Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri Castelli (15 July 1926 - 12 January 2003) was an Argentine general and dictator who was head of state of Argentina for roughly 5 months from 1981 - 1982, serving during the military dictatorship known as the National Reorganization Process (NRP). He commanded the 601 Intelligence Battalion, a death squad who reported directly to him. He was removed shortly after the failure of the Falklands invasion he ordered.
Born to a working class Italian-Argentine family, he went to the National Military Academy to study civil engineering. He was an officer in the engineering branch early on in his career. He continued climbing the ranks while studying, eventually becoming a professor of engineering at the Senior War College in 1958.
Following 25 years as a combat engineer, he was appointed commander of the Argentine engineering corps in 1975. He was a strong supporter of the military coup that created the NRP, continuing to rise the ranks until becoming commander-in-chief as lieutenant general in 1980. During this time, the Dirty War occurred, where between 9,000 and 30,000 people branded as left wing dissenters disappeared, along with the suspension of Congress and the abolition of trade unions. He was supported by the United States in the fight against communism, and he also supported the Contra program in Nicaragua, training early groups in Argentine bases. This allowed him to remove enemies, before finally becoming head of state after overthrowing General Roberto Viola. Galtieri maintained his control over the army during his presidency and did not appoint a separate commander-in-chief. His initial rule was beneficial for the economy, where his economic minister cut spending and reduced bloated government managed companies. However, the Central Bank still tied mortgages to the US Dollar locally, causing a 5% GDP decrease and worsened economic stagnation. One of his close allies was also appointed as head of the state's petroleum company, where mismanagement caused a $6 billion dollar loss in company profits. He also instituted limited reform, allowing minor dissent. This saw protests against the junta increase, however.
In 1982, after four months in office, Galtieri was very unpopular. To supplement this, he ordered the invasion of the Falkland Islands, a British territory in the South Atlantic Ocean which had been claimed by Argentina for many decades. The move worked, and his popularity increased drastically, causing anti-junta protests to transform to demonstrations in great support of Galtieri. However, contrary to his assumption that Britain would not respond, Margaret Thatcher ordered a task force to push back Argentine forces from the islands. The capital of the islands, Stanley, was retaken quickly and Argentine forces surrendered on 14 June 1982. Galtieri was removed 4 days after, and he fled to a country estate where he watched Argentina restore to democracy. He was arrested in 1983 and was prosecuted under the Code of Military Justice for his actions during the Dirty War and the Falklands War. He was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment in 1986. He was stripped of his ranks, but received a presidential pardon with the rest of the generals involved with the dictatorship in 1989. Following his release, he moved to the suburbs of Buenos Aires and lived a modest life, with a military pension of $1,800 a month. He attempted to claim a presidential pension, but was denied on the grounds that his term was illegal as he had not been elected. He further had to pay for all court costs. He refused all interviews by Argentine press, but did state he had no regrets about the Dirty War. He caused controversy by appearing at a military parade in 2002 for Argentine Army Day, where he was confronted by journalists. Charges were later brought against him that year for the kidnapping of children and the disappearance of 18 leftist supporters while he was commander of the Second Army Corps, but remained at home due to poor health. He died on 12 January 2003.
| Latin American juntas and dictatorships! (1944-1992) | |
|---|---|
| Operation Condor, Operation PBFortune
and other black-opps |
Black-opps - Operation PBFortune - special-opps- Operation Condor- American collusion in Operation Condor- French collusion in Operation Condor- Argentina's "Dirty War" - Operation Soberanía - La Violencia - Colombian conflict (1964–present) - Peruvian conflict - United States involvement in regime change in Latin America - 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état - United States invasion of Panama - Panamanian 'Dignity Battalions' - Port Belgrano Naval Base |
| Systems of state repression | The "La Técnica" torture center - Vill Gremadi Detention Center - Dirección Nacional de Asuntos Técnicos - Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (DINA) - Panamanian 'Dignity Battalions' - Death flight - Political disappearances |
| The ones who tried to get nukes | Brazil (failed) - Chile (failed) - Argentina (failed) - Cuba (gave them up) - Cuban Missile Crisis |
| Economics | Paving the Quito-Tulcán road in the early 1970s - Argentine Cold War era hyper inflation- Brazil's development of the Amazon region in the 1970s- Transamazon Highway (BR-230) (the 1970s part) |
| Politics and Geo-politics | Falklands sovereignty dispute - 1982 Falklands War - Cold War - Operation Soberanía - Beagle conflict - Snipe incident - United States invasion of Panama - 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties |
| Technology | Alacrán (Condor IAIII) missile - The Condor and Alacrán missile programs - El Torero Enojado (fake aircraft) - FMA IA 58 Pucará - FMA IAe 33 Pulqui II |
| People | General Augusto Pinochet - Alfredo Stroessner - Jorge Rafael Videla - Guillermo Rodríguez (politician) - Leopoldo Galtieri - Juan Domingo Perón -Gustavo Rojas Pinilla- Luis García Meza Tejada - Juan María Bordaberry - Marcos Pérez Jiménez - Manuel Apolinario Odría - João Goulart -Dwight D. Eisenhower - Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno - Anastasio Somoza García - Rafael Trujillo - Fulgencio Batista - Fidel Castro - Carlos Castillo Armas - Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes - Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North - Omar Torrijos - Anastasio Somoza Debayle - Luis Somoza Debayle - General Oswaldo López Arellano - (General Kjell Eugenio Laugerud García - General Romeo Lucas García - General Carlos Humberto Romero |
| Important places | The "La Técnica" torture center - Vill Gremadi Detention Center - Port Belgrano Naval Base |
| Wars and civil wars | Colombian conflict (1964–present) - Peruvian conflict - Contras - Sandinistas - Operation Soberanía - Argentina's "Dirty War" - 1982 Falklands War - Operation Soberanía - Beagle conflict - Snipe incident - La guerra del fútbol - Guatemalan Civil War - Salvadoran Civil War - Guerrilla Army of the Poor - 1979 Nicaraguan Revolution |
| Other stuff | 601 Commando Company - 602 Commando Company - 601 Air Assault Regiment - 5th Marine Battalion (Argentina) - Guatemalan genocide against the Maya - Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation |