Falkland_War

Throughout the majority of Argentinean history, the main form of government was military dictatorship. Between the early 1930’s to 1983, Argentina had 24 presidents, consisting of 16 military officers and 2 army generals who were democratically elected. The last of the military dictatorship, which is more commonly referred to as the Junta lost their power between the years 1976-1983. Along with several other crises’ occurring in a time where the military controlled the country, the crisis which most affected the Junta was the Falkland’s War between Britain and Argentina. Argentina’s intention to capture Las Islas Malvinas (Falkland Islands), led by General Leopoldo Galtieri was the turning point that began the massive transition from dictatorship to democracy. Intro. In spite of this, why was the Fakland War significant to the Junta’s demise in 1982' The central reason behind the fall of the Junta government is due to the social, economical, and political issues within Argentina before, during, and after the Falkland’s war. Firstly, the government’s violation of human rights caused dissent towards the government and enabled civilians to question the regime’s dictatorship methods, thus leading to the Junta’s demise. During the early 1970’s, several leftist Guerilla groups emerged consisting of numerous sub-groups such as the Personist Montoneros who opposed the regime’s dictatorship methods. General and President Jorge Videla quoted that the guerilla groups were, “not just someone with a gun or a bomb but also someone who spreads idea’s that are contrary to Western and Christian civilization.” As protest groups emerged, violence in Argentina began including frequent kidnappings, robberies, assassination of army and police personnel and urban bombing. Everyone in Argentina could be a victim and everyone in the country was scared by their own government. It was quoted that Argentina became a “Culture of Fear.” Civilians were scared of their own government not only due to human right abuses, but also due to the largest Guerilla groups, the Peronist Montoneros. The conflict between the two groups caused civil distress and dissent towards the Junta. The Peronist Montoneros began as a political organization, and used violence to achieve their political goals. In 1970, they kidnapped and killed the former military president General Pedro Aramburu and threatened to kill anyone who collaborated in his favor such as politicians, unionists and diplomats. The political reasons behind the murders were to support socialist Juan Domingo Peron for him to become democratically elected and began a “Socialist Fatherland.” Through a “democratic” election, General Peron was able to come into power in 1973, leading the Montoneros to briefly become in power. The Montoneros became a political party and consisted of 500,000 members who were stunned when the person they had fought to have democratically elected turned against them, forcing the guerilla group to go underground in 1974. Therefore, due to the conflict and violence between the Guerilla groups and the Junta, civilians began to question the regime in power, thus leading to the Junta’s demise. Moreover, as a form of retaliation, the government attempted to reduce the leftist side of the political spectrum which included the Guerilla groups, by infringing upon human and civil rights causing civil distress. In order to confront the protest movement from the Guerilla groups, the military regime set up a “terrorist state” as a means of social repression. A terrorist state, described by Scholar Gus Martin is terrorism “committed by governments, and quasi-governmental agencies and personnel against perceived enemies.” (wiki) Under Argentinean government led by Jorge Rafael Videla from 1976-1983, the Death Squad Triple A (Alianza Anti-Communist Argentina) killed thousands of leftists and guerilla groups such as the Peronist Montoneros. Victims were abducted by the squad and by police recording over 30,000 disappearances. Almost 10,000 became political prisoners and they were held in inhumane conditions in detention centers. Disappearances occurred on average every 18 days and prisoners were subdued to being raped, tortured, abused and even murdered. Argentina became a “state of terror” where disappearances occurred daily and often involved kidnapping of civilians and families, by a gang of armed men. A zone of operation containing a green light would often occur during the kidnappings so local police wouldn’t respond to the assault. In 1984, CONADEP (The National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons) reported 9000 cases of disappeared people who never reappeared. General Leopoldo Galteiri, president of Argentina from 1981-1982 and during the Falkland’s war, quoted that, “In any war, there are people who disappear.” Therefore, as a mean of retaliation towards the Guerilla groups, civil and human rights were infringed upon establishing public dissent towards the dictatorship Junta and regime in power. Secondly, the Junta regime’s downfall is a direct result of the declining economy of Argentina, thus increasing levels of civil distress. During the 1970’s, Argentina’s faltering economy went in a downward spiral due to the oil crisis which was the starting point of inflation. Shortly after Juan Peron’s death, in 1975 inflation prices rose to 900% in one year. The military Junta were forced to reduce wages in Argentina reflecting severely on the poor, middle and working class. The economy’s growth was minimal and inflation had risen to 150% causing many hardships in Argentina. The once self sufficient economy now was struggling to maintain its financial balance as the foreign oil bill had increased over $540 million from $60 million to $600 million. Due to the financial crisis, violence among civilians occurred due to money shortages, business lockouts, as well as wage freezes. Therefore _____ In addition, due to economic disparity throughout the 1970s, inflation consumed all of Argentina, thereby causing civil distress among the country’s government and its citizens. Urban workers along with most of the working class were in social unrest due to the orthodox policy, a policy leading to inflation and labour militancy while increasing government revenues. As the economy diminished, labor disputes broke out leading president Peron to make a strategic political decision to control the public. President Peron used an anti-inflation strategy to provide a hefty year-end bonus to the workers to ensure he would remain in power. However by implementing the strategy, by 1975, inflation rose to 335% and a price explosion of over 900% due to the political decisions, rather than economic disparity. Therefore _____ Thirdly, due to low economic situations plaguing Argentina, people fell into debt and these money concerns caused a major depression across the country. As a result of the depression within the country, a political movement occurred with the 1976 coup on March 24 when President Isabel Peron was overthrown from her position, making way for General Videla to receive full control of the military Junta. Civil distress and tensions among civilians were soaring due to the economy’s decline of trade deficit’s and the near collapse of the banking system in the 1980’s. As a result of the near collapse from 1979-1981, foreign debt had tripled hitting the government with $5 billion worth of private sector debt and increasing inflation up to 131%, resulting in the peso to depreciate over 600% in 1981. Near the end of 1981, GNP had decreased 11.4%, real wages had dropped by over 20%, and industrial production had declined by over 23%. The depression grew worse due to the financial economic decisions made by Jose Martinez de Hoz who had failed to pursue a new economic program and instead followed the neoconservative economic order with assistance from the International Monetary Fund. Between During the years of 1976-1981, the country’s debt had increased from $8 billion to $36 billion and the cost of living increased by approximately 18,500%. Therefore _____ Moreover, the lack of strategy and political decision making made by Leopoldo Galtieri and the government during the Falkland’s War caused the Junta regine to collapse resulting in the transition from dictatorship to democracy. Due to the lack of leadership by General Mendez, Argentina was incapable of making decisions during a critical time in the Falkland’s War. General Mendez had poor strategic positioning of the troops during the war because he was unable to make key decisions such as not giving support to the troops and ordering them on how to attack the British. He also was lacking the ability to organize his troops and wasn’t able to implement a strategy to defeat the British or teach his troops combat strategy which was essential to win the war. An example of this is when Argentinean troops were attacked by the British at Goose Grienne where General Mendez had placed his soldiers with no support, lacking the equipment to defend themselves from the British. Throughout the war, General Mendez had considered to surrender which caused the troops and citizens to question his management, guidance and abilities to make vital decisions.