MONTONERO

member of an Argentinian left-wing Peronist group known for violent urban terrorist actions such as political kidnappings and assassinations. Founded as a militant fighting division by General Juan Pern before his exile to Paraguay in 1955, the Montoneros remained active during his 18-year absence. When Pern returned to Argentina in 1973, he condemned the Montoneros, who in response formed a revolutionary left wing and resorted to political violence on a large scale. From Pern's return until his widow's overthrow in 1976, the Montoneros and other terrorist groups such as the unaligned People's Revolutionary Army staged an unprecedented series of kidnappings and assassinations in Argentina. The military government and right-wing terrorists brutally suppressed the Montoneros in the late 1970s. Composed of young men and women, primarily of the middle class, the Montoneros were dedicated to the overthrow of the government in Argentina. They funded themselves through bank robberies and the large ransoms paid to them for the release of their kidnap victims.