User:LBird BASc/sandbox/ATK/Seminar6/Evidence/Human Rights violations: Argentina's Dirty War

Historical Context

• Following the death of President Juan Perón, a period of political instability swept Argentina from 1976 to 1983.
• On March 24, 1976, a military junta seized power, leading the way for the 'dirty war'.
• The aim of the military was to eradicate left-wing opponents. It did so by clandestinely deporting, executing and torturing thousands of so-called 'subversive' civilians.
• In the wane of the dictatorship, the junta made sure to grant an 'amnesty' for all events connected to the 'dirty war'. This amnesty took the form of immunity laws that would prevent military leaders from being convicted for their atrocious acts.

If the current official number of disappeared is 8960, relatives estimate numbers hover between 20 000 and 30 000. The publication of classified information would take this number to 22 000 between 1975 and 1978.

Reconstructing history

Much of the knowledge of the events comes from testimonials of the survivors themselves. The potential rebels would be abducted and sent to detention centers.

Torture was a common way of obtaining information, no distinction was made between children and adults.

Another lead in the reconstruction of events was the confessions by members of military themselves, such as former navy captain Adolfo Scilingo who admitted to taking part in the hideous practice of pushing live political dissidents out of airplanes :

They [the prisoners] were informed that they were going to be transferred to the south and would be given a vaccination for that reason. They were given a vaccination - I mean a dose of something to knock them out, a sedative. It made them drowsy.[...] Then they were put on a truck, a green truck with a canopy. We went to the military airport [...] Then the subversives were carried out like zombies and loaded onto the airplane. (21-22)

In their unconscious state, the prisoners were stripped, and when the commander of the airplane gave the order, which happened according to where the plane was, the hatch was opened and they were thrown out, naked, one by one. That's the story. A gruesome story, but true, and no one can deny it. (49)

[Page references from the 1996 New Press edition]

The goal of minimizing the extermination plan fomented by the Argentinian military dictatorship

Rise of negationism in media, followed by government officials, and now in public policies.

Scientific evidence: Forensic Archeology to solve mysteries of the Dirty War

By using science to solve the mysteries of Argentina's 'Dirty War', the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team, a non-profit, NGO based in Buenos Aires, has helped many lift the veil of mystery and secrecy concerning the fate of their missing relatives.

The EAAF uses 'forensic anthropology and other disciplines like archaeology, ballistics and radiology to locate, identify and ultimately, reunite, family members with the skeletal remains of their loved ones'.