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The second Argentine general election of 1973 was held on 23 September.
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The second Argentine general election of 1973 was held on 23 September.
The jubilation that followed the May 25, 1973, return to democracy (following over six and a half years of military rule) was soon clouded by political friction and unforeseen events. President Héctor Cámpora, who took his Oath of Office in the presence of Cuban President Osvaldo Dorticós and Chilean leader Salvador Allende—both consular figures in Latin American Marxism—promptly declared a near-blanket amnesty for the several hundred political prisoners held by Alejandro Lanusse's regime (many in inhospitable camps such as the one in Trelew, scene of a 1972 mass execution). Cámpora also made controversial appointments, such as Rodolfo Puiggrós as President of the University of Buenos Aires, Esteban Righi as Minister of the Interior (overseeing law enforcement) and Julio Troxler as Assistant Police Chief of Buenos Aires - all former defense attorneys linked to the violently left-wing Montoneros. A number of left-wing lawyers were also elected to prominent elected posts across the nation, notably Oscar Bidegain (Governor of Buenos Aires Province), Ricardo Obregon Cano (Governor of Córdoba Province) and Alberto Martínez Baca (Governor of Mendoza Province), among others. This new-found prominence among the Argentine left encouraged an increasingly violent reaction among the far right. Among Cámpora's appointees was one insisted on by his patron, Juan Perón: José López Rega, a former policeman with an interest in the occult close to the Perón household since 1965. [1]
López Rega, formally Minister of Social Policy, quickly parlayed his portfolio control over nearly 30 percent of the national budget into a well-funded paramilitary force, the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance (Triple A). Threatened by the Montoneros' inroads into student and neighborhood organizations, local governments and the Peronist Youth, they began targeting many of Cámpora's policy makers, some of which began resigning under pressure from Perón, himself. President Cámpora agreed to have Peronist militants in charge of most security arrangements for Perón's much-anticipated June 20, 1973, return from exile; as the Alitalia flight carrying the leader's retinue descended over Ministro Pistarini International Airport at Ezeiza, however, a scuffle erupted between left and right-wing minders over control of the stage from which Perón would address the nation, leading to a rash of pitched battles resulting in perhaps over a hundred deaths and Perón's public, July 13 suggestion that Cámpora resign. [1]
The calculating López Rega seized on this to prevail on Vice President Vicente Solano Lima and Senate President Alejandro Díaz Bialet to resign, as well, leaving a constitutional vacuum referred to as an "acephaly" — the absence of a head of state. This move created both the need for new elections and the chance to remove a number of Cámpora's leftist advisers; it also left the nation's highest office to the President of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies (lower house), Raúl Lastiri, who was, despite being a year older than López Rega, the powerful Social Policy Minister's son-in-law. The cautious Lastiri continued Cámpora's populist socio-economic policies; inheriting a growing threat from an increasingly armed Peronist Youth and the newly-active Trotskyite People's Revolutionary Army (ERP), which, in only three months, attacked a military installation and murdered a number of military figures, he replaced Interior Minister Righi and called elections for September 23. The runners-up in the March elections — Ricardo Balbín (UCR) and Francisco Manrique (APF) — again accepted their respective party's nomination, with Manrique obtaining the endorsement of the PDP and naming its leader as his running mate. [2]
Increasing violence led many in Argentina, including much of the armed forces to conclude that only Perón commanded enough respect to persuade extremists away from hostilities. Gathering in Buenos Aires' renowned Teatro Colón, the Justicialist Party struggled to nominate Perón's running mate. The choice of the leader's own wife, Isabel, intrigued the convention — she was, after all, the only prominent Peronist (aside from Perón himself) not publicly associated with any one faction within the fractious movement. Opposed to López Rega's suggestion at first, the aging Perón (who would, in theory, serve until May 1977) set aside strong personal doubts as to his wife's readiness for office and agreed. The two sailed into office in a record landslide on the same FREJULI umbrella ticket on which Cámpora had been elected only six months earlier. [3]
| Presidential candidate | Vice Presidential candidate | Party | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Juan Domingo Perón | Isabel Perón | Total Perón - Perón | 7,359,252 | 61.86 | |
| Justicialist Liberation Front (FREJULI) | 6,469,525 | 54.38 | |||
| Popular Left Front (FIP) | 889,727 | 7.48 | |||
| Ricardo Balbín | Fernando de la Rúa | Radical Civic Union (UCR) | 2,905,719 | 24.42 | |
| Francisco Manrique | Rafael Martínez Raymonda | Federalist Popular Alliance (APF) | 1,450,996 | 12.20 | |
| Juan Carlos Coral | José Francisco Páez | Worker's Socialist Party (PST) | 181,474 | 1.53 | |
| Total | 11,897,441 | 100 | |||
| Positive votes | 11,897,441 | 98.69 | |||
| Blank votes | 108,785 | 0.90 | |||
| Invalid votes | 49,412 | 0.41 | |||
| Total votes | 12,055,638 | 100 | |||
| Registered voters/turnout | 14,312,405 | 84.23 | |||
| Source: [4] | |||||
Montoneros was an Argentine far-left Peronist and Catholic revolutionary guerrilla organization, which emerged in the 1970s during the "Argentine Revolution" dictatorship. Its name was a reference to the 19th-century cavalry militias called Montoneras, which fought for the Federalist Party in the Argentine civil wars. Radicalized by the political repression of anti-Peronist regimes, the Cuban Revolution and socialist worker-priests committed to liberation theology, the Montoneros emerged from the 1960s Catholic revolutionary guerilla Comando Camilo Torres as a "national liberation movement", and became a convergence of revolutionary Peronism, Guevarism, and the revolutionary Catholicism of Juan García Elorrio shaped by Camilism. They fought for the return of Juan Perón to Argentina and the establishment of "Christian national socialism", based on 'indigenous' Argentinian and Catholic socialism, seen as the ultimate conclusion of Peronist doctrine.
Isabel Martínez de Perón also known as Isabelita, is an Argentine former politician who served as the 46th President of Argentina from 1974 to 1976. She was one of the first female republican heads of state in the world, and the first woman to serve as president of a country.
Raúl Alberto Lastiri was an Argentine politician who was interim president of Argentina from July 13, 1973 until October 12, 1973. Lastiri, who presided over the Argentine Chamber of Deputies, was promoted to the presidency of the country after Héctor Cámpora and Vicente Solano Lima resigned, he organized new elections and delivered the country's government to Juan Perón, who won with over 60% of the votes.
Héctor José Cámpora was an Argentine politician. A major figure of left-wing Peronism, Cámpora was briefly Argentine president from 25 May to 13 July 1973 and subsequently arranged for Juan Perón to run for president in an election that he subsequently won. The modern left-wing Peronist political youth organization La Cámpora is named after him. He was a dentist by trade.
Pedro Eugenio Aramburu Silveti was an Argentine Army general who was the dictator of Argentina from November 13, 1955, to May 1, 1958. He was a major figure behind the Revolución Libertadora, the military coup against Juan Perón in 1955. He was kidnapped by the left-wing organization Montoneros on May 29, 1970, and assassinated as part of retaliation. He had been involved in the June 1956 execution of Army General Juan José Valle—associated with the Peronist movement— and 26 Peronist militants, after a botched attempt to overthrow his regime.
The Justicialist Party is a major political party in Argentina, and the largest branch within Peronism.
Vicente Solano Lima was a moderately conservative newspaper publisher and politician who served as Vice President of Argentina from May 25, 1973 to July 13, 1973.
José López Rega was an Argentine politician who served as Minister of Social Welfare from 1973 to 1975, first under Juan Perón and continuing under Isabel Perón, Juan Perón's third wife and presidential successor. Lopez Rega exercised an allegedly Rasputin-like power and influence over Isabel Perón during her presidency, and used both this and his unique access to become the de facto political boss of Argentina. His orthodox peronist and far-right politics and interest in the occult earned him the nickname El Brujo. Rega had one daughter, Norma Beatriz, who went on to become the spouse of President Raúl Lastiri.
Ricardo Obregón Cano was an Argentine Justicialist Party politician. Born in Río Cuarto, Córdoba, he was Governor of Córdoba from May 25, 1973, to February 28, 1974. A left-wing Peronist, he was deposed by a police coup in 1974, which was later backed by Juan Perón.
The Ezeiza massacre took place on June 20, 1973, at Puente 12, the intersection of General Ricchieri freeway and Camino de Cintura, some 10 km from Ezeiza International Airport in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
José Ignacio Rucci was an Argentine politician and union leader, appointed general secretary of the CGT in 1970. Close to the Argentine president Juan Perón, and a chief representative of the "syndical bureaucracy" ; he was assassinated in 1973.
Argentine Revolution was the name given by its leaders to a military coup d'état which overthrew the government of Argentina in June 1966 and began a period of military dictatorship by a junta from then until 1973.
The history of Argentina can be divided into four main parts: the pre-Columbian time or early history, the colonial period (1536–1809), the period of nation-building (1810–1880), and the history of modern Argentina.
The first Argentine general election of 1973 was held on 11 March. Voters chose both the President and their legislators.
Lorenzo Miguel was a prominent Argentine labor leader closely associated with the steelworkers' union.
Carlos Mugica was an Argentine Roman Catholic priest and activist.
Juan Domingo Perón was an Argentine lieutenant general and politician who served as the 35th President of Argentina from 1946 to his overthrow in 1955, and again as the 45th President from October 1973 to his death in July 1974. He had previously served in several government positions, including Minister of Labour and Vice President under presidents Pedro Pablo Ramírez and Edelmiro Farrell.
Alberto María Fonrouge was an Argentine politician and lawyer, co-founder of the Popular Conservative Party and Senator from 1973 to 1976.
Juan Manuel Abal Medina is an Argentine journalist and politician who served as Secretary General of the Peronist Movement between 1972 and 1974. He later became a prominent lawyer in Mexico.
Events in the year 1973 in Argentina.
