Argentina's Dirty War: The Case Of Argentina

Argentina’s Dirty War was characterized by mass killing and mass terror imposed on the community. A great number of the victims were left winged activists, militants, guerillas, student at universities, blue collar workers and journalist, which were all thought to be a political or ideological threat to the military junta which had the name of (Liberating Revolution). The military junta sought to break up any form of relation to communism, killing anyone who was believed to be associated with socialism. A government that was solely against communism and reached extreme measures, a government that was inset to protect Argentine as a democratic nation but instead, went on a different direction and basically became a dictatorship. The desire
to end something that didn’t exist caused unnecessary violence and the oppression of simple rights of the Argentine population. Another thing that makes the Argentine war very shocking was that with so much fear anchored in the Argentinians, no one spoke out. The mass disappearances were part of an undercover and secret operation. The Argentine people were aware of small things happening around places which were meant for the sole purpose of intimidating the people. The Junta made it so that the people most the time saw what they wanted them to see. Those who were believed to be associated with communistic views were not the only ones targeted, but also Innocent people that had no relation to the so called radical groups. Argentina in the late twentieth century was a hectic mess. Families were held as hostages, they experienced joint detentions in which they were tortured and they were all impacted by the disappearances. To this day, the Argentine population has a traumatizing remembrance of what is known as the “Dirty War”. Argentina was left with an empty gap, not only did it affect the lives of those who personally witnessed the juntas reign, but also the parents of those affected and the children left behind to dwell on the actions of the government. While waiting for the train, Francisco Jose Elena was arrested by men dressed in military uniforms.
He was taken to a secret detention center called La Ribera, where he was interrogated. He was forced to tell the men about his family. The military junta was in search of Senor Elena’s daughter and his son in law. The junta had no intentions of releasing him until the couple was caught. Nearly a month after he had been detained Senor Elena was released after enduring threats, being maltreated, and made to witness the excesses of repression. Another case is that of the Candelas family, which involved eight armed men entering the Candelas home looking for Adela Ester Candela de Lanzilotti and her husband Osvaldo Daniel Lanzilotti. Adela and Osvaldo were not present so instead the men took Adela’s parents Maria Angelica Albornoz de Candela and Enrique Jorge candela. Upon learning that the couple was at Adela’s grandmothers house they threatened to kill the grandmother’s son and daughter-in-law. The Lazilotti couple was able to flee but the Candela couple remained as one of the disappeared. In Argentina, truth, or the promise of truth, became one of the foundational principles of the newly formed democracy, as symbolized in the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons truth commission which was created to help Argentina transition from state terror and repression to a society based in the rule of law. Truth and memory became very important even though it was very.
The detentions, tortures, and disappearances were waged in a clandestine way, with the junta in power attempting to disappear not only human beings but also the truth twentieth century. The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo formed a movement for change, struggling to overcome the public acceptance of the kidnappings by demanding the return of their children. The Madres de Mayo actively challenged the belief that their children simply disappeared and demanded the truth. Through their protests and advocacy, they encouraged mothers to join them in memory of their lost ones. Their leader Hebe de Bonafini declared, "Many want the wound to dry so that we will forget. We want it to continue bleeding, because this is the only way that one continues to have strength to fight. . .. But, above all, it is necessary that these wound bleeds so that the assassins will be condemned, as they deserve, and that what has happened will not happen again" (Madres 1987, 29:1). The military junta was able to initiate fear among the families through the process of ransacking homes detaining them and even getting rid of them completely. The Junta used the families of those who were suspects to find them. The junta saw it as a way of obtaining information on the whereabouts of other members of the family through threats and violence. Despite all the fear being initiated within the Argentine family, the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo were among the only ones to speak out and because of political judgement, the junta didn’t want to intervene with Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo so in a sense they had some protections. In an evident desperation to find their missing ones, Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo formed a movement to overcome public acceptance of the kidnappings by publicly demanding the return of their children. One main goal of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo was finding kids were physically impacted by the ‘war’. Pregnant mothers were not spared they were also tortured and if the baby survived it was handed to a junta member who was actively involved. Later with the Grandmothers digging deep into document several children were placed back with their real families. Aside from just being used as bait the Junta also disappeared complete families from the face of the earth.
The Rondoletto family on November 2nd, 1976 was taken by a group of men in broad daylight. The family consisted of Pedro Rondoletto, Maria Cenador de Rondoletto, Silvia Margarita Rondoletto, Jorge Osvaldo Rondoletto and Azucena Ricarda Bermejo de Rondoletto, all of which were carried away blindfolded with bags over their heads. The Rondoletto family was never seen again. The Coldman family were amongst one of the most well-known in Cordoba, the entire family was nearly disappeared. On September 21st 1976 the Coldman’s house was raided by men dressed in military uniforms. The men took David Coldman, his wife Eva Coldman and their daughter Marina Coldman. They took all but one of the Coldman family members, Ruben who was sleeping at the time of the raid. The junta did not care for the safety of the families of those who were deemed as suspects. Getting rid of complete families, decreased the threat of people speaking out so in a sense it became a tactic used. Disappearance was the preferred method used by the Junta which explains why the estimated total is around thirty-thousand. To this day there are thousands of bodies still not discovered. The Junta blamed the mass terror by exaggerating the threat of the rebels. The junta reported that, between 1969 and 1978, the guerrillas had inflicted 515 deaths on military and police, and killed 172 civilians. The abducted were
never publicly acknowledged as