Augusto Timoteo Vandor (1923 – 1969) was an
Argentine trade unionistTrade unions in Argentina have traditionally played a strong role in the politics of the nation. The largest trade union association, the Confederación General del Trabajo has been a force since the 1930s, and approximately 40% of workers in the formal economy are unionized.- The FORA :The...
leader, military and
politicianThe politics of Argentina take place in the framework of what the Constitution defines as a federal presidential representative democratic Republic, where the President of Argentina is both Head of State and Head of Government. Legislative power is vested in both the President and the two chambers...
.
Career
Vandor was born Bovril,
Entre Ríos ProvinceEntre Ríos is a northeastern province of Argentina, located in the Mesopotamia region. It borders the provinces of Buenos Aires , Corrientes and Santa Fe , and Uruguay in the east....
, to a
DutchThe Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
father and a
FrenchA French Argentine is an Argentine citizen of full or partial French ancestry. French Argentines form the third or fourth largest ancestry group after Italian Argentines, Spanish Argentines, and perhaps German Argentines...
mother, in 1923. He enlisted in the
Argentine NavyThe Navy of the Argentine Republic or Armada of the Argentine Republic is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the Army and the Air Force....
in 1940, and later became an officer in the ARA Comodoro Py warship. He left the Navy in 1950, however, and joined the new
PhilipsKoninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company....
factory in the
SaavedraSaavedra is a barrio of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is located in the Northern end of the city proper, close to Belgrano and Villa Urquiza. Its northern border is General Paz Avenue. Among the main features of the neighbourhood is Saavedra Park, which has large picnic areas and sports facilities...
section of
Buenos AiresBuenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
. There, he met his future wife, and gained a reputation for strategic thinking that earned him the nickname of
El Lobo (the Wolf). He became the steward of the Phillips factory UOM local and in 1954, led a strike for better pay at the facility. Its success made him prominent in the UOM (the steelworkers' union within the
CGTThe General Confederation of Labour of the Argentine Republic is a national trade union centre of Argentina founded on September 27, 1930, as the result of the merge of the USA and the COA trade union centres...
, the paramount trade union in Argentina), but led to his arrest following a 1955
military coupThe Revolución Libertadora was a military uprising that ended the second presidential term of Juan Perón in Argentina, on September 16, 1955.-History:...
that overthrew the populist administration of
Juan PerónJuan Domingo Perón was an Argentine military officer, and politician. Perón was three times elected as President of Argentina though he only managed to serve one full term, after serving in several government positions, including the Secretary of Labor and the Vice Presidency...
.
Introduced to the exiled Perón in
Santo DomingoSanto Domingo, known officially as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. Its metropolitan population was 2,084,852 in 2003, and estimated at 3,294,385 in 2010. The city is located on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River...
in 1958, Vandor cultivated good relations with amenable figures in management and the military, and on the lifting of government
receivershipIn law, receivership is the situation in which an institution or enterprise is being held by a receiver, a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights." The receivership remedy is an equitable remedy that emerged in...
over the CGT in 1961, Vandor was elected Secretary General of the UOM, the largest of the CGT's 62 unions. He represented labor as part of the troika of Perón's official delegates in Argentina, and as such helped negotiate potential endorsements ahead of the
1963 electionsThe Argentine general election of 1963 was held on 7 July. Voters chose both the President and their legislators and with a turnout of 85.6%, it produced the following results:-President:aAbstentions.-Argentine Chamber of Deputies:...
. As the leading CGT political strategist, he was at least as influential in the Peronist movement as CGT Secretary General
José AlonsoJosé Alonso was an Argentine politician and trade-unionist.- Early life :José Alonso was born in the Montserrat section of Buenos Aires, in 1917. The son of a Spanish tailor, he dedicated himself to the same profession, and was first elected as a union delegate of the tailors in 1938...
, and helped plan "Operation Return," a 1964 mission to slip Perón into Argentina.
The mission's failure, and Alonso's support for a military coup against President Arturo Illia made opponents of Alonso and Vandor, and the two labor leaders backed opposing candidates in a
Mendoza ProvinceThe Province of Mendoza is a province of Argentina, located in the western central part of the country in the Cuyo region. It borders to the north with San Juan, the south with La Pampa and Neuquén, the east with San Luis, and to the west with the republic of Chile; the international limit is...
gubernatorial race in the
1965 electionsThe Argentine legislative elections of 1965 were held on 17 March. Voters chose their legislators and, with a turnout of 83.5%, it produced the following results:-Argentine Congress:-Background:...
. Vandor became increasingly critical of Perón, in part from a conviction that the aging leader might never return to Argentina. His vocal challenge to Perón's influence reached a high pitch during the Mendoza campaign, with slogans such as "For a Peronism without Perón," and "to save Perón, one has to be against Perón," and led the exiled leader to send his wife, Isabel, to promote Alonso's candidate. This resulted in the defeat of both Peronist candidates, however, and a conservative candidate was ultimately elected.
Vandor had the CGT leader ousted in February 1966, after which Alonso formed the "62 Organizations Standing with Perón" faction of the CGT. The military dictatorship installed that June and headed by Gen.
Juan Carlos OnganíaJuan Carlos Onganía Carballo was de facto president of Argentina from 29 June 1966 to 8 June 1970. He rose to power as military dictator after toppling, in a coup d’état self-named Revolución Argentina , the democratically elected president Arturo Illia .-Economic and social...
lost Alonso's support by the end of 1966, and the two leaders found common cause in both their support for a "participationist" point of view (in favor of negotiations with the regime rather than for headfront opposition), and in their opposition to the more confrontational
Raimundo OngaroRaimundo Ongaro is a prominent Argentine labor leader.-Early career and rise to prominence:Raimundo José Ongaro was born to a middle-class family of Italian Argentines from the Lombardy region, in the Argentine seashore city of Mar del Plata in 1924...
. These developments came to a head in March 1968, when Ongaro, head of the Graphists' Union, and Vandor both sought the post of CGT Secretary General. Perón, wary of Vandor, supported the graphist leader, and Ongaro was elected to the post. The CGT elections were annulled by Labor Minister Rubens San Sebastián, however, leading to a temporary schism within the CGT. Vandor thereafter reconciled himself with Perón, who favored a moderately critical stance towards the junta, opting for the participationist stance.
Augusto Vandor was assassinated on June 30, 1969, at his UOM offices. The attack, for which a far-left Peronist group, the
Ejército Nacional Revolucionario claimed responsibility, remains an unsolved mystery.