Argentina

=== Peronist years ===
{{Main|Peronism}}
[[File:Juan_y_Eva_Oficial.jpg|thumb|alt=Juan Domingo Perón and his wife Eva Perón, 1947.|[[Juan Perón]] and his wife [[Eva Perón]], 1947]]

The [[Labour Party (Argentina)|Labour Party]] (later renamed [[Justicialist Party]]), the most powerful and influential party in Argentine history, came into power with the rise of Juan Perón to the presidency in 1946. He [[nationalization|nationalized]] strategic industries and services, improved wages and working conditions, paid the full [[external debt]] and claimed he achieved nearly [[full employment]]. He pushed Congress to enact [[women's suffrage]] in 1947,{{sfn|Barnes|1978|p=3}} and developed a system of social assistance for the most vulnerable sectors of society.{{sfn|Barnes|1978|pp=113ff}} The economy began to decline in 1950 due in part to government expenditures and the [[protectionism|protectionist]] economic policies.<ref name=Reutuers2014>{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-argentina-debt-chronology/chronology-argentinas-turbulent-history-of-economic-crises-idUSKBN0FZ23N20140730|title=Chronology: Argentina's turbulent history of economic crises|publisher=[[Reuters]]|date=30 July 2014|access-date=19 December 2022|archive-date=19 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221219062714/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-argentina-debt-chronology/chronology-argentinas-turbulent-history-of-economic-crises-idUSKBN0FZ23N20140730|url-status=live}}</ref>

He also engaged in a campaign of political suppression. Anyone who was perceived to be a political dissident or potential rival was subject to threats, physical violence and harassment. The Argentine [[intelligentsia]], the middle-class, university students, and professors were seen as particularly troublesome. Perón fired over 2,000 university professors and faculty members from all major public education institutions.<ref name=auth>{{cite book |last=Rock |first=David |title=Authoritarian Argentina |publisher=University of California Press |year=1993}}</ref>

Perón tried to bring most trade and labour unions under his thumb, regularly resorting to violence when needed. For instance, the meat-packers union leader, [[Cipriano Reyes]], organised strikes in protest against the government after elected labour movement officials were forcefully replaced by Peronist puppets from the [[Justicialist Party|Peronist Party]]. Reyes was soon arrested on charges of terrorism, though the allegations were never substantiated. Reyes, who was never formally charged, was tortured in prison for five years and only released after the regime's downfall in 1955.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.clarin.com/diario/2001/08/02/p-02401.htm |title=Clarín |website=Clarin.com |date=2 August 2001 |access-date=2 December 2020 |archive-date=27 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090627040037/http://www.clarin.com/diario/2001/08/02/p-02401.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Perón [[Argentine general election, 1951|managed to get re-elected in 1951]]. His wife [[Eva Perón]], who played a critical role in the party, died of cancer in 1952. As the economy continued to tank, Perón started losing popular support, and came to be seen as a threat to the national process. The Navy took advantage of Perón's withering political power, and [[bombing of Plaza de Mayo|bombed the Plaza de Mayo]] in 1955. Perón survived the attack, but a few months later, during the [[Revolución Libertadora|Liberating Revolution]] coup, he was deposed and went into [[exile]] in Spain.{{sfn|Galasso|2011|loc=vol. II|pp=303–51}}