Aramburu, Pedro Eugenio [key], 1903–70, president of Argentina (1955–58). An army general, he participated in the overthrow of Juan Perón in Sept., 1955, and that November he replaced Gen. Eduardo Lonardi as provisional president. With the vice president, Admiral Isaac Rojas, he ruled by decree, suppressing strikes and revolts and vigorously driving the Peronists from business, government, and military posts. He later returned the country to constitutional democracy and scheduled free elections, in which he ruled out military figures (including himself) as presidential candidates. After Arturo Frondizi was elected president in Feb., 1958, Aramburu retired from the army. He ran unsuccessfully for president in 1963. In May, 1970, he was kidnapped by a Peronist guerrilla group and murdered, allegedly for his part in the execution of 27 Peronist leaders after an unsuccessful coup attempt in 1956.
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