Yesterday, 24th March, was the 34th anniversary of the last coup d'Etat suffered in Argentina. The last military dictatorship took place between 1976 and 1983, and it produced a genocide: 30.000 people disappeared. Over 500 clandestine concentration camps operated throughout Argentina, very few of the people who were detained there survived. Over 500 babies, sons and daughters of the detainees were illegally appropriated by military men.
After decades of impunity, trials against these people who comitted crimes against humanity (assassination, torture, rape, theft, illegal appropriation of babies) are finally taking place.
So, for Argentinians, 24th March is known as the Day of Remembrance for Truth and Justice.
I'd like to share with you the work of a photographer, Gustavo Germano. His brother is one of the 30000 people who are still missing.
He recreated old photographs in order to show the absence of those who gave their lives.
Laura and her parents in 1976.
1975. Playa "La Tortuga Alegre" (The Happy Turtle Beach), Concordia, Entre Ríos.
Leticia Margarita Oliva.
Orlando René Mendez.
Omar Darío Amestoy.
Mario Alfredo Amestoy.
Raul and his brother Manuel with their girlfriends in 1973.
Very powerful photographs, Juli, thank you for sharing. What group was the target of the genocide? A certain ethnicity, religion, etc?
It was a political genocide. The target were politically active people (left wing groups) and their families and friends. Of course, some people who had nothing to do with politics disappeared too, but the target were politically active people.
The Armed Forces called them all "subversive". Just so you get an idea of how broad this category was, they considered the set theory in mathematics was subversive, so it was banned. A Clockwork Orange was one of the many films that were forbidden during the dictatorship.
It was all in the context of the National Security Doctrine and the so called "comunist threat". The big "threat" for big economic groups in Argentina weren't comunists but left wing peronists, but it was all the same for the Armed Forces, comunists, peronists, they were all targeted.
I'm glad you like it. It's quite moving. When I saw it a few days ago I didn't know how much it was affecting me until I realised I was crying.
Yesterday 50000 people marched to Plaza de Mayo, remembering the genocide. It was amazing. We do this every year, but this year it felt different. I think more people decided to join because of the attempts to stop the trials. The government encourages the trials, but the opposition wants them to stop and to pardon genocide perpetrators... again. So it was very important. I'm very glad that there were so many of us marching.
