The Dirty War
From 1976 to 1983 the Process of National Reorganization—the name of the military junta – ruled in Argentina. During this period around thirty thousand people mysteriously disappeared. Most of them were left wing and opposing the “government”. They were abducted and put in prison. Many were killed and dumped in the sea or otherwise disposed of. About 30 % of the abducted were women; three per cent of them were pregnant. A pregnant woman was kept alive until she had given birth to her baby. Sometimes the woman would be allowed to nurse her child for a few days or even weeks before she was killed. The child would then be adopted and brought up by a childless military family.
When president Raul Alfonsin became president 1983 Argentina started to investigate the disappearances and charge former military leaders. The trials are still going on today.
(read more: http://www.globalresearch.ca/children-of-the-dirty-war-argentinas-stolen-orphans/5327877)
The text “The Wall of Silence” is written by Miranda France who is an American woman. She expresses her subjective view on the wars while also interviewing some locals who have been affected by the war and thus covering the story from more perspectives.
One of the people she interviews is Alejandro, whose friend at university joined the Montoneros and began obsessing about Perón being some godlike man until he was killed. Alejandro says, “I don’t think any of us had any idea of what we wanted, or what the Montoneros were fighting for. We just wanted an end to the dictatorships – the country was stagnant”. When asked about the violence, he answered, “We came from a history of violence, so when out reaction came it was bound to be violent. (…) It was a strange, crazy time (…). It will be a very long time before we can really talk about these things.”
There are lots of stories about what happened to the disappeared children. There is one about a girl who was found on the doorstep of an orphanage with a sing hanging around her neck saying, “I am the daughter of the subversives; my parents were murdered today.” This shows the brutal ways with which the military regime tried to keep the subversives repressed and fearful.
When the war ended the children of the abducted pregnant women were now in their teens but with DNA-testing it was possible to trace and restore children back to their biological families. This has caused problematic dilemmas. A pair of twins was successfully put back with a biological relative after being brought up by a police chief and known torturer and probably their mother’s murderer. However, the boys rejected their biological uncle and insisted on calling the police chief their real father. The uncle was anguished and publicly declared that the boys had been brainwashed. In the end, the boys were placed with foster-parents.
Many terrible things happened during The Dirty War but most Argentinians choose either to pretend that it never happened or laugh about it. Because, as one of the people being interviewed, Patricia Bernardi, says, “Sometimes you have to laugh about what happened, or you’d lose your mind.”
When president Raul Alfonsin became president 1983 Argentina started to investigate the disappearances and charge former military leaders. The trials are still going on today.
(read more: http://www.globalresearch.ca/children-of-the-dirty-war-argentinas-stolen-orphans/5327877)
The text “The Wall of Silence” is written by Miranda France who is an American woman. She expresses her subjective view on the wars while also interviewing some locals who have been affected by the war and thus covering the story from more perspectives.
One of the people she interviews is Alejandro, whose friend at university joined the Montoneros and began obsessing about Perón being some godlike man until he was killed. Alejandro says, “I don’t think any of us had any idea of what we wanted, or what the Montoneros were fighting for. We just wanted an end to the dictatorships – the country was stagnant”. When asked about the violence, he answered, “We came from a history of violence, so when out reaction came it was bound to be violent. (…) It was a strange, crazy time (…). It will be a very long time before we can really talk about these things.”
There are lots of stories about what happened to the disappeared children. There is one about a girl who was found on the doorstep of an orphanage with a sing hanging around her neck saying, “I am the daughter of the subversives; my parents were murdered today.” This shows the brutal ways with which the military regime tried to keep the subversives repressed and fearful.
When the war ended the children of the abducted pregnant women were now in their teens but with DNA-testing it was possible to trace and restore children back to their biological families. This has caused problematic dilemmas. A pair of twins was successfully put back with a biological relative after being brought up by a police chief and known torturer and probably their mother’s murderer. However, the boys rejected their biological uncle and insisted on calling the police chief their real father. The uncle was anguished and publicly declared that the boys had been brainwashed. In the end, the boys were placed with foster-parents.
Many terrible things happened during The Dirty War but most Argentinians choose either to pretend that it never happened or laugh about it. Because, as one of the people being interviewed, Patricia Bernardi, says, “Sometimes you have to laugh about what happened, or you’d lose your mind.”