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 From exile in Paraguay, Juan Domingo Peron (1895-1974),
former dictator of Argentina, ordered his sympathizers
to harass the government through riots, sabotage, and terrorism. On June 14,
1956, Peronist rebels rose in revolt in the provinces of Santa Fe, La Pampa, and
Buenos Aires. Declaring martial law, the provisional government, headed by General Pedro Pablo Eugenio
Aramburu (1903-70), sent in troops to restore
order. Many on both sides were killed and wounded before the revolt was
suppressed; more than 2,000 civilians and military men were arrested, 38 of whom
were executed. Later in 1956 other Peronist plots were uncovered and squashed. A
neo-Peronist Popular Union party urged voters to cast blank ballots in the
forthcoming elections for a constituent assembly. Violent clashes between
proponents for and against the restoration of a constitutional government became
frequent. When the elections were over in 1957, the single largest block of
votes was blank, but those who did vote elected pro-reform candidates who held
about 60 percent of the assembly seats. The assembly voted to restore the 1853 constitution, but little else was accomplished. The government was hindered by
strikes by telephone and telegraph employees and by general strikes by
antigovernment workers, most of whom were Peronists. These disputes caused much
damage, large production losses, and general political and economic chaos.
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