Elena Angélica Dolores Holmberg Lanusse (24 May 1931 – disappeared 20 December 1978), better known as Elena Holmberg, 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, s ...

diplomat who was kidnapped and assassinated in 1978. Distinguished for being the first woman to graduate from the Institute of Foreign Services of the Nation, Holmberg was an important official of the military dictatorship which took power in 1976, and is generally believed to have been detained-disappeared and then killed by the regime to which she belonged.

Biography

Elena Holmberg came from a traditional family, the sister of retired Colonel Enrique Holmberg and cousin of General Alejandro Lanusse (former ''de facto'' president of the Argentine Republic). She worked as a career functionary at the Argentine Embassy in France. Due to friction with the staff of the "Pilot Information Center" (a group of

Argentine Navy The Argentine Navy (ARA; es, Armada de la República Argentina). This forms the basis for the navy's ship prefix "ARA". is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the ...

intelligence officers headquartered in Paris, where ,

Alfredo Astiz Alfredo Ignacio Astiz (born 8 November 1951) is an Argentine former military Commander (naval), commander, intelligence officer, and naval commando who served in the Argentine Navy during the military dictatorship of Jorge Rafael Videla during t ...

, and were also assigned), the diplomat was summoned to

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

to report to her superiors. There she was kidnapped by on 20 December 1978 when she left the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

to meet a group of French journalists. People released from the

Higher School of Mechanics of the Navy The Higher School of Mechanics of the Navy (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Escuela Superior de Mecánica de la Armada'', commonly referred to by its acronym ESMA) has gone through three major transformations throughout its history. Originally ESMA ...

(ESMA) declared that at that time certain officers of the detention center alluded to their participation in the disappearance of Elena Holmberg. On 11 January 1979, her decomposed body was found in the

Luján River The Luján River (Spanish, Río Luján) runs from its source near Espora about east of Buenos Aires, Argentina, to its outflow into the Río de la Plata north of the city. The first Megatherium fossil was found here in 1789. See also * List of r ...

in Tigre, Buenos Aires Province. It was later identified by her cousin Lanusse. Holmberg's family and journalist Andrea Basconi have asserted they believe that Admiral

Emilio Massera Emilio Eduardo Massera (19 October 1925 – 8 November 2010) was an Argentine Naval military officer, and a leading participant in the Argentine coup d'état of 1976. In 1981, he was found to be a member of P2 (also known as ''Propaganda Due'' ...

was the one who directly ordered her death, believing that she possessed compromising information about his contact with members of the

Montoneros Montoneros ( es, link=no, Movimiento Peronista Montonero-MPM) was an Argentine left-wing Peronist guerrilla organization, active throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. The name is an allusion to the 19th-century cavalry militias called Montoner ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holmberg, Elena 1931 births 1978 deaths Argentine women diplomats Assassinated diplomats Female murder victims Enforced disappearances in Argentina Formerly missing people Kidnapped diplomats Missing person cases in Argentina