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The '''Dirty War''' in Argentina, from 1976-1983, was a seven-year  dictatorship and counterinsurgency campaign waged by the Argentinian military junta against left-wing guerrillas and supporting civilians. Tens of thousands of Argentinian nationals, both guerrillas and sympathizers among the civilian population, were abducted by military task groups and supporting volunteer civilian [[Triple A]] military death squads often in the middle of the night. They were taken to secret government detention centers where they were eventually released or killed. These people (including survivors from the detention camps) are known as internationally as ''"los desaparecidos"'' or ''detenidos-desaparecidos'' ("the disappeared" or "detained disappeared"). In 2003, The National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons claimed the true number of disappeared to be around 13,000.<ref>[https://www.clarin.com/ediciones-anteriores/duda-historica-sabe-desaparecidos_0_B1FG1JglCKl.html  Una duda histórica: no se sabe cuántos son los desaparecidos]</ref>

The '''Dirty War''' in Argentina, from 1976-1983, was a seven-year  dictatorship and counterinsurgency campaign waged by the Argentinian military junta against left-wing guerrillas and supporting civilians. Tens of thousands of Argentinian nationals, both guerrillas and sympathizers among the civilian population, were abducted by military task groups and supporting volunteer civilian [[Triple A]] military death squads often in the middle of the night. They were taken to secret government detention centers where they were eventually released or killed. These people (including survivors from the detention camps) are known as internationally as ''"los desaparecidos"'' or ''detenidos-desaparecidos'' ("the disappeared" or "detained disappeared"). In 2003, The National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons claimed the true number of disappeared to be around 13,000.<ref>[https://www.clarin.com/ediciones-anteriores/duda-historica-sabe-desaparecidos_0_B1FG1JglCKl.html  Una duda histórica: no se sabe cuántos son los desaparecidos]</ref>

The [[Mainstream media]] often cites the Chilean Secret Police (DINA) report on the official estimate by the Argentinian Army's 601st Intelligence Battalion (''Batallón de Inteligencia 601'') of 22,000 killed and/or disappeared between 1975 and mid-1978. However, it was later established that during this period at least 12,000 "disappeared" were in fact detainees held under National Executive Power (''Poder Ejecutivo Nacional'' or PEN), and kept in detention camps throughout Argentina before eventually being freed under diplomatic pressure.<ref>''"Durante la vigencia del estado de sitio entre noviembre de 1974 y octubre de 1983, los organismos de derechos humanos denunciaron la existencia de 12 mil presos politicos legales en las distintas cárceles de 'maxima seguridad' a lo largo de todo el territorio de Argentina."'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20130905061527/http://elortiba.org/pdf/Memoria-de-ex-presas-y-presos-politicos.pdf]</ref>

The [[Mainstream media]] often cites the Chilean Secret Police (DINA) report on the estimate by the Argentinian Army's 601st Intelligence Battalion (''Batallón de Inteligencia 601'') of 22,000 disappeared between 1975 and mid-1978, implying they were all killed. However, it was later established that during this period at least 12,000 "disappeared" were in fact detainees held under National Executive Power (''Poder Ejecutivo Nacional'' or PEN), and kept in detention camps throughout Argentina before eventually being freed under diplomatic pressure.<ref>''"Durante la vigencia del estado de sitio entre noviembre de 1974 y octubre de 1983, los organismos de derechos humanos denunciaron la existencia de 12 mil presos politicos legales en las distintas cárceles de 'maxima seguridad' a lo largo de todo el territorio de Argentina."'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20130905061527/http://elortiba.org/pdf/Memoria-de-ex-presas-y-presos-politicos.pdf]</ref>

This unexpected Argentinian military defeat during the Falklands/Malvinas War in 1982 hastened the fall of the unpopular military junta that had lost the propaganda war, turning Argentina into a pariah state, and in mid-1982 Lieutenant-General Reynaldo Bignone (head of the interim government) restored basic civil liberties and retracted its ban on left-wing political parties. The Argentinian military dictatorship ended when [[Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín]]'s UCR (Unión Cívica Radical or Radical Civic Union) civilian government took control of the country on December 10th 1983.

This unexpected Argentinian military defeat during the Falklands/Malvinas War in 1982 hastened the fall of the unpopular military junta that had lost the propaganda war, turning Argentina into a pariah state, and in mid-1982 Lieutenant-General Reynaldo Bignone (head of the interim government) restored basic civil liberties and retracted its ban on left-wing political parties. The Argentinian military dictatorship ended when [[Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín]]'s UCR (Unión Cívica Radical or Radical Civic Union) civilian government took control of the country on December 10th 1983.

==Urban guerilla warfare==

==Urban guerilla warfare==

The Montonero insurgent leadership made a conscious decision to “militarize” the struggle and attack directly the Argentinian police and military forces in the main cities. The political objectives that originally motivated the gradual escalation of left-wing activism were sacrificed in favour of military action. The groups that were supposedly to bring national and social liberation to the country developed into mirror images of the Argentinian armed forces, and legitimizing political-psychological efforts were considered unproductive niceties.

The Montonero insurgent leadership made a conscious decision to “militarize” the struggle and attack directly the Argentinian police and military forces in the main cities. The political objectives that originally motivated the envisioned proportionate action were sacrificed in favour of military escalation. The groups that were supposedly to bring national and social liberation to the country developed into mirror images of the Argentinian armed forces, and legitimizing political-psychological efforts were considered unproductive niceties.

The urban guerrillas operating in Buenos Aires made major headlines on April 5th 1969 when armed members of the Armed Forces of Liberation (''Fuerzas Argentinas de Liberación'' or FAL) attacked the Campo de Mayo Army Barracks and seized 100 automatic rifles from the 1st 'Patricios' Regiment.<ref>[http://jorgenegre.com.ar/web/index.php/2016/01/30/fal-copamiento-regimiento-patricios/FAL: copamiento Regimiento Patricios]</ref>

The urban guerrillas operating in Buenos Aires made major headlines on April 5th 1969 when armed members of the Armed Forces of Liberation (''Fuerzas Argentinas de Liberación'' or FAL) attacked the Campo de Mayo Army Barracks and seized 100 automatic rifles from the 1st 'Patricios' Regiment.<ref>[http://jorgenegre.com.ar/web/index.php/2016/01/30/fal-copamiento-regimiento-patricios/FAL: copamiento Regimiento Patricios]</ref>