Confessions of torturers: reflections from Argentina (original) (raw)
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Latin American Perspectives, 2015
The democratization that followed the last military dictatorship in Argentina (1976–1983) has been influenced by human rights organizations’ relentless work to bring about truth and justice regarding the consequences of state terrorism and to keep the memory of that period alive. These efforts frame the discursive context in which human rights violations, including torture, are interpreted in contemporary Argentina. Argentine interviewees from across the political spectrum condemn torture, but the language and frames they use and the narratives surrounding political events vary. These accounts expose the conflicted terrain of memory making and the ambivalences and contradictions that permeate the construction of a torture-rejecting culture. La democratización que vino después de la última dictadura militar en la Argentina (1976–1983) ha sido influenciada por el trabajo incesante de las organizaciones de derechos humanos para lograr que se establezca la verdad y se haga justicia sobre las consecuencias del terrorismo de estado y para mantener la memoria sobre ese periodo viva. Estos esfuerzos enmarcan el contexto discursivo a través del cual las violaciones de los derechos humanos, entre ellas la tortura, son interpretadas en la Argentina contemporánea. Las personas entrevistadas en Argentina, quienes atraviesan el espectro político, condenan la tortura. Sin embargo, el lenguaje y los esquemas que usan y las narrativas sobre los acontecimientos políticos varían. Estos relatos exponen el terreno conflictivo de la construcción de la memoria y las ambivalencias y contradicciones que permean la construcción de una cultura de rechazo hacia la tortura.
A Miracle, a Universe: Settling Accounts with Torturers
Human Rights Quarterly, 1992
Certificate 1980, American University, Washington College of Law. The author was a political prisoner in Argentina and held for eighteen months, without charges, under a state of siege. He was adopted by Amnesty International as a "Prisoner of Conscience" in 1976. The author was expelled into exile in 1977 and allowed to return to Argentina in 1983. 1. The problem assumes different forms in different places, but it is worth pointing out that it is a problem only in those countries where formerly ruling elites have given way to elected authorities while retaining an important measure of power and influence. Former dictators may be in disfavor with the general public, but their residual control of certain levers allows them to limit and condition the exercise of sovereign power by the representatives of the people. Overcoming those obstacles requires both courage and wisdom on the part of elected leaders; in many cases, however, a direct result of years of dictatorship is the re-emergence of a political leadership not blessed with a vision for a superior form of democracy. The immediate need to avoid confrontation with military elites that threaten to destabilize democracy then takes precedence over the good intention of restoring the rule of law and redressing past abuses. See generally Symposium, Transitions to Democracy and the Rule of Law, 5 AM. U.J. INT'L. L. & POL'Y. 965 (1990).
Latin American Research Review, 2007
I have had the pleasure of reading an outstanding set of books on a critically important topic. As a group, these books expand our notions of human rights because they deal with the political and ideological sources of human rights abuses, the consequences of the abuses for individuals and societies, and the progress made in the last decade as trials against abusers are finally taking place. Latin American societies have been struggling with the establishment of democratic institutions and the protection of individual rights since they won their independence. It is clear that lack of democracy resulted in a persistent pattern of human rights abuses and that the Cold War created a set of circumstances that intensified that pattern of abuse. What is particularly disturbing is that human rights abuses were equally prevalent in countries that had already made substantial progress toward democracy as they were in countries that lacked a democratic tradition.
Survivors’ experiences with testifying in trials after gross human rights violations in Argentina
Torture Journal, 2021
In Argentina, persons who were held detained-disappeared during the last military dictatorship (1976 - 1983) now testify in trials related to the military regime’s use of enforced disappearances, torture and other crimes. The trials were re-initiated in 2005, after more than a decade of impunity. Trials have been taking place all over the country since then. Trials are related either to individual perpetrators, individual victims, or to places where the crimes were committed. Many witnesses testify in a number of trials. In this article, I explore experiences with testifying in these trials, based on interviews with 23 persons who were held ‘detained-disappeared’ for political reasons during the dictatorship. The witnesses have testified both to what they themselves have endured, and to crimes committed towards persons who remain forcefully disappeared. The testimonies of persons who were held detained-disappeared are central in the trials, as there is often little evidence besides ...
Paths to Truth, Justice and Reconciliation in Argentina
2015
Argentina has been following different paths to deal with its past repression after the dictatorship that ended in 1983. Attempts at truth and justice were the creation of the CONADEP (National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons) in 1983 and the condemnation of nine Argentine junta members. However, three amnesty laws were created afterwards: Full Stop, Due Obedience and Pardon (‘Indulto’) laws. As stated by Webb and others (2010) “the former military leaders called for amnesty whereas almost all the victims believe that reconciliation and justice can only be achieved through punishment of the perpetrators” (pp.26-27). The creation of those laws caused negative reactions among most parts of the Argentinean society. After 37 years Argentina succeed in prosecuting its worst perpetrators, as an institutional response to repression and public trials are contested in many cities of the country. This paper will argue that public trials might contribute to truth, justice and reconc...
Acts of Repair: Justice, Truth, and the Politics of Memory in Argentina
2021
Acts of Repair explores how ordinary people grapple with political violence in Argentina, a nation home to survivors of multiple genocides and periods of violence, including the Holocaust, the political repression of the 1976-1983 dictatorship, and the 1994 AMIA bombing. Despite efforts for accountability, the terrain of justice has been uneven and, in many cases, impunity remains. How can citizens respond to such ongoing trauma? Within frameworks of transitional justice, what does this tell us about the possibility of recovery and repair? Turning to the lived experience of survivors and family members of victims of genocide and violence, Natasha Zaretsky argues for the ongoing significance of cultural memory as a response to trauma and injustice, as revealed through testimonies and public protests. Even if such repair may be inevitably liminal and incomplete, their acts seeking such repair also yield spaces for transformation and agency critical to personal and political recovery. https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/acts-of-repair/9781978807426
Perceptions of the “Truth and Reconciliation” and “Political Imprisonment and Torture” commissions and related beliefs, emotions and socio-emotional climate were analyzed in population affected and unaffected by past political violence in Chile (N=1278). Those with a positive evaluation of commissions’ goal of creation of an inclusive narrative, by comparison to people that disagree report higher negative emotions such as shame, as well as positive ones such as pride and hope by respect to collective past, agree more with social forgiveness, stress more learning of past collective misdeeds, perceives a more positive emotional climate, intergroup trust, confidence in institutions – however they did not share more universalistic values. A positive evaluation of the commissions’ goal of helps to prevent violence, supports justice and to know the truth about past collective violence, low exposure to past political violence, low negative emotions and high positive emotions predict positive socio-emotional climate in multiple regression analyses. Results suggest that commissions play a relatively successful role as transitional justice rituals, reinforcing reconciliation, but that the creation of an inclusive narrative or shared collective memory is less successful and less relevant that the preventive, helps to justice and to know the truth TC’ s functions