Editing Montoneros (section)

==From 1970 to Videla's military dictatorship ==
The Montoneros formed around 1970 out of a confluence of Roman Catholic groups, university students in social sciences, and leftist supporters of [[Juan Perón]]. "The Montoneros took their name from the pejorative term used by the 19th-century elite to discredit the mounted followers of the popular [[caudillos]]." Montonera referred to the raiding parties composed by [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]] in Argentina, and the spear in the Montoneros seal refers to this inspiration.<ref>Brown, 2010: 234–235</ref>

The Montoneros initiated a campaign to destabilise by force the regime supported by the U.S.,<ref name="guardian">{{cite web|last1=Campbell|first1=Duncan|title=Kissinger approved Argentinian 'dirty war' Declassified US files expose 1970s backing for junta|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/dec/06/argentina.usa|website=The Guardian|date=6 December 2003|access-date=21 March 2018|archive-date=17 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417102037/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/dec/06/argentina.usa|url-status=live}}</ref> which had trained Argentinian and other Latin American dictators via the School of the Americas.<ref name="celina">{{cite web|last1=Andreassi|first1=Celina|title=School of Assassins: Past and Present of the School of the Americas|url=http://www.argentinaindependent.com/socialissues/humanrights/school-of-assassins-past-and-present-of-the-school-of-the-americas/|website=The Argentina Independent|access-date=21 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180322142740/http://www.argentinaindependent.com/socialissues/humanrights/school-of-assassins-past-and-present-of-the-school-of-the-americas/|archive-date=22 March 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1970, as retribution for the June 1956 León Suárez massacre and [[Juan José Valle]]'s execution, the Montoneros kidnapped and executed former dictator [[Pedro Eugenio Aramburu]] (1955–1958) and other collaborators. In November 1971, in solidarity with militant car workers, Montoneros took over the [[Fiat|FIAT]] car manufacturing plant in [[Caseros, Buenos Aires|Caseros]], sprayed 38 new-brand cars with petrol, and set them afire.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0_u5aLUT8YC&pg=PA382 |title=The Argentina Reader: History, Culture, Politics, Gabriela Nouzeilles & Graciela R. Montaldo, p. 382, Duke University Press, 2002 |access-date=12 November 2011|isbn=9780822329145 |last1=Nouzeilles |first1=Gabriela |last2=Montaldo |first2=Graciela |last3=Kirk |first3=Robin |last4=Starn |first4=Orin |date=25 December 2002 |publisher=Duke University Press }}</ref>

On 26 July 1972, they set off explosives in the Plaza de San Isidro in Buenos Aires, which injured three policemen and killed one fireman (Carlos Adrián Ayala), who died of wounds two days later.<ref name="google43">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0_u5aLUT8YC&q=plaza+san+isidro+montoneros+argentina&pg=PA382 |title=Ibid,p.43 |access-date=12 November 2011|isbn=9780822329145 |last1=Nouzeilles |first1=Gabriela |last2=Montaldo |first2=Graciela |last3=Kirk |first3=Robin |last4=Starn |first4=Orin |date=25 December 2002 |publisher=Duke University Press }}</ref>
That same day, a policeman (Agent Ramón González) is shot dead after intercepting a vehicle when the two male and two female MPM guerrillas inside draw their guns and open fire on the police vehicle.<ref name="El Senado y Cámara de Diputados">[https://web.archive.org/web/20200131093759/https://www.hcdn.gob.ar/proyectos/proyectoTP.jsp?exp=0413-D-2008 El Senado y Cámara de Diputados]</ref>

In April 1973, Colonel Héctor Irabarren, head of the 3rd Army Corps' Intelligence Service, was killed when resisting a kidnap attempt by the Mariano Pojadas and Susana Lesgart platoons of the Montoneros.<ref name="google43"/>

On 17 October 1972, a powerful bomb detonated inside the Sheraton Hotel in Buenos Aires, with nearly 700 guests at the time, killing a Canadian woman (Lois Crozier, travel agent from West Vancouver) and gravely wounding her husband Gerry as he slept.<ref>[http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=76cfda83-c039-4464-bc7d-b4ee054e8603 35 years ago a terrorist tragedy touched B.C.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141026215827/http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=76cfda83-c039-4464-bc7d-b4ee054e8603 |date=26 October 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Z94QAAAAIBAJ&pg=7258,1915009&dq |title=The Free-Lance Star – 17 October 1972 |date=17 October 1972 |access-date=12 November 2011 }}{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The Montoneros and the Revolutionary Armed Forces later claimed responsibility for the attack.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3nBjAAAAIBAJ&pg=3887,4194224&dq= |title=The Phoenix, October 18, 1972 |access-date=12 November 2011 |archive-date=24 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220424215258/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3nBjAAAAIBAJ&pg=3887%2C4194224&dq= |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 11 March 1973, Argentina held general elections for the first time in ten years. Perón loyalist [[Héctor Cámpora]] became president and Perón returned from Spain. In a controversial move, he released all left-wing guerrillas held in prison at the time in Argentina.<ref>''On inauguration day, Cámpora declared an amnesty and released all the captured guerrillas. Although the Montoneros pledged their support for the new Peronist government, ERP simply renewed its campaign. As a result, guerrilla violence rose once more in 1973.'' Guerrillas and Generals: The "Dirty War" in Argentina, Paul H. Lewis, p. 51, [[Greenwood Publishing Group]], 2002</ref>

=== 1974 ===
On 21 February 1974, MPM hitmen armed with 9mm sub-machine-guns from the 'Evita Montonero' Platoon killed 49-year-old Teodoro Ponce, a right-wing Peronist labour leader outside his residence that was 800 Gorriti Street in Rosario.<ref>[https://www.lacapital.com.ar/la-ciudad/yo-vi-los-asesinos-mi-marido-n1739625.html "Yo vi a los asesinos de mi marido"]</ref><ref>[[Facts on File, 1974]]</ref> He had sought refuge in a local business after being shot in the leg and then in the back by the guerrillas that arrived in two cars. One of the gunmen finished him off with a shot in the dead while he lay on the floor and two other civilians were also shot in the legs in the hail of fire.

On 1 May 1974, Perón expelled the Montoneros from the [[Justicialist Party|Justicialist]] [[May Day]] rally after Montonero-organized youth chanted slogans against Perón's wife, Isabel.<ref>{{cite book |title=Argentina under Perón, 1973–76: The Nation's Experience with a Labour-based Government |first=Guido |last=di Tella |year=1983 |isbn=978-1-349-05183-0 |doi=10.1007/978-1-349-05183-0 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |page=66}}</ref> Despite the May Day confrontation with Perón, when Perón threatened to resign on 12 June, Montoneros responded by calling for the defence of Perón and his government.<ref>{{cite book |title=Argentina 1943-1976: The National Revolution and Resistance |isbn=0-8263-0422-2 |publisher=University of New Mexico Press |year=1976 |first=Donald C. |last=Hodges |author-link=Donald C. Hodges |page=75}}</ref> 

Perón himself did not desire to abandon the Montoneros and sought to restore his trust in his last speech from June 1974, where he denounced ''"the oligarchy and the pressures exerted by imperialism upon his government"'', which was considered an implication that he was being manipulated by the Peronist right.<ref>{{cite book |title=Argentina: From Anarchism to Peronism: Workers, Unions and Politics, 1855-1985 |first1=Ronaldo |last1=Munck |author-link1=Ronaldo Munck |first2=Ricardo |last2=Falcón |author-link2=:es:Ricardo Falcón (historiador) |first3=Bernardo |last3=Galitelli |publisher=Zed Books |year=1987 |isbn=9780862325701 |page=192}}</ref> In response, Montoneros praised Perón for "realizing his May Day mistake", and continued to identify him as their mentor.<ref name="Gillespie 1982 151–152"/> However, Perón died shortly after, and the Montoneros went underground on 6 September 1974 and organized resistance against the regime of [[Isabel Perón]], as Isabel's government was dominated by right-wing figures who sought to centralize their control of the movement and initiated crackdowns on other Peronist factions.<ref name="Gillespie 1982 151–152"/>

After the death of Juan Perón in July 1974 and Isabel's rise to power, Montoneros claimed to have the "social revolutionary vision of authentic Peronism" and started guerrilla operations against the government. The more radically [[Orthodox Peronism|orthodoxy peronist]] and right-wing factions quickly took control of the government; [[Isabel Perón]], president since Juan Perón's death, was essentially a figurehead under the influence of López Rega.<ref>{{Cite web |title=José López Rega {{!}} Argentine leader {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jose-Lopez-Rega |access-date=2022-06-28 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en |archive-date=5 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405211047/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jose-Lopez-Rega |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 15 July 1974, Montoneros assassinated [[Arturo Mor Roig]], a former foreign minister. On 17 July, they murdered [[David Kraiselburd]], journalist and editor-in-chief of ''[[El Día (La Plata)|El Día]]'' newspaper, in the Manuel B. Gonnet suburb of Buenos Aires after an exchange of fire with police.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.lanacion.com.ar/politica/el-asesinato-de-david-kraiselburd-22-dias-de-cautiverio-cinco-tiros-y-un-expediente-que-cayo-en-el-nid17072024/ | title=El asesinato de David Kraiselburd: 22 días de cautiverio, cinco tiros y un expediente que cayó en el olvido | date=17 July 2024 }}</ref>

In September, in order to finance their operations, they kidnapped the two brothers of the [[Bunge and Born]] family business. Some 20 urban guerrillas dressed as policemen shot dead a bodyguard and chauffeur and diverted traffic in this well-orchestrated ambush. Some 30 militants and sympathisers among the civilian population provided safe houses to the guerrillas and a means to escape.<ref>''Terrorism in an Unstable World,'' by Richard L. Clutterbuck, p. 173, Routledge, 1994</ref> They demanded and received a ransom of $60&nbsp;million in cash, as well as $1.2&nbsp;million worth of food and clothing to be given to the poor.

Under López Rega's orders, the Triple A began kidnapping, and killing members of Montoneros and the [[People's Revolutionary Army (Argentina)|People's Revolutionary Army]] (ERP), as well as other leftist militant groups. They expanded their attacks to anyone considered a leftist subversive or sympathiser, such as these groups' deputies or lawyers.

The Montoneros and the ERP in turn attacked business and political figures throughout Argentina, and raided military bases for weapons and explosives. The Montoneros killed executives from [[General Motors Corporation|General Motors]], [[Ford Motor Company|Ford]], and [[Chrysler Corporation|Chrysler]]. General Motors, Chrysler, Citröen, Fiat, Ford and Peugeot, eventually withdrew from the Argentine market or shut down their car manufacturing plants in throughout the country. <ref>Argentina in Transition,  Business International Corporation, p. 42, The Corporation, 1978</ref>
On 16 September 1974, about 40 Montoneros bombs exploded throughout Argentina.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rand.org/pubs/reports/2005/R1909-1.pdf |title=International Terrorism: A Chronology (1974 Supplement) |author=Brian M. Jenkins and Janera A. Johnson |access-date=12 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120329042940/http://www.rand.org/pubs/reports/2005/R1909-1.pdf |archive-date=29 March 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> They targeted both foreign companies and commemorative ceremonies of the ''[[Revolución Libertadora]]'', the military revolt that had ended Juan Perón's first term as president on 16 September 1955.<ref name="foia.state.gov">{{cite web |url=http://foia.state.gov/documents/Argentina/0000A12D.pdf |title=Web site of the US Central Intelligence Agency |access-date=12 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927082108/http://foia.state.gov/documents/Argentina/0000A12D.pdf |archive-date=27 September 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Targets included three Ford showrooms; [[Peugeot]] and IKA-[[Renault]] showrooms; Goodyear and Firestone tyre distributors, the pharmaceutical manufacturers Riker and Eli Lilly, the Union Carbide Battery Company, the Bank of Boston, Chase Manhattan Bank, the Xerox Corporation, and the soft drink companies, Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola. The Peronist guerrillas also held up at gunpoint two trains in a Buenos Aires suburb on 16 September.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19740916&id=hNFOAAAAIBAJ&pg=6881,1670256|title=Toledo Blade - Google News Archive Search|access-date=5 May 2015|archive-date=24 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220424215259/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19740916&id=hNFOAAAAIBAJ&pg=6881%2C1670256|url-status=live}}</ref> The Montoneros discouraged foreign investment more directly by blowing up the homes of company executives. For example, in 1975 the homes of five executives of Lazar Laboratories were bombed in the suburb of La Plata in Buenos Aires.<ref name="foia.state.gov"/> The violence was widespread.

=== 1975 ===
On 7 February, four carloads of Montoneros intercepted the car driven by Antonio Muscat, a manager of the Bunge y Born firm, and shot him dead in the presence of his daughter. On 14 February 1975, Montoneros killed Hipólito Acuña, a politician, as he parked his car outside his home in the city of Santa Fe.
On 18 February, Montoneros gunmen killed Félix Villafañe of the FITAM S.A. workers union, in the presence of his wife in the suburb of San Isidro in Buenos Aires. On 22 February 1975, in an ambush in the Lomas de Zamora suburb of Buenos Aires, three policemen (First Sergeant Nicolás Cardozo, Corporal Roberto Roque Fredes and Constables Eugenio Rodriguez and Abel Pascuzzi) were killed after their patrol car came under fire from Montoneros guerrillas. On 26 February 1975, the Montoneros kidnapped 62-year-old John Patrick Egan, a U.S. consular agent in the city of Córdoba, executing him two days later.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.infobae.com/2013/11/11/1522845-cuando-montoneros-secuestro-y-mato-al-consul-estados-unidos|title=Cuando Montoneros secuestró y mató al cónsul de Estados Unidos|work=infobae|access-date=5 May 2015|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924052621/http://www.infobae.com/2013/11/11/1522845-cuando-montoneros-secuestro-y-mato-al-consul-estados-unidos|url-status=live}}</ref> That same day, they killed three policemen in another ambush by urban guerrillas in Buenos Aires, and an army conscript in Tucumán province was reported to have been killed in action.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PesgAAAAIBAJ&pg=3532,33484&dq= |title=The Day, March 1, 1975 |access-date=12 November 2011 |archive-date=24 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220424215301/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PesgAAAAIBAJ&pg=3532%2C33484&dq= |url-status=live }}</ref> On 5 March 1975, a Montoneros bomb detonated in the underground parking at Plaza Colón of the Argentine Army High Command; a garbage truck driver (Alberto Blas García) was killed and 28 others were wounded,<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=RcU0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=jI8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=2936,3732517&dq= "Powerful bomb"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308161546/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=RcU0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=jI8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=2936,3732517&dq= |date=8 March 2021 }}, ''Ellensburg Daily Record'', 15 March 1976</ref> including four colonels and 18 other ranks.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=XuQNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=gm0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5477,1507913&hl=en "Argentine Blast Kills 1"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160403165246/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=XuQNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=gm0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5477,1507913&hl=en |date=3 April 2016 }}, ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', 16 March 1976</ref> In early June 1975, Montoneros guerrillas murdered executives David Bargut and Raúl Amelong of the Acindar steel firm in Rosario, in reprisal for alleged repression against striking employees.<ref>Latin America, 1975, al Kosut, Chris Hunt, Grace M. Ferrara, p. 38, Facts on File, 1976</ref> On 10 June 1975, guerrillas in Santa Fe shot and killed Juan Enrique Pelayes, a trade union leader. On 12 June 1975, in an ambush in the capital of the Córdoba province, three policemen (Pedro Ramón Enrico, Carlos Alberto Galíndez and corporal Luis Francisco Rodríguez) were killed by guerrillas. On 25 July 1975 four policemen were wounded in guerrilla attacks using bazookas and firebombs. On 26 August 1975, 26-year-old Fernando Haymal was killed by fellow Montoneros for allegedly cooperating with government forces.<ref>''Soldiers of Perón: Argentina's Montoneros,'' Richard Gillespie, p. 217, Clarendon Press, 1982.</ref>

The Montoneros' leadership was keen to learn from the ERP's ''Compañía de Monte Ramón Rosa Jiménez'' operating in the province of Tucumán. In 1975 they sent "observers" to spend a few months with the ERP platoons<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9nFyZaZGthgC&q=montoneros+sent+observers+tucuman&pg=PA230 |title=Terrorism in Context, Martha Crenshaw, p. 230, Penn State Press, 1995 |access-date=12 November 2011|isbn=9780271044422 |last1=Crenshaw |first1=Martha |date=2010-11-01 |publisher=Penn State Press }}</ref> operating against the 5th Infantry Brigade, then consisting of the 19th, 20th and 29th Mountain Infantry Regiments.<ref>Adrian J. English, ''Armed Forces of Latin America: Their Histories, Development, Present Strength, and Military Potential,'' Janes Information Group, 1984, p. 33.</ref> On 28 August 1975 the Montoneros planted a bomb in a culvert at the Tucumán air base airstrip. The blast destroyed an air force C-130 transport carrying 116 anti-guerrilla commandos of the [[Argentine National Gendarmerie|Gendarmerie]], killing five and wounding 40, one of whom later died of his injuries.<ref>Burzaco, pp. 108–109</ref>

The network of Montoneros militants had been largely uprooted by the government in the capital of Tucumán province. In August 1975, several hundred Montoneros militants took to the streets in Córdoba, to divert attention from the military operations being waged in the mountains of Tucumán. They shot and killed five policemen (Sergeant Juan Carlos Román, Corporal Rosario del Carmen Moyano and Agents Luis Rodolfo López, Jorge Natividad Luna and Juan Antonio Diaz)<ref>In memoriam, Volume 2, p. 539 and p. 549, Círculo Militar, República Argentina, 1999.</ref> after attacking their headquarters and bombed the police radio communications centre.<ref name="news.google.com">{{Cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vdJGAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6XsMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3887,3282259&dq= |title="5 Policemen Dead In Argentina Violence". ''Times-Union'', 21 August 1975 |access-date=16 March 2016 |archive-date=28 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160428230510/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vdJGAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6XsMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3887,3282259&dq= |url-status=live }}</ref> As a result, the elite 4th Airborne Infantry Brigade, which had been ordered to assist operations in Tucumán province, was kept in Córdoba for the rest of the year.

On 5 October 1975, the Montoneros carried out a complex operation against a regiment of the 5th Brigade.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9nFyZaZGthgC&pg=PA236 |title=Terrorism in Context |author=Martha Crenshaw |pages= 236| publisher= Penn State Press |date=1995 |access-date=12 November 2011|isbn=9780271044422 }}</ref> During this attack named ''[[Operation Primicia]]'' ("Operation Scoop") a Montoneros force numbering an estimated several hundred guerrillas and underground supporters, set in motion an assault on an army barracks in [[Formosa Province|Formosa province]]. On 5 October 1975, Montoneros members hijacked a civilian airliner bound for [[Corrientes, Argentina|Corrientes]] from Buenos Aires. The guerrillas redirected the plane to Formosa, and took over the provincial airport, killing policeman Neri Argentino Alegre in the process. With tactical support from a local militant group, the invaders attacked the barracks of the 29th Infantry Regiment with gunfire and hand grenades. They shot several soldiers who had been resting in their quarters.<ref name="Heriberto J E Roman">{{cite web |author=Heriberto J E Roman |url=http://argentinahechoshistoricos.blogspot.com/2008/08/ataque-al-regimiento-de-infanteria-de.html#prof |title=Montoneros ataca a un Regimiento del Ejército Argentino |publisher=Argentinahechoshistoricos.blogspot.com |date=27 February 2004 |access-date=12 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007054012/http://argentinahechoshistoricos.blogspot.com/2008/08/ataque-al-regimiento-de-infanteria-de.html#prof |archive-date=7 October 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

After the soldiers and NCOs got over their initial surprise, they mounted stiff resistance to the attacking Montoneros. In total, a second lieutenant (Ricardo Massaferro), sergeant (Víctor Sanabria) and ten conscripts (Antonio Arrieta, Heriberto Avalos, José Coronel, Dante Salvatierra, Ismael Sánchez, Tomás Sánchez, Edmundo Roberto Sosa, Marcelino Torales, Alberto Villalba and Hermindo Luna) were killed and several wounded.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://xn--lamaanaonline-lkb.com.ar/inicio.php?s=1&c=3&id=23366 |title=Homenaje del RIMte 29, a 38 años del ataque montonero |access-date=29 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310094835/http://xn--lamaanaonline-lkb.com.ar/inicio.php?c=3&id=23366&s=1 |archive-date=10 March 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The Montoneros lost 16 killed in total.<ref name="Heriberto J E Roman"/> Two policemen later died of their wounds.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=r5cuAAAAIBAJ&pg=987,2124967&hl=en |title=Argentina to answer rebels 'with the language of guns' |work=The Montreal Gazette |date=8 October 1975 |access-date=12 November 2011 |archive-date=31 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331103347/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=r5cuAAAAIBAJ&pg=987,2124967&hl=en |url-status=live }}</ref> The Montoneros escaped by air into a remote area in adjoining [[Santa Fe Province]]. The aircraft, a [[Boeing 737]], landed in a crop field not far from the city of [[Rafaela]]. The Peronist guerrillas fled to waiting cars on a highway nearby.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Hf1jAAAAIBAJ&pg=1098,1842894&hl=en |title=Argentine troops rout rebel raid |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=7 October 1975 |access-date=12 November 2011 |archive-date=24 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220424215259/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Hf1jAAAAIBAJ&pg=1098%2C1842894&hl=en |url-status=live }}</ref>

The sophistication of the operation, and the getaway cars and hideouts they used to escape the military crackdown, suggest the involvement of several hundred guerrillas and civilian sympathisers in Montoneros' organization. Under the presidency of [[Nestor Kirchner]], the families of all the Montoneros killed in the attack were each later compensated with the payment of around US$200,000.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1403475-polemica-por-una-lista-de-indemnizaciones|title=Polémica por una lista de indemnizaciones|author=Mariano De Vedia|date=5 September 2011|access-date=5 May 2015|archive-date=27 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141027003224/http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1403475-polemica-por-una-lista-de-indemnizaciones|url-status=dead}}</ref>

While the ERP fought the army in Tucumán, the Montoneros were active in Buenos Aires. Montoneros' leadership dismissed the tactics of the ERP in Tucumán as "old fashioned" and "inappropriate" but still sent reinforcements.<ref>Gillespie, page 195</ref> On 26 October 1975, five policemen (Pedro Dettle, Juan Ramón Costa, Carlos Livio Cejas, Cleofás Galeano, and Juan Fernández<ref>In memoriam, Volume 2, p. 398, Círculo Militar, República Argentina, 1998 </ref>) were killed in Buenos Aires when Montoneros guerrillas ambushed their patrol cars near the San Isidro Cathedral.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://foia.state.gov/documents/Argentina/00009FBD.pdf |title=Unclassified Telegram from US Embassy Buenos Aires |access-date=12 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927082250/http://foia.state.gov/documents/Argentina/00009FBD.pdf |archive-date=27 September 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Two of the captured policemen were reported to have been executed in this operation under the orders of the Montoneros commander Eduardo Pereyra Rossi (nom de guerre Carlon).<ref>30.000 Desaparecidos: Realidad, Mito y Dogma, Guillermo Rojas, Page 246, Editorial Santiago Apóstol, 2003</ref>

In December 1975, Montoneros raided an armaments factory in the capital's Munro neighbourhood, fleeing with 250 assault rifles and sub-machine guns. That same month, a Montoneros bomb exploded at the headquarters of the Argentine army in Buenos Aires, injuring at least six soldiers.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=HPBLAAAAIBAJ&pg=3050,5982817&dq= |title=Argentine theatre hit by bomb The Spokesman-Review December 31, 1975 |date=31 December 1975 |access-date=12 November 2011 |archive-date=15 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221215125431/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=HPBLAAAAIBAJ&pg=3050,5982817&dq= |url-status=live }}</ref> By the end of 1975, a total of 137 army officers, NCOs and conscripts and policemen had been killed that year and approximately 3,000 wounded by left wing terrorism. U.S. journalist Paul Hoeffel in an article written for the Boston Globe concluded that, "Although there is widespread reluctance to use the term, it is now impossible to ignore the fact that civil war has broken out in Argentina."<ref>Argentine army resists takeover to trap would-be rebels, Paul Hoeffel, ''The Boston Globe'', 18 January 1976</ref>

==== Seaborne attacks ====
Montoneros were inspired by the Italian and British wartime commando raids on warships, and on 1 November 1974, Montoneros successfully blew up General Commissioner Alberto Villar, the chief of the Argentine federal police in his yacht. His wife was also killed on the spot.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8mFdMbhkiWEC&q=yacht+montoneros&pg=PA62 |title=Lloyd's MIU Handbook of Maritime Security, Julio Espin-Digon, Rupert Herbert-Burns, Sam Bateman & Peter Lehr, p. 63, CRC Press, 2008 |access-date=12 November 2011|isbn=9781420054811 |last1=Herbert-Burns |first1=Rupert |last2=Bateman |first2=Sam |last3=Lehr |first3=Peter |date=24 September 2008 |publisher=CRC Press }}</ref> On 22 August 1975,<ref name=saga/> their frogmen planted a mine on the river's bed below the hull of a navy [[destroyer]], the [[ARA Santísima Trinidad (1974)|ARA ''Santísima Trinidad'']], as she remained docked at Rio Santiago before her commissioning. The explosion caused considerable damage to the ship's computer and electronic equipment. On 14 December 1975, using the same techniques, Montoneros frogmen placed explosives on the yacht ''Itati'' in an attempt to kill the Commander-in-Chief of the Argentine navy, Admiral Emilio Massera.<ref>Soldiers of Perón: Argentina's Montoneros, Richard Gillespie, Page 197, Clarendon Press, 1982.</ref> While Massera was not injured, the yacht was badly damaged by the explosives.<ref name=saga>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TSYc5r0HfBwC&q=itati+montoneros&pg=PA134 |title=From Vietnam to El Salvador: The Saga of the FMLN Sappers and other Guerrilla Special Forces in Latin America, David E. Spencer, p. 134, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996 |date=30 October 1996 |access-date=12 November 2011|isbn=9780275955144 |last1=Spencer |first1=David E. |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic }}</ref>

=== 1976 ===
During February 1976, the Montoneros sent assistance to the hard-pressed ''Compañía de Monte Ramón Rosa Jiménez'' fighting in Tucumán province, in the form of a company of their own elite "Jungle Troops", while the ERP backed them up with another company of  volunteers from Córdoba.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NtZ3EvNYxjYC&q=general+vila%27s+forces+numbered&pg=PA107 |title=Guerrillas and Generals: The Dirty War in Argentina |author= Paul H. Lewis |pages= 126 |publisher= Greenwood Publishing Group |date= 2002 |access-date=12 November 2011|isbn=9780275973605 }}</ref> The [[Baltimore Sun]] reported at the time, ''"In the jungle-covered mountains of Tucumán, long known as "Argentina's garden," Argentines are fighting Argentines in a Vietnam-style civil war. So far, the outcome is in doubt. But there is no doubt about the seriousness of the combat, which involves 2,000 or so leftist guerrillas and perhaps as many as 10,000 soldiers."''<ref>'Viet war' growing in Argentina, James Nelson Goodsell, The Baltimore Sun, 18 January 1976</ref>

In January 1976, the son of retired Lieutenant-General Julio Alsogoray, Juan Alsogaray (El Hippie), copied from his father's safe a draft of "Battle Order 24 March" and passed it to the head of the Montoneros intelligence, [[Rodolfo Walsh]], who informed the guerrilla leadership of the planned military coup.<ref>Political violence and trauma in Argentina, By Antonius C. G. M. Robben, Page 161, University of Pennsylvania Press (25 January 2005)</ref> Private Sergio Tarnopolsky, serving in the Argentine Marine Corps in 1976, also passed on valuable information to Walsh regarding the tortures and killings of left-wing guerrillas taking place in ESMA.<ref>Documentos, 1976–1977, Volume 1, Roberto Baschetti, Page 38, De la Campana, 2001</ref> He was later that year made to disappear along with his wife Laura, father Hugo and mother Blanca and sister Betina in revenge for a bomb that he planted in the detention centre which failed to explode.<ref>[https://robertobaschetti.com/tarnopolsky-sergio/  Tarnopolsky, Sergio]</ref> The only survivor of the sequestration was his brother Daniel, who was not at home the day of the raid.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.prensajudia.com/shop/detallenot.asp?notid=7276 |title="La dictadura significó persecución, desarraigo, exilio y muerte", Jewish News Agency |publisher=Prensajudia.com |date=30 June 2008 |access-date=12 November 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120421183204/http://www.prensajudia.com/shop/detallenot.asp?notid=7276 |archive-date=21 April 2012}}</ref> 

On 16 January 1976, a police officer was killed while trying to remove a bomb planted in a train in the suburb of Hurlingham in Buenos Aires.

On 26 January, urban guerrillas operating in the suburb of Barracas in Buenos Aires, shot a female police traffic officer (21-year-old Silvia Ester Rosboch de Campana) twice in her stomach around 7 AM as she left her place of residence that was Tomás Liberti 1145 for work. The three individuals involved in her murder fled in a Peugeot 504 car. She died that day in the emergency ward at the Agudos Dr. Argerich General Hospital. <ref>Crónica Edición De La Mañana, martes 27 de enero de 1976</ref>

On 29 January, during a raid on the Bendix factory in the suburb of Munro in Buenos Aires, Montoneros shot and killed Alberto Olabarrieta and Jorge Sarlenga of the factory's management, and an off-duty policeman, 27 year-old Juan Carlos Garavaglio, who had tried to intervene.<ref>Latin America 1976, Lester A. Sobel, p. 30, Facts On File, Incorporated, 1977</ref>

On 2 February 1976, about fifty Montoneros attacked the Juan Vucetich Police Academy in the suburb of La Plata, in an attempt to destroy the patrol helicopters stationed there, but were repelled when the police cadets fought back and reinforcements arrived.<ref>Soldiers of Perón: Argentina's Montoneros, Richard Gillespie, p. 225, Clarendon Press, 1982</ref> On 13 February, the Argentine army scored a major success when the 14th Airborne Infantry Regiment of the 4th Airborne Infantry Brigade ambushed the 65-strong "Compañía Montoneros de Monte" (Montoneros Jungle Company), in an action near the town of Cadillal in Tucumán province.<ref>Guerrillas and Generals: The "Dirty War" in Argentina, Paul H. Lewis, Page 125, Praeger (2001)</ref> The 2nd Airborne Infantry Regiment of the same brigade, was also released from garrison duties in the city of Córdoba after the ERP armed uprising that killed 5 policemen there in August 1975<ref name="news.google.com"/> and would achieve similar success against the ERP's ''Decididos de Córdoba'' (Die-Hards of Córdoba) company sent to rekindle the insurgency in Tucumán province. In the week preceding the military coup, the Montoneros killed 13 policemen as part of their ''Third National Military Campaign'' that vowed to kill at least 3,000 policemen by the decade's end.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NtZ3EvNYxjYC&q=in+the+week+preceding+the+coup+the+montoneros&pg=PA125 |title=Guerrillas and Generals: the Dirty War in Argentina, Paul H. Lewis, page 125, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002 |access-date=12 November 2011|isbn=9780275973605 |last1=Lewis |first1=Paul H. |year=2002 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic }}</ref>

The ERP guerrillas and their supporting network of militants came under heavy attack in April 1976, and the Montoneros were forced to come to their assistance with money, weapons and safe houses.<ref>Political Violence and Trauma in Argentina, Antonius C. G. M. Robben, Page 201, University of Pennsylvania Press (25 January 2005)</ref> On 21 June, the labour relations manager of Swift (an American food processing company), Osvaldo Raúl Trinidad was shot and killed outside his home in the La Plata suburb of Buenos Aires after coming under fire from a carload of masked Peronist gunmen. On 1 July, a carload of Montoneros shot and killed Army Sergeant Raúl Godofredo Favale in the Ramos Mejía suburb of Buenos Aires.<ref>Con sus propias palabras: La otra parte de la historia reciente que se oculta, Norberto Aurelio López, Page 358, Edición del Autor, (2005)</ref> On the following day the Montoneros detonated a powerful bomb in the [[Argentine Federal Police]] building in Buenos Aires, killing 24 and injuring 66<ref name="books.google.ca">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b8k4rEPvq_8C&q=federal+police+montoneros+bombing&pg=PA202 |title=Encyclopedia of modern worldwide extremists and extremist groups, Stephen E. Atkins, p. 202, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004 |access-date=12 November 2011|isbn=9780313324857 |last1=Atkins |first1=Stephen E. |year=2004 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic }}</ref>-100<ref>[https://www.swissinfo.ch/spa/justicia-argentina-reabre-causa-de-atentado-atribuido-a-montoneros-y-ordena-indagar-a-jefe/88617229 Justicia argentina reabre causa de atentado atribuido a Montoneros y ordena indagar a jefe]</ref>people. On 10 July 1976, policemen surrounded and entered a printing house in the San Andrés suburb of Buenos Aires in an attempt to free Vicecomodore Roberto Moisés Echegoyen from the Argentine air force, but the alerted urban guerrillas shot their hostage in the head, killing him.<ref>La Opinion Revista, p. 11, Editorial Olta, 1976</ref> On 19 July, Montoneros killed Brigadier-General Carlos Omar Actis (tasked with overseeing the World Cup soccer championships in Argentina in 1978) in the suburb of Wilde in Buenos Aires.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1755&dat=19760819&id=YyMhAAAAIBAJ&pg=6472,1599835|title=Sarasota Herald-Tribune - Google News Archive Search|access-date=5 May 2015|archive-date=24 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220424215300/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1755&dat=19760819&id=YyMhAAAAIBAJ&pg=6472%2C1599835|url-status=live}}</ref> On 26 July, Montoneros guerrillas operating in the San Justo suburb of Buenos Aires shot and killed an off-duty policeman, Ramón Emilio Reno in the presence of his 13-year-old brother while they stood looking at a magazine stand. The terrorists first asked Reno to confirm his name, then shot him in the back before finishing him off with a shot in the head. An Argentine army 1976 report entitled ''Informe Especial: Actividades OPM "Montoneros" año 1976'', gave the following surviving Montoneros totals for September 1976: 9,191 members with 991 guerrillas (391 officers and 600 other ranks), 2,700 armed militants and 5,500 sympathisers and active collaborators.<ref>Terrorism in Context by Martha Crenshaw, Page 212, Pennsylvania State University Press (1 January 1995)</ref>

On 19 August 1976, Carlos Bergometti of the senior management of Fiat in Córdoba, was intercepted on his way to work and killed by Montoneros armed with shotguns in a car.<ref>In memoriam, Volume 1, p. 437, Círculo Militar, 1998</ref> On 2 September, the urban guerrillas killed Lieutenant-Colonel Carlos Heriberto Astudillo in the suburb of Escobar in Buenos Aires.<ref>In memoriam, Volume 1, p. 304, Círculo Militar, 1998</ref> On 7 September, Daniel Andrés Cash of the ''Banco de la Nación Argentina'' was killed on his way to work by a Montoneros guerrilla armed with a shotgun.<ref>In memoriam, Volume 1, p. 439, Círculo Militar, 1998</ref> On 12 September 1976, a Montoneros car bomb destroyed a bus carrying police officers in Rosario, killing nine policemen<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gPZQAAAAIBAJ&pg=5888,1670086&dq=|title=The Telegraph-Herald - Google News Archive Search|access-date=5 May 2015|archive-date=24 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220424215258/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gPZQAAAAIBAJ&pg=5888%2C1670086&dq=|url-status=live}}</ref> and a married couple, 56-year-old Oscar Walter Ledesma and 42-year-old Irene Ángela Dib. There were at least 50 wounded.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=http://ar.geocities.com/ciudadanosalerta/terrorismo/12-09-1976.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091027100629/http://ar.geocities.com/ciudadanosalerta/terrorismo/12-09-1976.html |archive-date=27 October 2009 |title=Una "Travesura" de los "Jovenes Idealistas" |date=27 October 2009 |access-date=12 November 2011}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=October 2022}} Among the wounded, were 23 policemen travelling on board the bus.<ref>[https://www.infobae.com/sociedad/2022/09/12/el-coche-bomba-de-montoneros-que-estremecio-el-domingo-rosarino-y-nunca-nadie-investigo-nueve-policias-y-dos-civiles-muertos/ El coche bomba de Montoneros que estremeció el domingo rosarino y nunca nadie investigó: nueve policías y dos civiles muertos]</ref> On 8 October 1976, First Lieutenant Fernando Cativa-Tolosa from the 601st Air Defence Regiment, after noticing a light-blue Fiat vehicle (believed to be in use by the urban guerrillas) parked in the suburb of Don Bosco in Buenos Aires, he got off his patrol vehicle while the remainder of his squad remained inside. The Army officer entered the Real Madrid Restaurant in order to visually identify possible suspects. But Raúl Del Monte and Igancio Suárez, both Montoneros sitting at a table, drew their handguns first and although Cativa-Tolosa fired back he was shot six times and killed. His 2-man back-up team soon joined the gunfight but were also shot and wounded.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20171007220405/http://www.agenciadenoticias54.com/?p=10800 Capitán FERNANDO CATIVA TOLOSA¡¡¡¡PRESENTE!!!!]</ref> On 17 October a Montoneros bomb blast in an Army Club cinema in downtown Buenos Aires killed 14 and wounded about 30 military officers and their relatives.<ref>"El parte oficial reconoce 14 muertos (diez militares y cuatro civiles) y 30 heridos." Documentos, 1976-1977: Golpe Militar y Resistencia Popular, Roberto Baschetti, p. 81, De la Campana, 2001</ref> On 9 November, 3 police officers were killed and 11 were wounded when a Montoneros bomb exploded at the police headquarters at La Plata during a meeting of the Buenos Aires police chiefs.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1454&dat=19761110&id=prksAAAAIBAJ&sjid=DxMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2763,2019032&hl=en Three killed in Argentine police bombing]</ref><ref name=":0"/>

On 16 November 1976, about 40 Montoneros guerrillas stormed the police station at Arana, 30 miles south of Buenos Aires. Five policemen and one army captain were wounded in the battle with seventeen guerrillas reported killed in the initial assault and follow-up counterinsurgency operations that took place that day.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=aSkPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=kYUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2970,2877456&dq=guerrillas+argentina+police+1976 The Victoria Advocate, 17 November 1976] {{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1976/11/17/archives/argentine-guerrillas-lose-10-in-raid.html Argentine Guerrillas Lose 10 in Raid]</ref> On 15 December, another Montoneros bomb planted in a Defence Ministry movie hall killed at least 14 and injured 30 officers and their families.<ref name="books.google.ca"/> On 29 December, urban guerrillas shot and killed Colonel Francisco Castellanos and wounded his driver, Private Alberto Gutiérrez, just a few blocks from the army officer's home in the suburb of Florida in Buenos Aires.<ref>Crónica Edición De La Mañana, Jueves 30 de diciembre de 1976</ref> The worst year of the insurgency, 1976, saw 156 army officers, NCOs, and conscripts, and police killed.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ztjV7GVNeiAC&q=137+in+1975,+and+the+number+peaked+at+156+in+1976&pg=PA102 |title=State Terrorism in Latin America: Chile, Argentina, and International Human Rights, Thomas C. Wright, p. 102, Rowman & Littlefield, 2007 |access-date=12 November 2011|isbn=9780742537217 |last1=Wright |first1=Thomas C. |year=2007 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield }}</ref>

By the time [[Jorge Rafael Videla|Videla]]'s military junta [[1976 Argentine coup|took power in March 1976]], approximately five thousand prisoners were being held in various prisons around Argentina, some with connections and some just guilty by association{{Citation needed|date=December 2011}}. In all, 12,000 Argentines were detained during the military dictatorship and became known as the ''[[Detenido desaparecido|detenidos-desaparecidos]]'', but survived after international pressure forced the military authorities to release them.<ref name="elortiba.org">''"Durante la vigencia del estado de sitio entre noviembre de 1974 y octubre de 1983, los organismos de derechos humanos denunciaron la existencia de 12 mil presos politicos legales en las distintas cárceles de 'maxima seguridad' a lo largo de todo el territorio de Argentina."''[http://www.elortiba.org/pdf/Memoria-de-ex-presas-y-presos-politicos.pdf Entre resistentes e "irrecuperables": Memorias de ex presas y presos políticos (1974-1983), p. 13.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140224233740/http://www.elortiba.org/pdf/Memoria-de-ex-presas-y-presos-politicos.pdf |date=24 February 2014 }}</ref> These prisoners were held throughout the years of the dictatorship, many of them never receiving trials, in prisons such as La Plata, Devoto, Rawson, and [[Caseros Prison|Caseros]]. Justice Minister Ricardo Gil Lavedra, who formed part of the 1985 tribunal judging the military crimes committed during the Dirty War would later go on record saying that ''"I sincerely believe that the majority of the victims of the illegal repression were guerrilla militants"''.<ref>Amar al enemigo, Javier Vigo Leguizamón, p. 68, Ediciones Pasco, 2001</ref>

Terence Roehrig, in ''The prosecution of former military leaders in newly democratic nations: the cases of Argentina, Greece, and South Korea '' (Pg 42, McFarland & Company, 2001), estimates that of the disappeared in Argentina ''"at least 10,000 were involved in various ways with the guerrillas"''. The Montoneros later admitted losing 5,000 guerrillas killed,<ref name="elmundo.es">[http://www.elmundo.es/papel/hemeroteca/1995/05/04/mundo/40472.html El ex líder de los Montoneros entona un «mea culpa» parcial de su pasado] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090223183945/http://www.elmundo.es/papel/hemeroteca/1995/05/04/mundo/40472.html |date=23 February 2009 }}, ''El Mundo'', 4 May 1995</ref> and the [[People's Revolutionary Army (Argentina)|People's Revolutionary Army]] (Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo or ERP) admitted the loss of another 5,000 of their own combatants killed.<ref name="Cedema.org">{{Cite book |url=http://www.cedema.org/ver.php?id=2713 |title=A 32 años de la caída en combate de Mario Roberto Santucho y la Dirección Histórica del PRT-ERP |publisher=Cedema.org |access-date=13 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725151539/http://www.cedema.org/ver.php?id=2713 |archive-date=25 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Some 11,000 Argentines have applied for and received up to US$200,000 each as monetary compensation for the loss of loved ones during the military dictatorship.<ref>State terrorism in Latin America: Chile, Argentina, and international human rights, Thomas C. Wright, Page 158, Rowman & Littlefield, 2007</ref> In late November 2012, it was reported that the government of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner would approve monetary compensation for the families that lost loved ones in the Montoneros attack on the 29th Regiment barracks on 5 October 1975, the first of its kind for military families in Argentina.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.diasdehistoria.com.ar/content/indemnizar%C3%A1n-los-soldados-muertos-en-la-operaci%C3%B3n-primicia-de-montoneros |title=Indemnizarán a los soldados muertos en la Operación Primicia de Montoneros  |access-date=26 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181105210052/http://www.diasdehistoria.com.ar/content/indemnizar%C3%A1n-los-soldados-muertos-en-la-operaci%C3%B3n-primicia-de-montoneros |archive-date=5 November 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Speaking of the Montoneros' numbers in 1975, [[:es:Roberto Perdía|Roberto Perdía]] stated: "The political force the Montoneros represented, that is to say, those who were mobilized around the organized members of the group, can be measured by the participation in public actions. Given the fact that actions took place across the country, the total number of participants can be estimated at around one hundred and twenty thousand, counting sympathizers as well as organized and non-organized members." He estimated the number of active militants at ten thousands, including three thousand women.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Women’s Actions, Women’s Words. Female Political and Cultural Responses to the Argentine State |first=Susanne |last=Meachem |year=2010 |journal=University of Birmingham Research Archive |publisher=Ethos UK |location=Birmingham |pages=143-144}}</ref>