National Commission On The Disappearance of Persons - History of The Disappearances

History of The Disappearances

Military intervention in the political sphere was common in Argentina since the 1930s. Torture and violence were used as mechanisms to control political conflicts or to deter the actions of opposition. But, the implementation of forced disappearances began to be prevalent following the 1976 Argentine coup d'état, displaying a determination to eliminate opposition with a more hidden method.

The dictators denied any involvement in the disappearances and used “Centros Clandestinos de Detención” (Clandestine Detention Centers) to place the “disappeared”. They were similar to the prisons of Argentina in regards to condition and structure but the detention centers could deny if a captive was being retained there. This gave the captors more freedom for torture or to kill the captives. Most disappeared people were eventually murdered and their bodies were either buried in unmarked graves, incinerated or disposed into the sea. These hidden methods kept the Argentine government from being susceptible to international scrutiny and allowed the murder and torture of anyone without someone having to be held accountable to explain for the actions.

Relatives of the “disappeared” for many years following the abductions demanded solely for truth about the fate of the “disappeared”. Over 5,000 reports were filed from Argentina to the La Asamblea Permanente por los Derechos Humanos (Permanent Assembly for Human Rights, APDH) and thousands of complaints were submitted to the Organization of American States, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the International Committee of the Red Cross, the UN Human Rights Division, Amnesty International and organizations with various religious affiliations. These reports promoted visits from both Amnesty International and IACHR, but the dictatorship succeeded in denying the charges until the Falklands War in June 1982 and Argentina’s defeat.

Following this defeat, widespread coverage of the charges against the Argentine dictatorship spread through the press causing civil society organizations to demand that the parties responsible for the disappearances be brought forth and charged. A popular slogan used by these organizations was “juicio y castigo a los culpable” (trial and punishment for the perpetrators).

In April 1983, the dictatorship published the “Final Document of the Military Junta on the War against Subversion” in which the military argues that the acts that they committed were under the orders of the current president, Isabel Perón, in which he ordered to “annihilate subversion”. In September 1983, the regime then passed the “National Pacification Act” that granted impunity to the state by saying that all the action that was a result of the “antisubversive war” was then “extinguished”. This act prompted human rights organizations to demand that a commission would be formed by the government with the task of investigating state “terrorism”. The demands also included that the commission would include members from the House and the Congress and be advised by the human rights community.