Jorge Rafaél Videla (born 1925) served as the leader of the coup which overthrew Isabel Perón, president of Argentina, in 1976 and held power until 1981. Although at first considered a political moderate who favored a return to democracy, he presided over a military regime noted for its violation of human rights.

Jorge Rafaél Videla was born on August 2, 1925, in Mercedes, Argentina, a large provincial city 75 miles from the capital of Buenos Aires. His father, Colonel Rafaél Videla, was a career military officer and his mother, María Redonda de Videla, was from an old established family of Mercedes. He was raised a devout Roman Catholic. Following in his father's footsteps, Jorge Videla entered the National Military College at the age of 16 and was commissioned sublieutenant in the infantry in 1944.

During his early career Videla held a variety of posts, including those...