Thursday, April 21st 1977. Footage of General Jorge Videla, head of the military junta of Argentina, accusing "Big business" of supporting left-wing guerilla organisations.
The general was speaking at a four-hour press conference held at army headquarters in Buenos Aires. His comments were specifically addressed in regard to David Graiver, an Argentinean financier who he claimed had invested about £10 million Sterling (US$17 million) amassed by Montoneros guerrillas through kidnappings and holdups.
Videla pledged to annihilate subversion and claimed that the guerrillas had been almost wiped out. His claim was disputed, and as he spoke, opposition guerrilla movements were annoucing in Rome that they were joining forces. These included the Montoneros and Authentic Peronist Movement whose aim was to overthrow the military government and turning Argentina into a socialist state after free elections.
Footage: Reuters News Archive.
Note:
1. David Graiver, an Argentinian of Polish-Jewish descent, was a controversial figure who owned a number of banks within Argentina (Comercial de La Plata and Hurlingham) and outside (American Bank & Trust and Century National Bank in New York, Banque pour l'Amérique du Sud in Brussels and Swiss-Israel Bank in Tel-Aviv) -all of which failed. The September 1976 failure of American Bank & Trust was at the time was the fourth-largest bank failure in United States history.
2. Gravier was officially declared dead by a New York court declared on January 15, 1979. He had reportedly been killed in a plane crash in Chilpancingo, Mexico in August 1976.
Footage: Reuters News Archive.
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