| Country: | Argentina |
| Details of Formation: | Triple A was created under the rule of Isabel Peron in a meeting between various ministers and governors. Its creation was suggested by the Italian Propaganda Due Masonic Lodge and implemented mainly by the social welfare minister of that time, Mr Lopez Rega, who organized the squad as an irregular branch of his ministry. |
| Details of Termination: | The group was particularly active under Isabel Perón, but continued to operate under the military dictatorship. After 1983, when the country became democratic again, members of Triple A created or joined right-wing terrorist cells and continued to commit atrocities, until they were chased down and dismantled by the new government. Around 2005, the first proper trial was initiated and in the following years most of the former leaders were arrested. |
| Purpose: | The main purpose of the group was to fight guerillas and other political dissidents. The government founded the group in the light of increasing guerilla attacks (Wikipedia) and news sources report that it took advantage that Triple A could attack targets the army could not legally attack (i.e. civilians). |
| Organisation: | Until 1975 Triple A was allegedly led by José López Rega, then Minister of Social Welfare (Wikipedia). Triple A then was an irregular branch of the ministry of social welfare. 1975, military intelligence services established control over Triple A. The link to the army was established through a colonel. |
| Weapons and Training: | -- |
| Size: | -- |
| Reason for Membership: | Many recruited members were former federal police offers who had been fired previously. |
| Treatment of Civilians: | Triple A killed and kidnapped political opposition, including journalists, writers, professors, lawyers, labor leaders and sympathizers of leftist terrorists. The military cooperated with the group. Acting against leftists was explicitly stated in the founding act of the group. |
| Other Information: | Triple A was part of Operation Condor in Argentina (Wikipedia). After the fall of Lopez Rega in 1975, the group lost part of its power and some of its members went to Spain to become involved in murders of Spanish leftists, while others stayed and continued to operate in Argentina. Lopez Rega’s widow provides some information on Triple A in interviews, but those are not considered for the coding of the group. |
| References: | Wikipedia. “Argentine Anticommunist Alliance”. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Argentine_Anticommunist_Alliance&oldid=727140477 |