Argentine urban guerrillas claiming allegiance to Peronism and (from 1970) staging terrorist actions against the military regime then in power. Repudiated by Juan Domingo Perón himself (1974), the Montoneros renewed their attacks on the regime installed in 1976, meeting with severe repression.
The Montonero Peronist Movement (Spanish: Movimiento Peronista Montonero) was an Argentine radical terrorist leftist nationalist catholic guerrilla group, active during the 1970s.
From 1970 to Videla's military junta
The group formed around 1970 from the confluence of Roman Catholic groups with Social Studies students' groups and with left-wing supporters of Juan Domingo Perón. The Montoneros hoped that Perón would return from exile in Francoist Spain and transform Argentina into a "Socialist Fatherland".
The Montoneros initiated a campaign to destabilize the pro-American regime then in power. In retaliation against a massacre, the Montoneros kidnapped and executed former dictator Pedro Eugenio Aramburu (1955–1958) and other citizens, among them, unionists, politicians, diplomats, and businessmen.
On March 11, 1973, Argentina held general elections for the first time in ten years. Perón loyalist Héctor Cámpora became president, before resigning in July to allow Perón to win the new elections in October. Right-wingers and Montoneros clashed at Perón's homecoming ceremony during the June 20, 1973 Ezeiza massacre, leaving 13 dead and more than 300 wounded. Perón supported the unions, the radicals leaded by Ricardo Balbín and the right-wing peronists, among whom José López Rega, founder of the Alianza Anticomunista Argentina ("Triple A") death squad, which had organized the massacre, along with the Peronist and non-Peronist guerrilla groups.
In May 1974, the Montoneros were expelled from the Justicialist movement by Perón. However, the Montoneros waited until after the death of Perón in July 1974 to react, with the exception of the assassination of José Ignacio Rucci, general secretary of the CGT (General Confederation of Labour) on September 25, 1973, and some other military actions.
The Montoneros claimed the "social revolutionary vision of authentic Peronism" and started guerrilla operations against the government. Isabel Perón, President since Juan Perón's death, was essentially a figurehead under the influence of former police officer José López Rega.
On July 15, 1974, Montoneros assassinated Arturo Mor Roig, a former foreign minister.
The Triple A under López Rega's auspices began hunting down, killing, and arresting Montoneros and members of Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo (ERP) as well as other leftist militant groups.
The Montoneros and ERP went on to attack business and political figures throughout Argentina as well as raid military bases for weapons and explosives. The Montoneros killed executives from General Motors, Ford and Chrysler.
By the time Videla's military Junta took power in March of '76, approximately ten thousand political prisoners were being held in various prisons around Argentina.
Under Jorge Videla's junta
On 24 March 1976 Isabel Perón was ousted and a military junta installed, led by General Jorge Rafael Videla. The Montoneros suffered heavy losses, out of around 7000 active supporters 1600 were killed in 1976 and the rest forced to scatter.
The Montoneros were effectively finished by 1977, although some did fight on until 1981. During the Falklands War, the Argentine military conceived the failed Operation Algeciras, a plan to convince some Montoneros to, out of patriotism and with some covert support, sabotage the British military facilities in Gibraltar.
Argentina remained under military rule until December 10, 1983, finally achieving democracy following the Falklands War.
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