Argentina History 1955-1983

The National Reorganization Process (Spanish: Proceso de Reorganización Nacional, PRN; often simply el Proceso, "the Process") was the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from the coup d'état of 24 March 1976 until the transfer of power on 10 December 1983 to a government elected at the 1983 general election. In Argentina it is often known simply as the última junta militar ("last military junta"), última dictadura militar ("last military dictatorship"), última dictadura cívico-militar ("last civil–military dictatorship"), or última dictadura cívico-eclesial-militar ("last civil–clerical-military dictatorship")—because there have been several in the country's history and no others like it since it ended. In journalism, and more rarely in academic literature, it has sometimes been referred to as totalitarian for its state terrorism mechanisms and an ideology centered around "national integrity", although the more commonly used terms in academia are "authoritarian" and "bureaucratic-authoritarian". Some scholars describe the regime as an example of neo-fascism. The Argentine Armed Forces seized political power during the March 1976 coup against the presidency of Isabel Perón, the successor and widow of former President Juan Perón, at a time of growing economic and political instability. Congress was suspended, political parties were banned, civil rights were limited, and free market and deregulation policies were introduced. The President of Argentina and his ministers were appointed from military personnel while leftists and Peronists were persecuted. The junta launched the Dirty War, a campaign of state terrorism against opponents involving torture, extrajudicial murder and systematic forced disappearances. Some 30,000 citizens were killed or "disappeared" during the military dictatorship. Public opposition due to civil rights abuses and inability to solve the worsening economic crisis in Argentina caused the junta to invade the Falkland Islands in April 1982. After starting and then losing the Falklands War against the United Kingdom in June, the junta began to collapse and finally relinquished power in 1983 with the election of President Raúl Alfonsín. Members of the National Reorganization Process were prosecuted in the Trial of the Juntas in 1985, receiving sentences ranging from life imprisonment to courts-martial for mishandling the Falklands War. They were pardoned by President Carlos Menem in 1989 but were re-arrested on new charges in the early 2000s. Almost all of the surviving junta members are currently serving sentences for crimes against humanity and genocide.