The Dirty War (Spanish: Guerra Sucia) was a period of state terrorism in Argentina during the 1970s. Victims of the violence included several thousand left-wing activists and militants, including trade unionists, students, journalists, Marxists, Peronist guerrillas and alleged sympathizers. Some 10,000 of the disappeared were guerrillas of the Montoneros (MPM), and the People's Revolutionary Army (ERP).
Estimates for the number of people who were killed or "disappeared" range from 9,089 to over 30,000; the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons estimates that around 13,000 disappeared.
The exact chronology of the repression is still debated, however, as trade unionists were targeted for assassination by guerrillas as early as 1969, and individual cases of state-sponsored terrorism against Peronism and the left can be traced back at least to the Bombing of Plaza de Mayo in 1955. The Trelew massacre of 1972, the actions of the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance since 1973 and Isabel Martínez de Perón's "annihilation decrees" against left-wing guerrillas during Operativo Independencia in 1975, have all been suggested as dates for the beginning of the Dirty War.
Read more about Dirty War: Overview, Origin of The Term, Return of Peronism, Military's Rise To Power, False Flag Actions By SIDE Agents, Human Rights Violations and Guerrilla Activity From 1976 To 1983, The Disappeared Held Under PEN, Children of The Disappeared, Mothers of The Plaza De Mayo, Falklands War, Anti-Communism, US Involvement With The Junta, Cuban Involvement With The Guerrillas, "French Connection", Truth Commission, Decrees Revoked, Continuing Controversies, Casualty Estimates, Participation of Members of The Catholic Church, Books, Film
Famous quotes containing the words dirty and/or war:
“O Jesse had a wife, a mourner all her life
And the children they were brave,
But the dirty little coward that shot Mr. Howard
He laid Jesse James in his grave.”
—Administration in the State of Miss, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“The truth is, the whole administration under Roosevelt was demoralized by the system of dealing directly with subordinates. It was obviated in the State Department and the War Department under [Secretary of State Elihu] Root and me [Taft was the Secretary of War], because we simply ignored the interference and went on as we chose.... The subordinates gained nothing by his assumption of authority, but it was not so in the other departments.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)