Montoneras

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Montoneras" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The Montoneras originally were known as the armed civilian, paramilitary groups who organized in the 19th century during the wars of independence from Spain in Hispanic America. They played an important role in the Argentine Civil War, as well as in other Hispanic-American countries during the 19th-century, generally operating in rural areas.

In the 20th century, the term was applied to some insurgent groups in countries of Central and South America. Generally, these were paramilitary groups composed of people from a locality who provided armed support to a particular cause or leader. In 1970, the left-wing Montoneros guerrillas in Argentina adopted their name from the 19th century militias.