Overview of Research Project

1930-1932. 1943-1946. 1955-1958. 1962-1963. 1966-1973.

On these dates in Argentina there were dictatorships that controlled the country. The oppression during these periods of time left the country in pieces, always feeling that the people have to look behind their backs. The people lived in constant fear of being betrayed by their own people.

The book “Nunca Mas” is a collection of personal accounts of physical and mental torture that some of the victims endured during these times. A comment that was very common among victims was that they had to continue to remind themselves that they were alive and living as their own people. As they lived through the torture they had to remember that the reason that they were fighting was to ensure that their people were safe. One person says “The most vivid and terrifying memory I have of all that time was of always living with death. I felt that it was impossible to think. I desperately tried to summon up a thought in order to convince myself I wasn’t dead. That I wasn’t mad. At the same time, I wished with all my heart that they would kill me as soon as possible. There was a constant struggle in my mind” (Nunca 23). People endured these thoughts every day during the dictatorships of Argentina. Now they are reaching out and sharing their experiences in order to ensure that this never happens again.

Another interesting thing that I found in my research was a conversation between The President of the United States at the time and Ambassador Lodge. In a letter from Lodge to The President, Lodge comments on how well the country of Argentina is doing and how wonderfully he is running the country. A couple months later The President received another letter from someone else in the country saying that Argentina is in trouble and its people are not healthy and well cared for. This situation only made it harder for the people of Argentina to know who to trust. If the people in power in the government were not reporting correctly, who was watching over them?

In my research I learned that dictatorships in Argentina were something that they are used to. The kids who grow up in the country grow up seeing oppression and unfairness every day. To them, that is something normal. But I also learned that the people of Argentina want to fix this. They want their children to grow up in a place where they feel safe, and they feel that their voices are heard.