Argentina: Lawyer Asks Release of Dictatorship's Hidden Files

A crowd demand justice for the people who disappeared during the dictatorship, Buenos Aires, Argentina, March 24, 2018 | Photo: Twitter/ @MidiaNINJA

Families of the victims hope to find clues to discover the whereabouts and identity of many babies stolen in the years of state terrorism (1976-1983).

8 January 2021

Argentina's lawmaker Myriam Bregman asked  President Alberto Fernandez''s administration to declassify the dictatorship's secret documents to reveal more people involved in State terrorism.

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"The secrets of horror are still hidden. There are military procedures or crimes still unknown, and new names to investigate," Bregman said and recalled that she has been trying to access these documents for years.

In 2003, late President Nestor Kirchner's government annulled laws guaranteeing impunity for military personnel who committed crimes against humanity. Since then, Argentina has been prosecuting criminals and genocide perpetrators from the last military dictatorship (1976-1983).

However, "the Memory, Truth, and Justice process is incomplete if the state keeps the dictatorship's secret files hidden," said Bregman, who is also a lawyer of human rights violations' victims.

The families of the dictatorship's victims hope to find in those papers clues to discover the whereabouts and identity of many babies stolen in those years. "We have no information," is the typical answer they found in many public offices.

"The government is letting the files slumber. Everything confirms that the files are there, but they're appearing slowly," she emphasized.

Argentina's Foreign Ministry has published 6,800 documents issued during the dictatorship. For Bregman, the figure is insufficient. "The time has come. The government must open everything. Argentina demands justice," she urged.