LATIN AMERICAN TRENDS: STAFF NOTES JANUARY 21, 1976[SANITIZED] - 1976/01/21

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Argentina Declassification Project - The "Dirty War" (1976-83)
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06627586
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: April 3, 2019
• Document Release Date: April 12, 2019
• Publication Date: January 21, 1976

Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 C06627586
CI SNLA 76-003
No. 0683-76
January 21, 1976
Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 C06627586
Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 C06627586
.�gertgrIr
LATIN AMERICAN TRENDS
This publication is prepared for regional specialists in the Washington com-
munity by the Western Hemisphere Division, Office of Current Intelligence,
with occasional contributions from other offices within the Directorate of
Intelligence. Comments and queries are welcome. They should be directed to
the authors of the individual articles.
CONTENTS
January 21, 1976
Argentina.: Industrial Terrorism
12
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5AGRErf
NR
NR
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3.3(b)(1)
�SEeRET
Argentina: Industrial Terrorism
Montonero guerrillas are involved in an intense ef-
fort to strengthen their influence within the
Argentine labor movement. They reportedly are con-
centrating their activites among factory workers.
Summarized below is an airgram from the labor attache
in Buenos Aires on the subject of industrial terrorism.
Increasing alienation between the leadership and
the rank-and-file of organized labor as created an
atmosphere ripe for exploitation by terrorists. Both
the People's Revolutionary Army (ERP) and the Montoneros
are evidently taking advantage of the situation. Busi-
nessmen and labor leaders alike suspect foreign involve-
ment as well.
The guerrillas use murder, kidnaping, and intimi-
dation of management personnel to force management to
give in to their demands. Officers involved in indus-
trial relations or personnel management seem to be
particular targets for violence.
Direct threats against workers are another tactic.
Workers who fail to carry out some guerrilla-directed
action against management may be subjected to personal
harassment or threats against their families; they may
even be kidnaped and murdered. These tactics are at-
tributed to the ERP rather than the Montoneros, who
are more inclined to take action against management.
At times, factory guerrillas deal directly with
the union and have been known to win over the shop-level
union leadership. At other times they seize control of
a union meeting and force through their proposals.
Recognizing these persons as terrorists, the workers
dare not oppose them.
-12 -
SEGRET
January 21, 1976
3.5(c)
�
Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 C06627586
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3.5(c)
SECRET'
Management seems to have little alternative but
to yield. Most foreign firms comply with the demands
of terrorists and then transfer all non-Argentine
personnel out of the country. One company simply shut
down its plant after receiving no response to requests
for police or government assistance.
The military, although aware of the problem of
industrial terrorism, has so far stayed mainly on the
sidelines, but the government may be forced to call
upon it more in the future. Until and unless the social
discontent that sustains terrorism is somehow ameliorated,
the phenomenon can be expected to continue on the
Argentine scene for some time. 3.5(c)
-13 -
-sEettEr
January 21, 1976
Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 C06627586