Carapintada Argentina

(By Mexican Cactus)

The Carapintada Argentina regime refers to an authoritarian government currently in power over Argentina following the ousting of the previous democratically elected leader, Raul Alofsin.

## Background

Following the end of the Argentine Military Junta and the National Reorganization Process in 1983, the new civilian government of Raúl Alfonsín attempted to reign in the power of the Argentine Military and seek justice for their crimes during the Dirty War. Measures to do this included slashing the military's budget, instituting new military justice codes, establishing investigatory bodies, and holding trials for the Human Rights violations by those in the former Junta. This led to backlash by military leaders who had felt that the National Reorganization Process and Dirty War were necessary in preserving Argentine way of life and national vitality and they thus felt the new policies to be disrespectful and an attack on the honor of the Argentine Military.

## Carapintada Rebellion

On the 15th of April of 1987, Lieutenant Colonel Aldo Rico led the Carapintadas or "painted faces" in a rebellion against the Alfonsín government. Although the Carapintadas did not have the full support of the military, the non-Carapintada portions would largely stay neutral as they neither supported the civilian government. The original intention of the revolt was to force the civilian government into making concessions that favored the military and not necessarily to seize governmental power and so President Alfonsín attempted to negotiate with Rico. However, negotiations broke down when General Caridi went ahead and had loyalist troops under his command attack the Carapintadas stationed at Campo de Mayo. The Carapintadas would repulse the attack and several other high ranking Army officers such as Colonel Seineldín and the troops under them joined the revolt as the government was unable to convince the remaining neutral forces and found itself without enough soldiers to put down the revolt.

The Carapintadas would defeat those forces loyal to Alfonsín in a short series of battles and quickly found themselves on the verge of capturing Buenos Aires before Alfonsín and his Vice President resigned and General Caridi surrendered.

## New Regime

The Carapintadas illegally proclaimed Colonel Seineldín the President of the Argentine Republic, however due to the defeat of the civilian government, it was not disputed by the President of the Senate who was the Constitutional successor. Seineldín spent his efforts for the rest of the year and the one after attempting to consolidate his power by returning funding to the Army and raising soldier salaries while handing control of civilian bodies such as the Federal Police and nationalizing assets such as the railways to the Army while using them to put down the mass protest and assert the power of the Federal government over the many provinces. Seineldín formed an alliance with the right to keep his office throughout the 1990s with clear election rigging and political violence.

The government's popularity has remained unstable and low with new protests forming and having to be crushed by the Army and Police constantly with the economy similarly declining and unstable amidst government debt rising to extreme levels and foreign investment disappearing. Former President Alfonsín, currently residing in a Uruguayan exile, has stated that despite the government's declining position it has held onto power through the apathy that exists towards Democracy that took hold following the failure of the civilian government in most of the population that empowers the Carapintadas to crush its opposition just as a similar apathy opened the door for the 1987 coup. The Argentinian economy is teetering on the edge of collapse, with the only thing holding it up being the large wave of immigrants from Argentina's crisis stricken neighbours to the north, with many of these immigrants being taken advantage of by the Argentinian government to prop up the economy as much as possible.