«Into the Lion’s Den»: Arrested-disappeared Conscript Soldiers during Operation Independence (Tucumán, Argentina, 1975-1978)

Authors

  • Santiago Garaño CONICET – Universidad Nacional de Lanús – Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53351/ruhm.v11i22.907

Keywords:

Arrested-disappeared Soldiers, State terrorism, Operation Independence, Tucumán, Argentina

Abstract

This paper explores a number of cases of conscript Argentinian soldiers who disappeared while performing compulsory military service in the course of Operation Independence. It was a counterinsurgency military campaign carried out in the province of Tucumán, Argentina, in which, since February 1975, the enforced disappearance of persons was applied for the first time and the first clandestine detention centers were opened. A repressive modality which —after the 1976 coup d'état— would spread to the rest of the country. Based on in-depth interviews with former soldiers and family members as well as documentary material, a reconstruction of how military personnel in 1970s Argentina became obsessed with the risk of militant left-wing soldiers infiltrating the ranks of the Armed Forces will be provided. Based on a subjective interpretation of certain events, a group of individuals were identified as suspicious and became, therefore, punishable by fellow military members: fundamentally those with a political background, but also those who were somehow unruly, annoying, dysfunctional or conflictive or refused to join the intelligence apparatus or to be involved in Operation Independence. Firstly, the case of soldier Alberto Ledo’s disappearance in 1976 in Tucumán —which had a considerable impact at the time in the Argentine media, even if detached from a more contextual analysis— will be reviewed. Secondly, the experience of a soldier accused of being a political activist infiltrated in the Army, and the forms of violence he suffered during his military service will also be described. Thirdly, an account of four life stories of missing conscripts, according to testimonies by their relatives, will equally be provided. Finally, the analysis of the violence exerted on certain conscript soldiers will be explained as a gateway to conceptualize how State terrorism was implemented in the course of Operation Independence. Thus, the experience of the disappeared soldiers of Tucumán should not be divorced from the massive human rights violations suffered by broad social sectors within the framework of said counterinsurgent military campaign; especially so by politicians, military members, socially involved individuals, students, handworkers, religious or community activists.

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Author Biography

  • Santiago Garaño, CONICET – Universidad Nacional de Lanús – Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero

    Doctor en el Área de Antropología y Licenciado en Ciencias Antropológicas, Orientación Sociocultural (UBA). Investigador Adjunto del CONICET. Integra desde 2004 el Equipo de Antropología Política y Jurídica (Instituto de Ciencias Antropológicas, FFyL-UBA), es parte de la coordinación de la Red de Estudios sobre Represión y Violencia Política (RER) y desde 2012 el Consejo Académico del Núcleo de Estudios sobre Memoria (IDES), donde ha sido Secretario de Redacción de la Revista Clepsidra. Revista Interdisciplinaria de Estudios sobre Memoria. Actualmente se desempeña como. Es Profesor Asociado de la Universidad Nacional de Lanús y Adjunto de la Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero. Es autor de Memorias de la prisión política durante el terrorismo de Estado en Argentina (1974-1983) (2020). Publicó en coautoría con Werner Pertot La otra juvenilia. Militancia y represión en el Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires (1971-1986) (2002) y Detenidos-aparecidos. Presas y presos políticos desde Trelew a la dictadura (2007); también editó Represión estatal y violencia paraestatal en la historia reciente argentina: nuevos abordajes a 40 años del golpe de Estado (2016) y La represión como política de estado. Estudios sobre la violencia estatal en el Siglo XX latinoamericano (2020), con Gabriela Águila y Pablo Scatizza.

References

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Santiago GARAÑO: “Ensayo del terrorismo de Estado en Argentina: el Operativo Independencia (Tucumán, 1975-1977)”, Boletín del Instituto de Historia Argentina y Americana “Dr. Ravignani”, 54 (2021), pp. 137-162.

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Published

2022-07-26

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 22 (2022): Bárbaros y santos: La guerra en la Antigüedad Tardía

Section

Estudios

License

Copyright (c) 2022 Santiago Garaño

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How to Cite

«Into the Lion’s Den»: Arrested-disappeared Conscript Soldiers during Operation Independence (Tucumán, Argentina, 1975-1978). (2022). Revista Universitaria De Historia Militar, 11(22), 252-274. https://doi.org/10.53351/ruhm.v11i22.907

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