According to a 1983 article in "The New York Times", the group was founded when there were an increasing number of guerrilla attacks by left-wing militant groups, which were met by harsh repression of political dissidents on the part of the military, paramilitary and police forces. This environment of social unrest was the justification used by the subsequent military junta for its Dirty War against political opponents. But testimony at the 1985 Juicio a las Juntas trial established that by 1976, both the ERP and the Montoneros had been dismantled, and the political dissidents had never posed a real threat to the government.