ARMANDO LAMBRUSCHINI - ARGENTINA - 1978/09/21

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Argentina Declassification Project - The "Dirty War" (1976-83)
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06627115
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: April 3, 2019
• Document Release Date: April 12, 2019
• Publication Date: September 21, 1978

Approved for Release: 2018/09/17 C06627115
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1 I
Armando LAICRUSCHINI
(Phoneti,:: lrlibroosCHEEnee
- �
Commander in Chief of the
Navy; Member, Ruling Junta
(since September 1978)
OFILMEU ARGENTINA
OFFICE OF
CENTRAL REFERENCE
Vice Adm. Armando
Lambruschini assumed his pre-
sent positions as Commander
of the Navy and the Navy
representative to the ruling
junta after serving as
Chief of the Navy General
Staff since 1974. He has
been characterized as the
alter ego of Adm. Emilio
Massera, whom he replaced as Navy Commander and junta member
when Massera retired from the service in September 1978.
Working together, Massera and Lambruschini, who were class-'
mates at the Navy Academy, kept complete control of the Navy
from 1974 to 1978.
Lambruschini has stated in the Argentine press that he
intends to follow the policies. initiated. by Massera in his
dealings with the junta. Lambruschini will, for example,
continue to insist on maintaining such traditional Navy baili-
wicks as the CNEA and on keeping one-third of the junta pcwer
vested in the Navy. Massera and Lambruschini differ consider-
ably in personality, however, and there are likely to be changes
in the interactions among the junta members.
He developed polished skills in publicly
responding to popular concerns; his speeches, use of "leaked
information," travel to Europe and the Mideast, and his contacts
with potentially political groups such as labor contributed to
his high visibility on the three-man junta. Lambruschini
will probably be less active in junta policy formulation and
more flexible in his relationships with the other junta members.
Early Life and Career
Borr in 1924, Armando Lambruschini graduated from the Naval
Academy in 1946. A line officer and Communications specialist,
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Approved for Release: 2018/09/17 C06627115
Approved for Release: 2018/09/17 C06627115
he has an excellent reput:Ation for competence and leadership
in staff and command positions. He has held all the key
Navy positions, including Commander of the Naval Operating
Force in 1973.
Lambruschini visited the United States in 1946 on a mid-
shipman's tour. From 1969 to 1970 he was adviser to the Inter-
American Defense Board in Washington, D.C. In the past
Lambruschini was strongly pro-United States, but his enthusiasm
has cooled in the wake of recent US policies on human rights
and arms sales to Argentina.
Lambruschini has traveled widely in Latin America and
visited the USSR and Eastern Europe in 1974 as part of an
official delegation. In August 1978 he and Massera attended
the ninth annual conference of commanders in chief of American
navies in Lima, Peru. Lambruschini is mistrustful of Chile
and takes a hard line on defense of the Beagle Channel, the
disputed territory that lies between Chile and Argentina.
Intelligent and quiet, Lambruschini nevertheless speaks
with authority and assurance. Married to the former Gladys
Nevares Bestard, he is the father of a daughter. Another
daughter W3S killed at age fifteen in August 1978 by a
terrorist bomb planted in the family's apartment.
Lambruschini speaks some English.
21 September 1978
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-Skeltfr
Approved for Release: 2018/09/17 C06627115