Children of the “Dirty War"By Jay W Roff-Garcia

Daughter of “Subversives” Raised by Man Who Killed Her Parents Victoria Montenegro was abducted as a newborn by

a military colonel known as Lt. Col. Hernán Tetzlaff.

It took a human rights group 10 years and multiple DNA testing's to prove to Ms. Montenegro that what they where saying was true.

She testified against the man she had believed to be her father, and the trial which is in the final phase of hearing testimony could prove that during the ‘Dirty War’ the nations top military leaders where involved in a systematic plan to steal babies from supposed enemies of the government.

She is one of many cases, and like others it has taken time for her to assimilate this shocking information into her life.

“I grew up thinking that in Argentina there had been a war, and that our soldiers had gone to war to guarantee the democracy,” she said. “And that there were no disappeared people, that it was all a lie.”

Above is an actual quote from Ms. Montenegro in the NY Times article. We can see how deep her families deceit really was.

After Col. Tetzlaff was convicted in 2001 of illegally appropriating Ms. Montenegro he went to prison. Ms. Montenegro still believes his actions had been justified and visited him weekly until his death in 2003.

She still says she does not hate the Tetzlaffs, they showed her love and gave her a family her whole life. For that she cannot hate them.

For over 20 years Ms. Montenegro had been living a lie. She never knew that her real parents where what the military junta in Argentina at the time called “subversives” and they handled them like most others, by killing them.

Summary of the ‘Dirty War’ & Key PlayersA CIA analyisis of 1976 Argentina concludes that

the labor movement and Peronism were the major targets for the start of the ‘Dirty War’.

After Peron dies in 1975 and his vice-president/wife take charge things go south. Inflation rises to more than 300%, terrorism from right and left escalates, and increasing strikes/demonstrations.

This left an open window for the military to swoop in and take over with a quickly executed coup. The military junta under General Jorge Videla.

All opponents to the regime (which could be anybody even slightly leftist) were rounded up, thousands were ‘disappeared.

Former Argentine officials accused of involvement in the “Dirty War”

The “Dirty War” 1976-1983 was a 7-year campaign by the Argentine government against suspected enemies of the government.

Many people, both enemies of the government as well as innocents, were “disappeared” in the middle of the night and never seen again.

There were few survivors of all of these ordeals.

They were taken to secret government detention centers, once there they were tortured and eventually killed.

These estimated 10,000 to 30,000 people are known as “los desaparecidos”

The junta kept its power by getting rid of anybody suspected of challenging their authority.

In 1981 General Leopoldo Galtieri heads the regime

Top Military Leaders druing the “Dirty War"

Later Army General Roberto Viola takes power.

The “Dirty War” and the rule of the military junta ended when the junta faced increased opposition on its human rights record and mounting allegations of corruption.

It decided to try to distract their people and the international community by reclaiming the Falkland islands from the UK.

Since 1820 England has administered the islands while Argentina has laid claim to them. The junta thought they would regain their popularity by taking the islands.

They realized after 72 days that they were wrong after 700 Argentinian casualties and 9,800 POWs held by the British armed forces.

In 1982 it restored civil liberties and retracted its ban on political parties.

The ‘War’ ended when Raul Alfonsin’s civilian government took control of the country on December 10, 1983.

Top Military Leaders Marching

“Los Desaparecidos”& The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo There were thousands of cases throughout the 7 years

of the “Dirty War” where people simply disappeared. In the middle of the night people were taken away and never seen again.

Today people are finally gaining closure and seeing the remains of their loved ones returned.

Thanks to the Argentine government and the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team many bodies are being uncovered and identified.

A specific case is Laura Feldman who was kidnapped by the Argentine military on February 18, 1978. She was a politically active young women with ideals. Her remains were found in a mass grave and after several genetic tests she was identified. In April 2009 her remains were given to her sister Ana, now 51 years old.

Pictures of the ‘Disappeared'

One of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo

A book titled “Nunca Mas” relates the findings of a commission [CONADEP] designed to investigate and submit reports to the president on the different outcomes of the 'disappeared'.

This commission found that a majority of the known 8,960 victims were not only innocent of acts of terrorism, but they didn’t even belong to any of the opposing political or guerrilla groups.

A majority of the people murdered in the “Dirty War” were union leaders struggling for higher wages, youths who belonged to student organizations, anti-junta journalists, along with young pacifists, nuns, and priests.

It continues to investigate and identify all the various crimes and details of the military junta at the time.

The commission stated that the army practiced state terrorism and with the impunity of the military dictatorship was “misused to abduct, torture, and kill thousands of human beings”.

Graffiti Art against the Military Dictators

The AbductionsThe Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo was

formed in the time of the military junta. They would receive anonymous tips about young people believed to be the children of those who disappeared while under military detention.

In 1998 Argentine judges issue arrest warrants in connection with the abduction of hundreds of babies from women in captivity during the “Dirty War”.

The abductions seemed to follow a similar pattern. Children born to “Subversives” in the Argentinian military detention centers during those turbulent 7 years were taken, birth records falsified, and given to members and allies of the armed forces of Argentina.

In the first few slides we covered a news article were one of these unknowing victims was stolen from their family as an infant.

There is another case in which a man named Victor Rei, who had been a part of the military dictatorship, had received a baby in a night-time rendezvous in early 1978.

The baby was named Alejandro and it was thanks to the determined Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo who sought him out and after DNA testing proved that he was not the biological son of Victor Rei.

When Victor Rei had been charged with kidnapping and falsifying documents in May of 2004 he was imprisoned.

Alejandro still loves the Rei’s for giving him a family and is now beginning to assimilate himself with his newfound relatives.

Of the 500 or so abductions by the military junta reported thus far, 400 still remain unaccounted for.

The search continues and with laws allowing human rights group and the Argentine Forensic Anthropological Team to legally request DNA samples of suspected adults that could have been one of those abducted babies.

Prosecution of Humans Rights ViolatorsTimeline:

1997 A judge in Spains issues order for the arrest [the first of many] of former Argentine military officers on charges of kidnapping and killing Spanish citizens during the "Dirty War”. Amnesty laws protected the officers.

2003 Congress, Senate vote to negate laws protecting former military officers from prosecution over humans rights abuses

2005 Supreme Court negates an amnesty law protecting former military officers suspected of the human rights abuses committed during the 1976-1983 “Dirty War” period in Argentina

2008 Two former generals are sentenced to life imprisonment for their actions during the “Dirty War”

2011 Former naval officer Alfredo Astiz and 11 other former members of the security forces are given life sentences for crimes against humanity committed during the 1976-1983 period of military rule.

Alfredo Astiz known as “The Blonde Angel of Death” served as a lieutenant at the Naval Mechanics School, a torture center where thousands of guerrillas and dissidents were secretly imprisoned and killed.

He was charged with various cases of kidnapping, torture, and murder related to 86 victims.

Once President Nestor Kirchner saw the repeal of the amnesty laws protecting the former military officers in 2003, Astiz became one among 259 people who have been convicted of human rights abuses committed in that dark period of Argentina's history.

This file photo shows Argentinian soldiers frisking a civilian at a checkpoint in Buenos Aires in 1977.

Soldiers carrying a injured civilian

The Effects of the ‘Dirty War’ TodayThere was an estimated 30,000 people who

‘disappeared’ between 1976 and 1983.

In those 7 years hundreds of families lost their loved ones.

People today still do not know what the fate of their children, parents, cousins, aunts, uncles, or friends.

The Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team is still uncovering bodies and connecting them back to their families.

Those that were ‘disappeared’ faced questioning, torture, and most often death.

38 years later Argentina is still trying to reconcile itself and come to terms with its ugly past where people lived in fear of expressing their opinions.

Popular protests against the Military government for those “disappeared”

Videos & Extra Sourceshttp://www.yendor.com/vanished/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObdjTsnLhGM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFaeXKfH-p4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o90wD7UuHVs&feature=related

Bibliography[1] Unknown. "Argentina's Dirty War: Disappearing a Voice." Digital Union. Digital Union. Web. 23 Nov. 2011. <http://digitalunion.osu.edu/r2/summer06/herbert/dirty_war/index.html>. [2] Unknown. "BBC News - Timeline: Argentina." BBC - Homepage. BBC, 27 Oct. 2011. Web. 23 Nov. 2011. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1196005.stm>.

[3] Byrnes, Brian. "Unearthing Mysteries of Argentina's 'Dirty War' - CNN.com." CNN.com International - Breaking, World, Business, Sports, Entertainment and Video News. CNN, 17 Nov. 2009. Web. 23 Nov. 2011. <http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/11/17/argentina.dirty.war/index.html>.

[4] Goodman, Amy. ""Nieto Recuperado" - Born to Parents Disappeared by Argentina's Dictatorship, Kidnapped and Raised by a Military Family, a "Recovered Grandchild" Finds His Way Home." A Daily TV/radio News Program, Hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, Airing on over 900 Stations, Pioneering the Largest Community Media Collaboration in the United States. Democracy Now!, 12 Nov. 2010. Web. 23 Nov. 2011. <http://www.democracynow.org/2010/11/12/nieto_recuperado_born_to_parents_disappeared>.

[5] Barrionuevo, Alexei. "Daughter of ‘Dirty War,’ Raised by Man Who Killed Her Parents." Www.nytimes.com. New York Times, 8 Oct. 2011. Web. 23 Nov. 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/09/world/americas/argentinas-daughter-of-dirty-war-raised-by-man-who-killed-her-parents.html?pagewanted=1&%2334&_r=2&sq&st=cse&%2359;&scp=1&%2359;dirty%20war>.

[6] Unknown. "Argentina Dirty War 1976 - 1983." GlobalSecurity.org - Reliable Security Information. Global Security. Web. 23 Nov. 2011. <http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/argentina.htm>.

Bibliography [7] Gareau, Frederick H. "Argentina's Dirty War Excerpted from the Book State Terrorism and the United States From Counterinsurgency to the War on Terrorism by Frederick H. Gareau." Third World Traveler, Third World, United States Foreign Policy, Alternative Media, Travel. Third World Traveler, 2004. Web. 23 Nov. 2011. <http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Terrorism/Argentina_STATUS.html>.

[8] Brown, Cathy. "Nunca Mas, Remembering Argentina´s Dirty War." Expat Daily News Latin America. Expat Daily News, 24 Mar. 2010. Web. 23 Nov. 2011. <http://www.expatdailynewslatinamerica.com/2010/03/nunca-mas-remembering-argentinas-dirty.html>.

[9] Ferguson, Sam. "Argentina's 'Blond Angel of Death' Convicted for Role in Dirty War - CSMonitor.com." The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com. The Christian Science Monitor, 27 Oct. 2011. Web. 07 Dec. 2011. <http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2011/1027/Argentina-s-Blond-angel-of-death-convicted-for-role-in-dirty-war>.

[10] Forero, Juan. "Argentina's Dirty War Still Haunts Youngest Victims : NPR." NPR : National Public Radio : News & Analysis, World, US, Music & Arts : NPR. National Public Radio, 27 Feb. 2010. Web. 07 Dec. 2011. <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124125440>.

Bibliography [11] Unknown. "The Vanished Gallery: The Desaparecidos of Argentina." The Vanished Gallery. Yendor. Web. 07 Dec. 2011. <http://www.yendor.com/vanished/>.

[12] Argentina's Dirty War (1/). Dir. Unknown. Unknown, 2009. YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Falklands Portal, 24 Feb. 2009. Web. 07 Dec. 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObdjTsnLhGM>. 

[13] Argentina's Dirty War (2/3). Dir. Unknown. Unknown, 2009. YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Falklands Portal, 24 Feb. 2009. Web. 07 Dec. 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFaeXKfH-p4&feature=related.>

[14] Argentina's Dirty War (3/3). Dir. Unknown. Unknown, 2009. YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Falklands Portal, 24 Feb. 2009. Web. 07 Dec. 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o90wD7UuHVs&feature=related>.