While some in the liberationist Christian movement began to de-politicise from 1974, others tried to maintain an active commitment to revolutionary change. Under the conditions of state terror in Argentina, such an option meant either passing into a state of clandestinity or political exile as its inevitable corollary. For some of those determined to maintain this option, open support for revolutionary politics by the mid-1970s also appeared increasingly incompatible with the Catholic Church institution, insofar as its leadership largely supported the counterinsurgency military project. This chapter investigates the dynamics of a decision taken by a substantial sector of the liberationist Christian movement to maintain a revolutionary politics, which, as will become clear, manifested in a variety of forms. Given the scale of state violence waged against the radical left, and the relative absence of institutional protection from the Church or international organisations, this sector suffered the greatest degree of repression and exile.

This chapter begins by outlining certain key aspects of the struggle of revolutionary sectors to maintain a space within Peronism. After subsequently exploring the link between liberationist Christianity, insurgency and secularisation, the chapter then points to the survival of the Montonero-linked group, Cristianos para la Liberación, whose relationship with Catholic Church sectors was ambiguous. Subsequently, the chapter will explore the case of former Movement of Priests for the Third World (MSTM) member and Peronismo de Base activist, Rubén Dri, examining the distancing from and even rejection of the ecclesial institution that the revolutionary option involved for him. Finally, the chapter points to the Catholic Church in La Rioja, led by Bishop Enrique Angelelli, which was a rare example of a member of the hierarchy actively advancing a liberationist option within the Church. In the first section of this chapter, however, it is necessary to examine in more detail the internal Peronist rift that helped to shape the decisions made by politicised actors and formed a prelude to the military's takeover of the state.

Peronism, the Revolutionary Tendency and the Internal Enemy

By the time of the onset of state terror, most of the revolutionary groups in the country were articulated, in some form and to some extent, through Peronism. For the Peronist right, historically led by the union bureaucracy, and the Peronist government, these revolutionaries represented proof of Marxist infiltration into the movement, internal enemies that had to be eliminated.