Dossier Secreto: Argentina's Desaparecidos and the Myth of the "Dirty War." (review)

Abstract

152 SAIS REVIEW Dossier Secreto: Argentina's Desaparecidos and the Myth of the "Dirty War." By Martin Edwin Andersen. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1993. 392 PPReviewed by Paul C. Psaila, MA. Candidate, SAIS. Latin America is now predominantly governed by democratic leaders. Military dictators that took power in the 1960s and 1970s in South America have, either voluntarily or by plebiscite, abandoned their self-appointed posts. In the aftermath ofrule by the armed forces, civilian society braves an array offormidable problems. Apart from such difficulties as hyperinflation and debt, newly elected presidents must decide on how to address gross human rights violations committed during the military's tenure. In most countries, the armed forces deserted the scene without sanction. In Argentina, where some of the worst repression occurred, the debate over prosecution has been intense. Raúl Alfonsin, the victor in Argentina's 1983 democratic presidential elections, charged nine former military commanders-inchiefwith crimes ranging from murder to rape. Backed by human rights activists, relatives ofthe "disappeared," and a significant portion ofthe population, Alfonsin's administration was the only Latin American government to prosecute its officers for crimes committed during a military government. The collapse of Argentine civilian government in the late 1970s, the brutal rule by the armed forces, and the tumultuous return to democracy is the subject ofMartin Andersen's Dossier Secreto. Andersen provides a detailed portrait ofthe bloody confrontation between Argentina's left wing radical groups and the armed forces which led to the 1976 military coup and the ensuing "dirty war." Through an extensive description ofhundreds ofincidents between soldiers and the country's alleged enemies, the author seeks to demonstrate that the "dirty war" was never a war in the conventional sense. Rather, the generals' justification for violent repression of the population was a fabrication. Political murders attributed to guerrillas were actually carried out by the military and right wing death-squads, and the threat to society from left wing radicals was greatly exaggerated. Dossier Secreto begins by tracing the defining events in contemporary Argentine history, setting the stage for the 1976 military takeover. Beginning with the military coup during the Great Depression, Andersen describes the controversial rise ofJuan Perón, leader ofthe working class, his failed economic polices and the benchmark 1955 coup that brought General Pedro Aramburu to the presidency. Following the military's rule, another round of democratic leaders came to the presidency—Frondizi and Illia—only to be ousted by the armed forces in 1966. The failed command of Generals Ongania, Livingston and Lanusse, led to the return of Perón from exile to win the 1973 presidential elections. With the death of Perón, the country careened out of control. Dossier Secreto describes the rise of the Montoneros and the implementation of their plan of deliberately provocative attacks on the police and armed forces that included kidnappings and assassinations , while violent right wing organizations typified by the Argentine Anti-Communist Alliance (Triple A) answered through equally savage methods. Finally, the armed forces moved against Perón's successor, his wife Isabel, and imposed their bureaucratic-authoritarian solution. BOOK REVIEWS 153 Following the 1955 coup that ousted Perón from power, Peronists oriented groups attempted to retake the country and topple the military junta, further escalating social conflict. Dossier Secreto thoroughly documents the wave of assaults, kidnappings and murders launched by radical Peronists and leftist groups. In 1970, one year after the miliary cracked down on an uprising by workers in Córdoba, theMontoneroskidnappedand executed formerpresident General Aramburu . Bombings, kidnappings, bank robberies, and assassinations of senior army police officials and prominent business leaders by the Montoneros and radical Marxist groups elicited retaliation from right wing groups such as the Triple A and the armed forces. The country was at war with itself. An understanding of how a nation like Argentina could be reduced to militarized McCarthyism requires a knowledge of the context in which the armed forces took over the country and the violent precedents set by extremist groups. Dossier Secreto is a major contribution to the analysis of the series of critical events and the general climate that precipitated the country's darkest period. By providing numerous detailed accounts of the...