In 1976, during the Argentine military dictatorship, an event called the Night of the Blackout occured in Ledesma. This blackout was a well coordinated connivance between the military government and powerful economic interests. During the blackout, 400 people who were deemed troublesome because of their activism either against the government or to improve working conditions at the Ledesma mill, were taken to clandestine detention centers. Many of them were never seen again. Ledesma, a producer of sugar, paper, and citrus fruit, one of the most important corporate empires in Argentina, led a cover-up of their involvement, but everyone in the town knew they were behind the blackout.