Rojas, Isaac (1906–1993)

Isaac Rojas, born in Buenos Aires on December 3, 1906, was an Argentine naval officer. He advanced in his career as a loyal Peronist while the Perón regime was at its zenith (the Peronist Loyalty Medal was bestowed upon him by Eva Perón). Although he was a latecomer to the conspiracy, Rojas was one of the organizers of the 1955 coup d'état that overthrew Perón and became a staunch anti-Peronist. His threat that the navy would bombard oil storage facilities in Buenos Aires and the national oil refinery in La Plata contributed greatly to the success of the uprising.

Made a full admiral of the navy in 1955, Rojas was prominent in Argentine public life from 1955 to 1958, when he served as vice president in the governments of both Eduardo Lonardi and Pedro Aramburu and became renowned for the ferocity of his hard-line anti-Peronist sentiments. Rojas dealt harshly with the participants of the abortive June 1956 uprising of military officers sympathetic to Perón, and supported the execution of its leader, Major General Juan José Valle, and some twenty-six coconspirators. He supported unconditionally the permanent exclusion of Peronists from Argentine politics. He died April 12, 1993.

See alsoAramburu, Pedro Eugenio; Argentina: The Twentieth Century; Lonardi, Eduardo; Perón, Juan Domingo; Perón, María Eva Duarte de.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Potash, Robert A. The Army and Politics in Argentina. Vol. 2: 1945–1962: Perón to Frondizi. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1980.

Rouquié, Alain. Poder militar y sociedad política en la Argentina. 2 vols. Translated by Arturo Iglesias Echegaray. Buenos Aires: Emecé, 1982.

                                          James P. Brennan

                                          Vicente Palermo