Between 1930 and 1973, Argentina suffered 30 military coups, with only a single president serving an entire term. In September 1975, the highest level of the military approved a coup that overthrew the established Peron government. During the next eight years, a military dictatorship characterized by government-based terrorism aimed primarily at students, young workers and intellectuals, was established. Censorship was rampant during this regime and all unions, political parties, and universities fell under military control. At this time, General Jorge Rafael Videla stated that in order to guarantee the security of the state, all the necessary people will die. Suspected activists, their friends, and relatives were often abducted from their homes in the middle of the night and moved to government detention centers in which they were tortured and eventually killed. These individuals who disappeared without a trace are referred to as the Disappeared. It is estimated that as many as 30,000 individuals disappeared over this time period. In March,1976, nine people disappeared for every two found murdered. People who protested these atrocities soon became one of the Disappeared or were murdered themselves.
Abducted women who were pregnant were kept captive in detention centers and military hospitals until the birth of their children, and then murdered shortly after delivery. Babies and young children of abducted individuals were also abducted, based on the assumption that subversives breed subversives. Abducted children were handed over to neighbors, given to orphanages or retained as war booty for childless couples who were part of the security forces. An estimated 220 children were abducted with their parents or born in captivity to abducted women.
On April 30, 1977, four mothers gathered at Plaza de Mayo to bring attention to their plight as they attempted to find their missing children. They were soon joined by the "Grandmothers," women who had given up hope of finding their own children, but believed that their grandchildren might have survived. In October, 1977, this group of women founded the Association of Abuelas (Grandmothers) of the Plaza de Mayo. In 1980, the Grandmothers found an article about identification by blood and asked several American scientists to help them create a grandparentage test.
At this time, political change and an accompanying shift in government mentality was occurring in Argentina. In July 1981, five political parties got together and created the Multipartidaria to negotiate the return to civilian power. On December 10 1983, Raul Alfonsn was inaugurated. He created the Argentine National Commission on the Disappeared to investigate the disappearances and provide information necessary to prosecute.
In June, 1984, forensic scientists Dr Ana Maria Di Lonardo and Mary-Claire King worked together to develop a genetic identification test for the Disappeared. In March 1987, the Argentinean congress unanimously approved a law to require any child with suspicious adoption records to have their DNA checked against that of relatives of the Disappeared stored in the National Genetic Data Bank, which would be created for that purpose. That same year, a child who had been born in captivity was returned to her family using this genetic testing.
By 1996, 2100 people from 175 families had blood sample information recorded in the National Genetic Data Bank, and over 30 children had had their identity established using this blood sample information. By 1997, 58 children had been identified. In the same year, legislation led to children being given full access to adoption records at age 18. That same legislation invalidated adoptions of kidnapped children.
Today's challenges for the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo center around demonstrating that identified children are the offspring of particular disappeared individuals, restoration of the identity of those individuals, and reuniting them with their blood relatives.
For a more detailed timeline, check out Jocelyn Ross' timeline based on Rita Arditti's book, Searching for Life: The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo and the Disappeared Children of Argentina.
News Articles
Argentina's Disappeared, PBS Online Newshour - http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/latin_america/july-dec97/argentina_10-16.html
1997. An excellent resource dealing with the politics of the Disappeared situation. Includes interviews with several individuals, including ex naval officer Adolfo Scilingo, who admits to dumping individuals--still alive--from airplanes into the South Atlantic.
Argentina's Missing Babies, BBC News Report, http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/from_our_own_correspondent/newsid_269000/269834.stm .
1999 article.
RIGHTS-ARGENTINA: Two Daughters of Disappeared Recover Identity - http://www.oneworld.org/ips2/mar00/20_30_073.html
2000 article.
Six More Held for Baby Theft - http://www.americas.org/news/nir/20000109_six_more_held_for_baby_theft.asp
2000 article dealing with the arrest of six former military officers suspected of taking 12 babies from women who were pregnant at the time of abduction.
Activist Organization Documents
Argentina's Open Records Law - http://www.bastards.org/activism/Argentina.html
Brief introduction to the Open Records Law, a law which mandates adoptive parents inform children of their adoption, opensrecords to adult adoptees, and automatically voids adoptions done illegally. Links to a number of petinent human rights organizations, both in Argentina and throughout the world.
Grandmothers of May Square - http://www.wamani.apc.org/abuelas/ingles.html
English version of the official web site of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo.
Project Disappeared - http://www.desaparecidos.org/eng.html
English version of the main web site of several human rights organizations.diverse human rights organizations and activists. Includes links to human rights atrocities occurring throughout the world.
Project Disappeared: Argentina - http://www.desaparecidos.org/arg/eng.html
Deals specifically with human rights abuses. Probably the best site in terms of total amount of information regarding the Disappeared of Argentina.
Official Documents
United Nations Human Rights Website - Treaty Bodies Database - Document - State Party Report - Argentina - http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/CCPR.C.ARG.98.3.En?Opendocument
Begins with a fair bit of legalese, but has a great deal of information regarding Argentine human rights abuses, life expectancy, mortality rates, etc.
Additional Readings
Desaparecidos Bibliography & Book Store - http://www.yendor.com/vanished/biblio.html
An excellent list of books, some of which have components that accessible online. Includes descriptions of each book.
Desaparecidos: More Bibliography - http://www.yendor.com/vanished/more-biblio.html
List of additional books. No descriptions, though.
