Juan José Valle (March 15, 1896 – June 12, 1956) was an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

who headed a rebellion in 1956 against General Pedro Eugenio Aramburu's

dictatorship A dictatorship is an autocratic form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, who hold governmental powers with few to no Limited government, limitations. Politics in a dictatorship are controlled by a dictator, ...

Rebellion

Aramburu's ''

Revolución Libertadora The ''Revolución Libertadora'' (; ''Liberating Revolution'') as it named itself, was the civic-military dictatorship that ruled the Argentine Republic after overthrowing President Juan Domingo Perón, shutting down the National Congress of Ar ...

'' of September 1955 had ended

Juan Perón Juan Domingo Perón (, , ; 8 October 1895 – 1 July 1974) was an Argentine military officer and Statesman (politician), statesman who served as the History of Argentina (1946-1955), 29th president of Argentina from 1946 to Revolución Libertad ...

's second term of presidency. After the coup, Valle voluntarily left the army, an action that reflected the discontent of several military officers with Aramburu's regime. However, like other loyalist military officers such as Raúl Tanco, Valle was first detained in a military facility then was later transferred to house arrest. This was part of the aggressive anti-Peronist campaign, which included the government ban of the Peronist Party from future elections, the reversal of Perón's constitutional reforms, and the arrest of thousands of union leaders, among others. He then took part in planning a counter coup and headed a rebellion on 9 June 1956, which quickly spread through the country, but resulted only in seven combat fatalities. It failed and the rebels were captured by the government forces. The failure was attributed to poor planning and the lack of personal support of Perón, who was then living in

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Execution

Aramburu's regime decided to make an example of José Valle by executing him by firing squad alongside other rebels, on 12 June, in the National Penitentiary of Buenos Aires. This site is currently Las Heras Park, where a plaque in his honor remains to be seen. This execution led some sectors to name Aramburu's regime ''la Fusiladora'' (the verb ''fusilar'' meaning to execute by a firing-squad). This execution marked a turn in Argentina's history of

insurrection Rebellion is an uprising that resists and is organized against one's government. A rebel is a person who engages in a rebellion. A rebel group is a consciously coordinated group that seeks to gain political control over an entire state or a ...

s, which were not used to such massive retaliation. Between June 9 and June 12, 1956, 27 civilians and military personnel were executed, some of them illegally during the León Suárez massacre (narrated in

Rodolfo Walsh Rodolfo Jorge Walsh (January 9, 1927 – March 25, 1977) was an Argentine writer and journalist of Irish descent, considered the founder of investigative journalism in Argentina. He is most famous for his '' Open Letter from a Writer to the Milit ...

's classic

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, '' Operación Masacre''). This event lead to Aramburu's subsequent kidnapping and assassination by the

Montoneros Montoneros (, MPM) was an Argentine far-left politics, far-left Peronism, Peronist, Camilism, Camilist and Catholic Church, Roman Catholic revolutionary Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla organization, which emerged in the 1970s during the "Argentine ...

, a left-wing

Peronist Peronism, also known as justicialism, is an Argentine ideology and movement based on the ideas, doctrine and legacy of Juan Perón (1895–1974). It has been an influential movement in 20th- and 21st-century Argentine politics. Since 1946, Pe ...

group, in June 1970. Valle was posthumously promoted to

Lieutenant-general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was normall ...

References

External links

''Patriotas: a medio siglo los fusilados hablan. 1956 - 9 de junio - 2006'', Jefatura de Gabinete de la Provincia de Buenos Aires
1896 births 1956 deaths Argentine generals People executed by Argentina by firing squad Executed Argentine people Military personnel from Buenos Aires Executed military leaders Burials at La Plata Cemetery {{Mil-hist-stub