Martín García: Presidential Prison Island
The prison island shared by Uruguay and Argentina that gave birth to Peronism
Welcome Avatar! The small island of Isla Martín García in the Río de la Plata is shared between Argentina and Uruguay, has a rich history. Coveted by the English, French, Spanish and Portuguese for its strategic location, it functioned as a mini concentration camp, naval base, political prison, and the cradle of Peronism. Let’s go over some history.
Located at a 40km off the Argentine coast in the Río de la Plata in Uruguayan waters, Martín García island is more than just a piece of land in a muddy river: it’s a historical monument, nature reserve and a demilitarized zone shared with Uruguay, with a population of about 170 residents.
The Argentine part of the island used to be an island on its own (Martín García), but over time the river currents pushed the Uruguayan Timoteo Domínguez island downstream, effectively merging the two:
It is the only land border between Argentina and Uruguay.
A Rich History
This year Martín García Island turns 210 years old: the date was taken in memory of the battles for independence in 1814.
The first time that Europeans arrived in what is now Argentine territory was in 1516, when Juan Díaz de Solís set foot on the island of Martín García. His expedition landed on the island with 60 men and three ships.
The island receives its name in honor of the steward of Juan Díaz de Solís's expedition who died on its coast. To honor the missing crew member, Solís decided to name the island after him.
Later the island was permanently disputed by Spain and Portugal due to its strategic position in the middle of the main channel of the river and as a gateway to its main tributaries, the Paraná and Uruguay rivers.
After the May Revolution of 1810, the secretary of the First Junta of Buenos Aires, Mariano Moreno, in his secret Plan of Operations, proposed ceding it to the United Kingdom to make it a military base for a foreign power enemy of Spain, but the island was occupied by the royalists from Montevideo instead.
The island was essential in the final assault on the plaza of Montevideo in 1814, to defeat the Spanish forces ruling the current Uruguayan capital.
Until that year, sovereignty over the island was changing permanently. The French took the island to blockade the port. They were then evicted. The same thing happened with the Anglo-French blockade.
Only in 1973, during Perón's third presidency, a treaty was signed between Argentina and Uruguay that gave the island Argentine political sovereignty as part of the territory of the province of Buenos Aires.
From the Desert to the River
In 1850, President Sarmiento wrote Argirópolis, a book that proposed that Martín García be the capital of a new republic: the Confederated States of the Río de la Plata.
At that time, Martín García was in the power of the French, and Sarmiento imagined a kind of Republic of Plata that would join Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, a precursor idea of the Mercosur, without Brazil.
The English also played a leading role in the mid-19th century when they occupied the island from 1845 to 1850. It was returned in 1852 to the Argentine Confederation.
Before and during the Conquest of the Desert—which formally began in 1879—it functioned as a concentration camp for the defeated native population and thousands of indigenous people were confined there as prisoners of the Roca campaign in the south of the country.
The island was also a place of imprisonment for dangerous criminals and the so-called political criminals: anarchists, members of unions. It was like a stopover before Ushuaia: both places were very isolated and provided no easy escape routes.
One of the activities of the prisoners during their time on the island was the construction of adoquines (paving stones) for the paving of Buenos Aires.
The Birthplace of Peronism
During the first part of the 20th century, the island became famous for being the place of confinement of overthrown presidents or important politicians.
President Hipólito Yrigoyen was confined twice after the military coup of 1930. Juan Domingo Perón was detained on the island in October 1945. President Frondizi became a resident of the island’s prison after being overthrown in 1962. This is why Argentines sometimes jokingly refer to the island as YPF: Yrigoyen, Perón, Frondizi.
How did the island become an important place for Peronism? To answer that question we need to travel back to 1943, when the military dictatorship that Colonel Perón was part of, appointed him in the National Labor Directorate.
In this role, Perón quickly started to implement a carbon copy of Mussolini’s Carta del Lavoro. Perón's policy was based on three axes: social justice, control of the working class and depoliticization of union organizations.
Autist note: the first part of these two articles discusses Perón’s roots and Mussolini’s influence on his politics in more depth:
The power vacuum was strangling a military regime that had taken power on June 4, 1943 was increasingly fragile and in 1945, close to end of WWII, many they anticipated that it would not be long before its fall.
By mid-1945, the civil opposition seemed to be on its way to certain victory. His demand for the delivery of the government to the Supreme Court was a way of demanding the unconditional surrender of the dictator, General Edelmiro Farrell, to give way for democratic elections.
The antimilitarist tone of the demands made it difficult for the civil rebellion to find an echo in the Army units. Students, police and Perón sympathizers clashed violently in the streets of Buenos Aires.
On the morning of October 13, 1945, Perón was arrested and sent to Martín García Island. In a letter sent to Eva Duarte (Evita) from prison, he wrote:
“Since the day I left you there with the greatest pain you can imagine, I have not been able to calm my sad heart. Today I know how much I love you and that I cannot live without you. This immense loneliness is full of your memory.
Today I wrote to Farrell asking him to accelerate my retirement. As soon as it comes out we'll get married and we'll go anywhere to live in peace [...] we'll both go to Chubut. With what I have done I am justified before history and I know that time will prove me right.”1
Perón knew that all his letters would be read by the navy officials that were holding him on the island, so the idea of leaving for Chubut with Eva like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid once did with their lover, was just a fairytale to mislead his captors.
Three or four days before October 17, an officer and doctor by the name of Dr. Mazza reminds Perón that he still has x-rays of a lung congestion Perón suffered in La Quiaca much earlier. They agree to present a fake medical report requesting transfer of the Colonel to the Military Hospital, located in Palermo.
Perón was eventually released when on October 17 a crowd gathered in Plaza de Mayo to demand his release (which was a lot easier because he was no longer held on the island of Martín García).
Up to this day Peronists celebrate October 17th as the Día de la Lealtad (Day of Loyalty), for standing behind Perón in 1945. He won the democratic elections a few months later.
Final Thoughts
Martín García Island represents many different aspects of Argentine history. During the 20th century, Martín García is the prison of three constitutional presidents, a popular group synthesized in popular humor as YPF.
On the island of Martín García Perón begins to plan the October 17 events with Dr. Mazza, who helps him forge a disease so he had to be taken ashore again, allowing him to leave the island. It is also from the island that he, through Mazza, sends a letter to organize the mobilization of the 17th.
Today, it's a perfect day trip by boat from Tigre, Buenos Aires (boat leaves at 8am and returns at 8pm). To get to Martín García Island, you first have to go to Puerto de Tigre.
Martín García Island offers an interesting walk, accompanied by a great diversity of flora and fauna, and historical places like the famous prison.
There is a craft brewery and a dining room where you can try the famous artisanal sweet bread produced on the island (president Menem jumped on a small private propellor plane just to get one in 1998).
This rodent still has to visit the island, but that will likely be a trip I will save for spring time.
See you in the Jungle, anon!
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Translated from Spanish: “Desde el día que te dejé allí con el dolor más grande que puedas imaginar no he podido tranquilizar mi triste corazón. Hoy sé cuánto te quiero y que no puedo vivir sin vos. Esta inmensa soledad está llena de tu recuerdo. Hoy he escrito a Farrell pidiéndole que acelere mi retiro. En cuanto salga nos casamos y nos iremos a cualquier parte a vivir tranquilos […] nos vamos a Chubut los dos. Con lo que yo he hecho estoy justificado ante la historia y sé que el tiempo me dará la razón”.
What a great read, thank you