Coup Atlas Research Database
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16004021963AttemptedMilitary coup

Argentina, 1963 — military coup attempt

Argentina (ARG)South America, AmericasApril 2, 1963

Event Summary

On 2 April 1963 anti-Peronist elements of the Argentine Navy, aligned with the hardline Colorado faction of the armed forces, launched a rising against the figurehead government of President Jose Maria Guido and the dominant Azul faction of the army, in the final and bloodiest episode of the Azules versus Colorados conflict. The Colorados, opposed to the Azules' plan to allow Peronist participation in the coming elections and to return the country to constitutional rule, mobilized naval units and marines. But the Azules, commanded by General Juan Carlos Ongania and controlling the bulk of the army and air force, defeated the rising after several days of fighting.

The failure of the April 1963 revolt broke the Colorado faction and consolidated Azul dominance, clearing the way for the July 1963 elections, held with Peronism proscribed, that brought the Radical Arturo Illia to the presidency.

Researched Details

Researched

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

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Figurehead President Jose Maria Guido and the dominant Azul faction survived and defeated the Colorado navy rising
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Jose Maria Guido (figurehead president of Argentina, nominal target)
Colorado navy faction (rebels)
Juan Carlos Ongania (Azul army leader)

Sources

A revolt by anti-Peronist elements of the Argentine Navy took place from 2 April 1963 after the government decided to allow Peronist candidates to run for political office.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, List of coups and coup attempts by country open source ↗
The April 1963 rising was the final armed confrontation of the Azules versus Colorados conflict, in which the Azul faction favoring constitutional rule defeated the hardline Colorado faction.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Azules and Colorados open source ↗
The Azul faction was led by General Juan Carlos Ongania and prevailed over the Colorados, consolidating control of the armed forces.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Azules and Colorados open source ↗
The victory of the Azules cleared the way for the July 1963 elections, held with Peronism proscribed, that brought Arturo Illia to the presidency.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Azules and Colorados open source ↗

Editorial Note

Date match to the 2 April 1963 navy rising. Third of the three Azules versus Colorados records in this batch, after 22 September and 12 December 1962; this one is the well documented final Colorado revolt.

Cross-Reference

Datasets agree. At least two of the three reference datasets we check against carry this event, and none of them disagrees about its date or its result.

Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:

Cline Center id
16004021963
Albrecht/Koehler/Schutz (CAM) id
CAM-160-1963-04-02

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

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Figurehead President Jose Maria Guido and the dominant Azul faction survived and defeated the Colorado navy rising.

Baseline coding: Coup attempt failed to remove the incumbent. 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

CSP

Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.

Luttwak

Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.

Wikipedia

New York Times

“Argentina Frees 1,800 By Decree: Amnesty Eases Way for New President on Oct. 12,” by Edward C. Burks, September 13, 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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