Emilio] Mondelli, * a banker, announced the creation of a new economic program...
...she had been unable to implement eight months earlier through her Economy Minister Celestino Rodrigo...
...This objective constitutes the internal cohesive force within the Armed Forces...
...In that context, Isabel Martinez attempted to reimpose the economic policies * Argentina has been the recipient of a huge amount of foreign aid and credits since June 1976 when this document was published...
...Repression had been very severe for a long period of time...
...They succeeded only in turning the upper echelons of the party and labor unions into divided, wasted apparatuses, devoid of all legitimacy...
...As an example, he related the case of an important auto assembly plant which, in a single day, produced 91 defective cars out of the day's total production of 200...
...Nevertheless, the labor disputes have not subsided and, on the contrary, exhibit a degree of coordination and leadership not evident in June 1975...
...their bodies reappeared later, showing signs of having been shot, tortured, burned or destroyed by explosives...
...Logically, the big competitor in this arena was the Brazilian regime, which had a number of important advantages: an expanding economy, cheaper labor, and most importantly, a relatively stable domestic situation with a controlled, if not quite destroyed, resistance...
...This was the concept of the industrial guerrilla, the idea that "the guerrillas are in the factories...
...They are aware that they must create conditions for the coexistence within the country of various sectors...
...A situation similar to that would obviously facilitate the development of mass struggles and advance the formation of a political front for which all objective conditions are already present...
...Trade union activities were suspended, limited to demands presented by individual workers...
...As the Partido Peronista Autrntico has made clear, the government's objective is to prevent the world from knowing what is happening in Argentina...
...Rather, Argentina's program is a response to the political and military difficulties encountered in the stabilization of any model: since the popular movement has not been defeated, no program can achieve enough military consensus and the compromises among diverse sectors become inevitable...
...The dilemma was solved on the 24th of March: they staged a coup and assumed complete responsibility for the future of Argentina...
...In Argentina today, no member of the Armed Forces can seriously claim to be innocent...
...The effects of the policy will be felt equally by salaried employees and small and medium-sized urban and rural entrepreneurs...
...However, despite hunger, persecution, torture and massacres, the Argentine working class has in its favor a level of organization, political consciousness and military development far superior to any previous historical period in Argentina...
...An analysis of the new economic policy, based exclusively on the development of the agro-export sector, renders conclusive proof about these statements...
...Adalbert Krieger Vasena, General Juan Carlos Ongania's Economic Minister (1967-69), was best known for his policies designed to encourage foreign investment in Argentina and for his reactionary devaluations and wage freezes...
...An official statement released by the provincial police considered the deaths as "acts of justice...
...Undoubtedly this is the program presented by imperialism to those countries which sit in its "backyard...
...The process of denationalization of Argentina could not be clearer, foreign capital being always tempted by this siren's song...
...The Junta is attempting to reduce the State deficit by drastically cutting down on the number of State workers...
...Step by step, the Army legitimized and increased its presence in the State apparatus, moving steadily toward the conquest of total power...
...The Armed Forces militarily occupied territories and took on responsibility for the "legal" as well as the "dirty" actions which have been the central theme in this stage of the Argentine war of liberation...
...For the time being, though, U.S...
...Only a small part of that number is composed of officials of the previous government, Justicialist Party or trade union members who have been arrested and are under investigation on charges of corruption...
...O Globo, a Brazilian paper, went so far as to state that "there had been no coup in Argentina since there was no government to overthrow...
...It was evident that the government was not interested in preventing the publication of "false news," the bodies existed...
...It was nationalistic toward Brazil's hegemonic aspirations in South America, but not toward U.S...
...They only published news about some strikes, especially those which the government controlled quickly by arresting the leaders...
...Similar commentaries appear in La Naci6n and other Argentine newspapers...
...they cannot unite all sectors of the dominant classes...
...Workers at the Sierra Grande iron mines, for example, had been out on strike for higher wages for 42 days when the army intervened in November 1975...
...This movement is perceived in the broadest terms, including not only armed groups but also mass, student and labor union organizations...
...control of the region and makes the interoceanic routes of the Cape of Good Hope and the Straits of Magellan vulnerable...
...The following example demonstrates the opposite...
...Hundreds of people were forcefully and brutally taken from their homes...
...In other words, the political requirements of a gradual attack on the guerrillas compelled the Armed Forces to abandon the rigid economic policies of their strategy conceived strictly in militaristic terms...
...Besides, it is already clear to everyone that Brazil is imperialism's favored ally in Latin America...
...FROM PERON TO VIDELA I. The Isabel Martinez [de Per6n ]-Jos6 Lopez Rega * Project The death of General Juan Domingo Per6n in July 1974 marked the beginning of a new imperialist project in Argentina: that of Isabel Martinez [de Per6n] and Jos6 Lopez Rega...
...Krieger Vasena himself sat on the board of directors of more than 12 foreign subsidiaries in Argentina...
...It took advantage of her deteriorating image and the subsequent power vacuum...
...Such is the new expression of "nationalism" in the Armed forces: to accept any type of stipulation and any alliances with imperialism in order to impede national and social liberation...
...On April 19, La Prensa published a story about the arrest of 17 metal workers from C6rdoba for violating the law temporarily suspending the right to strike...
...On the contrary, the Montoneros have noticeably intensified their participation in the resistance movement they called for a year and a half ago...
...Under the guise of destroying the "industrial guerrilla," hundreds of trade union delegates, members of Internal [union] Commissions, and [labor] activists were arrested on the day of the coup and during the days that followed...
...imperialism, tying Argentina to the role which imperialism had assigned it in the international division of labor...
...Once these were given and despite severe press censorship, news of the workers' response began to appear...
...hence the possibility of judicial defense is ruled out in practice...
...In some prisons, prisoners spend 165 hours out of the 168 hours in the week in solitary confinement...
...These demands had been designed to lessen the effects of the economic crisis unleashed on workers during the 21 months Isabel Martinez had been in power...
...This foreign policy has placed Argentina on a par with the most reactionary governments in the continent, e.g., those of Pinochet, Bordaberry and Stroessner...
...The preempting of Peronism had been counteracted by the appearance of forces determined to transcend it...
...A wave of working class mobilizations swept the country...
...III...
...For many years, the "nationalism" of the Armed Forces had presented very special characteristics...
...That is to say, it wanted the role of South American "gendarme...
...The situation of political refugees, mostly Uruguayans and Chileans, is also a matter of concern...
...Prison rules have also been modified substantially making prison life even harsher...
...More than a difficult- conjuncture, this crisis foretold the bankruptcy of dependent capitalism as it was formulated in Argentina...
...There is no plan for them other than some talk about the future role they will play once representative democracy is restored, whicl stresses the importance of reorganizing them so that they will be able to fulfill 'their specific functions...
...In late October 1975, Ricardo Balbin, leader of the Radical Civic Union Party, explicitly recognized the Montonero's high level of activity in the country's factories by declaring that "the guerrillas are in the factories...
...Edgardo Enriquez, leader of the Chilean MIR [Movement of the Revolutionary Left], was arrested by the Argentine police and deported to Chile a few days ago...
...Mondelli's measures were similar to those imposed by Rodrigo in 1975 and Krieger Vasena before him...
...Those political sectors characterized by greed and corruption, and the labor union sectors too closely tied to imperialism to defend, even timidly, the interests of the workers, became discredited and impotent...
...THE NEW INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURE The power structure of the military dictatorship differs profoundly from the country's previous experiences...
...This economic program is well known throughout the continent as is the program's main architect: the International Monetary Fund...
...Almost all political prisoners are kept in military garrisons, regiments and warships which have been transformed into prisons...
...NACLA has edited out a short section on the Junta's relations to Peru which was included in the original document published in Peru...
...The Army is in charge of the fight against the political-military organizations, nevertheless, it is more receptive than the other military branches to the political needs of a gradual attack on the revolutionary forces...
...They are clearly determined to destroy all vestige of popular protest by any methods that the bourgeoisie, in its moment of power, imposes...
...Lopez Rega represented the most reactionary forces within the Peronist movement and is credited with the organization of the Triple-A (Argentine Anti-Communist Alliance), the notorious death squad...
...Immediately after, foreign investment flourished within the necessary climate of peace and, hence, the model endured...
...They were implicated in the decadency of Isabel's regime due to their failure to successfully carry out the repression, instead vacilating between the need to totally eliminate popular resistance-which they saw as a fundamental step in solving the country's economic and political problems-and the fear of staging an attack which could lead to a generalized war at a moment in which they might not be able to recapture the initiative...
...In practice, the coordinated action of these countries has best been shown through repression...
...In Argentina today, the large newspapers, representative of social and economic groups favored by the coup, dwell at length on the governneni's actions, praising the prudence and capacity of the Military Junta...
...A labor dispute in Sierra Grande resulted in the takeover of these mining installations by more than 2,000 workers...
...There is talk of 500,000 layoffs by the end of the year, some of which have already taken place...
...The country was in the midst of a generalized crisis, the Central Bank's economic reports demonstrating a permanent fiscal deficit...
...Its fundamental methodology was repression...
...The result of a year and a half of repression in Argentina before the coup is some 6,000 political prisoners and 2,000 deaths...
...Krieger Vasena was particularly important in opening Argentina's doors to U.S...
...The Commanders-in-Chief of the Army and Navy announced they would search every factory in the country in order to clean them up "one by one...
...Limitations imposed on the making, utilization and repatriation of profits are abolished, including the timid ones imposed by Isabel Per6n...
...changes in the Foreign Investment Law to eliminate any "discrimination between national and foreign capital," etc...
...Thus the future appears difficult...
...It is therefore understandable why there were no public protests after the overthrow of a government which had already lost all popular support...
...Foreign trade has been turned over to private hands...
...Since the coup in Argentina, these relationships have disappeared from public life because political, trade union and business association activities have been suspended...
...A [recent] extended speech delivered by the Minister made only three vague references to the industrial sector and proposed no concrete measures for other basic sectors...
...Legal repression was administered under a state of siege and jails were crowded with prisoners...
...Because the Montoneros are an irregular military force, their strength has developed in their struggles against the government...
...Repression Against Political Freedoms By means of introduction, it is necessary to remember that the state of siege had been in force in Argentina several months before the military coup...
...The cost of living increased by 40% during the first 30 days in which this program was implemented...
...During Isabel Martinez's presidency, there were two different forms of repression: legal and "dirty...
...In general, the people waited until the military's programs became known...
...they have been underground for a long time, they have a base among the Peronist masses, and they have not had significant setbacks since the establishment of the new military regime...
...In the midst of their isolation, the Armed Forces are faced with the need to deal with a profound economic crisis as well as a crisis of political domination...
...32, the military dictatorship stated that "the traditional foreign policy of Argentina will not be altered...
...The Employment Contract Law was modified to exclude those clauses which could pose "an obstacle to an increase in labor productivity," such as "overprotection of women's labor," and similar measures...
...Failure: The Hour of the Armed Forces The military coup of March 24, 1976, made eminently clear what was already obvious to everyone: the failure of Isabel Per6n's project...
...It represents a return to being a agricultural country, grainproducer of the world, subordinate to the international division of labor imposed by imperialism on a raw materialsproducing country with limited industrial development...
...Lopez Rega was forced out of Argentina in July 1975 following a wave of popular strikes...
...These measures will be combined with brutally repressive measures and changes in the labor laws-fundamentally in the law protecting workers' contracts [Ley de Contratos de Trabajo] and in "any legal measure that may represent an obstacle to an increase in productivity...
...Prisoners are assassinated and their murders justified by incredible stories of their "attempted escapes...
...These decisions can result in military confrontations which the existing institutions cannot cope with...
...The War Councils are also particularly active: six trade union leaders from Comodoro Rivadavia were sentenced to from two to ten years in prison for "inciting to riot" and conspiracy to purchase guns...
...Conclusion The military dictatorship in Argentina is as repressive as other dictatorships in the Southern Cone...
...Prisoners who have been in jail for more than a year are being interrogated once again...
...Later, military tribunals in Bahia Blanca and Salta applied similar penalties...
...The popular forces were declared illegal and terror became a daily fact of life for each Argentine...
...The number of prisoners is not known either...
...the return of public lands to private colonization companies...
...Lately the government has been forced to implement some complementary measures despite the total subordination of the press...
...The Armed Forces' resolve is evident and no one doubts that they will reject any plan which stops short of their goal of destroying all opposition to their regime...
...Now, at the pinnacle of authority, sits the Military Junta, composed of the commanders-in-chief of the three branches of the Armed Forces...
...But beyond a discussion about models, the complexity of the model adopted in Argentina cannot be explained only in terms of the Junta's perfectionist institutionalist desire...
...In the context of the international division of labor, Argentina was seeking the role of the dominant country in the Southern Cone...
...At present, half of these administrative posts goes to the Army and the other half is divided between the other two branches...
...Most of the prisoners are workers, trade union leaders from factories who belong to a new generation of trade unionism and have been actively involved in the resistance against Isabel Martinez's government, as well as leftist activists and party members...
...It is clear that the legal press will not voice any discontent with the government, nor will it publish news about the victims of right-wing military violence...
...Whether in good or bad faith, the latter tolerate and even help silence the atrocities committed by the former...
...This fact aroused strong suspicions...
...One piece of news, however, escaped this silence...
...Unlike their often praised Brazilian model, which at least allows some legal political parties in the decision-making process and has a pseudo parliament, in Argentina social sectors exert their influence through their spokespersons who have access to the governing circles, similar to a monarchy...
...Its strength and organization, its capacity to develop correct and comprehensive political programs-in contrast to the notorious isolation of the Military Junta-allows the working class of Argentina to form the axis of the resistance movement...
...The level of development in the organization and struggle of the popular sectors, the level of revolutionary violence, and the legitimacy of the revolutionary forces of Peronism were also unprecedented...
...Furthermore, the National Constitution has been changed...
...The Junta is also considering the following measures: a tax increase, i.e., higher taxes on wage earners and small and medium-sized owners...
...The coup in our country was not carried out in response to a popular, anti-imperialist government...
...Far from stating that the military dictatorship will be overthrown by its own internal contradictions, we firmly believe that it will only be overthrown by popular resistance...
...hundreds of people had been killed and thousands more were arrested...
...The consequences of these measures are well known: a worsening of the economic crisis, the deterioration of real wages, and strangulation of small and medium-sized enterprises...
...The confusion the Junta was anxious to create was essential for its survival: if the internal resistance-eager, armed and organized-were united with the militant forces of international solidarity, the position of the popular sectors would be greatly strengthened...
...The Argentine as well as the foreign press and its correspondents were careful to avoid the publication of any news about the strikes...
...But it is also true that they don't feel confident, that they are not monolithic-though they need to be...
...This influence, and the possibility of Russian naval bases in those countries, jeopardizes U.S...
...On April 3, fifteen people were assassinated in and around Buenos Aires...
...After the meeting, the interventor, Colonel Emilio Fabrizzio, was replaced by Colonel Juan Alberto Pita and an "advisory" board of twelve officers from the three branches of the Armed Forces who held ranks equivalent to commanders and colonels...
...and repression of factory strikes (which have been reported by foreign news agencies...
...Strikes began to break out in less than a month...
...Repression Against the Freedom of Expression One of the first measures taken by the new government was the imposition of press censorship...
...In the course of fi days, the Junta was snubbed twice: first by Henry Kissi whose visit to Argentina was announced and then cano and then by Treasury Secretary William Simon whose was expected but who went to Chile and Brazil wil stopping in Argentina...
...Encouraged by the most reactionary sectors of the Argentine Church (for whom, as true apostles of the monopolies, the consolidation of dependency is the essence of their mission on earth), in the absence of political, labor and professional union activity (abolished by government decree), and with the lone support of imperialism and the monopolies, the Armed Forces are preparing to wage the definitive battle against the Argentine people...
...Simple majority vote has been ruled out (though valid for other resolutions), because the Army would surely be outvoted by the other two branches on the fundamental question of presidential succession...
...Essentially it came from the Coordinadora de Gremios en Lucha [Coordinating Council of Trade Unions in Struggle] led mainly by the Montoneros through the Bloque Sindical del Peronismo Autuftico [Peronismo Autentico's Labor Bloc] and other forces of the Left...
...It is vital for the United States to control those regions because of the clear vulnerability of alternative routes such as the Panama and Suez Canals...
Vol. 11 • January 1977 • No. 1
