Businessman. President of FIAT car makers in Argentina, was abducted by leftist guerrilla on March 21, 1972. He was killed during a rescue operation. He was kidnapped and killed in 1972 by the Ejection Revolutionaries del Pueblo (ERP) guerrilla group, according to newspaper reports. Oberdan Sallustro had been 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 had been discovered. Both the kidnapping and the murder caused an enormous impact in the country itself and internationally.

Italian Fiat executive Oberdan Sallustro (56) was executed by Argentine Communist guerrillas 20 days after he was kidnapped in Buenos Aires. During the ’60s and ’70s, Argentina was a violent ideological battleground. Communist organizers resisted the oppression of the Fascist dictator Juan Peron. The era was famous for its “desaparecidos,” the inexplicable disappearances of Peron’s political opponents at the hands of his security forces. Unfortunately, it was not only Peron who was guilty of atrocities. Sallustro was very likely targeted as a member of Fiat because of Peron’s strong love for Italy. A symbol of the established power, Sallustro fell victim to a battle over which he had no control. His murder was regarded as a tragedy. Communist revolutionaries tried to claim that his execution was “approved” by the people of Argentina, but the argument was hollow.