Argentine Revolts (1962–1963)

Argentine Revolts (1962–1963)

PRINCIPAL COMBATANTS: The “Gorillas” (ultraconservative
military officers) vs. Peronistas (supporters of exiled
president Juan Perón)

PRINCIPAL THEATER(S): Argentina

DECLARATION: None

MAJOR ISSUES AND OBJECTIVES: The Gorillas sought to
suppress the power of the Peronistas.

OUTCOME: General discontent with both sides led to the
election of a moderate leftist president in 1963.

APPROXIMATE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF MEN UNDER ARMS:
Unknown

CASUALTIES: Unknown

TREATIES: None

The overthrow of President Juan Perón (1895–1974) during
the ARGENTINE REVOLT (1955) sent the former president
into exile, but it did not purge Argentina of the
Peronist political party, which continued to attempt to
field candidates for political office. In 1962 the party’s candidates
were finally permitted on the ballot, and they
enjoyed exceptional success, taking 45 of 86 seats in the
Chamber of Deputies. Equally important, the Peronistas
claimed nine of 14 governorships throughout the country.
Fearing a resurgence of Peronist government—and
the eventual return of Juan Perón himself—ultraconservative
anti-Peronist military leaders, known as the Gorillas,
successfully blocked the elected Peronist candidates from
assuming office. This action provoked a series of national
labor strikes. Amid the political and economic chaos their
own illegal action had created, the Gorillas turned the
blame on the moderate government of Argentine president
Arturo Frondizi (1908–95). His liberalism, they claimed,
had opened the door to the Peronists, and they demanded
his immediate resignation. Frondizi refused to step down,
whereupon the Gorillas launched a successful bloodless
coup d’état. Frondizi was exiled, and the Gorillas installed
a military dictatorship administered by a junta.
The junta ruled in anticipation of elections to be held
the following year, 1963. However, within the junta there
was intense debate over whether to allow the elections at
all or to continue a military dictatorship. In an act of
extraordinary moral courage, General Juan Carlos Ongania
(1914–95), one of the Gorillas, declared that the military
should remove itself from government for the sake of
the long-term well-being of Argentina. Ongania’s recommendation
was roundly ignored, however, and the Gorillas
continued to govern. When elections were held in
1963, they saw to it that the Peronistas were barred from
running. As they had done during the PERONIST REVOLTS
of 1956–57, the Peronists cast blank ballots, but this
peaceful form of protest was not the only form of agitation
that accompanied the elections of 1963. Fighting broke
out in the streets, and the nation seemed dangerously
unstable. The result was the election as president of a
compromise candidate, Arturo Umberto Illia (1900–83),
who thoroughly pleased no faction. While the government
was somewhat stabilized, it was essentially paralyzed, and
Argentina’s economy was subject to monumental inflation.
The Peronista faction continued to loom as an alternative
inviting to many.

See also ARGENTINE “DIRTY WAR”; ARGENTINE REVOLT
(1951).

Further reading: Robert D. Crassweller, Perón and the
Enigmas of Argentina (New York: Norton, 1988); James W.
McGuire, Peronism without Perón: Unions, Parties and
Democracy in Argentina (Palo Alto, Calif.: Stanford University
Press, 1999).