Raúl Alberto Lastiri
Raúl Alberto Lastiri (
1915-
1978) was an Argentine politician who was interim president of
Argentina from
July 13 1973 until
October 12 1973. Lastiri, who presided over the
Argentine Chamber of Deputies was promoted to the Presidency of the country after
Héctor José Cámpora and
Vicente Solano Lima resigned. He organized new elections and delivered the country's government to
Juan Perón, who won with over 60% of the votes.
His brief tenure marked a turn towards right-wing policies and factions within the
Peronist Party. His father-in-law,
José López Rega, a
P2 member and the creator of the
paramilitary organization
Triple A, was confirmed as
Minister of Social Welfare.
Alberto Juan Vignes replaced Puig in the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Benito Llambí took over
Esteban Righi as
Minister of Interior. In spite of that, the foreign policy kept a
Third World orientation: as an example, on August, 1973, Argentina granted
Cuba a 200 millon U.S. dollars loan to buy machinery and cars.
José Ber Gelbard, also confirmed as Economy Minister, continued with his previous policy,
nationalizing bank deposits and announcing a "Triennial Plan" for development.
The
terrorist violence experienced sustained growth in the last days of his presidency. On
September 25 a
Montoneros commando allegedly killed
José Ignacio Rucci, Secretary-General of the
CGT National trade union center and Perón's good friend. The same month, the
Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo (ERP) had assaulted the Army medical unit located at
Parque Patricios, a neighborhood of
Buenos Aires, with one death. This action served to justify the ERP illegalization and the closedown of the newspaper
El Mundo.
Lastiri was on
Licio Gelli's list of
P2 members, a masonic lodge involved in Italy's
strategy of tension, discovered in 1980.
*
TodoArgentina - Interinato de Raúl Lastiri (in Spanish)*Initial version translated from
Enciclopedia Libre - Raúl Alberto Lastiri (in Spanish), under
GFDL.
