Background
Juan Carlos Onganía was born on 17 March 1914 in provincial Buenos Aires.
Juan Carlos Onganía was born on 17 March 1914 in provincial Buenos Aires.
He attended parochial schools before entering the military academy.
He rose to brigadier general by 1959 but was not politically prominent until he emerged as head of the Azules faction that defeated the Colorados in a 1962 military confrontation. The Azules believed that the military should stay out of politics; the Colorados believed that the military should rule.
Ongania was a powerful force behind the government’s calling elections which were won by Arturo Umberto lllia in 1963. In 1965 Ongania retired from active duty in protests over military promotions. Less than a year later he became president by the June 1966 coup which overthrew lllia.
Ongania then retired to private life.
Ongania was welcomed by many Argentines dismayed by the country’s economic stagnation and political unrest. However, the Ongania government soon disbanded all political parties and confiscatd their property; political and labor demonstrations were banned; and Congress, all provincial legislatures, and the Supreme Court were dissolved. Opposition groups were suppressed, and their leaders were jailed. The government also intervened in the universities and purged many outstanding academics. Outstanding Argentine scholars and scientists left the country.
In the economic area, the government emphasized private enterprise and welcomed foreign investment. Prices were allowed to increase faster than wages. By 1969 there was substantial discontent. In May protests spilled over into violence in the industrial and university city of Córdoba, the center of the most radical wing of the Peronist labor movement, which combined with students to defeat the police in street lighting and take over the city. Ongania finally had to send in the military to restore order.
Following the “Cordobazo,” violence increased. Guerrilla activity began, militant Peronist youth groups became active, the radical part of the Catholic Church stepped up its efforts, and there was a violent struggle for control of the Peronist labor movement. In 1970 Ongania was ousted in a bloodless coup headed by army commander-in-chief Alejandro Agustín Lanusse.
