Héctor José Cámpora
Héctor José Cámpora Demaestre (
1909-
1980) was president of
Argentina from
May 25 until
July 13 1973.
Cámpora, affectionately known as
el TÃo (the Uncle), was born in the city of
Mercedes, in the
Province of Buenos Aires. He earned a degree on
dentistry and practiced his trade in his hometown before moving to nearby
San Andrés de Giles.
As
Juan Domingo Perón's "personal delegate," he ran for president in
1973 to circumvent the veto on Perón's participation in the election which had been issued by Argentine dictator Gen.
Alejandro AgustÃn Lanusse. The presidential ticket also carried
Vicente Solano Lima as candidate for vice president. Despite Campora's own left-leaning tendencies, Solano Lima belonged to the Popular Conservative Party.
Campora won the election and was inaugurated on
May 25,
1973. One of his first presidential actions was a granting of
amnesty to
political prisoners. This triggered a massive release of prisoners, including convicted criminals, even before the amnesty was signed.
On
May 28 Argentina restored diplomatic relations with Cuba, which then received Argentine aid - such as food and industrial products - to break the
United States embargo against Cuba.
Cámpora's radicalized ideology set him against the right-wing tedencies of
Peronism. When Perón returned to Argentina (
June 20,
1973), his plane had to be redirected to a military airport because of fighting between armed Peronist factions that had massed to greet his arrival at Buenos Aires's main airport. This event, known as the
Ezeiza Massacre, left 13 dead.
José Ber Gelbard, president of a small and medium-sized enterprise association, was designated as minister of economics. Gelbard tried to establish a "social pact" among the
CGT workers and the "National
Bourgeoisie", including a
price freeze and widespread salary hikes.
Finally, on
July 13,
1973 Cámpora resigned to allow
Juan Domingo Perón to return to power. He was later designated as Argentine ambassador to
México.
After the
coup d'etat that displaced Perón's successor, wife
Isabel Perón, in
1976, Cámpora sought refugee at the Mexican embassy in Buenos Aires. Three years later, he was allowed to fly to México. Cámpora died in
Cuernavaca shortly after his arrival.
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Enciclopedia Libre Universal en Español - Héctor José Cámpora. Original version in Spanish, released under GNU FDL.
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Montoneros
