Editing Montoneros (section)

=== 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.