page_title: History of Argentina
section_title: National Reorganization Process (1976–83)
hierarchical_section_title: History of Argentina / National Reorganization Process (1976–83)
caption_attribution_description: English: President Videla of Argentina and Jimmy Carter at White House.
context_page_description: The history of Argentina can be divided into four main parts: the pre-Columbian time or early history, the colonial period, the period of nation-building, and the history of modern Argentina.
  Prehistory in the present territory of Argentina began with the first human settlements on the southern tip of Patagonia around 13,000 years ago.
  Written history began with the arrival of Spanish chroniclers in the expedition of Juan Díaz de Solís in 1516 to the Río de la Plata, which marks the beginning of Spanish occupation of this region.
  In 1776 the Spanish Crown established the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, an umbrella of territories from which, with the Revolution of May 1810, began a process of gradual formation of several independent states, including one called the United Provinces of Río de la Plata. With the declaration of independence on July 9, 1816 and the military defeat of the Spanish Empire in 1824, a federal state was formed in 1853–1861, known today as the Argentine Republic.
context_section_description: Following the coup against Isabel Perón, the armed forces formally exercised power through a junta led consecutively by Videla, Viola, Galtieri and Bignone until December 10, 1983. These de facto dictators termed their government program the "National Reorganization Process"; and  "Dirty War" (Spanish: guerra sucia) is the name used by the military junta or civic-military dictatorship of Argentina (Spanish: dictadura cívico-militar de Argentina) for this period of state terrorism in Argentina as part of Operation Condor. from 1974, during which military and security forces and right-wing death squads in the form of the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance (Triple A) hunted down any kind of (or suspected to be) political dissidents and anyone believed to be associated with socialism or contrary to the plan of neoliberal economic policies dictated by Operation Condor. About 30,000 people disappeared, many of whom could not be formally reported as missing due to the nature of state terrorism.
  The targets were students, militants, trade unionists, writers, journalists, artists and anyone suspected to be a left-wing activist, included Peronist guerrillas.  The "disappeared" (victims kidnapped, tortured and murdered whose bodies were disappeared by the military government) included those thought to be politically or ideologically a threat to the military junta, even vaguely; and they were killed in an attempt by the junta to silence the social and political opposition.
  Serious economic problems, mounting charges of corruption, public discontent and, finally, the country's 1982 defeat by the United Kingdom in the Falklands War following Argentina's unsuccessful attempt to seize the Falkland Islands all combined to discredit the Argentine military regime. Under strong public pressure, the junta lifted bans on political parties and gradually restored basic political liberties.
  Most of the members of the Junta are currently in prison for crimes against humanity and genocide.
caption: Argentine junta leader Jorge Rafael Videla meeting U.S. President Jimmy Carter in September 1977
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