Blackwell Reference Online

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Cordobazo and Rosariazo were major protests held between May and September 1969 in Argentina against the military dictatorship of Juan Carlos Onganía. Twice that year, on May 21 and September 16 and 17, protesters flooded the streets of Rosario. In Córdoba, the protests resulted in the complete suspension of activities between May 29 and 30. The demonstrations followed a common pattern: initially peaceful marchers in the city's central district were met with violent repression by the police, which then escalated into fires, barricades, and street fighting. For many hours, both Rosario and Córdoba were taken over by tens of thousands of protesters, as the police abandoned their posts. Only through military occupation could the federal government regain control of the cities. Protesters, a mix of industrial workers and university students supported by white-collar workers, middle-class professionals, radicalized Catholic activists, and people from humble neighborhoods, recognized student and anti-bureaucratic labor union leadership. In September, a similar insurrection took place again in Rosario. Cordobazo and Rosariazo were the most salient events in a larger wave of protests and mass mobilizations that were erupting in cities such as Tucumán, Mendoza, Cipoletti, in the Río Negro province, and Catamarca during the same time. A context of increasing political and economic exclusion ... log in or subscribe to read full text