AHC: Argentinian Junta Goes Full-On DPRK In 1970s

Your challenge: make the monstrous "Process of National Reorganization" (Proceso) Argentine military coup under George Videla in the mid-late 1970s go full-on batcrap insane in the vein of the Kim dynasty of N. Korea using any divergences you wish. (In other words--multi-generational tyrannical rule, deliberate mass starvation/extermination of undesirable classes, deification of junta leaders [perhaps trying to call them living Catholic saints?], juche or "laager" mentality towards the whole outside world, total or near-total international isolation, development of credible WMDs, including ICBMs, to threaten both neighbors and Western democracies far away.)

This should be one of the easiest AH challenges as they go, as the historical Proceso regime of our TL came pretty damn close to North Korea while it lasted:

--Mass abductions of citizens by barely-disguised governmental agents
--Creation of entire undesirable classes marked for virtual elimination (leftists, Jews, etc.)
--Operation of large-scale torture and execution camps for political prisoners (and their families, just like in North Korea)
--Near-development of an Argentine nuclear bomb (some would say this was successful, but was given up when the regime stepped down after the Falklands/Malvinas War)
--Bellicose stance towards neighbors and to a lesser extent the democratic world, with some backing by the ComBloc (even though ostensibly the Proceso was an ultra-rightist regime)
--Willingness to start jingoistic wars, i.e. Falklands/Malvinas

So, how do we get from the historical 1976-84 Argentine terror junta that is today thankfully just a (very awful) footnote of that nation's troubled history, to a household name that makes suburban Americans, Japanese, etc. recoil in fear at its mere mention in 2018--a genuine threat to any and all nations near and far?


MalcontentRex
 
They were in fact dependent on US aid for this nonsense and much of the most barbaric stuff they did was quite in like with the advice the got. I don't think they'd go for total isolation and self-glorification to a degree that bites the hand that feeds it, nor would such extremism (beyond where they did go OTL) be useful to the American anti-Communist Bund.
 
They were in fact dependent on US aid for this nonsense and much of the most barbaric stuff they did was quite in like with the advice the got. I don't think they'd go for total isolation and self-glorification to a degree that bites the hand that feeds it, nor would such extremism (beyond where they did go OTL) be useful to the American anti-Communist Bund.

They were only "anti-Communist" to a point. They did huge trade with the Eastern Bloc, they backed up the USSR and vice versa when human rights violations came up at the UN, and they were aligned wholly with the global East/global South in the Malvinas adventure/debacle.
 
I agree that this regime was pretty horrible, but I also think that you can get a North Korean or Pol Pot regime pretty much anywhere with the proper amount of insanity. People are very hierarchical and will just co-operate with whoever they think are their leaders, and for the more independent minded, that is what death squads, show trials and camps are for.

That said, with this specific case of Argentina, you just have to have Ford defeat Carter in the 1976 US presidential election.
 
{Shiver...}

It was a very bad time; I'm fairly sure the mayhem ate one of my cousins...
( Both our families suffered from 'Foot in Mouth' disease but, under such circumstances, an unfortunate comment in the wrong place could be fatal... )

Other possibility is that his family 'shredded' all links to the past, moved a couple of times, changed their surname and quietly re-invented themselves as 'harmless'...
 
{Shiver...}

It was a very bad time; I'm fairly sure the mayhem ate one of my cousins...
( Both our families suffered from 'Foot in Mouth' disease but, under such circumstances, an unfortunate comment in the wrong place could be fatal... )

Other possibility is that his family 'shredded' all links to the past, moved a couple of times, changed their surname and quietly re-invented themselves as 'harmless'...
I am really sorry to hear this.
 

SsgtC

Banned
I get this, but eventually this ultra-psychotic version of the Proceso junta regime has to turn violently anti-US too; how do you swing that?
Well, this regime's insanity level has gone way up, so simply having the US refuse to back them over the Falklands should do the trick. Maybe have the US expel them from the Organization of American States. Plus, with the US (and most of the other signatories) refusing the honor the Rio Treaty over the Falklands, that could push the Junta into a Juche-like stance. It would also drive a wedge between Argentina and other countries as well.
 
Back in 1969 Argentina was under the dictatorship of Juan Carlos Onganía. He publicly stated he wanted to rule for 30 years and was soon deposed by his own subordinates. Argentine society and its power structures don't allow for long term, Franco style dictatorships, much less for absolutist hereditary rule like North Korea - there are just too many hands in the bowl, so to speak and a North Korea type of government concentrates nearly everything in a single hand (which means too many powerful people would be left without power)

As it was, the Junta was wary of the effect of publicly killing people in public opinion - hence the missing instead of executed and Videla's speech at Venezuela about how the missing were some sort of "entity" and "didn't exist". Mass assassination North Korea style, let alone mass starvation, would result in the quick deposition of whoever is in charge by a combination of popular pressure of those starving, the politicians willing to get the starving to vote (for them) again and the business elite who'd sense the combination of a social boiling plate about to go off, an economic collapse and a government who would easily turn on them as well.
 
They were only "anti-Communist" to a point. They did huge trade with the Eastern Bloc, they backed up the USSR and vice versa when human rights violations came up at the UN, and they were aligned wholly with the global East/global South in the Malvinas adventure/debacle.

One of the memories I have of the Falkland Wars is that, after a while, the Soviets were getting almost as much attention on the nightly news reports as the Brits and the Argentinians, and that the stance they were taking was pro-Argentina.

That, along with alleged support for Argentina among some elements of the US right(some people are still convinced that Jeanne Kirkpatrick gave the junta the go-ahead for invasion), made the Falklands one of those late C20 conflicts(like the Suez and the Iranian Revolution) where the allainces didn't quite line up along the usual Cold War lines.
 

James G

Gone Fishin'
One of the memories I have of the Falkland Wars is that, after a while, the Soviets were getting almost as much attention on the nightly news reports as the Brits and the Argentinians, and that the stance they were taking was pro-Argentina.

That, along with alleged support for Argentina among some elements of the US right(some people are still convinced that Jeanne Kirkpatrick gave the junta the go-ahead for invasion), made the Falklands one of those late C20 conflicts(like the Suez and the Iranian Revolution) where the allainces didn't quite line up along the usual Cold War lines.

However, the Argentineans had no wish for Soviet diplomatic support nor any statements from them that meant nothing. The Junta was very anti-communist. The Soviet Union's position on the war counted for nought.
As to these allegations, I've never heard of them before. Kirkpatrick was a muppet but I think you have misunderstood what happened there. Only after once it happened, was there a view that Argentina should lose because it might tip them out of the US sphere of influence. Only their internal idiots caused the war, not outside interference.
 
Back in 1969 Argentina was under the dictatorship of Juan Carlos Onganía. He publicly stated he wanted to rule for 30 years and was soon deposed by his own subordinates. Argentine society and its power structures don't allow for long term, Franco style dictatorships, much less for absolutist hereditary rule like North Korea - there are just too many hands in the bowl, so to speak and a North Korea type of government concentrates nearly everything in a single hand (which means too many powerful people would be left without power)

As it was, the Junta was wary of the effect of publicly killing people in public opinion - hence the missing instead of executed and Videla's speech at Venezuela about how the missing were some sort of "entity" and "didn't exist". Mass assassination North Korea style, let alone mass starvation, would result in the quick deposition of whoever is in charge by a combination of popular pressure of those starving, the politicians willing to get the starving to vote (for them) again and the business elite who'd sense the combination of a social boiling plate about to go off, an economic collapse and a government who would easily turn on them as well.

This. It's essential to understand the nature of the juntas. They were collective enterprises with each service having independence

Vidalia was forced to resign from the army when he became President The services retained the normal rotation of officers and junta members were term limited like everyone else.

This rotation of officers was seen as vital to the military as an institution

Only Chile broke this rule
 
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