Conscription in Argentina

In 1901, the Minister of War, Lieutenant General Pablo Riccheri, presented the project according to which Argentine males in their twenties were recruited into the Armed Forces to serve for two years.

The aim of the project was to spread the idea of citizenship and equality before the law and to "literate" and integrate the children of immigrants, as well as to increase patriotism in men from different social classes and corners of the country.

Another possible etymology, quite widespread, postulates that "colimba" derives from the first syllables of the words "Corra, limpie and barra" (run, clean and sweep), an ironic allusion to the main occupations of conscripts.

[3] In the 1970s, a numerical draw of lots was implemented, which was used to assign males over the age of eighteen who were to be conscripts to one of the three forces, according to the last three numbers of their national identity card.

[4][5] At the beginning of 1921, conscripts were sent together with the troops of the 10th Cavalry Regiment "Húsares de Pueyrredón" under the command of Lieutenant General Héctor Benigno Varela to put an end to a rural workers' strike in the national territory of Santa Cruz.

The Argentine military did not believe in an eventual British reconquest operation, since that country was going through its worst political and economic moment, and the United States, through its foreign minister, had suggested non-intervention because the memory of the Vietnam War was still fresh.

Galtieri had already played his card: on 2 April 1982, under the name of Operation Rosario, the Argentine armed forces recaptured the islands without causing British military or civilian casualties.

Conscript soldiers between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one made up the combat units of the three Argentine Armed Forces deployed in the theatre of operations.

When it was discovered and publicised that Carrasco had been a victim of torture, the institution was widely criticised and, in response, then President Carlos Menem put an end to compulsory military service in Argentina on 31 August 1994.

The proposal was considered a step backwards for democracy and was criticised by the media and the community at large, although a minority showed interest in the return of the "colimba".