Norberto Ceresole
Encyclopedia
Norberto Rafael Ceresole (Buenos Aires
, August 1943 - May 4, 2003) was an Argentine
sociologist and political scientist, who identified himself with Peronism
, left-wing militias and the ideas of his friends Robert Faurisson
, Roger Garaudy
and Ernst Nolte
. He was accused throughout his life of being neo-fascist and antisemitic because of his Holocaust denial
and hatred of Zionism
, Israel
and the Jewish community. He was a close confidante of Venezuela
president Hugo Chavez
.
, France
and Italy
before becoming an advisor from 1969 to 1971 to Juan Velasco Alvarado
who came into power through a military coup in Peru
in 1968. During the 1970s he was one of the leaders of the Montoneros
guerrilla group ERP
-22 in Argentina
and was forced into exile after the military coup which removed Isabel Perón from office on March 1976. He then went to Spain
where he became a spokesman of Peronism
during his exile in Madrid
. From then on he became one of the main voices of Peronism
in Argentina and an influential voice among some groups of military officers throughout South America
. During this time he also publicly defended those who promoted a Latin America
n alliance with the Soviet Union
such as Chile
an President Salvador Allende
and Manuel Piñeiro
, the former head of the Cuban General Intelligence Directorate
.
Later Ceresole became a member of the Institute of Latin American Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences
and for over 20 years maintained close connections with the government of Fidel Castro
as well as with some representatives of Arab
countries. For a time he lived in Spain until the "Semana Santa" military rebellion of 1987 in Argentina against President Raúl Alfonsín
, where he became an advisor to the officials led by Aldo Rico
. In 1994, after some of the military involved in the rebellion were set free, Ceresole founded with Raúl de Sagastizabal aka ("El Vasco"), a member of the Grupo Albatros
, the Centro de Estudios Argentina en el Mundo and started to meet with Mohamed Alí Seineldín, a leader of the Carapintadas
. It was through this military group that Ceresole met Hugo Chávez
and began to function as an advisor to his cooperators, among them, Colonel Luis Dávila and Manuel Quijada.
n intelligence police (DISIP) under President Rafael Caldera
because he had in his possession a document titled Proclama à la Nación del Frente Nacional Bolivariano in which the Coup of 1992 was defended as a political option. He was accused of trying to start political links in Venezuela in particular with Hugo Chávez
whom he advised from 1994 to 1995.
His reappearance in Venezuela after Chávez was elected in 1998
, his close relations with senior members of the government and the publication of a book dedicated to Chávez with the title Caudillo, Ejército, Pueblo: la Venezuela del Comandante Chávez (1999) (published first in Madrid then in Beirut
in Arabic and then reprinted in Caracas
), created a wave of concern from all sides of Venezuelan society. In 1999 José Vicente Rangel
denied any ideological influence on Chávez's administration although in the 1998 book Habla el Comandante Chávez said that he "was reconsidering the ideas of Norberto Ceresole, in his works and studies, where he planned a project of physical integration in Latin America...this will be a project which will integrate the Continent along Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina and their ramifications". At the end of 1999, he was asked by Luis Miquilena
, then vice-president, to leave the country. Miquilena later declared that Ceresole left by his own initiative while Ceresole declared that he had been both threatened by Jesús Urdaneta (head of the DISIP) and paid $10,000 by Miquilena to leave.
In 2000, amid accusations of his influence in Venezuelan politics he declared that "I am profoundly proud, for example, that the Venezuelan system of military intelligence was restructured following the strategic guidelines that I proposed at the time". He also proposed in a letter to Jorge Olavarría (later published in the Venezuelan Magazine Primicia) the creation of an Office of Strategic Intelligence that could be financed by Hezbollah like his office in Madrid. However, such an office was never created. In May 2006, President Chávez spoke of his relationship with Ceresole during the broadcast of his weekly program Aló Presidente
#255. He remembered him as a "great friend" and as an "intellectual deserving great respect" and recalled a meeting with him in 1995 near the Orinoco river in which they talked about the strategic location of Venezuela and the importance of focusing his future policy on South America instead of North America
.
On his return to Argentina following his 1999 departure from Venezuela, Ceresole became an advisor to the Peronist politician Adolfo Rodríguez Saá
and, once again, to Aldo Rico, whom he was helping in his campaign to become Governor of Buenos Aires Province
. Ceresole died in Buenos Aires a few months later.
, Arabic and Persian
.
Buenos Aires
Buenos 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...
, August 1943 - May 4, 2003) was an Argentine
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
sociologist and political scientist, who identified himself with Peronism
Peronism
Peronism , or Justicialism , is an Argentine political movement based on the programmes associated with former President Juan Perón and his second wife, Eva Perón...
, left-wing militias and the ideas of his friends Robert Faurisson
Robert Faurisson
Robert Faurisson is a French academic who is a Holocaust denier. Faurisson generated much controversy with a number of articles, published in the Journal of Historical Review and elsewhere, as well as various letters he has sent to French newspapers , which deny various aspects of the Holocaust,...
, Roger Garaudy
Roger Garaudy
Roger Garaudy or Ragaa Garaudy is a French philosopher. Formerly a prominent communist author, he has converted to Islam and written several books which have been controversial due to his anti-Zionist positions and denial of the Holocaust.-Early life, politics and religion:Born to Catholic and...
and Ernst Nolte
Ernst Nolte
Ernst Nolte is a German historian and philosopher. Nolte’s major interest is the comparative studies of Fascism and Communism. He is Professor Emeritus of Modern History at the Free University of Berlin, where he taught from 1973 to 1991. He was previously a Professor at the University of Marburg...
. He was accused throughout his life of being neo-fascist and antisemitic because of his Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial is the act of denying the genocide of Jews in World War II, usually referred to as the Holocaust. The key claims of Holocaust denial are: the German Nazi government had no official policy or intention of exterminating Jews, Nazi authorities did not use extermination camps and gas...
and hatred of Zionism
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and the Jewish community. He was a close confidante of Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
president Hugo Chavez
Hugo Chávez
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías is the 56th and current President of Venezuela, having held that position since 1999. He was formerly the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when he became the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela...
.
Career
Ceresole studied in GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
before becoming an advisor from 1969 to 1971 to Juan Velasco Alvarado
Juan Velasco Alvarado
Juan Francisco Velasco Alvarado was a left-leaning Peruvian General who ruled Peru from 1968 to 1975 under the title of "President of the Revolutionary Government."- Early life :...
who came into power through a military coup in Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
in 1968. During the 1970s he was one of the leaders of the Montoneros
Montoneros
Montoneros was an Argentine Peronist urban guerrilla group, active during the 1960s and 1970s. The name is an allusion to 19th century Argentinian history. After Juan Perón's return from 18 years of exile and the 1973 Ezeiza massacre, which marked the definitive split between left and right-wing...
guerrilla group ERP
People's Revolutionary Army (Argentina)
The Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo was the military branch of the communist Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores in Argentina...
-22 in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
and was forced into exile after the military coup which removed Isabel Perón from office on March 1976. He then went to Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
where he became a spokesman of Peronism
Peronism
Peronism , or Justicialism , is an Argentine political movement based on the programmes associated with former President Juan Perón and his second wife, Eva Perón...
during his exile in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
. From then on he became one of the main voices of Peronism
Peronism
Peronism , or Justicialism , is an Argentine political movement based on the programmes associated with former President Juan Perón and his second wife, Eva Perón...
in Argentina and an influential voice among some groups of military officers throughout South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. During this time he also publicly defended those who promoted a Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
n alliance with the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
such as Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an President Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende Gossens was a Chilean physician and politician who is generally considered the first democratically elected Marxist to become president of a country in Latin America....
and Manuel Piñeiro
Manuel Piñeiro
Manuel Piñeiro Losada , known as Barba Roja , was a Cuban political and military figure, a leading character of the Cuban Revolution, as the first head of Fidel Castro's security apparatus...
, the former head of the Cuban General Intelligence Directorate
General Intelligence Directorate
The Intelligence Directorate is the main state intelligence agency of the government of Cuba. The DI, under the big umbrella of the MININT, was founded in late 1961 by Cuba's Ministry of the Interior shortly after the Cuban Revolution...
.
Later Ceresole became a member of the Institute of Latin American Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences consists of the national academy of Russia and a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation as well as auxiliary scientific and social units like libraries, publishers and hospitals....
and for over 20 years maintained close connections with the government of Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
as well as with some representatives of Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
countries. For a time he lived in Spain until the "Semana Santa" military rebellion of 1987 in Argentina against President Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín was an Argentine lawyer, politician and statesman, who served as the President of Argentina from December 10, 1983, to July 8, 1989. Alfonsín was the first democratically-elected president of Argentina following the military government known as the National Reorganization...
, where he became an advisor to the officials led by Aldo Rico
Aldo Rico
Aldo Rico is an Argentine military man and politician, famous for his role in the episodes of 1987 and 1988 where sectors of the Armed Forces, known as carapintadas , revolted to protest the policies of...
. In 1994, after some of the military involved in the rebellion were set free, Ceresole founded with Raúl de Sagastizabal aka ("El Vasco"), a member of the Grupo Albatros
Grupo Albatros
The Grupo Albatros is a special operations service of the Prefectura Naval Argentina. Located in the province of Buenos Aires, it conducts river and maritime operations in the lakes and rivers and anything close to the coast line...
, the Centro de Estudios Argentina en el Mundo and started to meet with Mohamed Alí Seineldín, a leader of the Carapintadas
Carapintadas
The were a group of mutineers in the Argentine Army, who took part in uprisings during the presidency of Raúl Alfonsín in Argentina.In December 1986, the Ley de Punto Final was introduced...
. It was through this military group that Ceresole met Hugo Chávez
Hugo Chávez
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías is the 56th and current President of Venezuela, having held that position since 1999. He was formerly the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when he became the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela...
and began to function as an advisor to his cooperators, among them, Colonel Luis Dávila and Manuel Quijada.
Venezuela
On June 15, 1995 he was detained and deported by VenezuelaVenezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
n intelligence police (DISIP) under President Rafael Caldera
Rafael Caldera
Rafael Antonio Caldera Rodríguez was president of Venezuela from 1969 to 1974 and again from 1994 to 1999.Caldera taught sociology and law at various universities before entering politics. He was a founding member of COPEI, Venezuela's Christian Democratic party...
because he had in his possession a document titled Proclama à la Nación del Frente Nacional Bolivariano in which the Coup of 1992 was defended as a political option. He was accused of trying to start political links in Venezuela in particular with Hugo Chávez
Hugo Chávez
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías is the 56th and current President of Venezuela, having held that position since 1999. He was formerly the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when he became the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela...
whom he advised from 1994 to 1995.
His reappearance in Venezuela after Chávez was elected in 1998
Venezuelan presidential election, 1998
In the Venezuelan presidential election of 1998, Hugo Chávez was elected to his first term as President of Venezuela with the largest percentage of the popular vote in four decades...
, his close relations with senior members of the government and the publication of a book dedicated to Chávez with the title Caudillo, Ejército, Pueblo: la Venezuela del Comandante Chávez (1999) (published first in Madrid then in Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
in Arabic and then reprinted in Caracas
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
), created a wave of concern from all sides of Venezuelan society. In 1999 José Vicente Rangel
José Vicente Rangel
José Vicente Rangel Vale is a Venezuelan leftist politician. He ran for President three times in the 1970s and 1980s and later supported Hugo Chávez, successively becoming Foreign Minister, Defense Minister, and Vice President in Chávez's government.-Political activism:His political activism began...
denied any ideological influence on Chávez's administration although in the 1998 book Habla el Comandante Chávez said that he "was reconsidering the ideas of Norberto Ceresole, in his works and studies, where he planned a project of physical integration in Latin America...this will be a project which will integrate the Continent along Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina and their ramifications". At the end of 1999, he was asked by Luis Miquilena
Luis Miquilena
Luis Manuel Miquilena Hernández is a Venezuelan politician. He was born on July 29, 1919 in Santa Ana de Coro, Falcón State. He was involved in politics in the 1940s, and again after the 1958 restoration of democracy, but retired from politics in 1964 until the early 1990s, pursuing a career in...
, then vice-president, to leave the country. Miquilena later declared that Ceresole left by his own initiative while Ceresole declared that he had been both threatened by Jesús Urdaneta (head of the DISIP) and paid $10,000 by Miquilena to leave.
In 2000, amid accusations of his influence in Venezuelan politics he declared that "I am profoundly proud, for example, that the Venezuelan system of military intelligence was restructured following the strategic guidelines that I proposed at the time". He also proposed in a letter to Jorge Olavarría (later published in the Venezuelan Magazine Primicia) the creation of an Office of Strategic Intelligence that could be financed by Hezbollah like his office in Madrid. However, such an office was never created. In May 2006, President Chávez spoke of his relationship with Ceresole during the broadcast of his weekly program Aló Presidente
Aló Presidente
Aló Presidente is a largely unscripted talk show hosted by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez which is broadcast on Venezuelan state television and radio stations every Sunday at 11:00 AM...
#255. He remembered him as a "great friend" and as an "intellectual deserving great respect" and recalled a meeting with him in 1995 near the Orinoco river in which they talked about the strategic location of Venezuela and the importance of focusing his future policy on South America instead of North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
.
On his return to Argentina following his 1999 departure from Venezuela, Ceresole became an advisor to the Peronist politician Adolfo Rodríguez Saá
Adolfo Rodríguez Saá
Adolfo Rodríguez Saá Páez Montero is an Argentine Peronist politician. He was the governor of the province of San Luis during several terms, and briefly served as President of Argentina.-Biography:...
and, once again, to Aldo Rico, whom he was helping in his campaign to become Governor of Buenos Aires Province
Buenos Aires Province
The Province of Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous province of Argentina. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880...
. Ceresole died in Buenos Aires a few months later.
Works
Some of his works have been translated into RussianRussian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, Arabic and Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
.
- Ejército y política nacionalista (1968)
- Crisis militar Argentina (1986)
- [ed.]. Perú: Sendero Luminoso, ejército y democracia. Madrid, Spain; Buenos-Aires, Argentina: Prensa y Ediciones Iberoamericanas; Instituto Latinoamericano de Cooperación Tecnológica y Relaciones Internacionales (1987)
- Política de producción para la defensa (1988)
- The South Atlantic: War Hypothesis, in Geopolitics of the Southern Cone and Antarctica (1988).
- Tecnología militar y estrategia nacional (1991)
- Materiales sobre economía de la defensa y política de la defensa (Buenos Aires, ILCTRI).
- Terrorismo fundamentalista judío, nuevos escenarios de conflictos (Libertarias, Madrid, 1996)
- El Nacional-judaísmo: un mesianismo post-sionistaZionismZionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
, con prólogo de Roger GaraudyRoger GaraudyRoger Garaudy or Ragaa Garaudy is a French philosopher. Formerly a prominent communist author, he has converted to Islam and written several books which have been controversial due to his anti-Zionist positions and denial of the Holocaust.-Early life, politics and religion:Born to Catholic and...
(Libertarias, Madrid, 1997) - España y los judíos, Expulsión, Inquisición, Holocausto, 1492-1997 (Amanecer, Madrid, 1997).
- La Falsificación de la Realidad (Libertarias, Madrid-Buenos Aires, 1998)
- La Conquista del Imperio Americano (Al-Andalus, Madrid-Buenos Aires, 1998)
- Caudillo, Ejército, Pueblo: la Venezuela del Comandante Chávez (1999)
- Tres ensayos geopolíticos (2001)
- La cuestión judía en la América del Sur (2003)
External links
- Essays by and about Ceresole in relation to his stay in Venezuela (Spanish)
- Ceresole Writings(Spanish)
- Biography from the Instituto de Formación y Capacitación Política "Gral. Juan Domingo Peron"
- Interview with Ceresole:"Ceresole visto por él mismo" El UniversalEl Universal (Caracas)El Universal is a major Venezuelan newspaper, headquartered in Caracas with an average daily circulation of about 150,000. The online version carries news, politics, sports, economy and more....
, 5 March 2005, Vida y Muerte de Ceresole - profile - "Venezuela del 04F-92 al 06D-98: habla el comandante Hugo Chávez Frías", edited by Agustín Blanco Muñoz. (Caracas : UCV 1998) ISBN 980-07-5374-5