The Long Shadows of Argentina’s Dirty War

article from March 10, 2011 (all links current)

By Jamie Douglas

The long shadows of Argentina’s Dirty War are still looming over the Southern Cone. La Guerra Sucia may have been over for 27 years, but some of the crimes that were committed have generational implications. We are talking about the stealing of babies from raped and pregnant prisoners of the regime, starting with the Jorge Rafael Videla military dictatorship, which came to power after the second wife of Juan Perón, Isabel Martinez de Perón ran the country off the cliff with her magnificent incompetence.

While the official years of the Dirty War are 1976-1983, in reality, it started way before then. The exact number of those murdered and disappeared will never be known, but estimates range from 9,000 up to 30,000 victims.

Many of those arrested were woman, some of them pregnant, others raped repeatedly and impregnated, and as a result, there were a large number of children born to those in captivity. The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo have reason to believe that up to 500 of these cases exist, but they only have actual records of 172 children having been stolen.

In a few instances, through a DNA data bank that was created by the “Grandmothers,” it was possible to make positive identification, and reunite the now-grown stolen children with their real families.

Most of the children were adopted thru falsified birth records by high-ranking military and civilian government officials, and they were raised having no idea that their “parents” may have been directly implicated in the murder of their birth mothers and fathers.

The military thugs finally gave up their grip on Argentina’s jugular in 1983, and for the first time in years, democratic elections were held.

As President-elect, Raúl Alfonsin created the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons (Spanish acronym CONADEP), the writer Ernesto Sábato was charged with collecting evidence about the crimes that had been committed. The results showing that nearly 9,000 people disappeared shocked not only Argentina, but the whole world, as well. To no one’s surprise, the handprints of Henry Kissinger, the CIA and Operation Condor showed up everywhere.

President Alfonsin decided that the top nine members of the military junta should stand trial for their heinous crimes. There followed several military uprisings against the president to protest the trials, some successful, others not so much.

Soon, elections were held again, and this time the newly elected President, Carlos Menem issued a blanket pardon to all parties, both military and rebel. There were those who supported that decision, as it was a step toward peace and reconciliation, but after Néstor Kirchner was elected, he took steps to reverse the pardons, and trials were held, where the villainous junta chiefs began to face justice at last. But many are so old now that they are serving their sentences in the comfort of their own homes out of an irrepressible respect for the elderly.

After a lengthy trial, Videla was sentenced for the kidnapping of eleven children and the assorted crimes that were associated with that.

Now, at long last, some closure is being offered to the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo. Last week, eight of the perpetrators were finally led to the dock, two of them being Jorge Rafael Videla and his successor, General Reynaldo Benito Bignone, who ruled the country until its return to democracy, along with six other former high-ranking officials. The wheels of justice grind slowly in Latin America, but because of the devotion of the Grandmothers, those wheels were greased and kept turning.

These men are charged with being “…the presumed authors of the crimes of theft, retention and hiding of minors, as well as creating illegal birth records to cover up the actual crimes, to wit, the theft of 34 babies from their mothers.”

There is an extremely large witness list consisting of close to 400 people, and it is expected that the trial will last for seven months to a year. The victims’ families are hoping for very lengthy prison sentences, but assuming that all these octogenarians will survive the trials, that is little comfort to them.

Both Videla and Bignone have already been convicted on multiple counts of human rights abuses, including rape, murder, torture, and more, and all of the perpetrators are in prison, military hospitals or otherwise confined. During the lengthy reading of the indictments, Videla decided it was a good time for a nap. He is really taking this seriously. But for the country to heal, justice must be pursued. Too many people’s lives were affected in very tragic ways – ways that have changed them forever.

For those who committed all this barbarism in the late 20th century, I only have one question: What the hell were you thinking? Did you really think you would get away with this? Hopefully the answer is a resounding NO!

For more on this:

BBC News, Feb. 28, 2011

Argentina’s ex-military leaders tried over baby thefts

There are several movies I recommend that deal with La Guerra Sucia either directly or indirectly, and were all filmed in Argentina:

Imagining Argentina (English) is about the kidnapping and disappearances.

Assassination Tango (English) touches on the theme of a general living his life with impunity.

The Secret in their Eyes (Spanish) has a storyline that passes through this time period, when everyone’s lives in Argentina were affected. In 2010, it won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Jamie Douglas

Patagonia

I encourage you to write me at cruzansailor [at] gmail [dot] com with any questions or suggestions you may have. Disclaimer: I am not in any travel-related business. My advice is based on my own experiences and is free of charge (Donations welcome). It is always my pleasure to act as a beneficial counselor to those who are seekers of the next adventure.