Background
Héctor José Cámpora was born in Mercedes on 26 March 1909, the son of Italian immigrants.
Héctor José Cámpora was born in Mercedes on 26 March 1909, the son of Italian immigrants.
Cámpora was a leader in student politics.
In 1944, while practicing dentistry, he was elected to a municipal office in Buenos Aires Province, as a Peronist supporter. He was elected as a Peronist to the national Chamber of Deputies in 1946 and was its president from 1948 to 1953.
When Perón was ousted in the 1955 coup, Cámpora was imprisoned by the Pedro Eugenio Aramburu government. He escaped and fled the country, returning to Argentina in 1960. In 1965, with Arturo Umberto Illia’s People’s Radical Party government in power, Cámpora again won election to municipal office.
Thereafter, Cámpora served as Perón’s liaison to various factions and personalities within the Peronist movement inside Argentina. The movement was divided into political and trade union branches, with each branch further frag-mented by contending leaders. Cámpora’s work on Perón’s behalf was extremely delicate and difficult, compounded by the rise of guerrilla groups, some of which proclaimed themselves Peronists.
Cámpora was chosen as presidential candidate in 1973 of the pro-Peronist coalition Frejuli, although his candidacy was opposed by some labor bureaucrats. He was declared elected.
Some of the policies Cámpora inaugurated as president were more radical and nationalistic than those favored by Perón. Within less than two months of taking office on May 25, Cámpora and his vice president resigned to allow new elections. Perón was elected to the presidency, with his wife, Isabelita as vice president.
Although Cámpora remained loyal to Perón, Perón was upset with Cámpora’s relationship with the more radical part of the Peronist movement. Following his resignation, Cámpora was appointed ambassador to Mexico and served as a spokesman for the more leftist factions of Peronism, particularly after Perón’s death in 1974. He returned to Argentina in 1976 and escaped the coup by taking asylum in the Mexican Embassy until 1979, when he was released. He died in Mexico.