Oberdan Sallustro

Oberdan Sallustro was an Italian-Paraguayan entrepreneur, Director General of FIAT Concord in Argentina. He was kidnapped and killed in 1972 by the Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo guerrilla group, according to newspaper reports.

Kidnapping and murder

Oberdan Sallustro was kidnapped on March 21, 1972, by a six-man, one-woman commando unit of the ERP. The guerrillas shot and killed him on April 10, 1972, after the place where they had hidden him was discovered. Both the kidnapping and the murder caused an enormous impact both within Argentina and internationally.

Oberdan Sallustro in culture

In popular culture, the Fiat 133, Fiat 673, and Fiat 130 AU were nicknamed "Sallustro" or "Vendetta de Sallustro".
As it is understood, it is because they did not come out with the expected quality, in a kind of "rematch" for the violent death of Oberdan Sallustro.
A few years after Sallustro's assassination, Fiat Argentina paid homage to him by naming its new development, the Fiat 673 truck, with his name. This truck had severe deficiencies in its engine, which mainly tended to overheat. Quickly, Argentine truck drivers and mechanics baptized it "Sallustro's Revenge". Since then, any Fiat or IVECO model that presents a problem or mechanical defect is nicknamed that way.

Awards

In 1967, Sallustro was unanimously awarded the Gold Medal of the Italian Institute for International Relations.
In 1968, he was decorated by Pope Paul VI with the Pontifical Order of Saint Gregory the Great.

Works

Conflicts of citizenship and dual citizenship, Dante Alighieri Association, Buenos Aires, 1960.

Books

Carnovale, Vera. The executions of the PRT–ERP. Armed struggle in Argentina. year 3 : 4.
History of Peronism. The violence pp. 243–244. Buenos Aires. Javier VergaraEditor. 2008. ISBB 978-950-15-2433-8.