Imagining Argentina

The term “Dirty War” describes the reign of the Argentine junta, a military dictatorship characterized by its sudden seizure of power and violent oppression of left-wing dissidents. The Dirty War technically began in 1976, but its inception reflects a decades-long revolution in Argentine politics. In 1946, Juan Perón was elected as Argentina’s 35th president, ushering in a new era of leftist government. Together with his second wife, Eva, Perón tackled labor reform, centering union advocacy and expanding social protections for the working class. These class-conscious and state-oriented values eventually coalesced into Peronism, a left-leaning populist ideology still common in Argentine politics today (Alcoba, Natalie. “A Divided Legacy Marks 50 Years Since Perón’s Return to Argentina.” Al Jazeera, 20 June 2023).

In mid-1974, Perón died, leaving as successor his third wife, Isabel Perón, who quickly assumed the presidency. However, Isabel Perón’s tenure proved short-lived: In 1976, the Argentine military seized power, displacing Perón and installing a right-wing authoritarian government. The coup was orchestrated through Operation Condor, a Cold War-era insurgency program that supplanted South American leftist governments at the urging of the CIA. Jorge Rafael Videla, a senior military commander, quickly established himself as Argentina’s de facto president.