page_title: 1989 attack on La Tablada barracks
section_title: The assault on the barracks
hierarchical_section_title: 1989 attack on La Tablada barracks / The assault on the barracks
caption_attribution_description: Español: El presidente de Argentina, Raúl Alfonsín, observa a uno de los guerrilleros muertos en el asalto al cuartel militar de La Tablada, provincia de Buenos Aires. English: President of Argentina, Raúl Alfonsín, looking at one of the guerrilleros dead in the assault on the military barracks in La Tablada, Buenos Aires Province.
context_page_description: The 1989 attack on La Tablada barracks was an assault on the military barracks located in La Tablada, in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, by 40 members of Movimiento Todos por la Patria, commanded by former ERP leader Enrique Gorriarán Merlo. 39 people were killed and 60 injured by the time the Argentine army retook the barracks. The MTP carried out the assault under the alleged pretense of preventing a military coup supposedly planned for the end of January 1989 by the Carapintadas, a group of far-right military officers who opposed the investigations and trials concerning Argentina's last civil-military dictatorship.
  The Argentine president of the time, Raúl Alfonsín declared that the attack, which carried the ultimate goal of sparking a massive popular uprising, could have led to a civil war. Given a life sentence and imprisoned, as his comrades, in high security quarters, Gorriarán Merlo was eventually freed in 2003. He died on 22 September 2006 while awaiting surgery for an abdominal aortic aneurysm.
context_section_description: On 23 January 1989, a group of approximatively 40 members of the Movimiento Todos por la Patria ("All for the Fatherland" Movement, "MTP", founded in 1986 by former ERP leader Enrique Gorriarán Merlo) attacked the 3rd Mechanized Infantry Regiment barracks in La Tablada (Regimiento de Infantería Mecanizada Nº 3, RIM3). They broke into the barracks by ramming a stolen truck into the main gate, followed by several other vehicles.
  According to Clarín newspaper, three different versions about the attack exist. Ten days before the assault, lawyer and MTP member Jorge Baños had declared in a conference that the Carapintadas were planning a coup for the end of January. The Carapintadas were members of the Armed Forces that had rebelled against the national government three times in 1987 and 1988, protesting the investigations on human rights abuses during the "National Reorganization Process" (1976–1983). This has remained to this day the MTP's version, held in particular by the late Gorriarán Merlo who claimed that the MTP was fulfilling the constitutional obligation of "bear[ing] arms in defense of the fatherland and of [the] Constitution".
  The official report on the attack by head of the Army Francisco Gassino claimed in contrary that it was the MTP, formed of several former ERP members, that had planned a coup. A last version claims that the MTP was victim of a manipulation by intelligence services. A sociologist and professor who published an investigation into the attack believes the MTP had wider aims: "They weren’t planning to put down a coup. They were creating the false image of a coup, to set the scene, but were planning to take the barracks and from there start a revolution."
  The Argentine Army, assisted by the Buenos Aires Police (a total of 3,600 personnel) was called on to counterattack, and indiscriminately used white phosphorus (WP) in the zone, in violation of the Geneva Conventions, which in civil wars are only binding with the consent of both parties, and not at all in police actions. The use of WP in combat is forbidden by international law. In this case, it had the effect of completely burning the barracks and of carbonizing corpses. 39 people were killed and 60 injured during the attack (the majority by conventional weapons). Nine were military personnel, two were police officers and the 28 remaining were members of the MTP. Lawyer Jorge Baños was among the dead. In addition, 53 soldiers and police were wounded in the fighting.
  The following day, President Raúl Alfonsín (UCR, 1983–89) visited the site, protected by Argentine Army commandos, along with federal the judge of Morón, Gerardo Larrambebere, who is today member of the court presiding over the 1994 AMIA bombing case.
caption: President Raúl Alfonsín (in pale suit) visits the site, where an MTP member lies after being killed by the Army
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