The late 1960s, which coincided with the President Juan Carlos Onganía's cancellation of sugar subsidies, and the resulting closure of numerous large mills, also made the town a center of labor union activity.

Led by a Bella Vista local, Atilio Santillán, the Sugar Workers' Federation of Tucumán (FOTIA) grew to include over 70,000 members.

Opposition from Tucumán authorities led to their persecution during the Operativo Independencia offensive of 1975, in addition to which a conflict with the far-left People's Revolutionary Army (ERP) band arose, leading to Santillán's death on March 22, 1976 (an unsolved mystery).

As a result of significant political and local pressure, provincial governor José Alperovich suspended the Bella Vista council.

[2] In support of their allegations that upwards of 4 million Argentine pesos allocated for construction of surface irrigation canals had been misappropriated, Décima and Coronel published a series of photographs displaying areas of the city where no work had been done.