Galtieri, Leopoldo Fortunato

Galtieri, Leopoldo Fortunato (lā'əpōl`dō fôr'tnä`tō gältyĕ`rē), 1926–2003, Argentine general, president of Argentina (1981–82). Army commander and a member of the ruling military junta, when president he ordered the invasion of the British-held Falkland Islands, which Argentina occupied in Apr., 1982. After the British recaptured (June 14, 1982) the islands, he was forced to resign, convicted of negligence, and imprisoned (1986–89). In July, 2002, he was arrested on charges of human rights abuses during the so-called dirty war against Argentine leftists during the late 1970s and early 1980s, but he died six months later.