Operation Cóndor Azul, the action of an aviation sector that anticipated the coup of 76
“I will not go down in history as the man who betrayed Perón’s wife.”.” (Italo Luder, interim president of the Senate, in charge of the executive branch with the license of María Estela Martínez de Perón, constitutional president after her widowhood since July 1, 1974, when Perón, who had been his vice president, died. Phrase repeated like karma between September and October 1975).
“Be careful, lady, because in March they will release you.O.” (Brigadier General Héctor Fautario, in a message sent through the aide-de-camp of the Aviation Department to President María Estela Martínez, since the head of state would refuse to grant Fautario an audience as the airman had requested. December 18, 1975)
Fifty years later, these two sentences, said a few months apart, allow us to better contextualize that time. Isabel Perón, with frail health, shattered nerves, the firm conviction that the demands of power exceeded her determination, and above all the depressive loneliness she had suffered since “Brother Daniel”, the esoteric name of José López Rega, her spiritual leader and political leader, who had been swept from the scene by the pressure of the unions, finally agreed to a short leave of absence in the Córdoba Mountains of Ascochinga.
On September 13, Isabel Perón would delegate command to Senator Italo Luder. Their companions on this excursion in search of calming days and new energy were Raquel Hartridge, Delia Veyra and Lía González, the wives of the country’s highest military leaders: Videla (Army), Massera (Navy) and Fautario (Air Force). In their marital beds, at least two of them certainly knew they were there to give premature beginning of the metaphorical trail of someone who was already a political corpse. For this reason, it was clear in groups, cenacles and lies of the time that this break in the Casa Rosada and the barracks would be used for an arduous and complex negotiation aimed at converting the leave of Perón’s widow into a constitutional resignation, with Luder as the only possible replacement. At least the only one among civilians.
In Ascochinga, far from this political unrest, the President rewarded her assistants with jewelry, jewels and lace clothing, which were among the most precious gifts she gave them in her capacity as a naive hostess. Apparently the head of Peronism I didn’t know I was sleeping with the enemy. He would find out soon. When all rounds of negotiations and solutions with constitutional patches failed, Isabel decided to return to power on October 17, 1975, in an act celebrating the most traditional Justicialist liturgy (Day of Allegiance) with a reduced meeting space, more symbolic than anything else.
The country was a hopeless chaos: the streets, a daily sowing of corpses, extortionate kidnappings, raids, rabid union conflicts. There were street battles between ultra-right gangs protected by power and the cunning attacks of left-wing terrorism disguised as manipulated principles that promised social justice and higher living standards for the poor. Montoneros had just attempted to take over the 29th Monte Infantry Regiment in Formosa; The ERP was determined and armed to fight the “final stand” against the armed forces. take power
A day after Isabel’s speech in the Plaza, in which she called for “the unity of Peronism,” confirmed the government’s will to fight “stateless subversion” and complained about “economic terrorism,” military chiefs Videla and Massera agreed The coup was the only way out for the armed forces, which would take place in the second half of March and in which “all the necessary blood would be shed”. Argentina to recover and heal.
However, the Aviation Division under the command of Brigadier Fautario did not agree with the idea of a coup, although they agreed on the need to give maximum intensity to the offensive against subversion. “We are not made to govern, we have tried several times and always fail” you heard him say back then. The pilot relied on repression within the framework of legality and hoped to convince Luder and thus achieve the elections in October 1976, which had already been announced by the president.
In this climate of institutional unrest, on December 18th the Blue Condor operation, led by Brigadier Jesús Orlando Capellini, one of the military leaders who were convinced of the armed solution. It was a coup attempt by part of the Aviation Department to remove Isabel, but without the necessary consensus in the other branches. Videla – who was on an institutional trip to Venezuela and was due to return urgently – had been appointed commander of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by the president herself just three months earlier. Paradoxes of military life and Argentine politics: Videla was available, almost retired, and by order of Estrado’s own boss, he would become the most exalted of the coup plotters. And his main executioner. I wouldn’t miss any of the opportunities.
The historian, journalist and writer Marcelo Larraquy says in “The Wild Days/Forgotten Stories of a Crucial Decade 1971-1982” that “The uprising began on the morning of December 18 with the kidnapping of the force’s highest official, Brigadier Héctor Fautario, and a group of collaborators as they prepared to travel to Córdoba.” After his release, Fautario would attempt to warn the president of his possible dismissal. Perón’s widow would shoot herself in the foot: not only would she not receive Fautario, but she would also dismiss him from the position of commander, thus leaving the conspirators’ hands free: then she left Olivos the note “Take care of yourself, my lady…”
Argentina was a fictional country. With an impending stroke of fate, life continued as if nothing had happened. Larraquy describes what the maximum tension would be: At midday on December 20th, Air Force Mentor aircraft flew low over the Casa Rosada. There were no bombs or deaths. Isabel, along with Lorenzo Miguel and some officials, fled to the cellars of La Rosada. Since the 18th, Morón’s VII Air Brigade and the Metropolitan Aeroparque had been captured by the rebels, an isolated and lonely group.
Cornered and defenseless, the head of state ordered his defense minister, Tomás Vottero, to meet with Videla and Massera, whom she considered neutral. Vottero came back with the report: ““They want you to appoint Agosti as head of the aviation department”. Isabel did it. This is how he united the putschists. The only legalist soldier (Brigadier Fautario) had been expelled. Clear path for the coup, even if the most violent uprising of all time would take place in March.
Events unfolded at a dizzying pace. On December 22, a single bomb fell on the edge of the Morón air base in a wooded and uninhabited area. Good or bad goal? Capellini and his rebels surrendered. The three commanders supported the government. He took office as the new aviation chief on August 23rd. On December 24, Videla traveled to the mountains of Tucuman to spend Christmas Eve with the soldiers fighting ERP terrorism and sought refuge there while accelerating the kidnapping an arsenal in Monte Chingolo, where a massacre was expected. From Tucumán, Videla issued his famous ultimatum to the government to restore “order in the country.” Perón’s widow was preparing to celebrate the holidays: she believed that the worst was already over. Actually, it was just beginning.
