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 In Argentina's local and
congressional elections of 1962, Peronist candidates
were permitted on the ballot for the first time since the ouster of their leader
Juan Domingo Peron (1895-1974), as president in 1955. The Peronistas won 45 out
of 86 seats in the Chamber of Duputies and 9 of 14 governorships. This outcome
so enraged the strongly anti-Peronist top military leaders, ultraconservatives
know as the "Gorillas," that they refused to permit the elected
Peronistas to take their seats in the government. A general strike ensued that
threw the country into chaos. When Argentina's President Arturo Frondizi
(1908-95) refused to resign (his political moderation was blamed for the
Peronista's success), the Gorillas deposed and exiled him and seized control of
the government. Soon the president of the Senate became a puppet dictator and
ruled until free elections were held in 1963. Meanwhile, much internal fighting
took place within the armed forces over whether to allow elections or establish
a dictatorship. In late 1962, General Juan Carlos Ongania (1914-), commander in
chief of the army, took the position that the armed forces should remove
themselves from politics, but other military leaders attempted to assert the
political power of the military on the civilian government. The Peronistas were
forbidden to run candidates in the 1963 elections, so, in protest, they cast
blank ballots as they had in 1957. In the midst of this explosive political
situation full of intrigues, secret alliances, street fighting, intimidating
methods of the military, and popular unrest, Arturo Umberto Illia (1900-83), a
semi-leftist, was elected president. The Argentine economy was in shambles, the
hatreds of opposing parties were hardened, and the fervor of the Peronistas was
still strong after the so-called "Black Year."
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