Emilio Eduardo Massera (19 October 1925 – 8 November 2010) was an Argentine Naval military officer, and a leading participant in the Argentine coup d'état of 1976. In 1981, he was found to be a member of P2 (also known as ''Propaganda Due'', a clandestine Masonic lodge involved in Italy's strategy of tension). Many considered Massera to have masterminded the

junta Junta may refer to: Government and military * Junta (governing body) (from Spanish), the name of various historical and current governments and governing institutions, including civil ones ** Military junta, one form of junta, government led by a ...

Dirty War The Dirty War ( es, Guerra sucia) is the name used by the military junta or civic-military dictatorship of Argentina ( es, dictadura cívico-militar de Argentina, links=no) for the period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983 a ...

against political opponents, which resulted in over 30,000 deaths and disappeances.

Biography

Coming from a Catholic family, Emilio Massera was born in Paraná, Entre Ríos, to Paula Padula and Emilio Massera, grandson of immigrants from Switzerland. Massera entered Argentina's Naval Military School in 1942, obtaining his commission as a midshipman in 1946. After the '' Revolución Libertadora'' in 1955, Massera entered the Naval Information Service. During his career he occupied different positions within the Navy, including command of the sail training ship ARA ''Libertad'' and command of the Sea Fleet in 1973. In 1974 Massera was promoted to the rank of full Admiral and became the Commander-in-Chief of the

Argentine Navy The Argentine Navy (ARA; es, Armada de la República Argentina). This forms the basis for the navy's ship prefix "ARA". is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with th ...

, after the government sent a number of senior admirals into forced retirement. Between 1976 and 1978 Admiral Massera was part, together with Jorge Rafael Videla and Orlando Ramón Agosti, of the military junta that deposed

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Isabel Perón and ruled Argentina ''de facto'' during the National Reorganization Process. On September 1978 Massera stepped down from both the office of Commander-in-Chief of the Navy and from his seat in the Military Junta. In 1981 he travelled to

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north o ...

, Romania. After the end of the dictatorship in 1983, he was

tried In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, ...

for

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

violations and sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes fo ...

and the loss of his military grade. However, on 29 December 1990 he was pardoned by then-President Carlos Menem. Massera was free until 1998, when he was imprisoned again pending an investigation of several instances of kidnapping and suppression of identity of minors during his term, as well as orders of torture, execution, confinement in illegal detention centers and drowning of prisoners. He also explained the delivery of diplomatic passports to Licio Gelli, head of Propaganda Due, by stating that Gelli had "supported sin the struggle against subversion and in the management of the image of Argentina abroad". In 2004 he suffered a cerebrovascular accident caused by a burst

aneurysm An aneurysm is an outward bulging, likened to a bubble or balloon, caused by a localized, abnormal, weak spot on a blood vessel wall. Aneurysms may be a result of a hereditary condition or an acquired disease. Aneurysms can also be a nidus ( ...

, and he was admitted in the Military Hospital of Buenos Aires. As a result of the stroke, Eduardo Massera was declared legally irresponsible because of

insanity Insanity, madness, lunacy, and craziness are behaviors performed by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity can be manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person or persons becoming a danger to themselves or t ...

on 17 March 2005, and the cases against him were suspended. Massera died on 8 November 2010 of an hemorrhagic stroke in the

Hospital Naval Hospital Naval is a building in the Caballito section of Buenos Aires designed by architect Clorindo Testa in 1977. Serving Argentine Navy personnel and facing Parque Centenario, the institution was established in 1947, and its current, modernist b ...

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. The funeral was kept in secrecy to avoid escraches, and was attended by only 10 people, without any representation of the government or the armed forces.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Massera, Emilio Eduardo Argentine Navy admirals Operatives of the Dirty War People from Paraná, Entre Ríos 1925 births 2010 deaths Argentine people of Swiss-Italian descent Argentine prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Argentina Argentine people convicted of crimes against humanity Recipients of Argentine presidential pardons Argentine anti-communists Argentine Freemasons Politicide perpetrators