Alianza Anticomunista Argentina
The
Alianza Anticomunista Argentina (
Argentine Anticommunist Alliance, usually known as
Triple A or AAA) was a
far-right death squad active in
Argentina during the mid-
1970s, linked to the military junta led by
Jorge Rafael Videla. This period was characterized by frequent
terrorist attacks by radical
left-wing subversive groups, and harsh repression of dissidence on the part of the military, paramilitary and police forces.
The
Triple A was organized by
José López Rega — who was also a member of
P2 freemasonry lodge, involved in Italy's
strategy of tension along with
Gladio,
NATO's paramilitary group — and Alberto Villar, deputy chief of the Argentine federal police, during the brief presidency (
1973-
1974) of
Juan Perón after his return from exile. López Rega, an
occult philosopher and self-styled
divinator, had come to exert
Rasputin-like influence over
Perón's wife at the time,
Isabel Martínez de Perón, who assumed the presidency upon Perón's sudden death on
1 July 1974. To support the group, López Rega drew on funds from the Ministry of Social Welfare, which he controlled. Some of the members of the Triple A had taken part in the
1973 Ezeiza massacre, when snipers shot on left-wing peronists on the day Perón came back from exile, thus leading to the definitive separation between left and right-wing peronists.
The group first came to national attention on
21 November 1973 when it unsuccessfully tried to
murder Argentine
Senator Hipólito Solari Yrigoyen by means of a car bomb. The AAA went on to target more than five hundred individuals, including suspected
Montoneros and
ERP leftist
guerrillas and their sympathizers, as well as judges, police chiefs, and social
activists. In
1974, it murdered Jesuit Carlos Mugica, a friend of
Mario Firmenich, Montoneros's founder.
The AAA was known to have strong backing from the military and Army
Commander-in-Chief Jorge Rafael Videla, who came to power as
President following the 1976
coup d'état. However, the violence directed toward suspected leftists during the
1976-
1983 period (the
Dirty War) came directly from the military.
Some AAA members participated in
Montejurra 1976 shooting of two left-wing
Carlists members in Spain.
*
601 Intelligence Battalion*
Dirty War*
Propaganda Due (P2)*
Montejurra*
Manuel Sadosky and
Héctor Alterio both were threatened by the AAA.
*
"El Debut del Terror: La Triple A", Pablo Mendelevich (in Spanish)
