Topic: Leopoldo Galtieri

Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri Castelli (July 15, 1926 – January 12, 2003) was an Argentine general and President of Argentina from December 22, 1981 to June 18, 1982, during the last military dictatorship (known officially as the National Reorganization Process). The death squad Intelligence Battalion 601 directly reported to him. He was removed from power soon after the British retook the Falklands Islands, whose invasion he had ordered.

Galtieri was the child of working class parents who were poor Italian immigrants. At 17 he enrolled at the National Military Academy to study civil engineering, and his early military career was as an officer in the engineering branch.

In 1975, after more than 25 years as a combat engineer, he became commander of the Argentine engineering corps. He was an enthusiastic supporter of the military coup that started the self-styled National Reorganisation Process in 1976 and rose further, becoming a major general in 1977, and commander-in-chief in 1980 with the rank of lieutenant general.