The days that followed the uprising were full of tension and expectation. The balance of the damage and the count of deaths and injuries had the population plunged into deep consternation as the national and foreign press echoed the terrible events, clearly reflecting (especially the foreign one) the events that occurred.
The armed confrontations and the bombardment of the city produced a balance of 380 fatalities that rose to almost 400 in later days and almost a thousand wounded. Nine grenadiers fell during the defense of Government House[1]. Thirty-two others suffered injuries of varying degrees, as well as two officers from the “Buenos Aires” Motorized Regiment and seven from the 3rd Infantry Regiment, which also had a general and a soldier killed, the former when he was trying to reunite with his unit.
The government ordered a series of raids and raids, which resulted in numerous arrests, both of the military and of civilians and religious, who were taken to the Villa Devoto prison to await a sentence.
While the population tried to recover from the terrible events that had taken place in the Federal Capital, pilgrimages were organized to the burned temples and the CGT ordered a general strike for the 17th, as a sign of mourning and in support of the government.
Destruction in the church of Nuestra Señora de Lourdes in Bahía Blanca
(Pictures: Miguel Ángel Cavallo: Puerto Belgrano. Hora Cero. La Marina se subleva)
What did occur was a change of officials (almost all questioned by the opposition), necessary to appease the spirits, the first of them, the Minister of the Interior, Ángel Borlenghi, removed from his duties on the advice of the main government advisers.
As was to be expected, the high commands of the Navy, important heads of the Air Force and numerous Army officers were removed. The Punta Indio Naval Air Base was canceled and the 4th Marine Infantry Battalion together with the 2nd Air Naval Force were dissolved.
By decision of the high command, the planes from the Comandante Espora Naval Air Base were disarmed, their ammunition deposited in Puerto Belgrano and their fuzes sent to the Zárate Arsenal.
The VII Fighter Air Brigade based in Morón was suspended and reorganized as the Military Aeronautical Detachment[2], appointing Commodore Ricardo Alberto Accinelli as its first commander. As the CONINTES plan was still in force, the personnel of the new entity remained quartered by thirds while its headquarters adopted, as a first measure, to repatriate the air material that the rebel pilots had taken to Uruguay [3].
Of the thirty-nine planes used by the rebels during the actions, twenty-three landed at the Carrasco International Airport in Montevideo; six did so at the Colonia aerodrome, seven at the Boiso Lanza military base, one was shot down by the Air Force, another crashed in Tristán Suárez, a third fell due to lack of fuel in the Río de la Plata between Carmelo and Colonia and a fourth landed in the middle of the countryside, near the civilian airfield of Melilla, north of Montevideo, without being able to deploy its landing gear due to sabotage.
On June 17, the government proceeded to erase the traces of the battle, detonating the bombs that remained unexploded, which filled the unsuspecting passers-by who were circulating nearby with fear.
The plotted leaders were put on trial before specially constituted military courts and the most severe penalties were expected for them. During one of the interrogations, an event occurred that once again shocked public opinion.
Perón, on the right, observes the damage to the Government House
Officers Julio César Cáceres and Dardo Eugenio Ferreyra were testifying before Commodore Luis Lapuente, head of the Information and Aeronautical Safety Service, when in a moment of carelessness, the latter, shouting "Long live the Homeland!", threw himself to the void from the third floor where he was appearing, without achieving his goal of taking his own life because he fell on a plastic roof on the ground floor that cushioned the blow. He was hospitalized in serious condition at the Aeronautical Hospital where they continued to interrogate him without considering his condition.
Argentine aircraft began to be returned by decision of the Uruguayan government as of June 21, but not their pilots, who remained in the neighboring country magnificently cared for by the authorities and the people of the East. And it is that Uruguay felt on itself all the pressure that the Justicialista regime had been applying since 1946, as a result of the protection that Montevideo offered its opponents when they sought refuge in its territory. This hostility manifested itself in the closure of border crossings, the sale of meat and cereals at lower prices in international markets and the latent threat of an attack, especially the bombing of Radio Colonia due to its strong anti-Peronist campaign.
The first two aircraft returned by Uruguay were the Gloster Meteor I-031 and I-098 piloted by Commander Eduardo Catalá and First Lieutenant Antonio Corradini respectively, the first with a rivet that covered the impact of an anti-aircraft projectile. Three days later, on June 24, 1955, I-094 arrived under the command of Captain Daniel Aubone and I-058 under First Lieutenant José Lembi, and in later days, I-029 and I-064 arrived. the first aboard a Bristol 170 Freigther. The total number of naval aircraft was reintegrated in a staggered manner[4].
On July 21, the brand new Aeronautical Department of Morón began to report directly to the Commander in Chief of the Air Force, organizing at the same time the incorporation of new officers from different units[5]. A week later, the government decided to reactivate the VI Air Brigade based in Tandil, appointing Brigadier Juan C. Ríos and head of Group 2 of Interceptor Fighter[6].
Vandals have razed the Cathedral of Bahía Blanca
(Pictures: Miguel Ángel Cavallo: Puerto Belgrano. Hora Cero. La Marina se subleva)
Serious Damage to the Inmaculado Corazón de María (Bahía Blanca)
(Pictures: Miguel Ángel Cavallo: Puerto Belgrano. Hora Cero. La Marina se subleva)
Fire and destruction in the newsroom of "Democracia", an opposition newspaper from Bahía Blanca
(Pictures: Miguel Ángel Cavallo: Puerto Belgrano. Hora Cero. La Marina se subleva)
Luis E. Vera, director of "Democracia" (wearing a raincoat) observes the damage in the newsroom
(Pictures: Miguel Ángel Cavallo: Puerto Belgrano. Hora Cero. La Marina se subleva)
But despite the defeat, the arrests and raids, and ignoring the threats, pressures and raids, the Navy officers led by Navy Captain Arturo H. Rial and Lieutenant Commander Carlos Pujol at the head, they launched the second phase of the movement through an informal talk that they held at the offices of the Directorate of Naval Schools located at Florida 610, corner of Paraná. In later days, they were joined by other officers and noncommissioned officers of the weapon, highlighting among them Lieutenant Horacio Mayorga and Captains Jorge Gallastegui, Juan Carlos Duperré, Carlos Sánchez Sañudo and Jorge Palma, who began to organize clandestine meetings, tending to shape the motion.
A whole network of espionage and counterespionage was launched with the firm purpose of reactivating the revolution. It was extended to the main naval bases in the country, especially those of Puerto Belgrano and Comandante Espora, where they began to work very cautiously to obtain the commitment of the Sea Fleet, the Marine Infantry forces and the Naval Aviation. dependent on the Naval Maritime Area. Captain Jorge E. Perren was appointed to lead the uprising in that sector, although the true leader of this second phase would be Rear Admiral Isaac Francisco Rojas, who had just arrived from Brazil in those days, where he had performed duties at the Argentine embassy. , to take charge of the direction of the Naval-Military School based at the Río Santiago Naval Base. And it was he who was addressed by the conspirators to expressly request that he take command of the Navy during the actions that were to take place in the month of September.
On June 23, Perón spoke again on the national network to refer to the events of the 16th, minimizing the acts of vandalism against temples and institutions that had taken place shortly after the end of the hostilities. Four days later, some of the Catholic militants who had been arrested during the defense of the Cathedral began to be released and on the 28th of the same month, the main temple of the city of Buenos Aires resumed its religious services, in what was a massive ceremony. .
That same day, in San Miguel Arcángel, Monsignor Miguel Ángel de Andrea entered the temple on his knees while being applauded by the audience. During the services, he promised to wear black clothes instead of purple, as a sign of mourning for the dead, the wounded and the permanent grievances that the Argentine Catholic Church was suffering.
In the month of July, on the occasion of the feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Perón sent his respects to Pope Pius XII who, in response, told him that he hoped with all his heart that the Lord would guide his steps so that the Argentine people could freely profess their faith.
Where the discontent slowly began to be perceived was in the ranks of the Army, a force that during the day of June 16 had maintained its absolute fidelity to the person of the first president. The latest events had called many of its officers to reflection and thus, in the days that followed the bombardment, a silent plot in favor of the revolution was launched, agreeing to carry out the first surveys with elements of the Navy. The persecution of the Church and the burning of the national flag had badly predisposed large sectors of the military, encouraged by nationalist civilians opposed to the government who worked hard to establish contact between elements of the three weapons.
General Pedro Eugenio Aramburu
Senior Army officers, including General Pedro Eugenio Aramburu, Colonels Eduardo Señorans and Arturo Ossorio Arana, Captain Ramón Eduardo Molina and Major Juan Francisco Guevara, began efforts to establish contact with the Air Force because it was known that Despite being a force extremely addicted to the person of the president, there were numerous officers who were willing to join the movement, such as Commodore Julio César Krausse and Captains Luis A. Bianchi and Orlando Capellini.
In the month of July several demonstrations against Perón took place, in one of which the radical youth militant Alfredo Prat was killed as a victim of police repression. Days later, the Democratic Party issued a statement harshly criticizing the government, denouncing the climate of fear in which the citizenry lived, placing special emphasis on the need for a total amnesty.
On the 15th of that month there were a series of resignations in the government as a result of certain statements by the president regarding the course his revolution was taking. Among them, the one of the Vice President of the Nation, Rear Admiral Alberto Teissaire, replaced by the Buenos Aires national deputy Dr. Alejandro H. Leloir and that of several ministers and secretaries, stood out especially.
On the 21st, the conservative leader Dr. Pablo González Bergez was arrested. Shortly after, the lifeless body of Dr. Juan Ingalinella, a communist militant who disappeared on June 17, tortured and murdered by the Rosario police, was thrown into the Paraná River. A massive student demonstration took place in Córdoba and numerous protests in favor of freedom and justice were held in Buenos Aires, harshly repressed by the forces of order.
Faced with such a climate, the government agreed, for the first time in many years, to grant opposition parties radio slots to express their points of view. The first to speak was Dr. Arturo Frondizi, head of the Radical Civic Union, who on July 27 gave an energetic speech on Radio Belgrano that ended with cheers and greetings from a multitude of followers who were waiting for him in the streets.
The conspiracy, meanwhile, continued, with the frigate captains Aldo Molinari and Jorge Palma acting as liaisons with elements of the Army. Rojas, for his part, had his own "undercover agents" in the persons of frigate lieutenants Oscar Ataide, his personal secretary, and Jorge Isaac Anaya, through whom he learned of the development of events and conveyed his points of view. of the.
It happened that around those days an event took place in Puerto Belgrano that served to give impetus to the conspiracy and speed up its preparations.
By decision of the government, all the munitions that had been withdrawn from the rebel units after June 16, were sent to that destination together with the naval planes recovered from Uruguay, thus reinforcing, and unexpectedly, the potential of unit fire. The sudden decision led the rebel commanders to adopt hasty measures, one of which was the accelerated construction of special fuzes to replace those that had been withdrawn and sent to the Zárate arsenal and the putting into operation of the naval planes.
Meanwhile, Army cadres continued to work actively on the complex mission of attracting followers, although with great difficulty given the extreme surveillance to which the weapon was being subjected.
In the province of San Luis, headquarters of the II Army Corps, Lieutenant Colonel Gustavo Eppens moved tirelessly, assisted by a significant number of officers. The unit was commanded by General Julio Alberto Lagos, a well-known nationalist stance and affiliated with the Peronist movement from the outset, so each move had to be made with great caution. For their part, in the Cuyo Mountain Group based in the city of Mendoza, several of its leaders tried to neutralize the marked pro-government position of the commander, General Héctor Raviolo Audisio, and his deputy, Colonel Ricardo Botto. The group was divided into four powerful detachments, Botto being head of No. 3 based in Callingasta, province of San Juan.
The conspirators were joined by Lieutenant Colonel Fernando Elizondo, head of the 2nd Antiaircraft Artillery Group; Major Armando Aguirre, head of the “General Espejo” Military High School; the senior military instruction judge Enzo Garutti, all of them bound for Mendoza; Lieutenant Colonel Mario A. Fonseca, head of the San Juan Mountain Detachment 3 and General Eugenio Arandía, chief of the Cuyo Army General Staff, based in San Luis. On that side, it only remained to probe the position of General Lagos and then decide what to do about it.
While General Aramburu made feverish efforts to incorporate people, two other figures of importance within the ranks of Army officers, General Juan José Uranga and Colonel Héctor Solanas Pacheco.
In Córdoba, for his part, Colonel Arturo Ossorio Arana was actively conspiring while the revolutionary civilian commandos worked actively, serving as liaisons between the different military groups. His main operations centers in the city of Buenos Aires were the home of Dr. Eduardo Fauzón Sarmiento and the notary office of his brother Jorge, located on the 4th floor of Cerrito 512.
An unexpected event that somewhat puzzled the conspirators was the surprise addition to their ranks of General Dalmiro Videla Balaguer, whom everyone thought was a fervent supporter of Perón. That caused suspicions and some concern since there was more than one conspirator who supposed the high official, a spy at the service of the government.
General Eduardo Lonardi
What had happened to cause such a sudden decision? Something simple. The fidelity of the San Juan general towards the figure of the first president had begun to crack due to the persecution unleashed against the Catholic Church. Videla Balaguer was a deeply devoted man and from the moment the mob razed the main temples of the capital, a kind of internal struggle took place in him that led him to the difficult situation of having to make a choice.
It was during his visit to the ruins of the church of San Ignacio, in the company of his wife, that seeing so much desolation he decided to join the revolution.
He did so, after contemplating that terrible spectacle and praying before the ruined image of Santa Teresa, shortly before his return to Córdoba.
Another who decided to turn to the movement, motivated by similar causes, was General Julio Alberto Lagos who, after a second meeting with Aramburu in Buenos Aires, pledged his word and after a few days of reflection, confirmed his support. . He did so during a meeting with Colonel Señorans, shortly before the high command decided to replace him with General José María Sosa Molina, brother of the Minister of Defense and a man of Perón's absolute confidence.
The one who remained confined in his home, without being involved in the preparations, was Major General Eduardo Lonardi, arrested and retired after the frustrated uprising of 1951.
Neither Señorans nor Aramburu had a good relationship with him and if he was taken into account at some point it was at the insistence of his friend, Colonel Arturo Ossorio Arana and Dr. Fauzón Sarmiento, who had a hard time agreeing to an interview between they. Aramburu was the one who objected the most, arguing that the aforementioned was a retired officer, lacking authority.
-Here we need a general with command over the troops. There are thousands of retired anti-Peronist officials – he said at a meeting.
The meeting with Aramburu and Lonardi took place at the Military Hospital, where both went to visit General Roberto Nazar, who was hospitalized there. On the occasion, Lonardi stated that he was willing to subordinate himself, but Aramburu replied curtly that he was not leading any plot.
In July, the Sea Fleet was maneuvering off the San Matías Gulf when it detected the presence of foreign ships in jurisdictional waters. Almost at the same time, naval planes intercepted radio messages in English, which were recorded and immediately sent to the high command of the Navy in Puerto Belgrano.
To the astonishment of the officers, they were ignored, which is why the disturbing version began to circulate that British or American ships were monitoring the movements of the Navy at the request of the government, a version that caused indignation and uncertainty at all levels of government. the institution. That fear seemed to be confirmed when Admiral Guillermo Brown ordered the dispersal of the Naval Aviation and the closure of the Comandante Espora Base, in order to neutralize the force, openly showing that the Navy was disturbing the government authorities and continued in the look at the Peronist leadership. Faced with those extreme measures, Lieutenant Commander Eduardo A. Estivariz requested his retirement.
On August 18, 1955, the public learned of the ruling of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces that judged the soldiers who rose up on June 16. Rear Admiral Samuel Toranzo Calderón was sentenced to capital punishment with degradation, in accordance with the provisions of article No. 63, paragraph 1 of the Code of Military Justice, news that shocked the public.
In view of this, General Juan Heriberto Molinuevo dispatched the court secretary, Colonel Juan C. Villafañe to inform Perón of the news, but when the president heard the ruling, he was final in his decision.
-Son, I don't shoot anyone. Let Molinuevo find a way to avoid it..
Suddenly, the man who instigated the masses to “give firewood”, to “hang with barbed wire” and to “kill their enemies”, showed a prudent and humanitarian facet. A lot of people, within the Armed Forces, were really taken aback.
Almost all those involved were sentenced to indefinite prison terms and sent to the Santa Rosa prison, La Pampa province, where they would remain locked up for the next two months.
With the conspiracy underway, the Army and Navy conspirators held frequent meetings at the home of Dr. Fauzón Sarmiento, in the heart of the Belgrano neighborhood, guarded by a group of retired officers under the command of Colonel Ladislao Fernández Castellanos. Colonels Francisco Zerda, Arturo Ossorio Arana and Eduardo Señorans, Major Juan Francisco Guevara, Captain Tomás Sánchez de Bustamante, Navy Captain Arturo Rial and Frigate Captain Jorge J. Palma attended them.
General Aramburu was to attend the first of these conclaves, but a last-minute call from Father Septimio Walsh warned him that he was being watched twenty-four hours a day and, therefore, it was not prudent for him to move.
The plotters became aware of what was happening and drew up a plan. It was decided that the army staff should wait for the pronouncement of the Army, which was still looking for a firm hand to take command, and then Ossorio Arana stated that if he had to take charge of Córdoba, he wanted to tell General Lonardi, since he was the chief with higher hierarchy within the weapon. His request was listened to carefully and no one objected.
Days later, General Lucero removed Aramburu, passing him from his position at the head of the Health Directorate to that of head of the National Defense School.
Aside from the seditious activities, from the residence of Dr. Fauzón Sarmiento and other private homes, the civilian commandos began their preparations to collaborate with the rebel forces, either as support troops, as liaisons or contributing their assistance in any activity that was entrusted to them.
A group of them, led by the engineer Roque Carranza and made up of retired officers such as Captain Walter Viader and Vice Commodore Jorge Rojas Silveyra, dedicated themselves to making homemade bombs with gelinite. Other meetings were held at the Colegio Nuestra Señora del Huerto, run by Father Walsh, where thousands of pamphlets were printed, engineers Florencio Arnaudo, Carlos Burundarena and Manuel Gómez Carrillo working actively on it together with retired officer Edgardo García Puló, Raúl Puigbó, who was permanently wanted by the police at that time, and Adolfo Sánchez Zinny. In the command led by Captain Aldo Luis Molinari, Héctor Eduardo Bergalli, Roberto Etchepareborda and other radical militants acted, groups that were entrusted with the mission of taking over and disabling the radios.
In the civil command of the parish of Santo Cristo (Espíritu Santo), Captain Carlos Fernández was in charge of a large group of militants among whom were Alberto Pechemiel, Martín Cires Irigoyen and the lawyer Ismael Carlos Gutiérrez Pechemiel, the three of whom are relatives General Benjamin Menendez. Alberto Pechemiel was the husband of Ángela Menéndez, the niece of the famous soldier, and together with her, he acted as a liaison during the frustrated uprising of 1951, suffering both prison, home invasions and physical attacks.
While the intertwined network of espionage took place, acts of violence continued to worsen the climate throughout the nation.
On August 12, a Catholic demonstration that was headed for the Santo Domingo church was attacked by members of the Nationalist Liberation Alliance at a time when it reached the corner of Florida and Av. Corrientes, resulting in many of its members being detained. Two days later, the police raided several homes to arrest the members of an opposition group organized at the UBA Law School and several armed youths were detained aboard a jeep when it was driving through the heart of the Recoleta neighborhood, the same Religion teacher Sara Mackintosh, laid off since May[7].
On August 17, a crowded demonstration took place in Plaza San Martín, on the occasion of a new anniversary of the death of the Liberator, an act in which insults of all kinds were launched against Perón and his government. Once again the Nationalist Liberation Alliance attacked the demonstrators, wounding a young man named Menéndez Behety with a knife.
The air was getting rarer in the main epicenters of the country and everything seemed to presage new outbreaks of violence.
Notes
- Among those nine grenadiers were the conscripts Pedro H. Baigorria and Héctor Leónidas Paz, whose bodies were deposited in the Ramos Mejía Hospital.
- Resolution 519/55 dated June 20, 1955 and published in the Boletín Aeronáutico Nº 922.
- A. Marino, J. Mosquera, G. Gebel, V. Cettolo, H. Claria, G. Posaba, Gloster Meteor FMk IV en la Fuerza Aérea Argentina, Avialatina.
- Idem.
- Published in the Boletín Aeronáutico Nº 1002.
- On July 28, 1955.
- Opposition pamphlets were found at his home