Argentine National Gendarmerie

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Argentine National Gendarmerie

The Argentine National Gendarmerie (Gendarmería Nacional Argentina; GNA) is the gendarmerie

Gendarmerie

A gendarmerie or gendarmery is a military body charged with police duties among civilian populations. The members of such a body are called gendarmes....
and corps of border guards of Argentina

Argentina

Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is a country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city....
.

The Argentine National Gendarmerie has a strength of 12,000.

The Gendarmerie is primarily a frontier guard force but also fulfils other important roles. The force functions from four regional headquarters at Campo de Mayo, Córdoba

Córdoba, Argentina

C?rdoba is a city located near the geographical center of Argentina, in the foothills of the Punilla Valley on the Primero River, about northwest from Buenos Aires....
, Rosario

Rosario

Rosario is the largest city in the provinces of Argentina of Santa Fe Province, Argentina. It is located 300 km northwest of Buenos Aires, on the western shore of the Paran? River and has 1,025,000 residents as of the ....
, and Bahía Blanca

Bahía Blanca

Bah?a Blanca is a city located in the south-west of the provinces of Argentina of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, by the Atlantic Ocean, head town of Bahia Blanca Partido....
.

Personnel and training
Non-commissioned personnel of the Gendarmerie are all volunteers and receive their training in the force's own comprehensive system of training institutions.

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Argentine National Gendarmerie'

Start a new discussion about 'Argentine National Gendarmerie'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

The Argentine National Gendarmerie (Gendarmería Nacional Argentina; GNA) is the gendarmerie

Gendarmerie

Argentina

Córdoba, Argentina

C?rdoba is a city located near the geographical center of Argentina, in the foothills of the Punilla Valley on the Primero River, about northwest from Buenos Aires....
, Rosario

Rosario

Bahía Blanca

Bah?a Blanca is a city located in the south-west of the provinces of Argentina of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, by the Atlantic Ocean, head town of Bahia Blanca Partido....
.

Personnel and training

Non-commissioned personnel of the Gendarmerie are all volunteers and receive their training in the force's own comprehensive system of training institutions. Officers graduate after a three-year course at the National Gendarmerie Academy. Both officers and non-commissioned personnel have access to the specialist training establishments of the Army

Argentine Army

The Argentine Army is the Army branch of the Military of Argentina and the senior military service of the country....
.

History

The Gendarmerie was created in 1938 by the National Congress

Argentine National Congress

The Congress of the Argentine Nation is the legislature of the government of Argentina.Situated at the end of Avenida de Mayo, at the other end of which is located the Casa Rosada, Argentina's parliament is bicameralism and is made up of the 72-seat Argentine Senate and the 256-seat Argentine Chamber of Deputies....
, and replaced the regiments of the Army which previously fulfilled the Gendarmerie's missions. The Gendarmerie was particularly tasked with providing security in isolated and sparsely populated frontier regions which had only been settled relatively recently. In many senses the Gendarmerie may still be considered an adjunct of the Argentine Army.

Activities

The Gendarmerie's mission and functions are concerned with both domestic security and national defense.

According to the Argentine Constitution

Constitution of Argentina

The constitution of Argentina is one of the primary sources of existing Law of Argentina. Argentine Constitution of 1853 was written in 1853 by a Constitutional Assembly gathered in Santa Fe, Argentina, and the doctrinal basis was taken in part from the United States Constitution....
, the armed forces

Military of Argentina

The Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, in Spanish Fuerzas Armadas de la Rep?blica Argentina, are controlled by the Commander-in-Chief and a civilian Minister of Defense....
cannot intervene in internal civil conflicts, so the Gendarmerie is subordinate to the Interior Ministry. However, it maintains a functional relationship with the Ministry of Defense, as part of both the National Defense System and the Interior Security System

Sistema de Seguridad Interior

Sistema de Seguridad Interior is the official denomination of the Argentina public security community.The Interior Security System consists of the following individuals, agencies and its dependencies:...
. It therefore maintains capabilities arising from the demands required by joint military planning with the armed forces.

The Gendarmerie's main missions are:

Providing security for Argentina's borders
Providing security for places of national strategic importance (e.g. nuclear plants)

The Gendarmerie is also used for other security missions, which include:

Policing missions:

Assisting provincial
Provinces of Argentina

Argentina is subdivided into twenty-three provinces and one federal district . The federal district and the provinces have their own constitutions, but exist under a federal system....
police services in maintaining public security in rural areas
Preventing smuggling
Smuggling

Smuggling, also known as trafficking, is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons past a point where prohibited, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of the law or other rules....
Fighting drug trafficking
Illegal drug trade

The illegal drug trade or drug trafficking is a global black market consisting of the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of Law controlled drugs....
Fighting terrorism
Fighting crimes "against life and freedom" (children and organs trade, slavery, etc)
Dealing with economic crime
Dealing with environmental crime
Dealing with illegal immigration

Military missions:

War-fighting missions (e.g. in the Falklands War
Falklands War

The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict/Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands....
)
Peacekeeping
Peacekeeping

Peacekeeping, as defined by the United Nations, is "a way to help countries torn by conflict create conditions for sustainable peace." It is distinguished from both peacebuilding and peacemaking....
or humanitarian aid
Humanitarian aid

Humanitarian aid is material or logistical assistance provided for humanitarianism purposes, typically in response to humanitarian crisis. The primary objective of humanitarian aid is to save lives, alleviate suffering, and maintain human dignity....
missions under the United Nations
United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, Social change, human rights and achieving world peace....
Providing security for Argentine embassies and consulates in several foreign nations

Under the United Nations, the Gendarmerie has served in Guatemala

Guatemala

Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize and the Caribbean to the northeast, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast....
, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a country on the Balkans peninsula of South Eastern Europe with an area of 51,129 square kilometres . Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the south, Bosnia and Herzegovina is Landlocked#Nearly landlocked, except for 26 kilometres of the Adriatic Sea coas...
, Croatia

Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a Central European country at the crossroads of Pannonian Plain, Balkans, and the Mediterranean Sea....
, Angola

Angola

Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordering Namibia to the south, Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, and Zambia to the east, and with a west coast along the Atlantic Ocean....
, Lebanon

Lebanon

Lebanon , officially the Republic of Lebanon or Lebanese Republic , is a country in Western Asia, on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea....
, Rwanda

Rwanda

The Republic of Rwanda is a small landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of east-central Africa, bordered by Uganda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania....
and Haiti

Haiti

Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Haitian Creole language- and French language-speaking Caribbean country. Along with the Dominican Republic, it occupies the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antilles archipelago....
.

Organization

High Command

The high command includes:

The National Director: The current National Director is Commandant-General
Commandant-General

Commandant-General is a rank in several counties and is generally equivelent to that of Commandant....
Hector Bernabé Schenone (since September 2005).

The Deputy National Director: The current Deputy National Director is Commandant-General Juan Obdulio Sainz (since November 2005).

The General and Special Staff of the National Directorate of the Gendarmerie.

Rank structure

The ranks of the Argentine Gendarmerie, in ascending order, are:

Sub-Officer Ranks

Rank	Approximate English translation
Cabo	Corporal Corporal Corporal is a Military rank in use in some form by most militaries and also by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. It is usually equivalent to Ranks and insignia of NATO....
Cabo Primero	Corporal First Class
Sargento	Sergeant Sergeant Sergeant is a Military rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....
Sargento Primero	Sergeant First Class
Sargento Ayudante	Sergeant-Adjutant Adjutant Adjutant is a military rank or appointment. In some armies it is an Officer who assists a more senior officer, while in other armies it is a rank, which normally corresponds roughly to a Commonwealth Staff Sergeant or Warrant Officer....
Suboficial Principal	Principal Sub-Officer
Suboficial Mayor	Sub-Officer-Major

The ranks up to and including sergeant are classified as Subaltern Sub-Officers (Suboficiales Subalternos), and the remainder are classified as Superior Sub-Officers (Suboficiales Superiores). The sub-officer ranks are the same as Argentine army ranks, and wear the same insignia, but with a much thicker gold band for a Gendarmerie Principal Sub-Officer than is used in the Army.

Officer Ranks

Rank	Approximate English translation	Argentine Army Equivalent
Subalférez	Sub-Ensign Ensign (rank) Ensign is a junior rank of Officer #Commissioned officers in the militaries of some countries, normally in the infantry or navy. As the junior officer in an infantry regiment was traditionally the carrier of the ensign, the rank itself acquired the name....	Sub-Lieutenant
Alférez	Ensign Ensign (rank) Ensign is a junior rank of Officer #Commissioned officers in the militaries of some countries, normally in the infantry or navy. As the junior officer in an infantry regiment was traditionally the carrier of the ensign, the rank itself acquired the name....	Lieutenant
Primer Alférez	First Ensign	First Lieutenant
Segundo Comandante	Second Commandant	Captain
Comandante	Commandant Commandant Commandant is a military or police title or rank....	Major
Comandante Principal	Principal Commandant	Lieutenant-Colonel
Comandante Mayor	Commandant-Major	Colonel
Comandante General	Commandant-General Commandant-General Commandant-General is a rank in several counties and is generally equivelent to that of Commandant....	Brigade General
		(Deputy National Director = Divisional General Divisional General Divisional General is a rank used in many armies to denote a rank of general, corresponding to command of a division. For convenience Divisional General is almost always translated into English as Major-General, the equivalent rank used by the UK, USA, etc., although this translation is, strictly speaking, incorrect.... , and National Director = Lieutenant-General)

The ranks up to and including Segundo Comandante are classified as Subaltern Officers (Oficiales Subalternos). Gendarmerie officers wear the same insignia as the equivalent Argentine Army rank. The National Director and his Deputy wear the insignia of an Argentine Lieutenant-General and Divisional General respectively, although they still have the rank of Commandant-General. (NB: Lieutenant-General is the highest Argentine Army rank.)

Unit structure

A Section (Spanish: peloton) is a squad
Squad

In military terminology, a squad is a small military unit led by a non-commissioned officer that is subordinate to an infantry platoon. In countries following the British Army tradition this organization is referred to as a section ....
of several men.
A Group (Spanish: grupo) consists of several sections and is the basic operational unit of the Gendarmerie.
A Squadron
Squadron

A squadron is a small military unit or formation of cavalry, Armoured forces, aircraft , or warships....
(Spanish: escuadron) consists of three groups.
A Grouping (Spanish: agrupación) consists of several squadrons. This may be thought of as roughly corresponding to the level of command of a battalion
Battalion

A battalion is a military unit of around 500-1500 men usually consisting of between two and seven company and typically commanded by a Lieutenant Colonel....
or regiment
Regiment

A regiment is a military unit, composed of variable numbers of battalions, commanded by a Colonel. Depending on the nation, military branch, mission, and organization, a modern regiment resembles a brigade, in that both range in size from a few hundred to 5,000 soldiers ....
.
Above the groupings are the regional commands and the staff of the National Directorate.

Operational units

Regional Headquarters
Mobile Units
Special Forces
Special forces

Special Forces , also known as, Special Operation Forces is a generic term for highly-trained military teams/units that conduct specialized Military operation such as reconnaissance, unconventional warfare, and counter-terrorism actions....
Units: Scorpion Group
Grupo Alacrán

The Grupo Alacr?n is a special operations service of the Gendarmer?a Nacional Argentina, often referred as the Equipo Antiterrorista de Gendarmer?a ....
Intelligence Squadron
Highway Security Section
Highway patrol

A highway patrol is either a police unit created primarily for the purpose of overseeing and enforcing traffic safety compliance on roads and highways, such as the California Highway Patrol, or a detail within an existing local or regional police agency that is primarily concerned with such duties, such as the HWP units of Australian state p...
s
Environment Protection Service
Mountain Rescue Groups
Scrubland Special Section

Support units

Logistics Squadron
Telecommunications and Computer Service
Expert Investigation Service
Aviation Service
Medical Assistance Service

Argentine National Gendarmerie

Personnel and training

History

Activities

Organization

High Command

Rank structure

Unit structure

Operational units

Support units

See also

External links