Alejandro Agustín Lanusse

Alejandro Agustín Lanusse Gelly ( born August 28, 1918 in Buenos Aires, † August 26 1996 in Buenos Aires ) was an Argentine military and politicians. He was de facto president of Argentina from 22 March 1971 to 25 May 1973, the last prime minister of the dictatorship of the so-called Argentine revolution.

Career

Lanusse studied in a military school and entered 1938 in the cavalry of the Argentine armed forces. There he was commander of a regiment until he was convicted in 1951 for taking part in a coup against Juan Perón to life imprisonment. 1955, following the forced resignation of Peron, he was released, and in 1956 sent as ambassador to the Vatican. In 1960 he returned and was deputy director of military high school in Buenos Aires.

Lanusse was strict anti - Peronist and thus participated in two coups against the Perón - friendly governments of the Unión Cívica Radical ( Arturo Frondizi Arturo Illia and ) whose consequence was the military dictatorship known as the Argentine Revolution from 1966. He was appointed under the presidency of Juan Carlos Onganías as head of the armed forces in 1968.

Because of political differences and the weakening of the dictatorship by popular uprisings from the Cordobazo 1969, he went on to distance Onganía and demanded his resignation. Since he refused, he sat as head of the armed forces forcibly Roberto Levingston as a new president, whom he replaced after fresh riots in March 1971 even.

Reign

Lanusses reign was marked by a very pragmatic policy. In economic policy, he continued to improve infrastructure and built roads, bridges and power stations, but without being able thereby improve the poor image of the dictatorship.

He also took steps to democratization, which were known as the Gran Acuerdo Nacional. He since the beginning of the dictatorship went first to the Peronism and invited Perón himself a return from exile. In April 1971, the political parties, which were banned under the dictatorship, were re- admitted. Nevertheless, the political climate was characterized at this time of rising violence, which Lanusse prompting to call for free elections in 1973, with the sole condition that Perón himself was not allowed to participate in the elections.

From the election showed Héctor Campora, the candidate of the Peronists as the winner. After losing an election Lanusse retired.

Activities after the reign

After his retirement from politics Lanusse became an active critic of the following military dictatorship, the process of the National Reorganization ( 1976-83 ), in which some relatives and former employees of him perished in secret torture centers known as. He also worked as a writer and wrote the books Mi Testimonio ( My statement ) and Confesiones de un general (Confessions of a General ). He died on 26 August 1996.