Guillermo Vargas Aignasse (born in 1943, disappeared 1976) was an Argentine Peronist politician, serving as a provincial Senator in

Tucumán Province Tucumán () is the most densely populated, and the second-smallest by land area, of the provinces of Argentina. Located in the northwest of the country, the province has the capital of San Miguel de Tucumán, often shortened to Tucumán. Neigh ...

from 1973 until his disappearance in 1976. In 2008, two former generals were jailed for life for his disappearance.Argentine chiefs jailed for life

BBC Online BBC Online, formerly known as BBCi, is the BBC's online service. It is a large network of websites including such high-profile sites as BBC News and BBC Sport, Sport, the on-demand video and radio services branded BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds, t ...

, 28 August 2008.

Background

Vargas Aignasse was born and raised in Andalgalá, Catamarca Province, and was a

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

by profession, teaching in the discipline until his election to the Provincial Senate of Tucumán in 1973. He was elected on the

Frejuli See also ''September 1973 Argentine presidential election'' The first Argentine general election of 1973 was held on 11 March. Voters chose both the President and their legislators. Background The 1966 coup d'état against the moderate Presi ...

ticket that brought Peronists back to power, and was associated with the left-wing faction of Peronism, having belonged to the center-left FANE (National Student Associations Front).''Página/12'': Hay muchos fantasmas que lo abruman
''Diario del Cuyo'': Guardia de Hierro del PJ
Amid the worst climate of violence in the country, Tucumán Province was placed under

martial law Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Use Marti ...

in January 1975, after which

Operativo Independencia Operativo Independencia ("Operation Independence") was a 1975 Argentine military operation in Tucumán Province to crush the People's Revolutionary Army (ERP), a Guevarist guerrilla group which tried to create a Vietnam-style war front in the no ...

, a

counterinsurgency Counterinsurgency (COIN) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the activities of guerrillas or revolutionari ...

offensive, was launched by presidential order. The installation of General

Antonio Domingo Bussi Antonio Domingo Bussi (17 January 1926 – 24 November 2011) was an Army General and politician prominent in the recent history of Tucumán Province, Argentina. Life and times Early career Bussi was born in Victoria in Argentina's Entre Ríos Pr ...

as its commander in December coincided with Vargas Aignasse's investigation of provincial Police Chief Colonel Antonio Arrechea on reports of drug trafficking. The 1976 military coup, on March 24, resulted in Vargas Aignasse's arrest by provincial police, who had their detainee turn in all documentation regarding the Arrechea case. Days later, his brother, Rodolfo, was allowed to see the prisoner from above a patio, following which, per police testimony, he was released from prison on 5 April and 'kidnapped by parties unknown' while being taken home in an official car. He was later reportedly seen alive and in pain by a number of witnesses, though his whereabouts afterwards remained unknown. Unable to do so until after the return of democracy in 1983, Rodolfo Vargas Aignasse filed a missing persons case on February 6, 1984. Ultimately, and despite the unwillingness of numerous witnesses to testify, Bussi was arrested for ordering Vargas Aignasse's abduction, on October 15, 2003.Dictamen de procesamiento d
Indictment of Generals Antonio Domingo Bussi and Luciano Benjamín Menéndez, Federal Appeals Court of Tucumán
During the trial that formally began in July 2008, former trade union leader Juan Antonio Palavecino testified that he had seen Vargas Aignasse in Tucumán police headquarters showing signs of torture on April 6, 1976, one day after his supposed kidnapping, and contrary to the official story.
'' Clarín'', 28 August 2008. Bussi and former General

Luciano Benjamín Menéndez Luciano Benjamín Menéndez (19 June 1927 – 27 February 2018) was an Argentine general and convicted human rights violator and murderer. Commander of the Third Army Corps (1975–79), he played a prominent role in the murders of social activis ...

were found guilty of Vargas Aignasse's

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

and sentenced to life imprisonment on August 28. Rodolfo Vargas Aignasse was elected to the Argentine Chamber of Deputies in 1987, and the disappeared lawmaker's son, Gerónimo Vargas Aignasse, is currently a member of the Chamber.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vargas Aignasse, Guillermo 1943 births 1970s missing person cases 1976 deaths Argentine physicists Justicialist Party politicians Members of the Legislature of Tucumán Missing people Missing person cases in Argentina People from Catamarca Province People killed in the Dirty War