Jorge José Ricardo Masetti Blanco (born 31 May 1929; disappeared 21 April 1964), also known as "Commander Segundo", was an Argentinean journalist and guerrilla leader.

In the mid-1940s, he was an active member of the Nationalist Liberation Alliance, an extreme right-wing organization, together with Rodolfo Walsh and Rogelio García Lupo.

[1][2] During the Cuban Revolution he was the only Argentine reporter on the scene in the Sierra Maestra covering the 1958 guerrilla campaign led by the 26th of July Movement.

As a special correspondent of Radio El Mundo, he got several interviews with Fidel Castro, as well as with Che Guevara who became a close friend.

These interviews, the first opportunity for the people of Cuba and Latin America to hear the leaders of the Cuban Revolution in their own words, were broadcast by Rebel Radio.

Among the reporters and intellectuals who joined Prensa Latina under Masetti's leadership were Gabriel García Márquez, Rodolfo Walsh, Rogelio García Lupo, Carlos Medina de Rebolledo who was part of the Santiago editorial staff, Angel Boan, and Carlos María Gutiérrez, and contributors included Jean-Paul Sartre, Waldo Frank, Charles Wright Mills, and others.

In this period Prensa Latina covered such events as earthquakes in Chile, the military coup that overthrew President Arturo Frondizi of Argentina, and the revolution led by Jesús María Castro León in Venezuela.

From 4 to 5 March 1960, Masetti personally reported on the explosion of La Coubre, a ship docked in Havana Harbor which had exploded at the cost of 100 lives.

[citation needed] In 1961, Masetti left Prensa Latina disappointed by growing sectional rivalries within the organization, and also excited about playing a more aggressive role as a revolutionary.

The same year he participated in the defense of Playa Girón during the Bay of Pigs Invasion and then he went to Algeria and created a team of guerrillas to fight for the National Liberation Front during the Algerian War.

After the overthrow of President Arturo Frondizi by the Argentinean military in 1962, Che Guevara and Masetti started to think about the possibility of setting up a guerrilla cell, or foco, in Argentina.

[3] They eventually decided to start the struggle in Salta Province in the northwestern Department of Orán, a jungle area bordering on Bolivia.

[4]: 53  Then the code of conduct was drawn up which, among other things, demanded the death penalty for homosexuality, as well as for treason, exploitation of the civilian population, rape, and theft.

[4]: 52  Continuing with their plan to topple the government, they commenced the armed insurgency with a public letter to President Illia dated 9 July 1963.

Though the letter had practically no impact on the media and on public opinion which barely noticed it, it did spark the immediate mobilization of the Argentine National Gendarmerie, Argentina's border security force then led by General Julio Alsogaray, the brother of politician and economist Álvaro Alsogaray, with the mayor of Salta Héctor Báez taking command of the troops in his city.

The guerrillas who escaped regrouped, but Masetti did not accept the opinion of other members who thought they should abort the operation given their current situation.

[4]: 57 Jouvet's group survived despite considerable hardship caused by food shortages, and in the middle of April they were found by the Gendarmerie, detained, and then put on trial.

During the campaign of the People's Guerrilla Army in Salta, which was called Operation Sombra, Masetti had orders to wait for Che Guevara, who he referred to with the codename Martín Fierro.

Federico Méndez, a survivor of the guerrilla army, noted in a letter: "Masetti was known simply as Segundo, or #2, though for us he was really our first and only commander.

In several letters to his wife, with whom he had a son who he had barely met in Cuba after returning from Algeria, Masetti spoke about the unfolding of his campaign like this.

According to Rodolfo Walsh, Masetti felt "strong and optimistic" and he "had not lost his good mood, his caustic sense of humor."