Desaparecidos

:For the American band, see Desaparecidos (band).

Desaparecidos in Argentina

Between 1976 and 1983, in Argentina, it is thought that up to 30,000 dissidents, and people connected to them, were subject to forced disappearance under the military junta that was in power. From bits and pieces of information collected from military officers involved in the so-called "Dirty War", many victims were sedated and dumped from airplanes into the River Plate (today these are called vuelos de la muerte, flights of death). Other people were held in camps; the most notorious one was the Navy's Mechanics Training School (ESMA) in the Núñez district of Buenos Aires.

Related Topics:
1976 - 1983 - Argentina - Military junta - Dirty War - River Plate - Buenos Aires

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Many women gave birth in captivity, and their children were given illegally in adoption to families of military or police personnel, or their friends, while their mothers were killed soon after. The task of locating these children and restoring their lost identity has been going on ever since the restoration of democracy in 1983, and has been key in unveiling the atrocities committed by some people otherwise protected by the laws that mandated an end to the trials of former military government officials, or by the pardon granted by President Carlos Menem in 1999, since appropriating children from their mothers is a crime that lies outside the scope of military procedures, and thus also outside any kind of amnesty law or pardon that implies orders in a military context.

Related Topics:
Adoption - Democracy - 1983 - Pardon - Carlos Menem - 1999

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