Peròn's authoritarianism
THE END OF PERONISM
Second term: from 1952 to 1955
Perón was re-elected in 1951 by a margin of over 30%. This election was the first to have extended suffrage to Argentine women and the first in Argentina to be televised. He began his second term in June 1952 with serious economic problems in his country. Perón called employers and unions to a Productivity Congress to regulate social conflict through dialogue, but the conference failed without reaching an agreement and divisions among Peronists intensified.
On 15 April 1953, a terrorist group (never identified) detonated two bombs in a public rally at Plaza de Mayo, killing 7 and injuring 95 people. Perón exhorted the crowd to take reprisals: they made their way to their adversaries' gathering places, the Socialist Party headquarters and the aristocratic Jockey Club and burned them to the ground.
As 1954 drew to a close, Perón unveiled reforms far more controversial to the normally conservative Argentine public: the legalization of divorce and of prostitution. Besides, his social media monitoring was not successful in hiding his relationship with a thirteen-year-old named Nélida "Nelly" Rivas: an affair that Perón never denied and that was filling the gossip pages.
He expelled two Catholic priests he believed to be behind his recent image problems and a 15 June 1955 declaration of the Sacred Consistorial Congregation (so not of Pope Pius XII himself) was interpreted as declaring Perón excommunicated. The following day, Perón called for a rally of support on the Plaza de Mayo; while he was speaking in front of a crowd of thousands, Navy fighter jets flew overhead and dropped bombs into the crowded square.
The incident, part of a coup against Perón, killed 364 people and was, from a historical perspective, the only air assault ever on Argentine soil. It moreover touched off a wave of reprisals on the part of Peronists. Peronist crowds ransacked eleven Buenos Aires churches, including the Metropolitan Cathedral. On 16 September 1955, a nationalist Catholic group from both the Army and Navy, led by General Eduardo Lonardi, General Pedro E. Aramburu and Admiral Isaac Rojas organized a revolt from Córdoba. They took the power in a coup three days later, which they named Revolución Libertadora (the "Liberating Revolution"). Perón escaped, leaving Nelly Rivas behind and fleeing on the gunboat ARP Paraguay provided by Paraguayan leader.
Exile and the last term: from 1973 to 1974
The new military regime went to destroy both the President's and Eva Perón's reputation, putting up public exhibition of what they maintained: the Peróns' scandalous taste for antiques, jewelry, yachts and other luxuries. They also accused other Peronist leaders of corruption: many of them were prosecuted but none was convicted.
After the collapse of the military regime that had carried out the coup, in 1958 Arturo Frondizi inaugurated a democratic political season, that, unfortunately, lasted only eight years. In fact, in 1966 the military regime organized again a new coup for economic reasons, establishing their own right-wing dictatorship. A civil war broke out between the left parties and the Peronists and, to prevent the situation from precipitating, in 1973 Peròn was recalled to Argentina; he was re-elected head of state but, now old and sick, he died a few months later.
For more information about Peron's death and its consequences, here a link to an article for "The Guardian": Argentina's General Perón dies - chaos feared