A Fragmented Dictatorship: Intra-Military Conflicts and the Relations between Argentina and the U.S. During the Presidency of Videla

Abstract

The presidency of Videla was marked by deep struggles within the military regime. In particular, conflicts triggered by different political projects combined with a struggle among competing leaders, generating a deeply fragmented dictatorship. This paper analyzes the conflicts among these different military factions around how to respond to the U.S. human rights policy to Argentina. On the one hand, Videla and Massera competed for U.S. support in order to establish an hegemony of their own faction within the military regime. On the other hand, a hard-line faction in the Army and the Navy carried out kidnappings and disappearances aimed to mine Videla’s attempts to establish an alliance with the U.S. government. The U.S. response was a continuing search for alternative channels of communications with Videla’s faction beyond a Foreign Ministry dominated by the Navy.