Vandor (Augusto Vandor, “the Wolf”) is the strongman of Argentine trade unionism in 1966, secretary general of the Unión Obrera Metalúrgica (UOM), whose audience the group seeks in Buenos Aires.
| Type | Character (historical figure) |
| Seat | Metalworkers’ union, Adolfo Alsina 477, Buenos Aires |
| Motto | Primero golpear, después negociar (“Strike first, negotiate later”) |
| Spanish entry | Vandor |
Description
A real historical figure, Vandor controls the apparatus of the 62 Organizations and the CGT. His nickname and his reputation for cunning date from the Philips factory. He heads neo-Peronism, “Peronism without Perón”, which seeks to lead the movement without the exiled leader’s consent; part of his own side calls him a traitor. He also controls the flow of weapons, so anyone moving anything in Buenos Aires needs his protection.
The audience
The group wants him to back, or at least protect, its operation against Ricardo Moretti, against Uriel of the graphic-workers’ faction, and against the Anael Lodge, an esoteric right that operates above the unions. Their bargaining chip is a lead: an arms cache beneath the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Barracas.
Armando Cabo, of Vandor’s line, arranges the audience at Adolfo Alsina 477, warning that Vandor must always be offered something. It takes place on 23 February, on the eve of the Wolf’s birthday. Vandor believes nothing about the other side, but knows weapons and sends the group to the Barracas church.
The lodge war between Anael and the Hijos del Trabajo mirrors Vandor’s real fight with the “entrepreneurs” of the Peronist right; both answer to the web of power behind Lucio Gelli and Propaganda Due.
Death
Armando Cabo counts out on his desk a magazine with five bullets “for Augusto”. In June 1969 Vandor is shot five times in his UOM office. The crime was never fully solved; several attribute it to Dardo Cabo, “the boy from the plane”, around his release from prison. Beneath the basilica to which Vandor sent the group, what was served was neither Perón nor Vandor but Yog-Sothoth.