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Marbely Reyes

Jose Luis Flores

Wilson Flores

Professor Zoila Bustillo

History

April 08, 2022

Argentinian Dirty War

The Argentinian Dirty War was one of the events that occurred during Operation

Condor, it was also called as “Process of National Reorganization”. This infamous

campaign was waged from 1976 to 1983. Also, it is estimated that between 10,000 and

30,000 citizens were killed by the government. A lot of these people were

“disappeared”, and we never heard about them.

On March 29, 1976, Jorge Rafael Videla gained control of the government

through a coup. This event occurred five days later after President Isabel Peron was

deposed. Jorge Videla banned trade unions, imposed censorship, and initiated a

campaign against suspected dissidents. Then in the late 1970s, Argentina was in a civil

war and Videla’s government faced public opposition. Also, during this period, the

Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo brought international attention, because they were

claiming for their children and grandchildren that were “disappeared” during the Dirty

War.

Later, Roberto Videla took power on Argentina in 1981. He wasn’t unable to

control their military allies, so he was shouldered by Gen. Leopoldo Galtieri. They

launched an invasion of the Falkland Islands, and then Leopoldo Galtieri was removed

from his charge. On July 1, 1982, Gen. Reynaldo Bignone was installed as president,
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and the general elections were announced. Also, the armed forces worked to hide all the

crimes that were committed in the Dirty War.

In 1985, during Raul Alfonsin’s government, Videla and Viola were convicted

because of the humans’ rights violations they did. One year later, Galtieri was convicted

too. Later, however, under increased pressure from the military, President Alfonsín

pushed two amnesty laws through the National Congress: the full stop law and the due

obedience law, passed in 1986 and 1987, respectively. (Britannica.com parr. 5) The full

stop law marked an end to all those investigations that were in process of the people that

were accused of political violence during the war. The Due obedience law was made to

remove the charges against the people that received orders to kidnap, murder, torture

people and did these actions.

Finally, Alfonsin resigned in mid-1899 and Carlos Menem took control of the

government. He pardoned Videla and other top officers that were convicted of abuses

during the Dirty War, but later Videla was charged with kidnapping babies. Videla was

arrested in 1998, but he and Galtieri died before 2005.

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Works Cited

The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. “Dirty War” Britannica.com. n.p. July

29, 2020. Web. April 1, 2022.

Unknown. “Full Stop Law” fandom.com n.p. n.d. Web. April 6, 2022.

Ecured editors. “Ley de Obediencia Debida” ecured.cu. n.p. January 22, 2015.

Web. April 6, 2022.

Erin Blakemore. “30,000 People Were 'Disappeared' in Argentina's Dirty War.

These Women Never Stopped Looking” History.com. n.p. March 19, 2019. Web. April

7, 2022.