As someone who lived for a short period in Argentina and really loved the country and culture, these stories always bring back painful memories. As a kid, not long after this period, I heard stories of people who had just been taken off the streets and never seen again.
Hopefully this will be another step in Argentina's recovery from the horrors of the dictatorship and the dirty war. "Nunca Mas" (never again) they said at the 1985 trials, yet there is a strain of denialism that runs through many societies, not just Argentina.
The crimes of the 1970s are still being uncovered - the last trial concluded only in February 2021, but there have only been 59 convictions, across 4 trials, related to 800 victims.
For the families of the estimated 30,000 victims, the "disappeared", the search for justice goes on, through DNA testing and other forensic methods. Sometimes with tearful reunions that reopen wounds.
One of the most horrific elements is the mundane, banal nature of the disappearances, tortures and murders. These were mostly conducted at ESMA, the School for Navy Mechanics, an ordinary looking 1920s colonial style educational building, facing onto a busy street. Nothing like the huge Lubyanka Building or Lefortovo Prison in Moscow.
Yet round the corner is a museum about the Falklands War, which remains at the forefront of cultural memory, as any mention on Reddit will tell you.
Whereas ESMA has been repurposed as a Memorial and Museum to the disappearances, the 1982 war is still not recognised as a tragic, desperate last gasp of the dictatorship, a betrayal of the young men who died thinking they were on a training mission.
