SUMMARY
The Montoneros (alternatively Movimiento Peronista Montonero, MPM) was a left-wing rebel group that fought an intrastate armed conflict over government against the Government of Argentina in the 1970s (see Argentina: Government).
The Montoneros movement, named after a 19th century irregular cavalry force, was founded in 1968, two years after a military coup in which General Juan Carlos Onganía seized power in Argentina. The group did not surface until 1970, after spending two years training and accumulating resources. While the group was considered as a Peronist (a third position ideology coined by Argentine President Juan Perón) left-wing organization, most of its early members came from the conservative Catholic Action (AC) organization. In fact, in the early years of its existence the Montoneros movement defined itself more according to its strategies and methods, which were an amalgamation of urban guerilla warfare and Che Guevara’s foco (focalism, the idea that small “vanguards” of revolutionaries can inspire the population to revolt) theory, rather than ideology; the group sought to unify vanguard and mass activities.
The radicalization of the Montoneros movement in the early 1970s was largely driven by the repressive methods used by the authoritarian Argentinian government. Even if the group lacked a prominent theoretician in the first years of its existence, the Montoneros drew together radical Catholicism, nationalism, and Peronism into a form of populist socialism that attracted support from a broad segment of the population. However, the various ideological forces within the group were all united in anti-imperialism, and the idea of creating a multi-class popular alliance; the end-goal of the group was to create a “popular army” capable of defeating the national army and overthrow the government. The goal to accumulate popular support also affected the tactics used by the Montoneros in the early stage of its insurgency, as it tended to avoid attacking civilian targets.
Mario Eduardo Firmenich led the Montoneros, and other prominent leadership figures included Oscar Bidegain, Ricardo Obregon Cano, and Carlos Dante Gullo. The Montoneros movement relied on a quite complex and extensive organizational structure, with subdivisions that had specific responsibilities, such as organizing university campus activities or infiltrating trade unions. Furthermore, it had a compartmentalized organization in order to ensure that no single member possessed too much information about the group as a whole. The operational units of the group included some 5000 people, and these were organized into military commands that carried out basic fighting tasks. A significant recruitment base for the Montoneros was the lower-middle-class youths. Aside from its violent activities, the group was also known for their kidnapping and ransoming of members from the business elite.
For a brief period in 1973 and 1974, the Montoneros decided to cease its violent activities, and declared its support for the Government of Argentina, at the time led by Hector Cámpora, and later Juan Perón. This support was withdrawn on 6 September 1974, because President Perón decided to side with the conservative Peronist faction, and because of the increased repression by government security forces.
On 13 October 1973, the Montoneros allied with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias (FAR), another armed left-wing group. On 20 April 1977, the Montoneros joined with the Partido Peronista Auténtico (the Authentic Peronist Party, PPA) to form the Supreme Council of Peronist Montoneros. The Montoneros was also associated to a limited extent with the Marxist ERP, but the ideological divide between the groups prevented the emergence of a formal alliance.
