Linked to the more radical sectors of the Peronist movement and directly inspired by Julio Meinvielle's Catholic pronouncements, Tacuara defended nationalist, Catholic, anti-liberal, anti-communist, antisemitic, and anti-democratic ideas, and had as its first model José Antonio Primo de Rivera's fascist Falange Española.
[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] Its main leaders were Alberto Ezcurra Uriburu, José Luis "Joe" Baxter,[14] Óscar Denovi, and Eduardo Rosa.
They propagandized through both their own publications and various nationalist periodicals, one of which in fact bore the name Tacuara; but it had been founded back in 1945, during the military government headed by Edelmiro Farrell, by a group of students affiliated to the UNES.
Inspired by Primo de Rivera, founder of the Spanish Falange, "Tacuara rejected elections and the parliamentary system, were strongly anti-Marxist, revindicated social justice, proclaimed the Fatherland's and the Catholic religion's superiority over any other and exalted violence as a form of permanent mobilization.
First was a bombing which occurred during turmoil over the hemispheric political initiative, the Acta de Chapultépec (signed by Edelmiro Farrell, it would be approved in 1947).
Thus, the nationalists acclaimed Eduardo Lonardi's arrival by plane to the chanting of Cristo Vence (Christ Prevails), in the aftermath of Perón's ouster in September 1955.
However, as early as 1956, the nationalists returned to opposing the government, upset by the assumption of control of the junta by General Aramburu, who was allied with the old Conservative establishment.
These included José Luis "Joe" Baxter, a nationalist and anti-imperialist born to working class Irish immigrants, who became the future founder of the Guevarist guerrilla movement (the ERP)[19] as well as Alberto Ignacio Ezcurra Uriburu, who had been expelled from the Jesuits and remained a staunch defender of the radical right ideology.
[citation needed] Carlos Mugica, a young theology teacher, who broke with the group after coming to support Che Guevara, and finally turned toward Peronism (before being killed by the Triple A death squad in 1974).
Joe Baxter was fascinated by the Cuban experience and its stand against the US — which only became complete in 1961, when Fidel Castro announced his choice in favor of socialism.
Furthermore, many activists struggled alongside the trade unions and associated themselves with the Peronist Youth (JP), which wasn't well viewed in all sectors of the MNT.
Meinvielle then created the Guardia Restauradora Nacionalista (GRN) which imposed the membership requirements of European ancestry and a family history of at least six generations of residence in Argentina.
[20] During the visit of former United States President Dwight Eisenhower to Argentina in February 1962, the MNT headed nationalist demonstrations against him, leading to the imprisonment of several of their leaders, among them José Luis "Joe" Baxter.
[22] During the 1962 elections, the MNT presented candidates in Buenos Aires (city) and in Entre Ríos (province) through the Unión Cívica Nacionalista (Civic Nationalist Union).
[citation needed] Tacuara was described by the Argentine representative to the UN as Nazis, in response to Ahmad Shukeiri having saluted them in November 1962 while calling for others to adopt its principles.
[29] In 1963, after the Aramburu decree which banned even the use of Perón's name, and the subsequent prohibition of Peronism because of its success in the previous elections, José Luis "Joe" Baxter and José Luis Nell created the Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario Tacuara (MNRT, Revolutionary Nationalist Tacuara Movement) which, without forsaking nationalism, purportedly broke with the Church, the right-wing, and antisemitism.
[17] The MNT maintained contacts with the police as well as with some former Nazi bureaucrats exiled in Argentina, which helped them gain easy access to weapons, an advantage which put them apart from other political organizations.
[citation needed] Some members of the MNRT became famous on August 29, 1963, by assaulting the Policlínico Bancario bank, stealing 14 million pesos (equivalent to 100,000 US dollars), a fortune at the time.
Most imprisoned activists were freed in May 1973, when center-left (and Peronist) president Héctor Cámpora issued a broad amnesty decree for all political prisoners.
However, in obscure circumstances, gunshots in a closed environment led to the death of two Tacuara activists and one Peronist Youth member.
After having met Perón, fighting in Vietnam (against the US) and travelling to China, Joe Baxter, one of the founders of the MNT, turned toward the revolutionary left-wing and finally became one of the cofounders of the ERP, alongside Mario Roberto Santucho.
Alongside three activists, Dardo Cabo hijacked a plane belonging to Aerolíneas Argentinas in 1966 to bring it to the Falkland Islands, where he planted an Argentine flag.