God’s Assassins: State Terrorism in Argentina in the 1970s

406 Pages·1999·21.59 MB·English

by  Patricia Marchak

God's Assassins
State Terrorism in Argentina in the 1970s
Between 1976 and 1983 an estimated 30,000 Argentines "disap-
peared" under the military junta. Most were imprisoned and tortured
before being murdered by the military. In the two years preceding
1976, another 2,000 were assassinated by paramilitary death squads
loosely organized by the Argentine government of Isabel Peron.
God's Assassins tells the story of state terrorism in Argentina through
interviews with participants on all sides of this issue. These include
military officers, "Third World priests," Catholic Church officers who
supported military objectives and methods, former members of guerrilla
movements, survivors of prison camps, journalists, trade unionists, and
others who experienced state terrorism in Argentina. Patricia Marchak
combines excerpts from these interviews with documents and media
reports from the time and her own insightful study of Argentina's his-
tory to provide an analysis of the process as well as the causes of state
terrorism.
The graphic and moving interviews in God's Assassins show the
complexity of these causes and indicate that there is no simple expla-
nation of the period. Was the head of a major guerrilla movement a
double agent? Did the intelligence service actually believe it was
engaged in the third world war? Why did the Catholic Church turn
on its own priests? Through her interviews, Marchak reveals much
that will never appear in official documents.
PATRICIA MARCHAK is a professor in the Department of Anthro-
pology and Sociology at the University of British Columbia.
WILLIAM MARCHAK is retired after thirty years in the newsprint
export sales business to newspaper publishers throughout Latin America,
including Argentina.
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God's Assassins
State Terrorism in Argentina
in the 1970s
PATRICIA MARCHAK
In collaboration with
WILLIAM MARCHAK
McGill-Queen's University Press
Montreal & Kingston • London • Ithaca
McGill-Queen's University Press 1999
ISBN 0-7735-2013-9
Legal deposit fourth quarter 1999
Bibliotheque nationale du Quebec
Printed in Canada on acid-free paper
McGill-Queen's University Press acknowledges the
financial support of the Government of Canada through
the Book Publishing Industry Development Program for
its activities. We also acknowledge the support of the
Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program.
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Marchak, M. Patricia, 1936-
God's assassins : state terrorism in Argentina
in the 19705
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7735-2013-9
1. Political violence - Argentina - History - zoth century.
2. Disappeared persons - Argentina - History -
20th century. 3. Terrorism - Argentina - History -
2oth century. 4. Argentina - Politics and government -
1955-1983. i. Marchak, William, n. Title.
F2849.2.M36 1999 982.o6'4 099-900997-4
Typeset in Sabon 10/12 with Akzidenz Grotesk display
by Caractera inc., Quebec City
CONTENTS
Tables vii
Acknowledgments ix
Map of Argentina xi
PART ONE INTRODUCTION
1. Introduction 3
2. Coping with State Terrorism 21
PART TWO HISTORICAL ORIGINS
3 A Violent History 43
4 Peronism and Militarism 57
5 Unionism 75
6 A Very Brief Revolution 93
PART THREE ESCALATION OF
VIOLENCE
7 The Dirty War 109
8 Imprisoned under PEN 128
9 El Proceso 146
10 Revolutionaries and Sceptics 169
11 Tucuman 193
12 The Media and the International
Context 212
vi Contents
PART FOUR THE CENTRAL
INSTITUTIONS OF THE
REPRESSION
13 A Deeply Divided Church 235
14 Third World Priests' Movement 251
15 The Military Defence 266
16 Other Military Perspectives 291
CONCLUSION
17 Conclusion 319
Appendix: Revolutionary Organizations,
19608 to Early 19708 341
Notes 345
Bibliography 359
Index 377
TABLES
1, Elected Governments, 1910-1930 49
2, Dictatorships and Governments,
1930-1946 50
3 Dictatorships and Governments,
1946-1973 67
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
granted research funds for this project, and the University of British
Columbia allowed me to take research leave time. I am most grateful
to both organizations.
The first contact that William and I had on this project was with
Maud and Robert Cox. Robert, a former editor of the Buenos Aires
Herald, was obliged to escape from Argentina in 1979 after repeated
threats to his family. The Coxes encouraged us to proceed, and we
thank them for lengthy discussions that helped us on our way.
Many Argentine citizens aided us with this project. The human
rights groups were extremely helpful, and we thank all the truly
remarkable people whom we met under their auspices. Jorge Vibes
and Silvia Delfino, whom we met through the Canadian Studies Pro-
gram in Buenos Aires, were extremely supportive of the research and
became dear friends. Dr Emilio Mignone, Maria Alicia Gutierrez,
Marta Maffei, Pampa Mercado, Dr Juan Carlos Marin, Dr Carlos
Acurla, Dr Alfredo Bravo, Dr Adolfo Dorfman, Professor Maria Vir-
ginia Babot de Bacigaluppi, Dr Rut Diamint, Maximo Gainza, and
many others helped us locate individuals, gave us copies of important
material, and were most concerned that we should be able to pursue
this line of research. These individuals represent very diverse positions
in the ideological and social spectrum in Argentina today, but all were
more concerned that the project be thorough and fair than that it
represent their personal beliefs.
We are greatly indebted to the numerous individuals who presented
us with copies of relevant publications, including those which they
themselves had authored. The Canadian Embassy in Buenos Aires was
most helpful, and we especially want to thank Beatriz Ventura, who
suggested contacts in that great city.