Mohamed Alí Seineldín
{{Short description|Argentine Army colonel, participant in the Carapintada uprisings (1933-2009)}}
{{Infobox military person
| name = Mohamed Alí Seineldín
| image = Mohamed Alí Seineldín.jpg
| caption = Seineldín in 1982 during the Falklands War
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1933|11|12}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2009|9|2|1933|11|12}}
| placeofburial_label =
| placeofburial =
| birth_place = Concepción del Uruguay
| death_place = Buenos Aires, Argentina
| placeofburial_coordinates =
| nickname = Milo, El Turco
| birth_name =
| allegiance = Argentina
| branch = Argentine Army
| serviceyears =
| rank = Colonel
| servicenumber =
| unit =
| commands =
| battles = Operativo Independencia
Falklands War
| battles_label =
| awards =
| relations =
| laterwork =
| religion = Roman Catholic traditionalist
}}
Mohamed Alí Seineldín (Arabic: [https://forvo.com/word/محمد_علي_زين_الدين/#ar محمد علي زين الدين] ) (November 12, 1933 – September 2, 2009) was an Argentine army colonel who participated in two failed uprisings against the democratically elected governments of both President Raúl Alfonsín and President Carlos Menem in 1988 and 1990.{{cite news|title=Argentine ex-army colonel who led uprisings dies|url=http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1047903&lang=eng_news&cate_img=logo_world&cate_rss=WORLD_eng|agency=Associated Press|publisher=Taiwan News|date=2009-09-02|access-date=2009-09-15|archive-date=2011-06-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604123318/http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1047903&lang=eng_news&cate_img=logo_world&cate_rss=WORLD_eng|url-status=dead}}
Early life
Seineldín was born in Concepción del Uruguay into a Lebanese Argentine family.{{cite news |first=Juan I.|last=Irigaray |title=Mohamed Alí Seineldín, ex militar golpista |url=http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2009/09/03/obituarios/1251929605.html|work=El Mundo (Spain)|date=2009-09-11 |access-date=2010-06-17}} He converted from Druzism to Roman Catholicism during his youth, and was consecrated to the Virgin of the Rosary (Virgen del Rosario). He remained a devout Roman Catholic throughout his life, even devoting his men in the army to the Virgin of the Holy Rosary as well.
Falkland War
File:Mohamed Alí Seineldín en la toma de las islas Malvinas.jpg during Operation Rosario]]
Seineldín rose to prominence in Argentina during the 1982 Falklands War against the United Kingdom, where he was in command of the 25th Infantry Regiment, part of the garrison occupying Port Stanley. He had a role in Operation Rosario, the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands. The operation, conducted on April 2, 1982, secured the islands' capital, Port Stanley without significant bloodshed.
"Carapintada" activity
An ardent Christian Argentine nationalist, Seineldín became a member of the Carapintadas, or "painted faces," group within the Argentine Army. The Carapintadas demanded that the Argentine government halt legal proceedings against army officers accused of human rights abuses during the Dirty War, which occurred during Argentina's military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983. The low-ranking officers were charged with a wide range of crimes, including the execution of guerrilla dissidents, torture and kidnapping of guerrilla fighters and their supporters.
In 1987 and 1988, the Carapintadas rebelled against the elected government of President Raúl Alfonsín, but both uprisings were quickly put down. In December 1988, members of the Grupo Albatros, led by Colonel Mohamed Alí Seineldín rebelled once again against the Alfonsín government and seized the military barracks at Villa Martelli. The mutineers eventually surrendered and Seineldín was arrested.{{cn|date=March 2019}}
Seineldín led a second unsuccessful uprising against the government of President Carlos Menem beginning on December 3, 1990. The failed uprising resulted in 14 deaths, including five civilians. Seineldín was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the 1990 mutiny. However, he was pardoned by President Eduardo Duhalde in 2003. During his trial, he assumed full guilt and denounced how Menem's government was servile to the United States' imperialism in Latin America through the privatizations of strategic services and the suspension of scientific and military projects.
Death
Mohamed Alí Seineldín suffered a heart attack and died in a hospital in Buenos Aires on September 2, 2009, at the age of 75.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2009/09/03/obituarios/1251929605.html Mohamed Alí Seineldín, ex militar golpista] {{in lang|es}}
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7AyezzeXdE&ab_channel=Dieeze Coronel Seineldín-La defensa nacional] {{in lang|es}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seineldin, Mohamed Ali}}
Category:Argentine Army officers
Category:Argentine military personnel of the Falklands War
Category:Argentine nationalists
Category:Argentine people of Lebanese descent
Category:Argentine Druze people
Category:Argentine anti-communists
Category:Argentine Roman Catholics
Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism from Druzism
Category:Military personnel from Buenos Aires
Category:People from Uruguay Department