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'Reynaldo Benito Antonio Bignone Ramayón' (born January 21 1928) is a former Argentine general who served as the ''de facto'' president of the country from July 1, 1982 to December 10, 1983.
He became leader of the country after former President Leopoldo Galtieri stepped down after Argentina's defeat by the United Kingdom in the Falklands War. His power did not last long; without the Falkland Islands as an issue and newly allowed to express certain degrees of dissent under Galtieri, Argentine protests made the restoration of democracy inevitable.
Nevertheless, General Bignone tried to condition the return
to democracy by imposing limits to any future investigation of human rights violations that had taken place during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship and "Dirty War". This proposal was soundly rejected by the civilian political parties and opened the way to the Trial of the Juntas ordered by President Raúl Alfonsín in 1983.
In 1999, after the reopening of trials for misappropriation of children, Bignone was again placed at the disposal of the courts. In March 2007 he was arrested and taken into custody at a military base outside Buenos Aires as part of an investigation into past human rights abuses.