Armando Lambruschini (June 15, 1924 – August 15, 2004) was an

admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet ...

in the

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 th ...

Life and career

Lambruschini enrolled at the Argentine Naval School in 1942, and graduated as a

midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Af ...

in 1946. He was later named

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the Navy, and served in that capacity aboard the cruiser

ARA General Belgrano ARA ''General Belgrano'' (C-4) was an Argentine Navy light cruiser in service from 1951 until 1982. Originally commissioned by the U.S. as , she saw action in the Pacific theatre of World War II before being sold by the United States to Argent ...

.''La Nación''
Lambruschini was promoted to Head of the Navy Chiefs of Staff in 1975, a rank second only to Admiral Emilio Massera in that branch. (Both men graduated from the Naval School in the same year.) His prominent role in the

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 St ...

that took power in the

March 1976 coup March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March ...

allowed him to oversee an ambitious modernization plan for the navy. Ongoing friction between President

Jorge Videla Jorge Rafael Videla (; ; 2 August 1925 – 17 May 2013) was an Argentine military officer and dictator, Commander in Chief of the Army, member of the Military Junta, and ''de facto'' President of Argentina from 29 March 1976 to 29 March 198 ...

and Admiral Massera prompted the latter's September 15, 1978 replacement by Lambruschini, who served in that capacity until September 11, 1981. Lambruschini's role 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 ...

during the dictatorship led to numerous criminal charges including murder, illegal arrest, torture, theft and forgery. Indicted during the historic

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 last ...

of 1985, Lambruschini was found guilty on December 9 and sentenced to 8 years's imprisonment.''El País'' (19 Aug 2004)
In 1990, he was among those pardoned by President

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. He ...

, and was freed from prison and had his rank of admiral reinstated. He later faced civil lawsuits, and in November 1994 was ordered to pay (with Massera) $1 million to a victim whose family was abducted and murdered in 1976. In 1997, Italian courts tried him for crimes ''in absentia''; and in 2003 he was accused of further cases of human rights violations. His advanced age, close to 80, afforded him the benefit of

house arrest In justice and law, house arrest (also called home confinement, home detention, or, in modern times, electronic monitoring) is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to their residence. Travel is usually restricted, if al ...

. He died on August 15, 2004. His 15-year-old daughter Paula was murdered in August 1978 when a bomb was planted under Lambruschini's bed by Lucila Adela Revora, a member of the

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 Montone ...

guerrillas. Two neighbors also died in the explosion.Montoneros statement claiming the bombing of Lambruschini's home

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lambruschini, Armando 1924 births 2004 deaths Argentine people of Italian descent Argentine Navy admirals Argentine people convicted of murder Burials at La Chacarita Cemetery