The COSPA: A Political Experience of the Argentine Exile in Mexico

Abstract

The Argentine exiles who arrived in Mexico in the 1970s, primarily left-leaning Peronists and supporters of the Montoneros, established a broad solidarity network that provided substantial support for new arrivals in the country. The harmony of these beginnings was, however, short-lived. The Montoneros' declaration of war on the Martínez de Perón government in 1975 divided the exile community. The Comité de Solidaridad con el Pueblo Argentino (COSPA), founded in 1976, had a strong militant tone from the beginning and became a dogmatic appendage of the Montoneros' political project. The “independent” sector of the community, critical of the armed organizations and committed to a plurality of opinions, produced the Comisión Argentina de Solidaridad (CAS) in the following year. With the failure of the Montoneros' military counteroffensive and the death of dozens of militants, the CAS became the main exile organization, a mosaic that reproduced the various perspectives that nourished the Argentine exile community.