Dirty War

Dirty War
Conflict	Dirty War
Partof	the Cold War and Operation Condor
Date	1974–1983
Place	Argentina
Result	End of the military dictatorship, transition to democracy
Combatant1	Argentine Armed Forces
Combatant2	Montoneros, People's Revolutionary Army

Dirty War. The Dirty War was a period of state terrorism in Argentina from approximately 1974 to 1983, during which a military dictatorship carried out a campaign of violence against political dissidents. The regime, known as the National Reorganization Process, targeted left-wing guerrillas, students, trade unionists, journalists, and anyone perceived as subversive. This campaign was part of the broader Cold War conflicts in Latin America and was closely linked to the transnational repression of Operation Condor.

Background and causes

The origins of the conflict are rooted in the political instability that followed the overthrow of President Juan Perón in 1955, leading to a series of weak civilian and military governments. The return of Perón from exile in 1973 failed to stabilize the country, as violence escalated between far-left Peronist guerrillas like the Montoneros and the People's Revolutionary Army, and right-wing paramilitary groups such as the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance. Following the death of Perón in 1974 and the ineffectual presidency of Isabel Perón, the Argentine Armed Forces, led by commanders including Jorge Rafael Videla, seized power in the 1976 Argentine coup d'état. The junta framed its actions as a necessary crusade against communist subversion, receiving ideological support from the United States under the National Security Doctrine and tacit approval during the administrations of Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter.

Repression and human rights violations

The military government systematically employed illegal detention, torture, and extrajudicial killing through a clandestine network of hundreds of secret detention centers, the most infamous being the Navy Mechanics School in Buenos Aires. Security forces, including the Argentine Army, the Argentine Navy, and the Argentine Federal Police, operated with impunity under the guise of anti-subversive operations. Methods of repression included death flights, where sedated victims were thrown alive into the Río de la Plata or the Atlantic Ocean. The regime also engaged in widespread censorship, controlled the media, and persecuted cultural figures, while institutions like the Roman Catholic Church in Argentina offered varying degrees of complicity and resistance.

Victims and desaparecidos

The primary victims were the *desaparecidos* (the "disappeared"), individuals abducted by state agents who were never seen again. Estimates of the number of disappeared range from 9,000 to over 30,000, as documented by organizations like the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons. Victims came from all sectors of society, including students from the University of Buenos Aires, union members from the General Confederation of Labour (Argentina), journalists, artists like Facundo Cabral, and pregnant women whose children were often illegally adopted by military families. Groups such as the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo and the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo formed to demand truth and justice, becoming iconic symbols of resistance.

Military junta and government involvement

The dictatorship was formally led by successive military juntas, with the first headed by General Jorge Rafael Videla, Admiral Emilio Eduardo Massera, and Brigadier Orlando Ramón Agosti. Later juntas included leaders like General Roberto Eduardo Viola and General Leopoldo Galtieri, whose disastrous decision to invade the Falkland Islands precipitated the regime's collapse. The entire state apparatus was mobilized for repression, with key roles played by intelligence services like the Battalion 601 and the Side Information Center, while the judiciary largely failed to intervene. Economic policy was managed by minister José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz, whose neoliberal reforms exacerbated social inequality.

Transition to democracy and aftermath

The defeat in the Falklands War in 1982 critically weakened the military, leading to the restoration of democracy and the election of President Raúl Alfonsín in 1983. Alfonsín established the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons, whose report, *Nunca Más*, detailed the atrocities. The landmark Trial of the Juntas in 1985 convicted Videla, Massera, and other top commanders, but subsequent laws like the Full Stop Law and the Law of Due Obedience, along with pardons issued by President Carlos Menem, halted most prosecutions. These impunity measures were later overturned by rulings from the Supreme Court of Argentina and the actions of human rights lawyers like Luis Moreno Ocampo.

Legacy and historical memory

The legacy remains a central and divisive issue in Argentine society. The annulment of the amnesty laws in the early 2000s under Presidents Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner reopened trials, leading to hundreds of convictions of former officials. Memory sites like the former Navy Mechanics School, now the ESMA Museum and Site of Memory, serve as educational centers. The struggle for memory is upheld by the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo and the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, who continue to search for stolen children. The period is extensively analyzed in works by journalists like Rodolfo Walsh and writers such as Julio Cortázar, ensuring its place in the historical consciousness of Latin America.

Category:20th century in Argentina Category:Cold War conflicts Category:History of human rights