![Carapintadas](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Carapintadas.jpg)
The ' ( en, Painted Faces) were a group of mutineers in the
Argentine Army
The Argentine Army ( es, Ejército Argentino, EA) is the land force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of Argentina. Under the Argentine Constitution, the president of Argentina is the commander- ...
, who took part in various uprisings between 1987 and 1990 during the
presidencies
A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified by a ...
of
Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín (12 March 1927 – 31 March 2009) was an Argentine lawyer and statesman who served as President of Argentina from 10 December 1983 to 8 July 1989. He was the first democratically elected president after more than ...
and
Carlos Menem
Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. Ideologically, he identified as a Peronist and supported economically liberal policies. H ...
in
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
. The rebellions, while at first thought to be an attempt at a military coup, were staged primarily to assert displeasure against the civilian government and make certain military demands known.
Background
Following Argentina’s return to democracy in 1983 with the election of Raúl Alfonsín, the new democratic government sought justice for the human rights violations perpetuated by the military government. The creation of CONADEP, the publication of
''Nunca Más'' report, the reform to the Military Justice Code, and the
Trial of the Juntas
The Trial of the Juntas ( es, Juicio a las Juntas) was the judicial trial of the members of the ''de facto'' military government that ruled Argentina during the dictatorship of the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional (''el proceso''), which laste ...
(''Juicio de las Juntas'') were some of the measures taken to shed light on what had happened during the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional and bring the perpetrators to justice.
Carapintadas uprisings
On April 15, 1987, Lieutenant Colonel
Aldo Rico
Aldo Rico (born 4 March 1943) is an Argentine retired Lieutenant Colonel and politician, famous for his role in the episodes of 1987 (usually referred to as "Semana Santa", or Easter week) and 1988 (the "Monte Caseros" mutiny) where sectors of the ...
led the first uprising of the Carapintadas at the
Campo de Mayo
Campo de Mayo is a military base located in Greater Buenos Aires, Argentina, northwest of Buenos Aires.
Campo de Mayo covers an area of and is one of the most important military bases in Argentina, including Argentine Army's:
* General Lemos Co ...
Infantry School in Buenos Aires.
The Carapintadas referred to this uprising as ''Operación Dignidad'', a reflection of their demands for honor and respect to be shown to the Armed Forces, something that the Carapintadas felt had been lost under the new democratic regime.
Among this general sentiment, there was also a call for the end to the trials for human rights violations and removal of the army chief of staff.
In future uprisings, the Carapintadas would include expansion of the military budget among their demands.
President Alfonsín addressed an estimated 200,000 protestors who had gathered in front of the ''
Casa Rosada
The ''Casa Rosada'' (, eng, Pink House) is the office of the president of Argentina. The palatial mansion is known officially as ''Casa de Gobierno'' ("House of Government" or "Government House"). Normally, the president lives at the Quinta de ...
'' (Argentina's presidential palace), promising to end the conflict, before traveling to Campo de Mayo to negotiate with Rico.
On April 19, 1987, the Carapintadas surrendered.
The Carapintadas revolted again under Rico's command in January 1988 in
Monte Caseros. Six other regiments joined Rico in solidarity, adding up to a total of 350 soldiers.
An unconditional surrender followed 5 days later, whereupon Rico was expelled from the army and imprisoned, while other Carapintada members were forced to retire, expelled from the army, or exiled.
The third uprising took place in on December of that year, when members of the
Albatros special unit, led by
Mohamed Alí Seineldín
Mohamed Alí Seineldín (Arabic:محمد علي زين الدين) (November 12, 1933 – September 2, 2009) was an Argentine army colonel who participated in two failed uprisings against the democratically elected governments of both President Ra ...
, took control of the military barracks in
Villa Martelli
Villa Martelli town in the Partido of Vicente Lopez, in the Greater Buenos Aires metro area.
History
The first recorded settlement in the area occurred on May 6, 1910, and the town was officially recognized by the Provincial Legislature on July 2 ...
. The demands of this rebellion were similar to the previous two: they requested the resignation of General Caridi and that his replacement be pro-Carapintada; full amnesty beyond the Due Obedience law; and an increase in military salaries.
However, by this rebellion, the demands of the Carapintada were beginning to become much more vague than the previous uprisings under Rico.
They were later followed by around 1,000 troops of the three armed forces. The mutineers surrendered days later, but only Seineldín and Major Hugo Abete were arrested. Several of the mutineers' demands were conceded by the government, such as the replacement of General Caridi with General Gassino and a military pay increase.
As was reported in the ''
Buenos Aires Herald
The ''Buenos Aires Herald'' was an English language daily newspaper published in Buenos Aires, Argentina from 1876 to 2017. Its slogan was ''A World of Information in a few words''.
History
Under the original name of ''The Buenos Ayres Herald'', ...
'' at the time, and in ''
The Journal of Commerce
''The Journal of Commerce'' is a biweekly magazine published in the United States that focuses on global trade topics. First published in 1827 in New York, it has a circulation of approximately 15,000. It provides editorial content to manage da ...
'' and other US publications, both Rico and Seineldín spent time in
Central America
Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...
, where they trained Argentine cadres and other troops involved in supporting the US anti-
leftist
Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
mission in the region. Both men have more than tangential connection to the organized
torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...
and
human rights
Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
violations that were carried out by the
Argentine military
The Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, in es, Fuerzas Armadas de la República Argentina, are controlled by the Commander-in-Chief (the President) and a civilian Minister of Defense. In addition to the Army, Navy and Air Force, there are ...
during the nation's
Dirty War
The Dirty War ( es, Guerra sucia) is the name used by the military junta or civic-military dictatorship of Argentina ( es, dictadura cívico-militar de Argentina, links=no) for the period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983 a ...
.
In October 1989, president elect
Carlos Menem
Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. Ideologically, he identified as a Peronist and supported economically liberal policies. H ...
signed a
pardon
A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...
for a number of detained military men; including 39 held by events during the
military dictatorship
A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer.
The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the m ...
, and 164 Carapintadas. In spite of this, on December 3, 1990 Seineldín again staged what would become known as the most violent Carapintada uprising. After the takeover of eight regiments, the rebellion ended with several deaths and 300 arrested.
Because of President Menem’s positive relations with the military, the uprising did not gain much military support and was shut down by the loyalist military within 36 hours.
A few days later, Menem signed the pardon for all the most important people convicted for misdeeds during the Dirty War.
Significance
The uprisings of the Carapintadas had significant effects on the trajectory of Argentine civil-military relations and transitional justice processes. President Alfonsín’s government inherited a substantial amount of debt from its military predecessor, which led to intense slashing of the military budget. This was interpreted as an attempt to undercut and weaken the military in addition to the humiliation of the human rights trials and denunciation of the National Reorganization Process.
The first rebellion was also the first outright expression of the Argentine Armed Forces regarding the memory of the Dirty War.
In the eyes of the Carapintadas, the National Reorganization Process had been a necessary war against Communist subversion and the military had saved the Argentine way of life.
The rebellions as a whole created rifts within the military itself: while the non-Carapintada military did not fully support the rebellion, they were unwilling to repress the Carapintadas until the final uprising under Menem.
The rebellions also created tensions and power struggles between the government and military for several years afterward. Rather than attempting to organically cultivate military support for the democratic civilian government, Alfonsín’s administration had instead attempted to force the Armed Forces to respect civilian control.
Additionally, the government’s response to the uprisings weakened civilian faith in the new democracy’s ability to manage the military and proceed with human rights rectification. The passing of the Due Obedience Law shortly after the first Carapintada uprising in 1987 was seen by many human rights groups and activists as Alfonsín making concessions with what remained of authoritarian rule.
Leaders of the Carapintadas later entered politics. Aldo Rico formed
MODIN and ran for president in
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...
, while Gustavo Obeid formed the
Peoples Reconstruction Party. Both parties have a right-wing nationalist orientation.
See also
*
1989 attack on La Tablada Regiment
The 1989 attack on La Tablada barracks was an assault on the military barracks located in La Tablada, in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, by 40 members of '' Movimiento Todos por la Patria'' (MTP), commanded by former ERP leader Enrique G ...
External links
Military Uprisings Clarín "Asalto al cuartel de La Tablada"
Notes
{{Authority control
Far-right politics in Argentina
Presidency of Raúl Alfonsín
Military history of Argentina
Anti-communism in Argentina
Mutineers