Cámpora, Héctor José

(1909–1980)

   Peronist politician and president of Argentina from May to July 1973, when he was forced out of office by a right-wing Peronist faction to make room for Juan Perón himself, who had recently returned from exile. As Perón’s handpicked representative in Argentina, Cámpora had been designated to run in his place in the March 1973 presidential election. Perón was barred from being a candidate because of a residency requirement. Cámpora won easily under the slogan “Cámpora in government, Perón in power.” Taking office in May, Cámpora, who had ties to the Montoneros, an urban guerrilla organization, freed all political prisoners, many of them guerrillas, and reopened diplomatic relations with Cuba. The drift toward the left angered Perón, who returned to Argentina in June, engineered Cámpora’s resignation, and ran for president himself. After the military coup of 24 March 1976, Cámpora took refuge in the Mexican embassy in Buenos Aires with the intention of fleeing to Mexico. The junta, however, refused to let him leave, and he spent most of his remaining years as a refugee in the embassy.