Living with terrorism in Buenos Aires, 1970-75.

• Author: Williams, J. Edgar
• Position: Excerpt

Editor's Note: We tend to think of terrorism mostly in its contemporary Islamic extremist manifestation, but it has been a part of Foreign Service life for many years. In this memoir, a retired U.S. Foreign Service Officer recalls the Marxist terrorism in Argentina in the early 1970s.--Ed.

I was stationed at the U.S. Embassy at Buenos Aires, as Commercial Attache, for five years-1970-75. For most of that time, we were in daily danger from Marxist terrorists-guerrillas, or, as their sympathizers preferred to call them, "insurgents," "militants," or "activists." The situation then was nowhere near as bad as it has been recently in such places as Baghdad and Kabul, but it was dangerous. I was originally assigned for two consecutive two-year tours, but when my second tour was coming to an end, State/PER was having a hard time finding a replacement, so I extended for a year.

Here is a short background on the situation. After the overthrow of Peron in 1955 (by fellow generals), Argentina went through a series of military and civilian governments, none of which ruled honestly and effectively. The attitude of the civilian government ministers (with a few exceptions) was: "We've only got a couple of years--let's grab all the money we can while we're here." The military, while not as corrupt as the civilians, seemed unable to govern well. The trade unions--traditionally Peronist--were increasingly influenced by communists, especially in the newer industries such as automobile manufacturing. This led to a violent Marxist uprising in Cordoba in 1969, which was violently suppressed. That became a pattern. The Marxists would engage in some act or campaign of violence, the military would suppress it, and the world media, plus many socialist-inclined governments, would put the entire blame on the military for reacting (sometimes over-reacting) to violence started by the Marxists.

At that time, many different Marxist terrorist-guerrilla groups were being formed in Latin America as a result of the Tri-Continental Congress in Havana in 1966. Its purpose was to coordinate all pro-communist, anti-American subversive and guerrilla activities world-wide to advance the "historically inevitable" movement towards the World Socialist Revolution. In Argentina, the main groups were the FAR (Revolutionary Armed Forces), the ERP (Revolutionary Army of the People), and the Montoneros. The latter was the more active group. It was formed by a toxic mixture of Catholics and...