Argentine general and dictator, de facto President of Argentina from 1981 to 1982
In this
Spanish name
, the first or paternal
surname
is
Galtieri
and the second or maternal family name is
Castelli
.
Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri Castelli
(
Spanish pronunciation:
[leo?poldo
fo?tu?nato
?al?tje?i
kas?teli]
; 15 July 1926 – 12 January 2003) was an
Argentine
general who served as
President of Argentina
from December 1981 to June 1982. Galtieri exercised his control over
Argentina
as a
military ruler
during the
National Reorganization Process
as leader of the Third Junta with
Jorge Anaya
and
Basilio Lami Dozo
.
[2]
Galtieri was chief
combat engineer
of the
Argentine Army
and a supporter of the
1976 military coup d'etat
which helped him become
commander-in-chief
of the army in 1980. Galtieri overthrew
Roberto Viola
and was appointed President and established Argentina as a strong
Cold War
ally of
NATO
and the
United States
, while introducing
fiscally conservative
economic reforms, and increasing
Argentine covert support
for the
anti-communist
Contras
guerrillas during the
Nicaraguan
civil war. In domestic policy, General Galtieri continued the
Dirty War
with the
601 Intelligence Battalion
death squad
reporting directly to him.
[3]
Galtieri's declining popularity due to his
human rights abuses
and the worsening
economic stagnation
caused him to order an invasion of the
Falkland Islands
in April 1982. Galtieri was removed from power after Argentina’s defeat by the
British armed forces
in the
Falklands War
in June, which led to the
restoration of democracy
and, in 1986, his court martial prosecution and conviction for
war crimes
and other offenses. Galtieri was pardoned by
Carlos Menem
in 1989 and lived in obscurity until his arrest for new charges shortly before his death in 2003.
Early life
[
edit
]
Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri was born on 15 July 1926 in
Caseros
,
Buenos Aires Province
to working-class
Italian Argentine
parents Francisco Rosario Galtieri and Nelida Victoria Castelli.
[4]
In 1943, at 17 years-old, he enrolled at the
National Military Academy
to study
civil engineering
, and his early military career was as an officer in the engineering branch of the
Argentine Army
. As well as rising through the ranks of the military, he continued his studies in engineering until the mid-1950s. In 1949 he graduated from the
US Army School of the Americas
.
[5]
In 1958, he became a professor of engineering at the Senior War College.
[6]
Galtieri was married to Lucia Noemi Gentili, and the couple had one son and two daughters.
[7]
Rise to power
[
edit
]
In 1975, after more than 25 years as a
combat engineer
, Galtieri became commander of the Argentine engineering corps. He was an enthusiastic supporter of the
March 1976 coup d'etat
that overthrew President
Isabel Peron
and started the self-styled
National Reorganisation Process
, the establishment of a right-wing
military junta
government in Argentina. This helped him rise through the ranks, becoming a
major general
in 1977, and
commander-in-chief
of the army in 1980 with the rank of
lieutenant general
. During the junta's rule,
Congress
was suspended,
trade unions
,
political parties
, and
provincial
governments were banned, and in what became known as the
Dirty War
, between 9,000 and 30,000 people deemed left-wing subversives
disappeared
from society with
torture
and
mass executions
being commonplace. Argentina's economy had been in dire condition prior to the coup and recovered for a short time. An impending economic collapse was one of the main justifications for the overthrow of Peron and the civilian government.
In March 1981, Galtieri visited the
United States
and was warmly received, as the
Reagan administration
viewed the regime as a
bulwark
against
communism
. National Security Advisor
Richard V. Allen
described him as a "majestic general". An adherent to the Argentine military's
Cold War
-era doctrine of "ideological frontiers", Galtieri secured his country's support for
Contra
rebel groups opposing the Socialist
Sandinista
government in
Nicaragua
during the
Nicaraguan Revolution
. In August, he sent advisers to help organize the
Nicaraguan Democratic Force
(FDN, for a time the principal Contra group), as well as training FDN leaders in Argentine bases. His support for this initiative allowed Galtieri to remove a number of rival generals.
Presidency
[
edit
]
On 22 December 1981, Galtieri was appointed
President of Argentina
one week after ousting General
Roberto Viola
, who had been in power since March. Officially Viola resigned due to a health issue and designated Interior Minister Horacio Liendo as his successor. In reality, Viola was removed from power due to his regime's inability to reverse the economic crisis which caused infighting within the military.
Galtieri retained direct control of the army whilst President of the governing Military Junta and did not appoint a new commander-in-chief.
[8]
Political policy
[
edit
]
Galtieri instituted limited political reforms which allowed the
expression of dissent
, and anti-junta demonstrations soon became common, as did agitation for a return to
democracy
.
[9]
Economic policy
[
edit
]
Galtieri appointed
conservative
economist and publisher
Roberto Alemann
as
Economy Minister
. Alemann inherited an economy in deep recession in the aftermath of
Jose Alfredo Martinez de Hoz
's economic policies of the late 1970s. Alemann slashed
spending
, began selling off government-owned industries (with only minor success), enacted a tight
monetary policy
, and ordered salaries frozen (amid 130% inflation).
[10]
The
Central Bank
Circular 1050, which tied mortgage rates to the value of the
US dollar
locally, was maintained, however, leading to further deepening of the crisis; GDP fell by 5%, and business investment by 20% over the weakened levels of 1981.
[11]
One of Galtieri's closest allies, the head of the First Army Corps, General
Guillermo Suarez Mason
, was named Chairman of
Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales
(YPF), at the time the state petroleum concern, and the largest company of any type in Argentina. Suarez Mason's role would contribute to a US$6 billion loss for the company, the largest recorded corporate loss in the world, up to that point.
[12]
Foreign policy
[
edit
]
Galtieri supported the
Central Intelligence Agency
in its fight against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, while he was warmly welcomed during his visit to the
White House
.
[13]
Argentina support became the principal source of funds and training for the Contras during Galtieri's tenure.
[14]
Argentine military and intelligence cooperation with the
Reagan Administration
ended in 1982 when Argentina invaded the
Falkland Islands
.
Falklands War
[
edit
]
By April 1982, Galtieri had been in office for four months and his popularity was low.
[15]
On 2 April, on his orders, Argentine forces invaded the
Falkland Islands
, a
United Kingdom
territory subject to a long-standing Argentine claim.
Initially the invasion was popular in Argentina, and the anti-junta demonstrations were replaced by patriotic demonstrations in support of Galtieri.
Galtieri and most of his government mistakenly believed the
United Kingdom
would not respond militarily.
[16]
[13]
The British government led by the prime minister,
Margaret Thatcher
, dispatched a naval task force to retake the islands militarily if Argentina refused to comply with a
United Nations resolution
demanding an immediate Argentine withdrawal. Argentina did not comply with the resolution which resulted in a
surrender to British forces
on 14 June 1982.
Defeat, fall from power, trial and prison
[
edit
]
On 14 June 1982, the Falklands' capital,
Stanley
, was
retaken by British forces
. The fact that an administration ruled by military figures failed to contain the British armed response provoked an unprecedented crisis inside the Junta. Galtieri was blamed for the defeat and was removed from power, and he spent the next 18 months at a well-protected country retreat while democracy was restored to Argentina. Along with other members of the former junta, he was arrested in late 1983 and charged in a military court with human rights violations during the Dirty War and with mismanaging the Falklands War. The Argentine Army's internal investigation, known as the Rattenbach report after the general who led it,
[17]
recommended that those responsible for the misconduct of the war be prosecuted under the Code of Military Justice.
[18]
In 1986 he was sentenced to twelve years in prison.
[19]
Galtieri was cleared of the civil rights charges in December 1985, but (together with the Air Force and Navy commanders-in-chief) in May 1986 he was found guilty of mishandling the war and sentenced to prison. All three appealed in a civil court, and the prosecution appealed for heavier sentences. In November 1988 the original sentences were confirmed, and all three commanders were stripped of their rank. In 1989, Galtieri and 39 other officers of the dictatorship received President
Carlos Menem
's
pardon
.
[20]
Later life, further accusations
[
edit
]
Galtieri was heavily blamed for Argentina's defeat in the Falklands War. Following his release from prison, he moved to the
Villa Devoto
suburb of Buenos Aires, and lived modestly with his wife Lucia. He became a recluse and refused most requests for interviews by journalists, though in a rare interview he stated he had "no regrets" over anything he had done during the Dirty War. He lived on an army pension of 9,000
pesos
per month, and attempted to claim a Presidential pension, but a judge denied it. In her ruling, the judge stated that his presidency had been illegal due to his never having been elected, and she also ordered him to pay court costs.
In May 2002, he was invited to the military parade of the
Argentine Army
for the celebrations of Argentine Army Day (Dia del Ejercito Argentino): the presence of the former "president de facto" caused a huge controversy in public opinion after he was confronted and questioned by the journalist Martin Ciccioli in the television programme
Kaos en la Ciudad
.
In July 2002, new civil charges were brought concerning the kidnapping of children and the disappearance of 18 leftist sympathizers in the late 1970s (while Galtieri was commander of the Second Army Corps), and the disappearance or death of three
Spanish
citizens at about the same time. Galtieri faced prosecution with 28 other officials, but due to his poor health, he was allowed to remain at home.
[21]
[22]
Death
[
edit
]
Leopoldo Galtieri underwent surgery for
pancreatic cancer
on 16 August 2002 at a hospital in Buenos Aires. He died there of a
heart attack
on 12 January 2003, aged 76.
[23]
His body was interred in a small mausoleum at
La Chacarita Cemetery
.
[
citation needed
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Argentina's Military Dictatorship
Archived
11 March 2010 at the
Wayback Machine
(in Spanish)
- ^
Dark Years:
Murio Galtieri, el general que llevo al pais a la guerra
- ^
Evans, Michael.
"Argentina: Secret U.S. Documents Declassified on Dirty War Atrocities"
.
www.gwu.edu
.
- ^
Oriana Fallaci
, Cambio 16, June 1982, Available Online
[1]
[
permanent dead link
]
"
Si, senora periodista, desciendo de italianos. Mis abuelos eran italianos. Mi abuelo de Genova y mi abuela de Calabria. Vinieron aqui con las oleadas de inmigrantes que se produjeron al comienzo de siglo. Eran obreros pobres, pronto hicieron fortuna.
" ("
Yes, madam reporter, I'm descended from Italians. My grandparents were Italian. My grandfather came from Genoa and my grandmother Calabria. They came here with the waves of immigration that occurred at the beginning of the century. They were poor workers, soon made a fortune.
")
- ^
Kohut, David; Vilella, Olga (2016).
Historical Dictionary of the Dirty Wars
. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 180.
ISBN
9781442276420
.
- ^
"Archived copy"
(PDF)
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 3 March 2016
. Retrieved
3 May
2013
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (
link
)
- ^
"Archived copy"
. Archived from
the original
on 4 March 2016
. Retrieved
3 May
2013
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (
link
)
- ^
"General Leopoldo Galtieri"
.
History Learning Site
.
- ^
"grows old with his Falklands secrets",
The Scotsman
, 2 April 2002"
. Archived from
the original
on 16 May 2013.
- ^
Lewis, Paul.
The Crisis of Argentine Capitalism
. University of North Carolina Press, 1990.
- ^
Argentina: From Insolvency to Growth
. World Bank Press, 1993.
- ^
Poneman, Daniel.
Argentina: Democracy on Trial.
Paragon House, 1987.
- ^
a
b
Pigna, Felipe (6 November 2017).
"Ronald Reagan y la guerra de Malvinas"
.
El Historiador
.
- ^
Scott, Peter Dale; Marshall, Jonathan.
Cocaine Politics
. University of California Press, 1991. (ISBN# needed)
- ^
Trueman, CN (26 May 2015).
"General Leopoldo Galtieri"
.
The History Learning Site
. Archived from
the original
on 3 July 2016
. Retrieved
10 November
2017
.
- ^
"
Que tenia que ver con despertar el orgullo nacional y con otra cosa. La junta ?Galtieri me lo dijo? nunca creyo que los britanicos darian pelea. El creia que Occidente se habia corrompido. Que los britanicos no tenian Dios, que Estados Unidos se habia corrompido. ... Nunca lo pude convencer de que ellos no solo iban a pelear, que ademas iban a ganar.
" ("This was neither about national pride nor anything else. The junta ? Galtieri told me ? never believed the British would respond. He thought the Western World was corrupt. That the British people had no God, that the U.S. was corrupt. ... I could never convince him that the British would not only fight back but also win.")
La Nacion
/Islas Malvinas Online.
"Haig: "Malvinas fue mi Waterloo"
"
(in Spanish). Archived from
the original
on 8 September 2006
. Retrieved
21 September
2006
.
- ^
"Pagina/12 :: Contratapa :: Rattenbach"
.
www.pagina12.com.ar
.
- ^
Millan, Antonio.
"Malvinas - Encuadramiento juridico de los responsables"
.
www.cescem.org.ar
.
- ^
"Pagina no encontrada"
.
www.clarin.com
. Archived from
the original
on 30 April 2021
. Retrieved
30 April
2021
.
- ^
"Pardon of Argentine Officers Angers Critics of the Military"
.
The New York Times
. 9 October 1989.
- ^
Hilton, Isobel (13 January 2003).
"General Leopoldo Galtieri"
.
The Guardian
. London.
- ^
"
"Frail, pathetic Galtieri".British Profile of former Argentine President"
.
MercoPress
.
- ^
"Former Argentine dictator Galtieri dies"
.
BBC News
. 12 January 2003
. Retrieved
28 February
2012
.
External links
[
edit
]