The Trelew Massacre was a mass execution of 16 political prisoners, militants of different

Peronist Peronism, also called justicialism,. The Justicialist Party is the main Peronist party in Argentina, it derives its name from the concept of social justice., name=, group= is an Argentine political movement based on the ideas and legacy of Ar ...

and

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * L ...

organizations, in

Rawson Rawson may refer to: Places *Rawson, Chubut, the capital of Chubut Province, Argentina *Rawson Department, Chubut, Argentina *Rawson Department, San Juan, Argentina **Villa Krause, also named Rawson, the capital city of the department * Rawson, Vic ...

prison by the military dictatorship of Argentina. The prisoners were recaptured after an escape attempt and subsequently shot down by marines led by Lieutenant Commander Luis Emilio Sosa in a simulated new attempt to escape. The marines forced the prisoners to fake a new escape, then executed them as revenge by the

Revolución Argentina Argentine Revolution ( es, Revolución Argentina, links=no) was the name given by its leaders to a military coup d'état which overthrew the government of Argentina in June 1966 and began a period of military dictatorship by a junta from the ...

for the successful escape of some of their comrades during the initial prison break. The

massacre A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...

took place in the early hours of 22 August 1972 in the

Almirante Marcos A. Zar Airport Almirante Marcos A. Zar Airport ( cy, Maes Awyr Almirante Marcos A. Zar, es, Aeropuerto Almirante Marcos A. Zar) is an airport in Trelew, Chubut Province, Argentina, named after the Argentine Navy Admiral and aviator Marcos Andrés Zar. The airp ...

, an

Argentine Navy The Argentine Navy (ARA; es, Armada de la República Argentina). This forms the basis for the navy's ship prefix "ARA". is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the ...

airbase located near the city of

Trelew Trelew (, from cy, tref "town" and the name of the founder, Lewis Jones) is a city in the eastern part of the Chubut Province of Argentina. Located in Patagonia, the city is the largest and most populous in the low valley of the Chubut River, wit ...

Chubut Chubut may refer to: * Chubut Province, Argentina * Chubut River in the Chubut Province * Chubut steamer duck The Chubut steamer duck or white-headed flightless steamer duck (''Tachyeres leucocephalus'') is a flightless duck endemic to Argenti ...

in Patagonia.

Evasion

At 18:30 on 15 August 1972, 110 captured guerrillas attempted a massive escape from the prison at Rawson, the capital of

Chubut Province Chubut ( es, Provincia del Chubut, ; cy, Talaith Chubut) is a province in southern Argentina, situated between the 42nd parallel south (the border with Río Negro Province), the 46th parallel south (bordering Santa Cruz Province), the Andes ra ...

in Argentina. In their escape, the guerrillas shot dead one guard (Gregorio Valenzuela) and another (Justino Galarraga) was critically wounded. Only six of the 110 inmates, which were members of the People's Revolutionary Army (ERP), Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) and

Montoneros Montoneros ( es, link=no, Movimiento Peronista Montonero-MPM) was an Argentine left-wing Peronist guerrilla organization, active throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. The name is an allusion to the 19th-century cavalry militias called Montoner ...

, succeeded. According to Galarraga (who survived by feigning death), Valenzuela was shot in the head as he lay wounded by Santucho's pregnant wife. The mastermind and head of the operation was

Mario Roberto Santucho Mario Roberto Santucho (12 August 1936 – 19 July 1976) was an Argentine revolutionary and guerrilla combatant, founder of the Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores ( Workers' Revolutionary Party, PRT) and leader of Argentina's largest Marxi ...

, leader of the Workers' Revolutionary Party, although some reports claim that

Marcos Osatinsky Marcos may refer to: People with the given name ''Marcos'' *Marcos (given name) Sports ;Surnamed * Dayton Marcos, Negro league baseball team from Dayton, Ohio (early twentieth-century) * Dimitris Markos, Greek footballer * Nélson Marcos, Portugue ...

(FAR) had conceived a plan to escape from the prison before Santucho's arrival. These two leaders, along with

Fernando Vaca Narvaja Fernando is a Spanish and Portuguese given name and a surname common in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Switzerland, former Spanish or Portuguese colonies in Latin America, Africa, the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka. It is equivalent to the Ge ...

, Roberto Quieto,

Enrique Gorriarán Merlo Enrique Haroldo Gorriarán Merlo (18 October 1941 – 22 September 2006) was an Argentine guerrilla, born in San Nicolás de los Arroyos, Buenos Aires Province. His family was affiliated with the Radical Civic Union, but at the age of 27 Gorr ...

and

Domingo Menna Domingo may refer to: People *Domingo (name), a Spanish name and list of people with that name *Domingo (producer) (born 1970), American hip-hop producer *Saint Dominic (1170–1221), Castilian Catholic priest, founder of the Friars popularly cal ...

, made up the so-called ''Leakage Committee'', and were the only ones able to escape, thanks to a waiting

Ford Falcon Ford Falcon is an automobile nameplate applied to several vehicles worldwide. * Ford Falcon (North America), an automobile produced by Ford from 1960 to 1970. * Ford Falcon (Argentina), a car built by Ford Argentina from 1962 until 1991. * Fo ...

, and reach Trelew airport where an Austral

BAC One-Eleven The BAC One-Eleven (or BAC-111/BAC 1-11) was an early jet airliner produced by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Originally conceived by Hunting Aircraft as a 30-seat jet, before its merger into BAC in 1960, it was launched as an 80-se ...

airliner, previously hijacked by a guerrilla group of supporters disguised as passengers, waited to fly the escapees to neighboring

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, then ruled by socialist President Salvador Allende. Other vehicles, which should have been waiting for the rest of the escapees, were not at the front of the prison due to a misunderstanding with the previously agreed-upon signals. However, a second group of 19 escapees managed to reach the airport on their own by commandeering three taxis, but arrived just in time to see the aircraft taking off.

Recapture

Seeing their chance of escaping disappear, the group called a press conference and surrendered without resistance to the Navy military personnel that surrounded the area, hoping the presence of journalists and judicial authorities would pressure the government to guarantee their lives. A military patrol under the command of Lieutenant Commander Luis Emilio Sosa, deputy chief of the Naval Air Base Almirante Zar, led the recaptured prisoners via a public transport unit to that military facility. Rejecting the prisoners' request to return to Rawson Prison, Captain Sosa argued that the new site would be temporary but necessary, as the prison riot at Rawson was still going on. Unfortunately, judge Alejandro Godoy, the director of the ''Jornada'' newspaper, the deputy director of the ''El Chubut'' newspaper, ''LU17'' director Hector "Pepe" Castro and lawyer Mario Abel Amaya, all of whom accompanied the prisoners as guarantors for their safety, were not allowed to enter with them under the excuse that the number of people was too large, and were forced to leave. The spectacular escape attempt and partial success of the six top guerrilla leaders, who later managed to travel from Chile to

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

, had the military government of the self-proclaimed ''Argentine Revolution'' and the public in suspense for tense days. The general feeling was that bloody reprisals would occur if the six escaped rebel leaders were not returned to Argentina. Because of this perception, on the morning of 17 August,

Justicialist Party The Justicialist Party ( es, Partido Justicialista, ; abbr. PJ) is a major political party in Argentina, and the largest branch within Peronism. Current president Alberto Fernández belongs to the Justicialist Party (and has, since 2021, served ...

sent a telegram to Minister of Interior

Arturo Mor Roig Arturo Mor Roig (14 December 1914-15 July 1974) was an Argentinian politician, who served as Minister of the Interior during the presidency of Alejandro Lanusse. As member of the Radical Civic Union, he was National Deputy elected in Buenos Aires ...

(part of the Radical Party board) stating that they demanded respect for the human rights of the political prisoners in the Rawson unit, and that he would be made responsible for all the prisoners' safety and well-being.

Shooting

While the government of Alejandro Agustin Lanusse tried to push the Chilean president Salvador Allende into deporting the political escapees as criminals, the whole area of Rawson and Trelew were virtually occupied by Army and Gendarmerie personnel, who were patrolling continuously and made additional escape attempts impossible. The air base in Trelew maintained a large force of 3,000 troops from the Navy. In such a high tension climate, members of the Chiefs of Staff of the armed forces, employees and ministers met on the night of 21 August at the Government House. They did not provide any information to waiting news reporters. At 03:30 on 22 August, at the Almirante Zar Naval Base, the 19 detainees were suddenly awakened and led out of their cells. According to the testimony of the three surviving prisoners, they were forced to lie face down and were gunned down by a patrol under Lieutenant Commander Luis Emilio Sosa, and lieutenant Roberto Bravo. Most died on the spot, while the injured were each given a coup de grâce. The official version of events indicated that a new escape attempt had occurred, with 16 dead and three wounded among the prisoners, but no casualties in the ranks of the Navy. That night, the government sanctioned Law 19.797, banning any dissemination of information regarding guerrilla organizations. In the following days, demonstrations took place in major cities of Argentina, and a number of bombs were placed in government offices to protest the killings. Those killed were: * Alejandro Ulla (PRT-ERP) * Alfredo Kohon (FAR) * Ana María Villarreal de Santucho 'Sayo' (PRT-ERP) * Carlos Alberto del Rey (PRT-ERP) * Carlos Astudillo (FAR) * Clarisa Lea Place (PRT-ERP) * Eduardo Capello (PRT-ERP) * Humberto Suárez (PRT-ERP) * Humberto Toschi (PRT-ERP) * José Ricardo Mena (PRT-ERP) * María Angélica Sabelli (Montoneros) * Mariano Pujadas (Montoneros) * Mario Emilio Delfino (PRT-ERP) * Miguel Ángel Polti (PRT-ERP) * Pedro Bonet (PRT-ERP) * Susana Lesgart (Montoneros) Survivors: * Alberto Miguel Camps (FAR - Disappeared in 1977) * María Antonia Berger (FAR - Disappeared in 1979) * Ricardo René Haidar (Montoneros - Disappeared in 1982)

Revenge for the killings

On 30 April 1973, rear admiral Hermes Quijada, who headed the press conference which circulated the military version of an alleged second escape attempt, was gunned down in Buenos Aires by ERP-22 de Agosto guerrillas. Quijada was driving in his car when two guerrillas riding a motorbike in tandem intercepted him and the pillion opened fire with his

Halcón ML-63 The ML-63 is a submachine gun manufactured by the Buenos Aires-based Halcon corporation. Overview The ML-63 is chambered in 9mm Parabellum and is fed from a 30-round magazine. The ML-63 also came with a fixed wooden stock, which appears to be bas ...

submachine gun A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine-fed, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to describe its design concept as an autom ...

, landing six shots on Quijada before being shot in the stomach by his chauffeur. On 22 August 1973, the first anniversary of the Trelew massacre, 150 demonstrators were arrested and four policemen injured, apparently by gasoline bombs. On the second anniversary of the massacre, ERP guerrillas attacked a police station in Virreyes and seriously wounded a policeman. That same day, a dozen bombs were set off in Córdoba and La Plata. On 21 August 1975, left-wing gunmen in the city of Cordoba attacked the central police headquarters with automatic fire and bombed the police radio communications centre, killing five policemen and wounding another four. Two days later, Montoneros guerrillas set off an underwater demolition charge in the engine room of the Argentinian destroyer ''Santísima Trinidad'', causing extensive damage but no casualties. On the fourth anniversary of the killings, two busloads of left-wing guerrillas attacked a highway police station in Buenos Aires suburb of Florencio Varela, and ten bombs exploded at street corners and subway stations, injuring three people.Security Forces kill 3 leftists, The Press-Courier - Aug 22, 1976
/ref>

Legacy

The Argentine Secretary for Human Rights from 2003 to 2012, Eduardo Luis Duhalde, who represented some of the 19 left-wing guerrillas that had been captured, said about the massacre:

References