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National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons (Spanish: ', CONADEP) was an
Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, ...
organization created by
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Raúl Alfonsín on 15 December 1983, shortly after his inauguration, to investigate the fate of the ''desaparecidos'' (victims of
forced disappearance An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person by a state or political organization, or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organi ...
) and other
human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
violations (see:
Dirty War The Dirty War ( es, Guerra sucia) is the name used by the military junta or civic-military dictatorship of Argentina ( es, dictadura cívico-militar de Argentina, links=no) for the period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983 a ...
) performed during the military dictatorship known as the
National Reorganization Process The National Reorganization Process (Spanish: ''Proceso de Reorganización Nacional'', often simply ''el Proceso'', "the Process") was the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983, in which it was supported by the United St ...
between 1976 and 1983. The research of the investigation commission was documented in the ''Nunca Más'' (Never Again) report, which was a complete summary published as an official report in Spanish, and delivered to Alfonsín on 20 September 1984, which opened the doors to the trial of the military juntas of the
dictatorship A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship a ...
. CONADEP recorded the forced disappearance of 8,961 persons from 1976 to 1983, although it noted that the actual number could be higher (estimates by human rights organizations usually place it at 30,000 persons). The report also stated that about 600 people were "disappeared" and 458 were assassinated (by
death squad A death squad is an armed group whose primary activity is carrying out extrajudicial killings or forced disappearances as part of political repression, genocide, ethnic cleansing, or revolutionary terror. Except in rare cases in which they are f ...
s such as the
Argentine Anticommunist Alliance The Argentine Anticommunist Alliance ( es, Alianza Anticomunista Argentina, links=no, usually known as Triple A or AAA) was an Argentine Peronist political action group operated by a sector of the Federal Police and the Argentine Armed Forces, ...
) during the Peronist governments from 1973 to 1976.


History of the disappearances

Military intervention in the political sphere was common in Argentina since the 1930s. Torture and violence were used as mechanisms to control political conflicts or to deter the actions of opposition. But, the implementation of forced disappearances began to be prevalent following the
1976 Argentine coup d'état The 1976 Argentine coup d'état was a right-wing coup that overthrew Isabel Perón as President of Argentina on 24 March 1976. A military junta was installed to replace her; this was headed by Lieutenant General Jorge Rafael Videla, Admiral E ...
, displaying a determination to eliminate opposition with a more hidden method. The dictators denied any involvement in the disappearances and used "Centros Clandestinos de Detención" (Clandestine Detention Centers) to place the "disappeared". They were similar to the prisons of Argentina in regards to condition and structure but the detention centers could deny if a captive was being retained there. This gave the captors more freedom for torture or to kill the captives. Most disappeared people were eventually murdered and their bodies were either buried in unmarked graves, incinerated or disposed into the sea. These hidden methods kept the Argentine government from being susceptible to international scrutiny and allowed the murder and torture of anyone without someone having to be held accountable to explain for the actions. Relatives of the "disappeared" for many years following the abductions demanded solely for truth about the fate of the "disappeared". Over 5,000 reports were filed from Argentina to the La Asamblea Permanente por los Derechos Humanos (
Permanent Assembly for Human Rights The Permanent Assembly for Human Rights (in Spanish, La Asamblea Permanente por los Derechos Humanos (APDH)) is an Argentine non-governmental human rights organization; founded in 1975. According to its official website the organization is the pr ...
, APDH) and thousands of complaints were submitted to the
Organization of American States The Organization of American States (OAS; es, Organización de los Estados Americanos, pt, Organização dos Estados Americanos, french: Organisation des États américains; ''OEA'') is an international organization that was founded on 30 Apri ...
,
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (the IACHR or, in the three other official languages Spanish, French, and Portuguese CIDH, ''Comisión Interamericana de los Derechos Humanos'', ''Commission Interaméricaine des Droits de l'Homme'' ...
(IACHR), the
International Committee of the Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...
, the UN Human Rights Division,
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and s ...
and organizations with various religious affiliations. These reports promoted visits from both Amnesty International and IACHR, but the dictatorship succeeded in denying the charges until the Falklands War in June 1982 and Argentina's defeat. Following this defeat, widespread coverage of the charges against the Argentine dictatorship spread through the press causing civil society organizations to demand that the parties responsible for the disappearances be brought forth and charged. A popular slogan used by these organizations was "juicio y castigo a los culpables" (trial and punishment for the perpetrators). In April 1983, the dictatorship published the "Final Document of the Military Junta on the War against Subversion" in which the military argues that the acts that they committed were under the orders of the current president, Isabel Perón, in which she ordered to "annihilate subversion". In September 1983, the regime then passed the "National Pacification Act" that granted impunity to the state by saying that all the action that was a result of the "antisubversive war" was then "extinguished". This act prompted human rights organizations to demand that a commission would be formed by the government with the task of investigating state "terrorism". The demands also included that the commission would include members from the House and the Congress and be advised by the human rights community.


Creation of CONADEP

CONADEP was created by Raúl Alfonsín who was the candidate for the Unión Cívica Radical (
Radical Civic Union The Radical Civic Union ( es, Unión Cívica Radical, UCR) is a centrist and social-liberal political party in Argentina. It has been ideologically heterogeneous, ranging from social liberalism to social democracy. The UCR is a member of the S ...
) party and took office on December 10, 1983. He emphasized that to prosecute the guilty parties responsible for the disappearances that three categories of people would have to be distinguished: those who planned and issued the orders, those who acted beyond the orders and those who carried out the orders strictly to the letter. Alfonsín proposed to take away the "self-amnesty" law that had been implemented by the military regime and ordered for the prosecution of seven guerilla leaders and the first three military juntas of the dictatorship. But, Alfonsín wanted to hold the trials in military court, with the possibility of an appeal in a civilian court. Human rights groups disagreed with this and though that the military courts would refuse to impose any legal sanctions on the prosecuted and believed that the only way to see justice was to have a "bicameral commission". This way, the commission could manage an inquiry and then deliver a sentence and be able to subpoena testimony. Alfonsín denied the idea of a "bicameral commission" because of concern that legislators would compete among themselves to give the harshest punishments. Alfonsín also wanted to integrate the military into the democratic party to prevent further military coups so he wanted to be slightly more conciliatory. Ernesto Sábato, Eduardo Rabossi,
Gregorio Klimovsky Gregorio is a masculine given name and a surname. It may refer to: Given name * Gregorio Conrado Álvarez (1925–2016), Uruguayan army general and de facto President of Uruguay from 1981 until 1985 * Gregorio Álvarez (historian) (1889–1986), ...
, Hilario Fernández Long,
Marshall Meyer Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer (March 25, 1930 – December 29, 1993) was an American Conservative rabbi who became a recognized international human rights activist while living and working in Argentina from 1958 to 1984, during the period of the "Dirty ...
, Ricardo Colombres, Monsignor Jaime de Nevares,
Magdalena Ruiz Guiñazú María Magdalena Teresa Ruiz Guiñazú (15 February 1931 – 6 September 2022) was an Argentine writer and journalist. She worked in the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons. She received many Martín Fierro Awards including the ...
,
René Favaloro René Gerónimo Favaloro (July 12, 1923 – July 29, 2000) was an Argentine cardiac surgeon and educator best known for his pioneering work on coronary artery bypass surgery using the great saphenous vein. Early life Favaloro was born in 19 ...
, and Carlos Gattinoni were all invited to join the Commission. CONADEP was created on December 15, 1983 by a presidential decree and was to report to both the executive branch and the legislators from both chambers. It was allotted 6 months time to collect reports about the disappearances, look to see if they could discover what happened to the "disappeared", find abducted children, find evidence of attempts to conceal crimes and destroy evidence, after which they would refer this information to the court and issue a final report. Although the decree was passed, only three Radical Party Congressmen and only one human rights group, APDH, participated in CONADEP because human rights groups did not think that CONADEP would be successful. They felt that only a bicameral commission had the power of coercion necessary to subpoena the military and political offenders. After the military failed to make a "good faith" effort with the prosecution, the trials were then transferred to a civilian court.


Actions of CONADEP

After the creation of CONADEP, the commission asked APDH for all the reports of disappearances that they had gathered during the "Dirty War", and at the same time invited APDH member, Graciela Fernández Meijide, to be the head of the Secretaría de Denuncias (Department of Depositions). Meijide accepted and then asked human rights organizations to volunteer their activists. CONADEP then began collaborating with many other organizations.
Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo ( es, italic=no, Asociación Civil Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo) is a human rights organization with the goal of finding the children stolen and illegally adopted during the 1976–1983 Argentine military dicta ...
(Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo) met with CONADEP in order to coordinate a search for the still missing children, (Relatives of the Detained-Disappeared) and the (Argentine Human Rights League, or LADH) also asked their members to give testimonies to CONADEP. (Ecumenical Movement for Human Rights, or MEDH) provided CONADEP with personnel. CONADEP then formed a Technical Commission on the Gathering of Information that was responsible for the gathering and systemizing of collected information on the disappeared, the people thought to be responsible and the clandestine detention centers which would then be sent back to CONADEP. In the summer of 1984, relatives of the disappeared and survivors collected at the Centro Cultural San Martín in Buenos Aires at the location of the CONADEP headquarters in order to give their testimonies. During the collection of the testimonies, which would soon be concentrated and organized into the ''Nunca Más'' report, CONADEP decided the most effective way to prosecute the ones thought to be responsible, would be to identify the people they though were guilty and have them explain the events in court. CONADEP asked the President to prohibit those accused of leaving the country and this was approved.


''Nunca Más'' report

The ''Nunca Más'' ("Never Again") report was the main report created by CONADEP. Within its 50,000 pages of depositions from the survivors of the disappearances, there contains detailed accounts of the treatment by the Argentine armed forces towards the captives, or the "disappeared", of the "Dirty War". The report contains descriptions of individual cases of people being tortured or killed. The reports explains how CONADEP was successful in identifying 300 secret detention centers throughout Argentina used during the "Dirty War" that were administered by the military and documenting 8,961 deaths and disappearances from 1976-1977. It also gave evidence that the inquiries made by CONADEP helped to find many of the mass burial sites around Argentina that were used to bury the "disappeared". The report contained an analysis of the social and class backgrounds of the "disappeared", giving statistics about the people that were kidnapped. For example, the report concluded that about 30% of the "disappeared" were women and that no less than 200 children under 15 were kidnapped. The ''Nunca Más'' report is a bestseller in Argentina and has been constantly in print since 1984. Part of the prologue by Ernesto Sábato was refactored in 2006 by the Kirchner administration. The prologue was restored to the original form in 2016, once the Kirchners ended their term of office.


Achievements

In February 1984, CONADEP found a mass grave in San Vincent Cemetery in Córdoba, Argentina, that at the time of discovery, was the largest mass grave discovered in Argentina since human rights organizations began to oppose the secret burial of victims during the military repression in Argentina during 1982. The Commission procured a copy of the city morgue ledger that listed around 700 people whose bodies passed through the morgue during the years following the military coup in 1976. The ledger contained descriptions of the conditions of the body. Ernesto Sabato, the president of CONADEP, was quoted as having said that "the tortures and torments and bullets holes from the firing squad" were all described in the ledger. CONADEP has also had success in the scope of their influence. Some people who approve of the work of CONADEP say that it started the "justice cascade" trend which is the implementation of new norms and practices that provide more accountability for human rights violations.


CONADEP's members

* Ernesto Sábato (President) * Ricardo Colombres *
René Favaloro René Gerónimo Favaloro (July 12, 1923 – July 29, 2000) was an Argentine cardiac surgeon and educator best known for his pioneering work on coronary artery bypass surgery using the great saphenous vein. Early life Favaloro was born in 19 ...
*
Hilario Fernández Long Hilario Fernández Long (12 September 1918 – 23 December 2002) was an Argentine structural engineer and educator. He was born in Bahía Blanca and was of Spanish and Volga German descent. He graduated as a Civil Engineer from the University ...
* Carlos T. Gattinoni * Gregorio Klimovsky *
Marshall Meyer Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer (March 25, 1930 – December 29, 1993) was an American Conservative rabbi who became a recognized international human rights activist while living and working in Argentina from 1958 to 1984, during the period of the "Dirty ...
* Jaime F. de Nevares *
Eduardo Rabossi Eduardo Rabossi (1930–2005) was an Argentine philosopher and human rights activist. Biography Eduardo Rabossi was born in Buenos Aires on March 20, 1930 and graduated in Law at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) in 1955. Afterwards, he ...
*
Magdalena Ruiz Guiñazú María Magdalena Teresa Ruiz Guiñazú (15 February 1931 – 6 September 2022) was an Argentine writer and journalist. She worked in the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons. She received many Martín Fierro Awards including the ...
*Santiago Marcelino López (1) *Hugo Diógenes Piucill (1) *Horacio Hugo Huarte (1) :(1) designated by the
Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon Res ...
.
Five secretaries were also named: *
Graciela Fernández Meijide Rosa Graciela Castagnola de Fernández Meijide (born 27 February 1931), better known as Graciela Fernández Meijide is an Argentine teacher, human rights activist and politician. She came to prominence by investigating the forced disappearanc ...
: Depositions *Daniel Salvador: Documentation and Data Processing *Raúl Aragón: Procedures *Alberto Mansur: Legal Affairs *Leopoldo Silgueira: Administrative


See also

* Archivo Nacional de la Memoria *
Batallón de Inteligencia 601 The Batallón de Inteligencia 601 (Spanish for "601 Intelligence Battalion") was a special military intelligence service of the Argentine Army whose structure was set up in the late 1970s, active in the Dirty War and Operation Condor, and disband ...
*'' Brasil: Nunca Mais'' *
Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo ( es, italic=no, Asociación Civil Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo) is a human rights organization with the goal of finding the children stolen and illegally adopted during the 1976–1983 Argentine military dicta ...
*
List of truth and reconciliation commissions A truth commission or truth and reconciliation commission is a commission tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state actors also), in the hope of resolving conflict left ove ...
*
Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo is an Argentine human rights association formed in response to the National Reorganization Process, the military dictatorship by Jorge Rafael Videla, with the goal of finding the '' desaparecidos'', initially, a ...


References

For the CONADEP investigation and the history of Never Again report see: Crenzel, Emilio (2017): Memory of the Argentina Disappearances: The Political History of Nunca Más, Routledge, New York.


External links


The ''Nunca Más'' (Never Again) CONADEP Report
{{Authority control Dirty War Presidency of Raúl Alfonsín Truth and reconciliation commissions Truth and reconciliation reports