The GOU: Grupo Obra de Unificacion (Task of Unification Group)
<A SMALL GROUP OF SENIOR OFFICERS IN THE MILITARY>
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The people of Argentina had mixed feelings about the new government. Some had been so strongly opposed to the previous president, Ramón S. Castillo, that they believed any change could only be for the better; but others were more cautious. World War II had been underway for three years and many feared that this new military regime would support the Axis powers(Germay, Italy, and Japan among others) rather than the Allied Powers. Their fears proved correct.

Once the GOU had gained control of the government they named General Pedro Ramírez president. Throughout the next two years his administration;
  • ordered some labor unions to dissolve and replaced the elected leaders of others with members of the military.
  • suspended newspapers which criticized them.
  • outlawed political parties and stationed police in their headquarters.
  • imposed harsh restrictions on what newspapers were allowed to print.
  • closed down several Jewish associations, dissmissed some Jewish teachers, and canceld the citizenship of several Jewish Argentinians.
  • conducted mass arrests of people who criticized the regime.
During this time Colonel Juan Perón watched as the group he had helped bring to power alienated the very people it needed the support of to advance its orginal ideals of nationalism (Argentine independence both economically and culturally from the rest of the world). In order to find support Perón became Argentina's first Secretary of Labor and Social Welfare and started several initiatives to benefit the working class in Argentina.

Perón...


  • established social securtiy institutions which covered virtually all the country's workers
  • recieved half a billion pesos for construction of low-cost housing
  • issued a decree that all working persons should recieve ten consecutive days of paid vacation after every year of service  and fifteen days a year after five years of service.
  • increased the average worker's wage

Despite Per
ón's work their was still much hatred toward the government. In October of 1945 an Army garrison under the control of a General named Alvalos rose in revolt against the GOU. The confrontation between the two groups was resolved without violence. General Alvalos took control of the government and forced the members of the GOU to resign from office. Colonel Juan Perón was placed under arrest.