Guillermo Vargas Aignasse

Who was Guillermo Vargas Aignasse?

Guillermo Vargas Aignasse was an Argentine Peronist politician, serving as a provincial Senator in Tucumán Province from 1973 until his disappearance in 1976. In 2008, two former generals were jailed for life for his disappearance.

Vargas Aignasse was born and raised in Andalgalá, Catamarca Province, and was a physicist by profession, teaching in the discipline until his election to the Provincial Senate of Tucumán in 1973. He was elected on the Frejuli ticket that brought Peronists back to power, and was associated with the left-wing faction of Peronism, having belonged to the center-left FANE. Amid the worst climate of violence in the country, Tucumán Province was placed under martial law in January 1975, after which Operativo Independencia, a counterinsurgency offensive, was launched by presidential order. The installation of General Antonio Domingo Bussi as its commander in December coincided with Vargas Aignasse's investigation of provincial Police Chief Colonel Antonio Arrechea on reports of drug trafficking.

The 1976 military coup, on March 24, resulted in Vargas Aignasse's arrest by provincial police, who had their detainee turn in all documentation regarding the Arrechea case. Days later, his brother, Rodolfo, was allowed to see the prisoner from above a patio, following which, per police testimony, he was released from prison on 5 April and 'kidnapped by parties unknown' while being taken home in an official car. He was later reportedly seen alive and in pain by a number of witnesses, though his wheareabouts afterwards remained unknown.