Los presidentes durante la Guerra Sucia

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Videla, Jorge Rafael (Gen.)

A.k.a. "The Bone." The head of = the responsible.
Born in Aug. 2, 1925, in Mercedes, Argentina de-facto president of Argentina from 1976 to 1981 and the main architect of the dirty-war.

In 1975 President Isabel Perón, under pressure from the military establishment, appointed him commander in chief = of the Argentinan Army. From this position he began a reorganization of the military leadership, removing officers sympathetic to Peronism. In the same year, he led an army campaign against the People's Revolutionary Army (Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo or ERP) in the northern Tucumán province, which resulted in the annihilation of hundreds of leftist guerrillas. He proceeded to depose Isabel Perón on March 24, 1976, and became the de-facto president as head of a three-man military jun= ta (the other two being: Air-Force commander General Orlando Ram&oacut= e;n Agosti, and Navy Commander Admiral Eduardo Emilio M= assera.)

Videla then suspended Congress and vested legislative powers in a nine-man military commission, halted the functionin= g of the courts, political parties, and labor unions, imposed tight censorship on the mass-media, and filled all important posts with military personnel. Hun= dreds of persons suspected of being left-wing guerrillas were arrested in the last week of March 1976 alone, and between 10,000 and 30,000 others "disappeared" over the next few years.

Videla retired in 1981 and was succeeded by = Roberto Viola.=

Viola, Roberto Eduardo (Gen.)

Succeeded Videla as pre= sident On March 29 1981. Nine months later, on Dec. 21, 1981, the de-facto governm= ent announced that Viola was stepping down for reasons of health, and General Leopoldo Galtie= ri took the post.

When asked by a journalist about the need fo= r an investigation into the problem of the disappeared, Viola replied: "tha= t is absolutely out of the question. This is a war, and we are the winners. You = can be certain that in the last war, if the armies of the Reich had won, the war crimes trials would have taken place in Virginia, not in Nuremberg." <= i>[Clarin, March 18, 1981] Sentenced to 17 years in prison by a civilian court on December 9, 1985. Released after serving only 4 years of the sentence as a result of military pressure.

Galtieri, Leopoldo Fortunato (Gen.)

A graduate of the School of the Americas, 1949.
Commander of the 2nd army corps when the first junta took power in 1976. The third president of the de-facto government between Dec 1981 and June 1982. =

While president, during the worst economic depression in Argentina since the 30's, Galtieri turned to the traditional remedy of unsuccessful tyrants and attempted to divert public attention by ordering the occupation of the Falkland (Malvinas) and South Georgia Island= s.

The small group of islands in the south atla= ntic which Britain has ruled since 1833 and which have long been claimed by Argentina, were invaded on April 2nd 1982 by the Argentine army. As it turn= ed out, Galtieri and his advisors fatally misjudged Great Britain's willingnes= s to defend its territory and citizens. The sudden occupation has led to a brief= war and a quick defeat of the Argentine forces.

On June 14th 1982 the Argentine forces in the Falkland islands, led by Gen. Mario Menendez, surrendered unconditionally to the British and the British ru= le of the islands was restored. The loss of the Falklands war has led to the resignation of Galtieri from presidency on June 17th, 1982. A th= ird (and last) junta was placed in power under a new president, Reynaldo Bignone= . Ironically, the occupation of the Falklands, has accelerated the end of the junta rule.

Galtieri was acquitted in the junta trials on charges of committing crimes against the Argentine people, but convicted la= ter, in 1986, on charges of incompetency while leading the army in the Falklands War. He was set free after serving only a small portion of his sentence as a result of military pressure.

"A young woman testified that af= ter she had been held blindfolded and tortured for months she and others in her group were allowed to clean themselves, in preparation for a visit to the detention center by General Galtieri, who was then army commander of the lo= cal district. Galtieri asked if she knew who he was, and if she understood his absolute power over her. ``if I say you live, you live, '' he said, ``and i= f I say you die, you die. As it happens, you have the same Christian name as my daughter, and so you live.'' [Nunca Mas, introduction]

Bignone, Reynaldo Benito (Gen.)

On 28th of March 1976, headed a wide operation in the Alejandro Posadas Hospit= al in the Haedo district. During this operation 40 people were kidnapped, the = rest of the hospital staff was discharged, and the place was converted to a secr= et detention center. Also served as the head of another secret detention center based in the military school in Buenos Aires.

One of the testimo= nies (given by Hugo Ernesto Carballo, file no. 6279) mentions a visit of high ranking officers to where he was detained in which Bignone informed the prisoners that "in a dirty war the innocent paid for the guilty."=

Bignone main entry into history will probably be as the main crime cover-up architect. Bignone= was already retired when he was requested by the junta to replace Galtieri as president after the defeat of the Argentine Army in the Falklands. On July = 1st, 1982, two weeks after Galtieri's resignation, Bignone became the fourth and last president of the de-facto government.

Realizing that the military could not continue to govern as a result of the terrible economic depression, the increasing dissent resulting from the mass disappearances, = and the rout in the Falklands war, Bignone gave explicit orders, in a confidential decree no 2726/83 = to destroy every documentation related to the detained and disappeared, Then, = he proceeded to organize elections to install a democratic and civilian government. Under his leadership, the junta took precautions, before the elections, of adopting a general amnesty purporting to immunize every membe= r of the military from prosecution for any crimes committed in the so called "war against subversion."

Bignone was senten= ced to prison on his part in the repression, but was released long before completing his jail period as a result of military pressure.