Videla, Jorge Rafael (1925– )

Argentine military leader and president 1976–81. He was the main architect of the ‘dirty war’ against left-wing elements 1976–83.

In 1975 Videla was appointed commander-in-chief of the army by President Isabel Perón, under military pressure. From this position he began a reorganization of the military leadership, removing officers sympathetic to Perónism. In the same year, he led an army campaign against the Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo (ERP; People's Revolutionary Army) in the northern Tucumán province, which resulted in the annihilation of hundreds of leftist guerrillas.

He deposed Isabel Perón on March 24 1976 to became the de facto president as head of a three-man military junta. Videla then suspended congress and vested legislative powers in a nine-man military commission. He also halted the functioning of the courts, political parties, and labour unions. Military personnel filled all important government posts. Hundreds of persons suspected of being left-wing guerrillas were arrested in the last week of March 1976 alone, and between 10,000 and 30,000 others ‘disappeared’ over the next few years. Videla retired in 1981 and was succeeded by Roberto Viola.