Campo de Mayo is a military base located in

Greater Buenos Aires Greater Buenos Aires ( es, Gran Buenos Aires, GBA), also known as the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area ( es, Área Metropolitana de Buenos Aires, AMBA), refers to the urban agglomeration comprising the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and the adjac ...

, Argentina, northwest of

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. Campo de Mayo covers an area of and is one of the most important

military base A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. A military base always provides accommodations for ...

s in Argentina, including

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- ...

's: * General Lemos Combat Support School * Sergeant Cabral Army NCO School * Campo de Mayo Military Hospital * Metropolitan Military Garrison HQ * Army Infantry School * Army Cavalry School * Army School of Communications * Army Engineering School * Army Artillery School * 601 Air Assault Regiment *

601 Commando Company The 601 Commando Company ( es, Compañía de Comandos 601) is a special operations unit of the Argentine Army. History Created on 2 April 1982, it was based on the original ''Equipo Especial de Lucha contra la Subversión Halcón 8'' created b ...

* main units of

Argentine Army Aviation The Argentine Army Aviation ( es, Comando de Aviación de Ejército, AvEj) is the army aviation branch of the Argentine Army. Their members have the same rank insignia and titles as the rest of the Army. Along with its primary role of supporting ...

It is also home for the aviation service of the

Argentine National Gendarmerie The Argentine National Gendarmerie ( es, Gendarmería Nacional Argentina, GNA) is the national gendarmerie force and corps of border guards of the Argentine Republic. It has a strength of 70,000. The gendarmerie is primarily a frontier guard forc ...

History

Development of the base was authorized by a Congressional bill sponsored by the Minister of War, General

Pablo Riccheri Pablo Riccheri (August 8, 1859 – July 29, 1936) was an Argentine army officer and minister of war during the second administration of president Julio Roca. Life and times Riccheri was born in San Lorenzo, Santa Fe to Catalina Ciufardi and Lazz ...

, and signed by President

Julio Roca Alejo Julio Argentino Roca Paz (July 17, 1843 – October 19, 1914) was an army general and statesman who served as President of Argentina from 1880 to 1886 and from 1898 to 1904. Roca is the most important representative of the Generation ...

on August 8, 1901. A site was later chosen northwest of Buenos Aires, for which land was purchased from Eugenio Mattaldi in 1910. Between 1976 and 1982, during the de facto military dictatorship called

National Reorganization Process The National Reorganization Process (Spanish: ''Proceso de Reorganización Nacional'', often simply ''el Proceso'', "the Process") was the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983, in which it was supported by the United Sta ...

, there were four secret detention centres inside the base. The most notorious were "La Casita", "Prisión Militar de Encausados", "El Campito" and the "Hospital Militar," where newborn babies were kidnapped from pregnant women among the

disappeared An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person by a state or political organization, or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organi ...

by the regime.Andersen, Martin. ''Dossier Secreto''. Westview Press, 1993. The Campo de mayo was also the site of an April 1987 mutiny by Lt. Col.

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 ...

and executed by men loyal to him known as ''

Carapintadas The ' ( en, Painted Faces) were a group of mutineers in the Argentine Army, who took part in various uprisings between 1987 and 1990 during the presidencies of Raúl Alfonsín and Carlos Menem in Argentina. The rebellions, while at first thought ...

'' ("painted faces," from their use of camouflage paint). Instigated despite the passage of the

Full Stop Law The Full stop law, ''Ley de Punto Final'', was passed by the National Congress of Argentina in 1986, three years after the end of the military dictatorship of the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional (1976 to 1983) and restoration of democracy. F ...

, which limited prosecutions of nearly 600 officers implicated in the

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 ...

, the incident was tantamount to a coup attempt against President

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 ...

, who successfully stayed the mutiny.

References

External links

Video Report from the Campo de Mayo trials
Populated places in Buenos Aires Province Military installations of Argentina Argentine Army Military schools Military installations established in 1910 1910 establishments in Argentina {{BuenosAiresAR-geo-stub