PERONISM

On June 4, 1943, the soldiers belonging to the GOU (Group Work for the Unification of
the Army) carried out a coup, with Colonel Juan Domingo Perón as its main ideologue.
They succeeded in overthrowing President Ramón Castillo, taking his place as General
Pedro Ramírez, who appointed General Edelmiro Farrell as Minister of War and was
the one who would allow Perón to become head of the Secretary of the Ministry of War.
In August of that same year, a conflict occurred in the meat union in which José Peter,
the leader, was arrested. Perón personally intervened and negotiated with the unions
to lift the strike and release Peter. This is how Perón acquired a position in the Ministry
of Labour and Welfare, under the presidency of Farrell. Said position in the Secretariat
gave Perón greater popularity and power in the political environment, his main
objective being to get closer to the workers.

On the other hand, the traditional political parties saw in Perón a possible incarnation of
fascism in Argentina, at the same time that the Allies were winning the war. Such a
position pitted these parties against the unions, who placed them on the same side as
the business ones, being classified as anti-Peronists. Under this political context, Perón
decided to launch his candidacy for president, which further divided the country into
Peronists and anti-Peronists.

Within the forces, there was an important change that left Perón with less support and
he was asked to resign. To avoid spilling blood, Perón agrees to resign and on October
11, 1945, he moves away from the Capital. This provoked popular unrest and
complicated the situation of the government, the ministers of the Ministry of Labor and
Social Security could not satisfy the needs of the working class. Then, President Farrell
orders the arrest of Colonel Perón, who is taken to Martín García Island. Such an event
shocked and mobilized the unions.

On October 17, 1945, a march was organized whose objectives were the liberation of
Perón and the reinstatement of his positions. The city, commercially and
administratively, was stopped, the followers of Perón advanced towards the
Government House, thanks to the fact that some trade unionists managed to speak
with him, who had suggested to press in that place. President Farrell was willing to
negotiate with Pistarini and Mercante, both Peronist soldiers, everything that Perón had
prepared and even the possibility of democratic elections, but he was impassive in the
face of the colonel's release. That same night, Perón was released.

Cipriano Reyes, catalogued as the hero of the March 17 by Perón, decides that it is
time to organize a new political party. Kicking off the formation of the Labour Party,
based on the Labour Party of Great Britain, but made up solely of the Peronist unions.
The Labor Party was finally founded at the end of October 45. On February 24, 1946,
Perón launched his candidacy for president. The anti-Peronist parties promoted by the
US ambassador, Spruille Braden, favoured Perón's candidacy, since Labor launched
the slogan “Braden or Perón”, with patriotic overtones. Finally, the Perón-Quijano
formula wins the elections against the Tamborini-Mosca formula, coming from the so-
called Democratic Union, which included those anti-Peronist parties.

Perón began his government by presenting the first Five-Year Plan, which was an
important compilation of data from all ministerial areas on the state of the country. The
main concern was in health programs, hospital construction and working-class
neighbourhoods. Although the most important step was the purchase of English
railways, delivered as payment after a debt that the English had with Argentina. From
there, public services gradually became part of the State.

The country's economy, during the first three years, would be under the command of
Miguel Miranda, who nationalized the Central Bank and created the IAPI (Argentine
Institute for the Promotion of Exchange). But his policy was so chaotic in its application
that it was eventually replaced by the Social Economic Council. The increase in
industrial production, the construction of oil and gas pipelines, the discovery of some
mineral deposits, the use of coal, the positive modification of imports and the increase
in the average consumption, would be recorded as the most important achievements of
the First Presidency of Peronism.

The result of the elections of November 11, 1951, brought the victory of the Perón-
Quijano formula against the radical Balbín-Frondizi binomial. Both female suffrage and
presidential re-election played important roles in the results of these elections. For this
second presidency, Evita would be the one who would accompany Perón as vice
president, but she had to resign the nomination and, on July 26, 1952, she died due to
an illness. After the death of Evita, in that same year, the inflation record was reached
and there were tremendous droughts. The second Five-Year Plan was presented, it
spoke pompously of political sovereignty, but it was then that negotiations began with
North American companies for the exploitation of national oil. On April 15, 1953, while
Perón was speaking to a large concentration in the Plaza de Mayo, several bombs
exploded (causing five deaths) and in response, the Jockey Club building and the
Casa del Pueblo were attacked. Radical, and other party headquarters were looted and
burned. The prisons already housed hundreds of political prisoners and there were also
many exiles in Uruguay.

In 1954, the government began to experience its first friction with the Church, a group
of Catholics founded the opposition Christian Democratic Party and Perón classified
them as disturbing priests. When a number of them were imprisoned, Cardinal Copello,
a 1945 ally, distanced himself from the president. The Peronist bloc in the Chamber of
Deputies began to consider projects contrary to the interests of the Church, including
the separation of the Church and the State. The internal crisis became more and more
acute and, on July 5, Perón asked for a political truce. The government was forced to
negotiate and offered the radios, which were used by Frondizi (UCR), among others, to
request the resignation of the president, it was too late to pacify. On September 16,
another military uprising occurred that overthrew Perón and, a few days later and
despite the support of the CGT, he drafted his resignation and handed it over to
General Franklin Lucero, his Army Minister.

On September 20, 1955, Perón's exile began in Paraguay, although he would continue
directing the future policies of his movement. In Argentina, with General Aramburu he
was in power, the Peronist Party was dissolved, the CGT intervened and the figure of
Perón was prohibited. And the 1949 Constitution devised by Perón was modified in a
Constituent Convention organized by the military government. Meanwhile, in Caracas,
Perón meets with a representative of Frondizi (UCRI), reaching an agreement that
Perón would suggest voting for him in 1958. Frondizi wins the elections and, little by
little, the pact begins to weaken. From Spain, at his Puerta de Hierro residence, Perón
began to organize the "Operative Return" in 1964, which failed, along with all his other
attempts to return to power. In 1970, ex-president Aramburu was kidnapped and
assassinated by the Montoneros, who were the armed wing of the Peronist youth,
which began with the armed struggle of a Peronist sector against the military
dictatorship of the time.
In 1973, the FREJULI formula, Cámpora-Solano Lima won the elections and Peronism
retakes the power of the government. Three weeks later, Perón returns to Argentina
and both Cámpora and his government resign to make room for Perón. That same
year, the Perón-Perón formula won, with Isabelita as vice president, but the division
within Peronism was already too deep, reaching the maximum point after the
confrontation between the government and the sectors of the youth that promoted the
armed struggle, unauthorized by Perón. Adding that the foreign debt was already
several billion dollars.

Finally, Perón died on July 1, 1974, assuming the presidency Isabelita, his wife. When
accusations of all kinds related to administrative corruption and a check from the
Crusade for Justicialist Solidarity began to circulate, with which the president tried to
pay a personal debt, they marked the inevitable collapse of the government. Some
wanted to impeach the president, while the country was placed on the brink of default.
The 1976 coup in Argentina deposed the three constitutional powers on March 24 of
that year, overthrowing Isabel Perón from office. The coup-installed a civil-military
dictatorship in power that called itself the National Reorganization Process and was
characterized by implementing a systematic plan of State terrorism, which remained in
power until December 1983.