Raúl Alberto Lastiri

Infobox_President | name=Raúl Lastiri
small

nationality=Argentine
order=40th President of Argentina
term_start=July 13 1973
term_end=October 11 1973
predecessor=Héctor Cámpora
successor=Juan Perón
birth_date=1915
birth_place= Buenos Aires
death_date=1978
death_place= Buenos Aires
spouse=
party=Justicialist
vicepresident=
profession=

Raúl Alberto Lastiri (1915-1978) was an Argentine politician who was interim president of Argentina from July 13 1973 until October 12 1973. Lastiri, who presided over the Argentine Chamber of Deputies was promoted to the Presidency of the country after Héctor Cámpora and Vicente Solano Lima resigned. He organized new elections and delivered the country's government to Juan Perón, who won with over 60% of the votes.

His brief tenure marked a turn towards right-wing policies and factions within the Peronist Party. His father-in-law, José López Rega, a P2 member and the creator of the paramilitary organization "Triple A", was confirmed as "Minister of Social Welfare". Alberto Juan Vignes replaced Puig in the "Ministry of Foreign Affairs" and Benito Llambí took over Esteban Righi as "Minister of Interior". In spite of that, the foreign policy kept a Third World orientation: as an example, on August, 1973, Argentina granted Cuba a 200 million U.S. dollars loan to buy machinery and cars.

José Ber Gelbard, also confirmed as Economy Minister, continued with his previous policy, nationalizing bank deposits and announcing a "Triennial Plan" for development.

The terrorist violence experienced sustained growth in the last days of his presidency. On September 25 a Montoneros commando allegedly killed José Ignacio Rucci, Secretary-General of the CGT National trade union center and Perón's good friend. The same month, the Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo (ERP) had assaulted the Army medical unit located at Parque Patricios, a neighborhood of Buenos Aires, with one death. This action served to justify the ERP illegalization and the closedown of the newspaper "El Mundo".

Lastiri was on Licio Gelli's list of P2 members, a masonic lodge involved in Italy's strategy of tension, discovered in 1980. [http://www.amnistia.net/news/gelli/lesnoms.htm Propaganda Due member list] ]

References

* [http://www.todo-argentina.net/historia/civmil/lastiri/index.htm TodoArgentina - Interinato de Raúl Lastiri (in Spanish)]
*Initial version translated from [http://enciclopedia.us.es/index.php/Ra%C3%BAl_Alberto_Lastiri Enciclopedia Libre - Raúl Alberto Lastiri (in Spanish)] , under GFDL.