Reflecting on 60 Years Since the Closure of Tucumán's Sugar Mills

• On August 22, 1966, Argentine dictator Juan Carlos Onganía ordered the closure of 11 of Tucumán’s 27 sugar mills.
• The shutdown forced 50,000 workers into unemployment and triggered the migration of approximately 300,000 people, devastating established company towns.
• The move served as a tactical blow against the powerful sugar workers' union, FOTIA, and foreshadowed the systemic state terror that gripped Argentina in the 1970s.

Industrial and Union Context

• The ingenios (sugar complexes) functioned as total communities, providing housing, healthcare, and infrastructure for workers.
• FOTIA, founded in 1944, was a formidable labor organization that actively resisted exploitation and pushed for improved working conditions.
• While the government cited overproduction and market fluctuations as justifications for the closures, the primary objective was to break the union, which had 100,000 members.

Resistance and Repression

• The closures fueled social unrest, leading to strikes, mill occupations, and the massive 1970 "Tucumanazo" uprising involving thousands of workers and students.
• By 1975, with "Operation Independence," the military occupied mill towns and converted former factory facilities into clandestine detention centers.
• Key union leaders, including Leandro Fote and Benito Romano, were targeted for forced disappearance or murder by the military regime.

Legacy and Remembrance

• August 22 is now commemorated as the National Day of Reparation to the People of Tucumán.
• Annual torchlight marches serve to preserve the memory of the workers and the history of their struggle, even decades after the factories ceased operations.