Coup Atlas Research Database
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16003101963ConspiracyMilitary coup

Argentina, 1963 — military coup conspiracy

Argentina (ARG)South America, AmericasMarch 10, 1963

Event Summary

This entry is coded 10 March 1963, in the weeks just before the second and larger armed clash of the Azules versus Colorados conflict. Under the de facto president Jose Maria Guido, the Argentine military remained split between the Azules, led by army commander General Juan Carlos Ongania, who had prevailed in the September 1962 fighting and favored limited Peronist participation and elections, and the hardline Colorados, concentrated in the navy, who wanted to bar Peronism entirely and install a military dictatorship. By early March 1963 the interior minister was moving to eliminate the Peronist-linked electoral front and threaten its candidates with disqualification, sharpening tensions.

The Colorados launched their revolt on 2 April 1963, seizing navy headquarters, before the army and air force suppressed it by 5 April in fighting that left about two dozen dead. The March coding sits in this immediate pre-revolt period of plotting and maneuvering ahead of the July 1963 elections.

Researched Details

Researched

Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Guido remained in office; the Colorados' April 1963 revolt failed and the Azules consolidated control ahead of the July 1963 elections
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Jose Maria Guido (de facto president)
General Juan Carlos Ongania (Azules army leader)
Colorados naval officers (hardline plotters)

Sources

The 1963 Argentine Navy revolt was an armed confrontation attempted by officers wanting a hardline stance against Peronist participation, the culmination of the Azules-Colorados conflict.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia: 1963 Argentine Navy revolt open source ↗
The second armed clash of the conflict took place between 2 and 5 April 1963, with the 24 combat deaths all occurring in that confrontation.
SOURCE REVIEWED Helion & Company: Azules y Colorados open source ↗
U.S. reporting described the abortive coup of 2-3 April as part of the tension between the Colorados in the navy and the Azules in the army and air force.
SOURCE REVIEWED U.S. State Department FRUS 1961-63 vol. XII, doc. 197 open source ↗
The revolt failed to gain much army or air force support and was suppressed, after which the July 1963 elections proceeded and brought Arturo Illia to power.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia: 1963 Argentine Navy revolt open source ↗

Editorial Note

No discrete plot is precisely dated 10 Mar 1963 in the sources located this session; the coding sits just before the 2-5 April 1963 Colorados revolt, in the pre-revolt plotting phase. Context with strong framing. Distinct from the Nov 1962 Argentina entry earlier in this batch.

Cross-Reference

Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.

Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:

Cline Center id
16003101963

How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Guido remained in office; the Colorados' April 1963 revolt failed and the Azules consolidated control ahead of the July 1963 elections.

Baseline coding: Plot discovered and disrupted before execution. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.

Baseline Dataset Citation

Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.

Baseline Source-Document Entries

Chicago Tribune

“Report Plot is Crushed By Argentina,” March 11, 1963

Christian Science Monitor

“Peronists Score In Argentina,” March 11, 1963

Washington Post

“Coup Attempt Broken Up In Argentina,” March 10, 1963

This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →

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