The Dirty War

Summary



Well. We’re going to take this blog by blog, otherwise I will not be able to remember what I read and won’t be able to write about it. So here goes nothing. For the first link I visited, It first talked about a movie that is called “La Historia Oficial”. This movie is about a couple that adopts a little girl named Gabby. But when the mother does research of Gabby’s biological parents, she finds that Gabby’s mother was a desaparecido. During The Dirty War in Argentina, desaparecidos were people that disappeared. They disappeared because they did not agree with the government, so they were drugged and thrown out of a plane into the Atlantic Ocean. This terrible time was between 1976 through 1983, and it is believed that there are about 30,000 desaparcidos.

On the second site, I learned some of the same stuff. Like that the people that disagreed with the government were kidnapped, and usually killed. Some of them were also kidnapped, (and may have been raped or beaten) and they were set free in an unknown location. The military and police force that dressed up at civilians, and were the people that kidnapped them, threatened them seriously if they were to tell anyone.

Soon, children started disappearing also. The mothers of course, were worried about this. They were told that their children either ran away from home, or had been kidnapped by someone else. The mothers however were not convinced. Mothers started recognizing each other places they went. Then fourteen mothers made a group to find their children in 1977. This group was called “Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo”. They met once a week La Plaza de Mayo, and marched around protesting for their children to return. Then there was a second group called “Las Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo”. These people were the parents of pregnant women that have disappeared, or also the grandparents of children that have been kidnapped.  Then these two groups split into 2 separate groups. One being called Asociacion de las Madres de Plaza de Mayo, and the other being called Linea Fundadora. There were some answers to the disappearances, one being that some children were adopted by military families. But a lot of their answers to what happened to the children are still unanswered today.

And well, I really didn’t understand how to work the third site at all, and didn’t know where to get the pictures. But yeah, so now we will be continuing onto the fourth site.

Under ‘the responsible’, it talked about how the people that were caught, usually nothing serious happened to them. Some were sentenced to jail, but got out long before. They are still trying to convict people today of this horrible event. One person I read about under “vanished” was named Alberto Santiago Burnichon. On March 24, 1976, their house in Villa Rivera Indarte in Cordoba was broken into. These men were of course a part of the army. They took him, his wife, and their son. The wife was released a day later, and their son sometime after that. But the husband was never released, but instead was found dead with 7 bullet holes in his throat.

A horrible time for the world

The Dirty War

There is only one time in history that comes to mind when someone talks about thousands of people disappearing. People disappearing because they simply disagreed with the government’s actions. These people were either tortured and released, and simply murdered and then either buried in graves, were burned, or even taken up in planes and thrown into the Atlantic Ocean. And this time would be known as an event that is still affecting the civilians of Argentina today. And this time is known as “The Dirty War.” In this essay, I will tell you everything about what happened during this horrific time, and also my opinions on the subject.

                The start of the dirty war all happened around 1976 with the Independencia campaign in the Tucaman province. It all started when a military junta took power in Argentina. People were not happy with the form of government, so the government decided to fight back, in a very much unfair way.

                Soon, kidnappings and disappearances started to take place. People of all ages were taken. The people that were kidnapping were usually military members and police forces dressed up in regular civilian clothes. Sometimes, they were just in their regular uniforms when they would take people. They would go into homes, take people when they were alone, or other ways. Any ways they could get someone, they would. If you think about it, the government is going against everything they should be teaching to make a good life for all the people of their country.

                Now we will talk about what happened to the victims of this horrible event in history. Some of the kidnapped people’s lives did not all result in death. A lot of the victims were taken and tortured. Tortured meaning they were beaten, raped, electrocuted with cattle prods, and genital mutilation with razor blades. All of this happened when a person was kidnapped, and were usually driven to a secret detention center. These centers were called Centros Clandestinos de Detencion, also known as CCDs. There are thought to be approximately 340 of these horrible centers were the victims were taken to after they were kidnapped. These people were either kept until beaten to death, or some of them were even released. When released, they were very strongly threatened of having horrible things done to them if they were to tell anybody about what had happened to them after they had been kidnapped. Or for that matter, who kidnapped them.

                Many people were released, but a majority of people were not so lucky. People would die while being tortured. Others would just simply be killed on the spot by the military or police force in Argentina. The people that were killed were either all buried in graves, burned, or thrown in the Atlantic Ocean. Many of the people that have died were never found. Still to this day people are searching for their loved ones that were lost during this time.

                Of course, if you had a family member or loved one that had disappeared during this time, it would not go down without suspicion. And I would imagine you would do everything in your power to figure out what happened to that person, and try everything you can to find them. That is what some people did. A lot of the people that had disappeared were under the age of thirty. Mothers of these children would not let it go without an answer. They would go to police station, military buildings, and hospitals asking if anyone knew anything about their children. They were told that they either ran away or were kidnapped. Fourteen mother then set up a group known as Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo. The group would meet once a week and protest against what had happened to their children. Then there was a second group designed more for elders. These people were the ones that had a pregnant daughter, or a grandchild kidnapped. They too protested, but both of these groups rarely found answers. Sometimes their children were released and found, but most cases resulted in death for these kids.

                So as you can see, this is still a problem in the world today. Many people are still searching for answers and still trying to find if their loved ones are out there. This is an event that should have never happened in our world. And our world will forever be hurt because of it.