Argentine Junta during Falklands War - Rico, Aldo (Luit. Col.)

Rico, Aldo (Luit. Col.)

A broken-nosed "Dirty War" officer, and a Falklands War veteran, Rico co-lead a series of barrack uprisings of extreme military groups against the democratic government of Alfonsín in 1987 and 1988.

Luitenant Colonel Aldo Rico, Colonel Mohamed Alí Seineldín and their clique came to be known as the "Carapintadas" (painted faces) since they had their faces smeared with bitumen. The Carapintadas were defeated by the legitimate army forces, tried, and sentenced to prison.

On October 5, 1989 as part of a sweeping military appeasement policy, the newly elected president, Carlos Menem, pardoned most of the convicted Carapintadas, Aldo Rico included.

No longer in military service and out of prison, Aldo Rico turned to politics: In 1991, he established an ultra right-winged party called MODIN (Spanish initials for "Dignity and Independence Political Party",) which captured 10 percent of the national vote in late 1993, but was down to 1.8% of the votes in the elections for presidency in 1995. Responding to this defeat, in his trademark blunt style, Rico told journalists "If we made some mistakes I'm not going to talk about it to you."