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events for 1979
| Jan 3, 1979 | Another IMF report discussed in the papers showing that, once again, Argentina has the world’s highest inflation rate at 177.7% annually. |
| Jan 4, 1979 | The federal police declare the Plaza de Mayo out of bounds to the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, arresting three. Before Christmas 1978 the Mothers’ demonstrations had reached a peak of about 2,000 demonstrators. |
| Jan 5, 1979 | Jorge Alberto Fontevecchia, editor of La Semana, forced to stop his car and abducted in front of several witnesses. |
| Jan 11, 1979 | Police report finding Elena Holmberg dead in the Tigre river north of Buenos Aires on December 23rd. They report that she has drowned. In reality, Holmberg was murdered, perhaps on orders from Admiral Massera, after alleging that the admiral had made contact with Montonero head Mario Firmenich in Paris. |
| Jan 11, 1979 | Rubén Mario Gómez Quesada of El Intransigente “reappears” after “disappearing” on December 29, 1978. |
| Jan 13, 1979 | Judge Marquardt announces that Elena Holmberg’s death by drowning has been confirmed. Her body is reportedly transferred to her family. “Confusion” results in the following days as the body originally given to the family is found not to be hers. She is later found to have been murdered. |
| Jan 25, 1979 | Brigadier Major Domingo Rubens Graffigna takes office as a junta member after being named on January 12, replacing Orlando Ramón Agosti. |
| Jan 29, 1979 | General Guillermo Suárez Mason becomes Army Chief of General Staff. |
| Feb 2, 1979 | Junta is quoted as saying that their goal in power is to re-establish Christian moral values. |
| Feb 8, 1979 | A reported 100 Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, banned from the Plaza, meet in Constitución. |
| Feb 15, 1979 | La Nación quits ADEPA, followed on the 19 by Clarín and La Razón, over conflict resulting from the Papel Prensa affair. |
| Feb 27, 1979 | Le Monde reports that Rodlofo Galimberti and Juan Gelman have renounced the Montoneros organization, calling it an obstacle to continued effective struggle. |
| Mar 8, 1979 | David Rockefeller, president of Chase Manhattan Bank, arrives in Argentina for 2-day visit and praises economy minister Martínez de Hoz. |
| Mar 20, 1979 | Economy minister José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz, speaking on TV, says that a “fantastic” economic recovery is underway and that the recession is over, excluding a few isolated sectors of the economy. |
| Apr 1, 1979 | 2600 workers at the historic Alpargatas factory in Parque Patricios are dismissed after they fail to accept Ministry of Labor’s salary increase. On April 4, Alpargatas is reported to have decided to close its Parque Patricios plant, complaining that workers are refusing to return to work despite the orders of the Minstry of Labor. |
| Apr 3, 1979 | Central Bank stops fixing the peso-dollar parity and the “tablita,” present since 1979, is replaced by “dirty floatation.” |
| Apr 4, 1979 | Retired Admiral Massera denies a link between the Navy and Holmberg’s murder. |
| Apr 7, 1979 | Sometime after April 7, 1979 — date approx…?? New York State Bar Association releases critical report on rights in Argentina after weeklong visit. |
| Apr 27, 1979 | Work stoppage organized by the “Committee of 25″ and banned by the government, results in high rate of absenteeism in some outer suburbs of Buenos Aires. |
| Apr 30, 1979 | Mrs. Thelma Jara de Cabezas, a Mother of the Plaza de Mayo whose son Gustavo Alejandro Cabezas was abducted in May, 1976, “disappears.” The military later attempt to use her in an attempt to discredit the Mothers. |
| May 22, 1979 | the Permanent Assembly of Human Rights (APDH) publishes list of 5,465 “disappearances” since 1975. In following month 100 more reported to them. |
| May 31, 1979 | Federal prosecutor upholds 1-year prison sentence for man who remained seated during the national anthem at the World Cup. |
| Jun 24, 1979 | Archbishop of Jujuy Monseñor Medina is quoted as saying that there are no official “disappearances” in Argentina. |
| Jul 23, 1979 | La Prensa reports that Mario Eduardo Firmenich has affirmed that the Montoneros haven’t finished fighting and will launch a new offensive this year. |
| Jul 31, 1979 | The Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in the Southern Cone announces that 2 children of a Uruguayan couple who “disappeared” on September 26, 1976 after a police raid have been located in Chile. The two had been found by Chilean authorities on December 23, 1976 in Plaza O’Higgins in Valparaiso. The Herald reports that 110 Uruguayans living in Argentina disappeared in September and October 1976, 89 of which are still on the disappeared list. |
| Aug 10, 1979 | Two human rights groups’ offices, the Permanent Assembly of Human Rights (APDH) and the League for the Rights of Man, are raided at the orders of Judge Anzoátegui, and files are confiscated. The judge orders a probe of human rights organizations. A volunteer worker is arrested. US President Carter expresses his “surprise.” |
| Aug 14, 1979 | Police raid human rights groups a second time, this time also raiding offices of the Ecumenical Movement, confiscating more files. |
| Aug 15, 1979 | The government closes the Argentine League for the Rights of Man. The group’s offices re-open on August 20. |
| Aug 22, 1979 | Government announces that it will allow families of “disappeared” people to presume the missing individuals to be dead and to collect the associated benefits. This new law, number 22068, takes effect when published on September 12, 1979. The government states that there are no clandestine prisoners in Argentina, and that 1,526 acknowleged prisoners remain in executive branch captivity. |
| Aug 22, 1979 | Mothers legally registered as an NGO. |
| Aug 24, 1979 | Neice of Mrs. Thelma Jara de Cabezas, who is missing, abducted along with her husband shortly before an “interview” with Mrs. Cabezas intended to discredit the Mothers is published. |
| Aug 25, 1979 | The Spanish Socialist Party, that country’s main opposition party, proposes that the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. |
| Aug 29, 1979 | La Razón publishes story from the official state news agency Telam asserting that Mother of the Plaza de Mayo Mrs. Thelma Jara de Cabezas — who “disappeared” on April 30 — is living in hiding in Montevideo, Uruguay, out of fear that the Montoneros will kill her for revealing their influence over the Argentine human rights movement. This information ostensibly came from an interview with Mrs. Cabezas that appeared in the New York-based The News World, a paper published by the Unification Church, led by Sun Myung Moon — whose followers were commonly known as “moonies.” The story is not widely believed. |
| Sep 4, 1979 | Interior Minister General Albano Harguindeguy sets up the “Argentine League of Victims of Terrorism” to call attention to damage inflicted by leftwing guerrillas. |
| Sep 6, 1979 | Inter-American Commission of Human Rights under Andrés Aguilar arrives in Argentina, to remain until September 20. During the Commission’s visit, hundreds of families of missing people line up outside the OEA offices at 709 Avenida de Mayo to make their denunciations. |
| Sep 13, 1979 | Family of five — Regino Adolfo Gonzalez, María Consuelo Castño Blando de Gonzalez, and children Delia Teresa, Eva Judi, and Mariana — abducted by men in five cars claiming to be police. Relatives of the family denounce the disappearances to the visiting Human Rights Committee of the Organization of American States on September 15. The Herald features the story and photos of the “disappearances” on the cover the following day. |
| Sep 25, 1979 | Jacobo Timerman released from house arrest and placed on a plane to Israel, expelled from Argentina. |
| Sep 27, 1979 | Secretary for Economic Programming and Coordination Guillermo Walter Klein’s home destroyed by bomb attack. The entire family surprisingly survives, although 2 policemen stationed at the house are shot by the people placing the bomb. |
| Sep 29, 1979 | General Luciano Benjamín Menéndez revolts against Army Commander-in-Chief General Viola. The release of Timerman, opposed by Menéndez, is mentioned as a cause of this rebellion. The rebellion is shortlived. |
| Oct 1, 1979 | The Central Bank announces new exchange policies which will last until 1980; the “tablita” is born. |
| Oct 12, 1979 | Pope, before a crowd of 70,000 in Rome, speaks out about “disappearances” in Argentina. The news is not reported in Argentina until October 29, and the full texts of the pope’s words not released until November 2. |
| Oct 12, 1979 | Pope, speaking before 70,000 in St. Peter’s Square, discusses the plight of the “disappeared” in Argentina, mentioning the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo. His speech is initially watered down by Argentine reporters, but the full text becomes public in Argentina about a month later. |
| Oct 28, 1979 | Citroën and Singer say they will cease manufacturing in Argentina. |
| Oct 31, 1979 | Victor Ruben Porter, member of the Herald’s printing staff, is abducted by armed men at 7:30 p.m. Revealed to be under arrest on November 5. |
| Oct 31, 1979 | US ambassador Raul Castro protest the beating of a US embassy employee who had been attacked by Air Force men while jogging with two black women. The women, who were US citizens, were insulted by the Air Force men. |
| Nov 7, 1979 | Attempt to kill treasury secretary Juan Alemann fails. |
| Nov 12, 1979 | 19 lawyers challenge legality of law 22068 declaring missing people to be presumed dead. |
| Nov 13, 1979 | Former president of Italo Argentina de Electricidad Francisco Soldati shot dead along with three bodyguards at the intersection of Arenales and 9 de Julio. Montoneros claim responsibility. |
| Nov 19, 1979 | Herald editor Robert Cox’s son Peter receives threat. |
| Dec 3, 1979 | Noticias Argentinas carries cable saying the Herald editor Robert Cox will soon leave the country due to threats. Cox had attempted to keep the news secret until working out the arrangements of his departure with the newspaper’s management. |
| Dec 4, 1979 | General Viola announces General Galtieri as the new Army commander. He officially assumes the position on December 28. |
| Dec 17, 1979 | Robert Cox leaves Argentina and publishes editorial “Au Revoir.” |
| Dec 19, 1979 | Government announces that it will impose protective tariffs of 45% on imported newsprint to proted the Papel Prensa domestic newsprint factories controlled by Clarín, La Nación and La Razón, with a partial stake by the government. |
| Dec 20, 1979 | Education Minister Juan Rafael Llerena Amadeo announces that the University of Luján will be closed down. |
| Dec 28, 1979 | General Galtieri officially becomes Army Commander-in-Chief. |
| Dec 28, 1979 | Police stop group of 200 Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo from laying flowers in the Plaza San Martin. |
| Dec 30, 1979 | El Intrasigente editor Rubén Gómez Quesada kidnapped a second time. This time he does not return. |