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Pregnancy During Dirty War

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Pregnancy during the Dirty Wars

The Dirty War in Argentina started as a result of economic and political insecurity that ensued from public disorder beginning in 1969 (Chasteen). The Dirty War lasted from 1976 to 1983 and began as a result of a military coup of a government that was put into action during the presidency of Isabel Martinez de Peron in 1974. The purpose of the military coup was to develop a stabilized government by systematically removing leftist activists, seen to be “terrorists” (Finchelstein). The Dirty War involved the systematic kidnapping, murder, and torture of thousands of citizens including pregnant women and children. The Dirty War involved kidnapping, murder, and torture of thousands of citizens that were virtually invisible to the public and as a result called "disappearances”. Captives from all walks of life were systematically tortured, raped and murdered, sometimes drowned and other times buried in mass graves. Approximately 30% of the disappeared were women. Some were abducted with their small children, and some were pregnant, or became so while in detention, usually through rape by guards and torturers (Finchelstein). Pregnant prisoners were routinely kept alive until they had given birth. Hundreds of pregnant women were forced to give birth in secret detention centers before “disappearing.” Subsequently their newborns were given to military families or allies, who raised them with a completely different identity. Many pregnant women were kidnapped, and in captivity they endured all kinds of suffering. Some were released and managed to have their babies either at home or in hospitals. However, both the mothers and their children suffered. Testimony from NuncaMás states how these after-effects were difficult to overcome even with clinical and psychological treatment, and enormous efforts had to be made by the mother and child for them to adjust back to family and social life. There are many examples of the torture the pregnant women and children endured. NuncaMás describes one pregnant woman’s account. Gladys de H. (file No. 4178) was seized in 1979. She was held in a secret detention centre, and tortured while being six months pregnant. The text suggest she suffered the worst imaginable. She was raped, given electric shocks, systematically beaten and repeatedly again given the same treatment. She described how the marks of this remain indelible in both her body and her mind. “I cannot sleep. Everything repeats itself over and over again. Everything from the screams of my companions at their misfortune to my own screams.” After being freed for three months, her son Dario H. was born without complications. But as a result of the torture that his mother endured during pregnancy, the child soon showed the symptoms of a neuro-physiological imbalance, known clinically as bilateral hypoacusia (Nunca Más). Another example of the kidnapping and torture of pregnant women from NuncaMás is Alicia Elena Alfonsín de Cabandie (file No. 3749) she was sixteen years old. She was living in her in-laws' house in Entre Rios when she was seized. On 23 November 1977 at 6 p.m. when they returned from shopping, ten armed men dressed in civilian clothes, and carrying weapons, went straight up to her and detained her. The porter saw Alicia being beaten and forced into a truck, which had the sign 'Provisions' on its side. Alicia was seven months pregnant. She gave birth to a son in February or March 1978. A few minutes before they were separated, the assistant warden of the prison asked her if she wanted to send a letter to her family to let them know that she was detained, and to ask them to look after her child. Alicia wrote the letter and left it with the child. At night the child was taken away by an NCO who was known as Pedro Bolita. Since, nobody has heard anything more of Alicia, her husband Damián, or the baby (Nunca Más). During this period not only pregnant women were disappearing, children were as well (Finchelstein). Many children disappeared as a consequence of the repression against their parents. In her statement on the disappearance of her son, Simón Antonio Riquelo (file No. 1743), his mother tells how he was abducted: “Between 11 and 11.30p.m. on 13 July 1976, 1 heard a loud knocking at the door of my home in Belgrano, Buenos Aires city. I was just finishing breast-feeding my son, Sim6n. The door was broken down, and between ten and fifteen men dressed in everyday clothes burst in. They identified themselves as members of the Argentine and Uruguayan Armies. One of the officers said his name was Major Gavazzo, of the Uruguayan Army. They found written material which showed I was working for the cause of freedom in Uruguay; they then began to torture and interrogate me. When they took me away, I asked what would happen to the boy. They told me not to worry, that he would stay with them, that they had no war against children. That was the last time I saw Simón or have had any news of him ” (Nunca Más) These testimonies and accounts show, murder, rape, torture, extortion, kidnapping and other serious crimes that went unpunished during the Dirty War years 1976 to 1983. The dictatorship did not discriminate: they kidnapped and tortured men and women, teenagers and pregnant women, even the unborn were not off limits. Many of the remaining families have yet to see or hear from their family members again. In response, the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo was founded in 1977 with the goal of finding the children stolen and illegally adopted during the military government. Dirty war, the tragedy which began with the military dictatorship in March 1976, is one of the most terrible our nation has ever suffered. Since, then Argentina continues to make significant progress prosecuting military and police personnel for enforced disappearances, killings, and torture during the country’s “dirty war” between 1976 and 1983 (Finchelstein).However, the effects that this war caused on the “disappeared” and the family of the “disappeared” will linger forever physically and mentally. These after effects will be difficult to overcome even with clinical and psychological treatment. It will require enormous effort for them to adjust back to a normal family and social life, if possible.

Work Cited Chasteen, John Charles. Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America. New York: Norton, 2001. Print.

Finchelstein, Federico. The Ideological Origins of the Dirty War: Fascism, Populism, and Dictatorship in Twentieth Century Argentina. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
Nunca Más."Report of CONADEP (National Commission on the Disappearance of

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