Frente Nacional Argentino
| Dissolved | 1978 |
|---|---|
| Type | Nationalist-liberal resistance organization |
| Headquarters | Near Chancaní, western Córdoba, Argentina |
Region served | Argentina |
| Era | Vriend Era |
The Frente Nacional Argentino (FNA) was an Argentine nationalist-liberal resistance organization that opposed Tanoan rule in Argentina. The organization prepared an uprising intended to restore Argentine government. By 1978, it was estimated to have at least 3,000 members spread across the country. Its senior leadership operated from an isolated rural property near Chancaní in western Córdoba.[1]
The FNA was destroyed as an organized movement in 1978 after the Geheime Staatspolizei infiltrated it through a regional organizer who had been forced to become an informant. The information he supplied led security forces to the Chancaní base. FNA leader Alejandro Rivanzi was killed there by Carlos Gustavo Schweitzer, while Mateo Ferraro and Esteban Quiroga were also killed during the operation. Gestapo and Allgemeine SS forces subsequently killed about 600 other members.[1]
Organization
[edit | edit source]Rivanzi was the highest-ranking leader of the FNA and directed the organization from its base near Chancaní. Ferraro handled its political organization. Quiroga had been an Argentine politician before 1965 and remained a fugitive after Tanoan authorities dismantled independent Argentine politics. He later coordinated the FNA's armed cells.
The organization did not concentrate its membership at the Chancaní property. Its estimated membership of at least 3,000 was distributed across Argentina, while the rural base was used by the senior leadership. The FNA intended to organize an uprising against Tanoan rule and restore Argentine government.[1]
1978 suppression
[edit | edit source]In 1978, Schweitzer was working for the Gestapo from Buenos Aires when he began investigating the FNA. During the investigation, he captured one of the organization's regional organizers and forced him to cooperate. The organizer remained inside the FNA and supplied information to the Gestapo without the other members knowing that he had been turned.
Information from the organizer eventually exposed the leadership base near Chancaní. The Gestapo prepared an operation against the property, supported by Allgemeine SS forces. Schweitzer entered with the first Gestapo group when the site was attacked.
Rivanzi was killed by Schweitzer during the initial entry. Ferraro and Quiroga were also killed at the site. After the leadership had been killed, Gestapo and Allgemeine SS forces moved against the organization's membership and killed about 600 FNA members. The operation ended the FNA as an organized resistance movement.[1]