On March 24, 1976, a military coup supported by broad sectors of the
ruling classes overthrew President María Estela Martínez de Perón,inaugurating the Argentine civil-military dictatorship that would last
until 1983. The coup was part of a reaction by the ruling classes in
Latin America, strongly supported by US imperialism, which installed
military dictatorships in Paraguay (1954-1989), Ecuador (1963-1966 and
1972-1979), Brazil (1964-1985), Bolivia (1964-1978), Chile (1973-1990)
and Uruguay (1973-1985). Under the pretext of combating "subversion" in
Argentina, the Military Junta led by Jorge Rafael Videla established a
regime based on State Terrorism. 364 clandestine detention centers were
set up. The movements of victims' families estimate that more than
30,000 people were killed or disappeared. The repression, financed and
supported by the United States and organized in South America through
Plan Condor, targeted not only guerrillas, but also trade unionists,
students, intellectuals and any critical voice, especially from the
oppressed classes.
The Argentine people responded with strong mobilization in unions and
popular movements, as well as advanced actions carried out by armed
struggle organizations, such as the Montoneros, the People's
Revolutionary Army (ERP) and the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR).
Organizations defending human rights and denouncing torture and
disappearances were also fundamental, such as the Mothers and
Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, who challenged the silence imposed by
the dictatorship, demanding answers about the whereabouts of their
family members. Anarchism was modestly present in all these dimensions
of the political struggle against the dictatorship and played an
important role in the resistance against the regime, whether through its
involvement in unions and mass movements or through its active presence
in denouncing disappearances and in clandestine organizations. The
"Doctrine of National Security" justified the persecution of "internal
enemies" with methods such as kidnapping and torture, in addition to the
murders and disappearances of thousands of social activists and
revolutionaries, instrumentalized by the School of the Americas. The
alliance with local elites and the "Triple A" (a paramilitary group)
expanded the scope of repression and turned Argentina into a center for
the extermination of valuable activists and politicians from different
currents and tendencies, leaving a legacy of increased social
inequality, the dismantling of the country's industry, and the
strengthening of repressive apparatuses.
Anarchist resistance in the fight against the Argentine dictatorship
Far from having disappeared in Argentina with the advent of Peronism,
anarchism remained active in the country in the 1940s and 1950s, with
the action of the Argentine Anarcho-Communist Federation (FACA) and the
Argentine Regional Workers' Federation (FORA), the latter of an
anarcho-syndicalist origin. Anarchism was present in the union life of
the categories of wood workers, plumbers, construction workers,
stevedores, drivers, bakers and the Shipbuilding Federation. This
federation, with a strong anarchist presence, led the longest strike of
the 20th century in Argentina, in 1956. The contribution of the Spanish
anarchist Abraham Guillén to the first experiences of armed struggle in
the country is also noteworthy. A veteran of the Spanish Revolution,
with extensive political and military experience, Guillén helped in the
political and technical training of the first experience of armed
struggle in Argentina, the Uturuncos, who led actions in Tucumán and
Santiago del Estero in the late 1950s.
Also noteworthy is the anarchist participation in the workers' and
students' uprisings of the 1960s, especially in the provinces of Córdoba
and Rosario. The Cordobazo and the Rosariazo united the forces of
combative unionism with those of the student movement, with workers'
strikes linked to street battles against the forces of repression. It
was in this context of ideological renewal, unity of the oppressed
classes and the need to unite against the forces of repression that
different anarchist groups decided to merge, forming an anarchist
political organization that was given the name Libertarian Resistance (RL).
The RL was born with a presence in union, student and community spaces
and was structured as a cadre organization or a libertarian party, as
its activists called it internally. Acting within mass movements, based
on a socialist and libertarian political line, with strong internal
democracy, but maintaining the necessary security criteria to operate,
the organization had a presence in the categories of wood workers,
education workers, rubber workers, graphic designers, textile workers,
plumbers and shipyard workers. It operated in La Plata, Buenos Aires,
Ensenada, Tigre, Córdoba and Buenos Aires and developed different forms
and tools for direct action, demonstrating that it is possible to
operate in contexts that are sometimes more democratic, sometimes more
repressive.
The Libertarian Resistance left an important political lesson for Latin
American anarchism. Overcoming sectarianism, dogmatism, ideological
purism and the isolation of ideology in its own backyard, it translated
its aspirations into concrete political practices, advancing the
resistance of the oppressed classes and paying a high price for its firm
conviction.
With the 1976 coup, repression reached its peak, crushing the resistance
of the oppressed classes in the country with torture, arrests and
murders and destroying numerous organizations of the revolutionary left.
The Libertarian Resistance had dozens of militants disappear and
dissolved in the face of the strong military repression of the period.
Redemocratization and the fight for memory
After the defeat in the Falklands War (1982), popular pressure led to
the redemocratization in 1983 and the creation of CONADEP, responsible
for the report "Nunca Más", and trials began against the military
responsible for the coup and the dictatorship. Despite impunity laws
(Punto Final, 1986), the reopening of trials under the government of
Néstor Kirchner (2003) allowed historic convictions, including that of
general and dictator Jorge Rafael Videla. By 2017, more than 1,100
repressors had been tried.
In 2024, the government of Javier Milei and Victoria Villarruel denied
the 30,000 dead and disappeared and attacked memory policies. In the
largest march in the last 40 years, organizations such as the
Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo and HIJOS reaffirmed their commitment
to memory.
The Argentine resistance is a legacy of the struggles of the oppressed
classes. In a context of historical revisionism throughout the world,
keeping alive the memory of the crimes of the dictatorship is urgent. It
is also the duty of anarchists to remember their martyrs and militants,
who fell before the terrorist wrath of the State and the bosses.
We remember here the memory of these 12 anarchist militants, who
disappeared by the repressive forces of the infamous Argentine military
dictatorship and who, in our memory, live on and will live on! Due to
their compartmentalization into cells, to this day we do not know the
exact number of RL militants who fell during the military dictatorship,
but we honor these 12 names, as an expression of the struggle of Latin
American mass anarchism.
Rita Artabe (La Turca), Edison Oscar Cantero Freire (Melena), Fernando
Diaz Cardenas (Pata), Elsa Martinez de Ramirez (Elsa), Elvio Mellino
(Yogurt), Raul Olivera Cancela (El Flaco), Hernan Ramirez Achinelli
(Pelado), Marcelo Tello (Negro), Pablo Tello (Bigote), Rafael Tello (El
Rata), Luis Esteban Matsuyama (El Chino), Patricia Olivier (Pastilla),
Alfredo Moyano, Maria Victoria Artigas, PRESENT, PRESENT, PRESENT. TODAY
AND ALWAYS!
Libertarian Socialist Organization
March 2025
https://socialismolibertario.net/2025/03/24/49-anos-do-golpe-militar-na-argentina-memoria-e-luta/
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