The Montoneros was an Argentina’s guerrilla who identified with the Peronist (followers of Perón) left and armed struggle that developed between 1970 and 1979, although its period of greatest power lasted until 1976.
By the late 1960s were aligned with revolutionary Peronism, net profile of anti-imperialist populist, while its ideology was structured with a mixture unclear Peronist doctrine, with elements of Latin American Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara from the and Fidel Castro, receiving strong Catholic influences from the Movement of Priests for the Third World. By that time, the three main leaders of this group, Mario Firmenich, Fernando Roberto Cirilo lost and Hugo Vaca Narvaja-lived hidden in the basement of the Cuban Embassy in Mexico City, after an Argentine military command attempted murder in this country.
Its initial objectives were destabilizing the government de facto self-styled “revolution Argentina” (Ongania Levingston, Lanusse / 1966 to 1973) and the return to power of General Juan Domingo Peron, then, once he became president Hector Jose Campora their actions heading to the establishment in Argentina of a political system they called “National Socialism.”
The Cuban government played a key role in the development of guerrilla Argentina, as part of a broad plan to export revolution throughout the region.
There was a Cuban organization, the American Department, which dealt with the matter, led by Commander Manuel Piñeiro, “Barbarossa”, which ran until 1991.
In Cuba were trained several guerrilla leaders. For example, Fernando Abal Medina, the first head of Montoneros, and his partner, Norma Arrostito, “Gaby”.
All staff of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, FAR, made training courses, both political and military, in the Island
The command montonera work from Cuba.
After the second contingent of terrorist organizations traveled to Cuba to receive instruction, became more frequent presence on the island of militants of the organization Montoneros, appeared publicly in 1969. (In 1964 the Argentine government announced that 300 troops had been educated Argentines in Cuba. Moreover in 1967 and 1967 attended by more than 180 Argentines to “Tricontinental” and “waves” in Havana. See Bulletin Number 6). More information:
(EL BOTIN DE LOS MONTONEROS -1)
The aforementioned group had among its members, individuals who shortly thereafter would have real influence on the conduct of the organization, among them were:
Emilio Mazza, Luis Fernando Abal Medina, Norma Esther Arrostito (Participants of the disappearance and subsequent murder of General Pedro E. Aramburu). Schimple Pedro (who participated in the supermarkets Minimax fire part of the Armed Forces of Liberation – FAL), Carlos Eduardo Enrique Olmedo (former leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces – FAR), Roberto Jorge Freeze (also founder of the FAR and after the merger with Montoneros in 1973, 2nd in command after Firmenich), Joe Baxter, and Jorge Arturo Lewinger, Oscar Humberto D’Ippolito, Eighth Salverio Del Valle, Héctor Díaz, Oscar Teran, Juan Garcia Elorrio, Mark Osatinsky and others.
The Cuban regime trained and financed guerrilla movements in Argentina since the beginning until the dome housed Montoneros during the military dictatorship. Even in the counteroffensive of 1979/1980 the children of several guerrillas who returned to Argentina in schools and kindergartens were Cuban.
The betrayal of a member of the organization detained in Argentina who knew of the movements and dates of meetings in that country, almost brought down by mass of all the leaders in Mexico, who were saved by the timely warning of the same whistleblower who , sorry for what he was doing, told them just before they were about to be captured by a “team from Argentina”.
So to avoid the repetition of another similar episode, all members of the collegiate governing body driving with his assistants, he moved to Cuba under the protection of Fidel Castro and the Cuban Communist Party, which coincided with sending large sums of money to Havana (See Bulletin No. 50). Richard Gillespie in his book “Montoneros, the Soldiers of Perón” says that in early 1977 as the base functioned official representation Mario Firmenich Montoneros and appeared in major official celebrations as a guest of the government and the Cuban Communist Party.
“In the view of driving, the leap of conflict was so great that it had reproduced Firmenich geographic location of each table in the sand of the headquarters of the Commander in Cuba.”
“Passports and identity cards of each member would be prepared by the Technical Secretariat, established in Cuba, under the responsibility of Firmenich.”
Could an organization of this type installed in Cuba, which is not exactly a free, no coordination of their activities with the interests of the government of the island?
Moreover, Cristina Zuker, in his book: “The train of victory – a family saga,” says about the vicissitudes of some Montoneros militants and their families: “… The parents of Martha, and Louise Libenson Keco were alerted by a letter from the organization about the presence of her granddaughter in kindergarten Cuban. They came to Mexico and from there moved to the island. ‘It was normal for a security mechanism, a kind of cover for them. They arrived in Havana on a Cuban airliner, and collected on the court not to be recorded in the passport entry ‘, I had explained Susana, responsible for the nursery La Casita de Carmelo, in Havana. ”
No one, other than the government of Cuba could have a plane of that nationality to collect people from other countries and enter them from the track, without a pass bound by the immigration office, which shows the close cooperation with Montoneros.
For his part, Juan Gasparini, in his aforementioned book: “Montoneros: Ultimately,” offers a long list of Montoneros militants who were trained in Cuba. For the names, we can see that this occurred from the very beginning: “… Among others, the ‘Zapa’ Piotti, Miguel Angel Bustos, Hector Bruno, the ‘Chinese’ Prol, Luis Rodeiro, César Córdoba, the ‘Gringo’ Elvio Alberione Mariano Pujadas, Hector Diaz, `Churio ‘Jorge Escribano, brothers Suárez, Fernando Vaca Narvaja, Alberto’ Chacho ‘Molinas, Cecilio’ Cheche ‘Salguero, the’ bare ‘Baretta, the ex-seminarian Orlando` Black’ Montero, the ‘ Chichilo ‘Lujan, Humberto Orlando’ Hilo ‘Anone, Leticia Jordan, Claudio Ehrenfeld, Susana Lesgart, Jorge Raul Mendé, Maria Leonor Chest Papaterra and cousins came largely from the Association of Social Studies at the Catholic University Federation Groupings Integralists National University and the Association neighborhood ‘Eva Peron’. Yagger Raul Clemente, Mario Fred ‘Freddy’ Ernst, Roberto ‘Palometa’ Pir, Maria Graciela de los Milagros Roldan, Osvaldo Cambiaos, ‘The Old’ Ezpeleta, Cyril Roberto lost, Hugo Medina, the ‘Face Pen’ D’Angelo, the brothers ‘Chacho’ Molinas, Boero Oscar Raul Burzaco Amatti Ulysses, and brothers Rene Haidar Oberlin, almost all from the ‘Athenaeum’ university or union action Argentina, Santa Fe. Several of them all got military training in Cuba, as Norma Arrostito, Gustavo and Fernando Abal Medina Lafleur. He named only those who are no longer living (mostly), many of whom died.
In another chapter of the same work, Gasparini even talk of a financial relationship with the Cuban State:
“Indeed, it is essential to cool the first tangible evidence of the Montoneros investment in Cuba recently appeared midway through 1996, with the confessions of Filiberto Castiñeiras Giabanes, an intelligence agent of the revolution of Fidel Castro, who defected to the United States … ”
More Information: (EL BOTIN DE LOS MONTONEROS – 2)
In a recent book on the ERP, entitled: “The Dogs – Memories of a revolutionary fighter” by Luis Mattini, which is the pseudonym of Arnold Kremer, one of the leaders of the People’s Revolutionary Army, the author states: “A day of the year 1970 a contingent of twenty members of the Revolutionary Workers Party (PRT) and fighters of the People’s Revolutionary Army (ERP) left for a two months in Cuba, including Hugo Alfredo Irurzun (Santiago), Carlos Germán ( Mauro), Carlos Ferreira (Lucas), Nelida Augier (Pola) “.
This indicates the interest of Cuba, which is otherwise public, involved with the guerrillas and propel Argentina, from the very beginning.
In a recent issue of Le Monde Diplomatique, editing for the Southern Cone, the director for the area, Carlos Gabetta, recognizes that “Cuba was socialist countries [ie, of the USSR] 80,000 million dollars in its first aid 30 years of revolution, not including military aid. ”
The same JCR, supranational terrorist organization created to coordinate the implementation of actions and armed with explosives, according to the general strategy from Cuba, was an internationalist unity structure of Latin American Marxist subversives who composed and so, sought to achieve and intensify contacts with extremist organizations in Peru, Venezuela, Brazil, Paraguay, Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia, Nicaragua, Santo Domingo, Guatemala, El Salvador and even the U.S..
Kidnapping of the Born brothers
In the midst of a political and social climate extremely thin and conflicting, the September 19, 1974 a command specific montonero the kidnapping charge that won the biggest bailout in Argentina’s history since the organization received sixty million dollars for the delivery with life brothers Juan and Jorge Born (Bunge & Born), at six and nine months, respectively.
Montoneros leaders confirmed that some of the money was diverted into Cuba to put temporarily sheltered, while the final payment of about $ 17 million was collected and administered by the banker David Graiver, who had offices in the city New York and died in a plane crash doubtful. In both cases so far has been a great mystery, the final destination of much of the cash proceeds of redemption.
Sources: Wiki/Infobae/Reato/internetphotos/Various/Excerpt/www.thecubanhistory.com
Fidel Castro and Argentine Montoneros
The Cuban History, Arnoldo Varona, Editor