Revolutionary Armed Forces (Argentina)

The Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) were an armed political organization of Argentina formed in the late 1960s, and whose early ideal was to train and join the rural guerrillas started by Che Guevara in Bolivia. Its members came mostly from a fracture that occurred within the Communist Youth Federation (the "Fede") of the Communist Party. Its original base ideology was therefore Marxism-Leninism, but with a Latin American addition, inspired by the preaching and actions of this revolutionary reference.

Beginnings

The group describes in an interview that it was created after the coup d'état orchestrated by Juan Carlos Onganía, how the idea of establishing itself as a group to practice armed struggle occurred more or less at the time in which Commander Guevara disappeared from Cuba. They talk about how the group began as one of hundreds during a turbulent time in Argentine society, as well as the influence of Che Guevara's campaign in Bolivia. The group shows affinity with the civilians who participated during the Cordobazo, and how this revolt could be replicated in any other city, in the hope that it will trigger

Among its first leaders and founders it is essential to mention Carlos Olmedo, recognized as an ideological reference of the organization, who died on November 3, 1971, in what was called "The Ferreyra Combat" #34; (industrial neighborhood of Ferreyra in the city of Córdoba). From then on, and also taking ideological and methodological influences from Tupamaros, they formed a political-military organization that quickly incorporated cadres, fundamentally oriented towards the fight against the military dictatorship of the self-proclaimed Argentine Revolution.

First military operations

Although on June 26, 1969, the FAR burned down thirteen Minimax supermarkets in Buenos Aires, in repudiation of Nelson Rockefeller's visit, that operation was not signed by the organization, although it was recognized shortly afterwards.

On July 30, 1970, at 1:00 p.m., a FAR commando took over the city of Garín ―in the northern area of Greater Buenos Aires―. Roberto Quieto participated in the planning and execution of the seizure along with Carlos Olmedo and Marcos Osatinsky, which allowed the organization to steal weapons and money. Operation "Gabriela" It included the assault on the branch of the Banco Provincia de Buenos Aires and the seizure of the ENTEL office, the railway station and the police detachment where weapons were stolen. It lasted in total about 50 minutes, around 50 guerrillas participated - or 36 guerrillas (12 women and 24 men) according to some versions - who retreated into five vans and three cars previously stolen for that action. During the incident, a police officer was murdered.

This shocking operation marked the beginning of a considerable deployment of the FAR, as it allowed them to achieve an expansion of material resources and new followers who swelled their ranks. From then on and during the following years, they participated in numerous and high-profile attacks and kidnappings for extortion against businessmen and personalities, some carried out jointly with other left-wing armed organizations such as the People's Revolutionary Army. The group robbed an Army bank in the city of Córdoba, stealing at least $15,000.00 on December 29, 1970. The group also robbed a series of banks in January 1971, leaving no member of the group arrested.

Outstanding attacks and repression

On April 1, 1971, the group attacked a sub-police station located in Villa Elvira, in the province of Buenos Aires, where they stole 4 Browning Hi-Power pistols, caliber 9 mm, a 16 caliber shotgun, a 22 caliber revolver, ammunition, uniforms, belts and other useful elements for your campaign. On April 29, 1971, around thirty members of the FAR under the command of Juan Pablo Maestre stole the weapons that were being transported in a military truck near Pilar and in the course of the incident they killed Lieutenant Mario César Asúa and left the conscript soldier paraplegic. Hugo Alberto Vacca.

On July 2 of that year, in the province of San Juan, former FAR members Marcelo Verd and his wife Sara Palacios were kidnapped, who towards the end of 1970 had separated from the FAR and settled in San Juan., according to the militants' opinion because Verd rejected their new orientation which, unlike that of the ELN, privileged the national struggle and progressively approached Peronism. The same ones, who remain missing, under torture, give the whereabouts of Quieto (who fortuitously manages to 'legalize' his arrest when an attempt is made to kidnap him a few days later). On July 13, 1971, when the militants Juan Pablo Maestre and his wife Mirta Misetich – who were in hiding – were leaving Mirta's parents' house in Buenos Aires, they were intercepted by an armed group. Maestre was shot twice while trying to flee and Mirta managed to call for help before they were put into the car. That same day police officers came to the scene and had the blood cleaned up but they did not initiate a summary into what happened. The next day Maestre's body appeared in a ditch while Mirta remains missing.

On July 1, 1972, the group murdered General Juan Carlos Sánchez in an ambush with FN FAL rifles and PAM submachine guns during an operation in conjunction with the ERP, this in the city of Rosario. Elcira Cucco de Araya, who was tending a newspaper and magazine kiosk on the corner of Alvear and Córdoba, also died in the attack. With this attack, the group announced an increase in its operations where they planned a popular rebellion, (in case of lose at the polls) leading to a civil war that they describe as "the second independence", a project that never came to fruition. The group was also very optimistic about the March 1973 elections, describing it as the " "triumph of the people", but they still demanded the release, through amnesty and pardon, of all combatants and political prisoners, dissolution of the army, better conditions for workers, "recovery of all the basic springs of the national economy, currently in the hands of the monopolies, from a Peronist point of view" and defend the country from the anti-imperialist threat.

On January 22, 1973, Julián Moreno, a union leader of the UOM, and his driver, who was driving a Ford Falcon Argentino Deheza, were murdered by the FAR, in the city of Avellaneda, Buenos Aires. An hour earlier, Moreno had left his house in Avellaneda to go to work. According to witnesses, since 7:00 a Fiat 1600 was parked waiting with three men and a woman. As Moreno's car approached, about 100 meters away, the terrorists got out of their car and got into a truck. There they started, followed the union member's car and rammed it. The woman got out of her truck, quickly approached Moreno and Deheza and shot them down. A companion was shooting with a revolver from the car. The attackers quickly escaped. Against the FAR, the methodology of disappearance of people with the participation of State terrorism, the extrajudicial murder of guerrillas, began to be applied, fine-tuning the methodology – including “liberated zone” – that would be used systematically after the coup d'état of 1976.

Unification with Montoneros

At that time they became politically closer to Revolutionary Peronism and Montoneros. Since the beginning of 1972, and especially in the months before and after the events known as the Trelew Massacre, these two armed organizations debated their unification. Despite having ideological differences with other groups, it knew how to maintain its margin to avoid confrontations, but managed to iron out rough edges, collaborating with other groups with a Marxist tendency, even paying tribute to murdered militants. In addition, they spoke out to other guerrillas who were victims of repression such as Juan Pablo Maestre and Enrique Grynberg.

On October 12, 1973, Montoneros and FAR announced their definitive merger, henceforth acting under the unifying name of the former. The main FAR leaders such as Marcos Osatinsky (Lucio), Roberto Quieto (Negro), Julio Roqué (Lino, Mateo or Martín), among others, went on to occupy command positions in Montoneros, obtaining some experience from these militants.