Jorge Antonio (Argentine businessman)

Jorge Antonio (Buenos Aires, October 14, 1917- February 11, 2007) was an Argentine business man and political figure, a close adviser to President Juan Domingo Perón. [http://www.lanacion.com.ar/Archivo/nota.asp?nota_id=883204]

Born Jorge Antún Squen in La Boca, Buenos Aires to Syrian immigrants, Antonio grew up in Uruguay and returned to Argentina at 17 years old. He was an orderlyin the Military School in 1942 [http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elpais/1-80341-2007-02-13.html] and worked in several enterprises before being appointed as the representative of General Motors and Mercedes Benz in Argentina. In this post, in 1949 he met Perón again, having first met him briefly in 1943. He would become one of Perón's most important advisers. [http://www.revistaarabe.com.ar/entrevistas_Jorge_Antonio.asp]

Antonio's fortune grew, connected with his friendship with Juan Duarte, Perón's brother-in-law. In the 1950s, Antonio bought the media companies Radio Belgrano, Canal 7 and the Télam agency. He also invested in agribusiness and owned a bank, building his importance to the Presidency. It was reported that his fortune grew in the ten years to 1955 to US$ 215 million. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,861748,00.html] Antonio's wealth became emblematic of the cronies of Perón profiteering under his Presidency. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,824193,00.html?iid=chix-sphere] Among his employees was Adolf Eichman, under his assumed name of Ricardo Clement. [http://www.revistaarabe.com.ar/entrevistas_Jorge_Antonio.asp] Antonio admitted that he knew Eichman's real identity. [http://www.clarin.com/diario/2007/02/13/elpais/p-00701.htm] He was often linked with stories of 'Nazi Gold', money brought to Argentina by Nazis fleeing Germany.

When Perón was deposed by the military coup of September 1955, Antonio did not want to leave the country and was arrested. He was imprisoned for 17 days on a boat, then in Ushuaia for a month and later in Río Gallegos. His properties were seized by the military. In March 1957, with other Peronist leaders, he escaped from the prison and took refuge in Chile. He was able to fight off Argentine extradition appeals and eventually the government of Chile granted him asylum. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,809969,00.html] In the following years, he lived in Cuba and then in Spain, when he acted again as an adviser and financier of the exiled Perón.

However, in the 1970s Antonio was displaced by José López Rega, and when Perón returned to his country and was re-elected to the Presidency in 1973, Antonio preferred to stay in Madrid. Except for a short stay in July 1974, on the occasion of the death of his mentor, Antonio did not return to Argentina until several years later.

He was also a close friend of Carlos Saúl Menem, under whose presidency he once again became an influential man in the Argentinian business world. He had introduced Menem, also the son of Syrians, to Perón in 1964.

Antonio died in 2007 a few months short of his 90th birthday. He had ten children with his first wife. [http://www.lanacion.com.ar/archivo/Nota.asp?nota_id=883483]