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Ezeiza massacre
A person being pulled up on the platform where Perón would have talked.
Location	Puente 12, 10 km on the access road from Ezeiza International Airport, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Coordinates	34°43′21″S 58°30′48″W / 34.722438°S 58.513419°W / -34.722438; -58.513419
Date	June 20, 1973; 51 years ago (1973-06-20)
Target	Left-wing Peronist masses
Attack type	Sniper massacre
Weapons	Sniper rifles
Deaths	13 (at least)
Injured	365 (at least)
Perpetrators	Orthodox Peronism

The Ezeiza massacre (Spanish pronunciation: [eˈsejsa]) took place on June 20, 1973, at Puente 12, the intersection of General Ricchieri freeway (the Ezeiza Airport access) and Camino de Cintura (provincial route 4), some 10 km from Ezeiza International Airport in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Peronist masses, including many young people, had gathered there to acclaim Juan Perón's definitive return from an 18-year exile in Spain. The police estimated three and a half million people had gathered at the airport. In his plane, Perón was accompanied by president Héctor Cámpora, a representative of Peronism's left wing, who had come to power on May 25, 1973, amid popular euphoria and a period of political turmoil. Cámpora was opposed to the Peronist right wing, declaring during his first speech that "the spilled blood will not be negotiated".

From Perón's platform, camouflaged snipers from the right-wing of Peronism opened fire on the crowd. The left-wing Peronist Youth and the Montoneros were targeted and trapped. At least 13 bodies were subsequently identified, and 365 were injured during the massacre.

According to Clarín newspaper, the real number is thought to be much higher. No official investigation was ever performed to confirm these higher estimates.

People involved

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The Ezeiza massacre marked the end of the alliance of left and right-wing Peronists which Perón had managed to form. Héctor Cámpora represented the main figure of the left-wing and José López Rega, a former federal police officer and Perón's personal secretary who had accompanied Perón during his exile in Francoist Spain, was the right-wing's representative. López Rega would also be the founder of the Alianza Anticomunista Argentina right-wing death squad.

A populist and a nationalist, Perón was popular from the far-left to the far-right, but this conjunction of forces ended that day. During his exile, Perón himself had supported both young left-wing Peronists, whose icons included Che Guevara, the Montoneros, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias (FAR), Fuerzas Armadas Peronistas (FAP), the Peronist Youth (JP) and right-wing Peronists composed "Special Formations", gathering radicals such as the Iron Guard (GH) or the Movimiento Nacionalista Tacuara.

The tribune had been set up at Puente 12 by Lieutenant-Colonel Jorge Manuel Osinde and other far-right figures of Peronism, such as Alberto Brito Lima and Norma Kennedy. Lorenzo Miguel, Juan Manuel Abal Medina and José Ignacio Rucci, general secretary of the CGT (Confederación General del Trabajo) — controlled by the Peronist right-wing — had the responsibility of organizing the Peronists' mobilization to Ezeiza. Members of the Unión Obrera Metalúrgica trade union, the Juventud sindical peronista and other right-wing sectors were also on Perón's tribune, facing the left-wing groups in the crowds (FAR, Montoneros, JP and others — the FAP had disarmed on May 25, 1973).

Italian terrorist Stefano Delle Chiaie, who worked in Operation Gladio but also maintained links with the Chilean DINA and Turkish Grey Wolves member Abdullah Çatlı, was also present at Ezeiza, according to investigations by Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón. Carlos "El Indio" Castillo, member of the Concentración Nacionalista Universitaria (CNU), also took part in the massacre.

Political context

The massacre had been planned to effect the removal of president Héctor Cámpora, a moderate of the left-wing, from power. During Cámpora's first month of governing, approximately 600 social conflicts, strikes and factory occupations had taken place. Workers managed to obtain wage increases and better working conditions. The workers' movement had gathered the sympathy of large sectors, sometimes anti-Peronist, of the middle classes. On June 2, 1973, José Ignacio Rucci, general secretary of the CGT, had responded to a Cuban delegate to the CGT congress asking for a toast in honour of Che Guevara, that they were against left-wing imperialism. The Peronist right-wing gradually took control of the whole of the trade union organization, placing people close to the leader José Ignacio Rucci.

Effects

The Ezeiza massacre marked the end of the transition period of Cámpora, who had succeeded the military dictatorship of general Alejandro Lanusse. According to Hugo Moreno, "if October 17, 1945 may be considered as the founding act of Peronism, by the general strike and the presence of the masses imposing their will of support to Perón, the June 20, 1973 massacre marks the entrance on the scene of the late right-wing Peronism."

See also

• List of massacres in Argentina

References

1. "Hace 25 años, la masacre de Ezeiza enlutaba a la Argentina". La Nacion. 22 June 1998. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
2. La sangre derramada no será negociada, quoted by Hugo Moreno, in Le désastre argentin. Péronisme, politique et violence sociale (1930–2001), Ed. Syllepses, Paris, 2005, p. 107. ISBN 2849500437. (in French)
3. (in Spanish) Horacio Verbitsky, Ezeiza, Contrapunto, Buenos Aires, 1985. Available here Archived 2006-06-19 at the Wayback Machine
4. "Ezeiza, una masacre que causó el estallido del peronismo" (in Spanish). Clarín. 2005-08-28. Archived from the original on 2005-10-01. Retrieved 2006-03-21.
5. "Las Relaciones secretas entre Pinochet, Franco y la P2 - Conspiración para matar" (in Spanish). Equipo Nizkor. 1999-02-04.
6. "Detuvieron al Indio Castillo, acusado de un atentado contra un intendente correntino - El buen amigo de Rico necesita un buen abogado" (in Spanish). Página/12. 2000-03-20. / See also Carlos Castillo's biography in English on desaparecidos.org
7. Hugo Moreno, op.cit., p. 109
8. Hugo Moreno, p. 110

External links

• (in Spanish) Ezeiza, Contrapunto, Buenos Aires, 1985 by Horacio Verbitsky
• (in Spanish) La masacre de Ezeiza, El Litoral, Santa Fe, 23 June 2010 (retrieved 2011-07-24)
• (in Spanish) El hombre que fue izado de los pelos, ElArgentino.com, 2008 (retrieved 2011-07-24)

v t e Peronism
Variants	Federal Kirchnerism Menemism Orthodox Revolutionary
Presidents	Juan Perón (1946–1955; 1973–1974) Héctor J. Cámpora (1973) Raúl Lastiri (1973) Isabel Perón (1974–1976) Carlos Menem (1989–1999) Eduardo Duhalde (2002–2003) Néstor Kirchner (2003–2007) Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (2007–2015) Alberto Fernández (2019–2023)
Other leaders	Eva Perón Domingo Mercante John William Cooke Delia Parodi Juan Manuel Abal Medina Antonio J. Benítez José Ignacio Rucci Augusto Vandor Agustín Tosco José López Rega Lorenzo Miguel Antonio Cafiero Saúl Ubaldini Hugo Moyano Sergio Massa Máximo Kirchner
Parties and subgroups	Current Justicialist Party Popular Union Broad Front Federal Commitment Evita Movement La Cámpora Renewal Front Historical Labour Party Radical Civic Union (Junta Renovadora) Independent Party Female Peronist Party Tendencia Revolucionaria Peronist Armed Forces Montoneros
Alliances	FREJULI FREJUPO Justicialist Front Concertación Front for Victory Frente de Todos
Key events	October 17th Demonstration 1946 general election 1955 coup d'état Expulsion of Montoneros from Plaza de Mayo Ezeiza massacre Pact of Olivos
Other	General Confederation of Labour Marcha Peronista 1949 Constitution Category:Peronists
Category

• 1973 murders in Argentina
• 1973 in Argentina
• Cold War conflicts
• Conflicts in 1973
• Deaths by firearm in Argentina
• History of Argentina (1973–1976)
• Massacres in Argentina
• Massacres in 1973
• Montoneros
• June 1973 events in South America
• Right-wing terrorist incidents
• 20th-century mass murder in Argentina
• Terrorist incidents in Argentina in the 1970s
• Sniper rifles