13 Facts About Jorge Antonio

Jorge Antonio was an Argentine business man and political figure, a close adviser to President Juan Domingo Peron.

Jorge Antonio was an orderly at the National Military Academy in 1942, and worked in several businesses before being appointed as the representative of General Motors and Mercedes-Benz in Argentina.

Jorge Antonio invested in agribusiness and owned a bank, building his importance to the Presidency.

When Peron was deposed by the military coup of September 1955, Jorge Antonio refused to leave the country and was arrested.

Jorge Antonio was imprisoned for 17 days on a boat, then in Ushuaia for a month and later in Rio Gallegos for two years.

Jorge Antonio's properties were seized, and stolen with corrupted judges, by the military.

Jorge Antonio was able to fight off Argentine extradition appeals and eventually the government of Chile granted him asylum.

However, in the 1970s Jorge Antonio was displaced by Jose Lopez Rega, and when Peron returned to his country and was re-elected to the Presidency in 1973, Jorge Antonio opted to stay in Madrid.

Except for a short stay in July 1974, on the occasion of the death of his mentor, Jorge Antonio did not return to Argentina until 1977.

Jorge Antonio was friend of Carlos Saul Menem, under whose presidency he became an influential man in the Argentinian business world.

Jorge Antonio had introduced Menem, the son of Syrians, to Peron in 1964, though Antonio later distanced himself from the colorful Menem, who abandoned much of the populist Peronist platform during his presidency, in the 1990s.

Jorge Antonio died in 2007, a few months short of his 90th birthday.

Jorge Antonio had five children with his first wife Esmeralda, and three more were adopted in Spain.