Case file
Rincón Bomba massacre
In October 1947, during Juan Perón's first presidency, Argentina's National Gendarmerie, supported by an Argentine Air Force aircraft and National Territories Police, carried out a mass killing of Pilagá Indigenous people at Rincón Bomba (also called La Bomba), near Las Lomitas in the then National Territory of Formosa. Estimates place the death toll between 750 and 1,000 people, with atrocities including executions, disappearances, torture, rape, kidnappings, and forced labor.
The events followed a mass migration. In April and May 1947, hundreds of Qom, Pilagá, Mocoví, Chorote, and Wichí families traveled to El Tabacal Sugar Mill in Salta for harvest work, but were underpaid and then dismissed after protesting. Left without resources, many walked roughly 450 kilometers to Las Lomitas, where a Gendarmerie squadron was based, arriving mid-May 1947. A large encampment formed at Rincón Bomba under healer Tonkiet (Luciano Córdoba) and caciques Oñedie (Paulo "Pablito" Navarro) and Nola Lagadick, growing to an estimated 1,000 to several thousand people. Malnutrition caused deaths, and in September 1947 Governor Rolando de Hertelendy alerted federal authorities; relief supplies dispatched by Perón arrived late in September with much of the cargo spoiled. The spoiled food caused mass poisoning in early October 1947, killing at least 50 people, mostly children and elders.
Rising tensions, fueled by local press warnings of an indigenous "malón" (raid), led Gendarmerie commander Emilio Fernández Castellanos to encircle the camp with roughly 100 gendarmes and machine gun positions, confiscating the group's weapons. On October 10, 1947, gendarmes opened fire during a meeting arranged between cacique Pablito and Fernández Castellanos, killing men, women, and children who had approached carrying portraits of Juan and Eva Perón. Despite an order to cease fire, second-in-command José M. Aliaga Pueyrredón had deployed additional machine guns, and killings continued for weeks through shootings, burnings, thirst, hunger, and disappearances. From October 15 to 23, 1947, a Junkers Ju 52 aircraft with a mounted machine gun operated from Las Lomitas in support of the operation. Survivors were sent to indigenous colonies for forced labor under Gendarmerie oversight. Contemporary national newspapers described the episode as an indigenous uprising or "malón," and the massacre went largely unaddressed by the Argentine state and mainstream society for decades, preserved primarily through Pilagá oral memory.
In 2005, the Pilagá People's Federation filed criminal and civil lawsuits against the Argentine state. The criminal case was closed following the deaths of the accused, including Leandro Santos Costas (charged 2011, died before trial) and Carlos Smachetti (indicted 2015, died 2017). The civil case resulted in a 2019 first-instance ruling by Formosa Federal Court No. 1 recognizing the massacre as a crime against humanity and ordering reparations, and a 2020 second-instance ruling additionally classifying it as genocide while upholding the reparations amount, which the Pilagá Federation has appealed to the Supreme Court. In 2006, a forensic team located 27 bodies near Las Lomitas consistent with the reported events.
Key facts
- Victims
- Luciano Córdoba, Nola Lagadick, Paulo Navarro
- Date
- 1947
- Location
- Rincón Bomba (La Bomba), near Las Lomitas
- Case status
- solved
Case timeline
1947-04
Hundreds of Qom, Pilagá, Mocoví, Chorote, and Wichí families are hired for the sugarcane harvest at El Tabacal Sugar Mill in Salta Province.
1947-05
Workers are underpaid and then mass-dismissed after protesting; families migrate roughly 450 km to Las Lomitas, Formosa, arriving mid-May.
1947-09
Governor Rolando de Hertelendy alerts federal authorities to worsening conditions; relief supplies dispatched by President Perón arrive late in the month, largely spoiled.
1947-10
Spoiled relief food causes mass poisoning, killing at least 50 people, mostly children and elders, in early October.
1947-10-10
Gendarmes open fire on the Pilagá encampment at Rincón Bomba during a meeting arranged with cacique Pablito, beginning weeks of killings.
1947-10-15
A Junkers Ju 52 aircraft armed with a machine gun begins operating from Las Lomitas in support of the repression, continuing until October 23.
1947-10-16
Gendarmerie Director Natalio Faverio reports an ensign wounded in an alleged indigenous attack, with fifteen indigenous deaths, without names or burial details.
1947-10-30
Reported end date of the massacre period at Rincón Bomba.
2005-04
The Pilagá Federation formally demands state acknowledgment of the 1947 events.
2005-12
The Pilagá Federation files criminal and civil lawsuits against the Argentine state in Formosa Federal Court.
2006
A forensic team discovers 27 bodies near Las Lomitas consistent with the reported massacre.
2011
Leandro Santos Costas, head of the Heavy Machine Gun Section, is charged; he dies before trial.
2015
Carlos Smachetti, co-pilot of the Ju-52 aircraft used in the operation, is indicted.
2017
Carlos Smachetti dies.
2019-07-05
Formosa Federal Court No. 1 rules the massacre a crime against humanity and orders state reparations.
2020
Second-instance ruling classifies the massacre as a crime against humanity and genocide, upholding the reparations amount; the Pilagá Federation appeals to the Supreme Court.
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People
Luciano Córdoba
VICTIMKnown as Tonkiet, a healer and leader of the Pilagá encampment at Rincón Bomba during the events of 1947.
Leandro Santos Costa
CHARGEDHead of the Heavy Machine Gun Section; charged in 2011 in connection with the massacre but died before trial.
Emilio Fernández Castellanos
CHARGEDCommander of the 13th National Gendarmerie Squadron responsible for the operation against the Pilagá encampment; named as a perpetrator/suspect in Wikipedia's account but not listed with a formal case outcome.
José M. Aliaga Pueyrredón
CHARGEDSecond-in-command of the Gendarmerie squadron; described as having secretly deployed additional machine guns and accused by a survivor of raping a 14-year-old girl during the operation.
Nola Lagadick
VICTIMCacique who led part of the Pilagá group that settled at Rincón Bomba in 1947.
Paulo Navarro
VICTIMCacique known as Oñedie or "Pablito"; his mother died of malnutrition in the camp, and he was killed after approaching gendarmes for a requested meeting on October 10, 1947.
Carlos Smachetti
CHARGEDCo-pilot of the Junkers Ju-52 aircraft (T-153) used in the operation; indicted in 2015, died in 2017 before trial concluded.
Roles reflect public records and court outcomes at the time of writing — supporting citations are on file under Sources.
Places
Common questions
- What happened to the victim?
- In October 1947, Argentina's National Gendarmerie, backed by an Air Force aircraft and National Territories Police, attacked a Pilagá encampment at Rincón Bomba near Las Lomitas, Formosa, killing an estimated 750 to 1,000 Indigenous people through shootings, burnings, disappearances, and forced starvation.
- Where did the massacre happen?
- Rincón Bomba (La Bomba), near Las Lomitas.
- What is the current status of the case?
- Status: solved.
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Sources
- Rincón Bomba massacrewikipedia · Wikipedia · 2026-07-07
- Contemporaneous coverage — pagina12.com.arnews · Página 12 · 2026-07-07
- Contemporaneous coverage — cdsa.aacademica.orgnews · cdsa.aacademica.org · 2026-07-07