Reclaiming the past: the search for the kidnapped children of Argentina's disappeared

583 Pages·2008·2.08 MB·English

Reclaiming the Past: the search for the kidnapped
children of Argentina’s disappeared

Ari Gandsman
Department of Anthropology
McGill University, Montreal

January 2008

A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfilment of the requirements
of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

© 2008 Ari Gandsman
Abstract

During the military dictatorship in Argentina between 1976 and 1983, an
estimated 30,000 civilians disappeared. Most of these individuals were
kidnapped by the military and taken to clandestine prisons where they were
tortured and killed. The children of these victims were also seized, and pregnant
women were kept alive long enough to give birth. An estimated 500 infants and
young children of the disappeared were given for adoption to families with close
ties to the military. Las Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo (the Grandmothers of the
Plaza de Mayo) were formed to discover the fate of their grandchildren. This
thesis examines the key role that the search for the kidnapped children of the
disappeared has played in Argentina’s post-dictatorship human rights struggle.
As an ethnography of human rights, I analyze how human rights struggles are
waged over competing empathetic appeals. The thesis focuses on public
debates and legal contents. It is divided into three interrelated sections: the first
focuses on the disappeared, the second on the search for and recovery of the
children of the disappeared and the third on family member organizations. In
debates about the disappeared, I trace the shifting view of the disappeared within
human rights discourse from innocent victims in the aftermath of the dictatorship
to political activists in the present. I then examine how this view has also been
called into question. I also analyze the place of survivors, including accusations
of treachery made against them. Part 2 discusses the search for and recovery of
the kidnapped children of the disappeared. In particular, I examine legal cases
both in the early years and after the kidnapped children became adults. I analyze
the Grandmothers’ public campaigns and discuss the challenges of restitution.
The final part of this thesis examines the larger political context of the
Grandmothers’ search. In particular, I examine debates between reformist and
radical sectors of the human rights struggle in Argentina and the election of
Néstor Kirchner as President in 2003 and his subsequent embrace of the human
rights movement. The thesis concludes by examining the consequences of the
human rights’ movement from opposition force to part of the political
establishment.
Résumé
Durant la dictature argentine, qui dura de 1976 à 1983, environ 30 000 civils ont
disparu. La majorité de ces individus ont été kidnappés par l’armée argentine et
jetés dans des prisons clandestines où on les tortura avant de les tuer. Les
enfants des victimes ont également été saisis, et les femmes enceintes gardées
en vie juste le temps de donner naissance. Un estimé de cinq cents bébés et
enfants en bas âge de personnes disparues ont été donnés en adoption à des
familles liées à l’armée. Las Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo (Les grands-mères de la
Plaza de Mayo) fut formé pour découvrir le sort de leurs petits-enfants. Cette
thèse examine le rôle central que la recherche des enfants kidnappés a pris dans
la lutte de droits de la personne en Argentine post-dictatoriale. En tant
qu’ethnographie des droits de la personne, j’analyse comment les luttes des
droits de la personne sont en concurrence avec d’autres demandes
empathiques. La thèse met l’emphase sur les débats publics et contenus légaux.
Elle est divisée en trois sections inter reliées : la première met l’accent sur les
personnes disparues, la deuxième sur la recherche et la récupération des
enfants des disparus et la troisième sur les organismes des membres de la
famille. Dans les débats concernant les disparus, je trace les changements
d’opinions sur les personnes disparues dans le discours des droits de la
personne de victimes innocentes à la suite de la dictature à activistes politiques
dans le présent. Par la suite, j’examine comment ce point de vue a également
été remis en question. J’analyse aussi la place des survivants, incluant les
accusations de trahison faites contre eux. La partie 2 discute la recherche et la
récupération des enfants kidnappés. En particulier, j’examine des cas légaux
autant dans les jeunes années que plus tard lorsque les enfants ont atteint la
majorité. J’analyse les campagnes publiques des Abuelas et discute des
difficultés de la restitution des enfants à leurs vraies familles. Dans la dernière
partie de cette thèse, j’examine le contexte politique plus large de la recherche
des Abuelas. Notamment, j’examine les débats entre les secteurs réformistes et
radicaux de la lutte pour les droits de la personne en Argentine, et l’élection de
Néstor Kirchner comme président en 2003 et son adoption subséquente du
mouvement pour les droits de la personne. Cette thèse conclut en examinant les
conséquences du mouvement pour les droits de la personne de force
d’opposition à part entière de l’institution politique.
Table of Contents

Acknowledgements I

Introduction 1

PART 1: The Disappeared

Chapter 1: From “names in a phonebook” to “best of youth” 29

Chapter 2: On heroes and tombs: debating the disappeared 69

Chapter 3: The Ex-Disappeared: survivors at the margins 122

PART 2: The Children of the Disappeared

Chapter 4: The early cases and the biologization of the Grandmothers’ claims160

Chapter 5: Two custody battles: the children of the disappeared and 197
the legacy of the past in the present.

Chapter 6: “Do you know who you are?” Radical existential doubt 231
and scientific certainty

Chapter 7: “A needle prick can do no harm”: compulsory extraction of blood 269

Chapter 8: Ambivalent encounters and the politics of kinship 303

PART 3: The Politics of Human Rights

Chapter 9: Imperialist agents, radical revolutionaries and mild-mannered 335
reformists.

Chapter 10: Dueling matriarchs: The mad Mothers and kindly Grandmothers 371
of human rights

Chapter 11: From resistencia to oficialista: Kirchner’s passive revolution 417

Chapter 12: “The Axel Blumberg crusade for the lives of our children” – 454
the moral authority of grief and the politics of fear and mourning

Conclusion: The Emergence of the Nieto and a culture of memory 514

Bibliography 551
Acknowledgements

What leads a person to their research topic? A temptation exists for vulgar
Freudian insights, an effort to find autobiographical relevance. Shortly after my
arrival in Buenos Aires, I met one of my father’s oldest childhood friends for the
first time. We met in a café overlooking the Plaza de Mayo. He went into hiding
during the dictatorship because, in his own description, he had “three strikes
against him”: He was bearded, Jewish, and a sociologist. The discussion quickly
turned to what brought me to Argentina. I explained my topic. When I mentioned
the term “identity” in relation to the work of the Grandmothers, he began
laughing. I was confused. Perhaps I misspoke. I continued speaking. He
continued laughing. I looked at him quizzically. “It’s funny to me that you’ve come
to Argentina to search for identity. When your father left Argentina in ’68, he
never looked back. He was searching for his identity elsewhere. So you can
imagine my surprise when out of nowhere his son returns 35 years later
searching for his. It’s funny.”
He made this observation after I told him how the Grandmothers’ public
campaigns attempt to draw young people who have doubts about their identity to
contact the organization. He decided that to choose such a research topic in the
country where my father grew up was revealing. Personally, I did not like the
analogy he was making but perhaps he had a point. Much like the process of
recovered grandchildren getting to know their biological families, I had a similar
experience during fieldwork meeting a large family that I did not know. In the
process, I was getting to know my father better by seeing where he grew up,
meeting his friends and family. In the end, I was welcomed as part of a new
family - going to birthday parties, children’s dance recitals, family dinners. Since I
grew up distanced from my extended family, this was a novel experience.
“Welcome Home.” These were the first words spoken to me by my cousin
upon my arrival in Buenos Aires. It was intended facetiously, since he knew that
it was no homecoming. This was my first time in the country. He said it because
my father grew up in Argentina. Yet Argentina was not an ancestral home - it was
one more stop on a diasporic journey. For receiving a long-lost relative so
warmly, I would like to thank the entire Stecher clan in Argentina. In particular, I
would like to thank Gustavo Stecher who helped me in immeasurable ways: from
introducing me to Buenos Aires, letting me stay with him when I first arrived,
helping me find an apartment, and always being there when I needed any help. I
would also like to single out Cynthia, Isa, and Susana for their generosity and
kindness. César Orda, although not a family member, treated me as if I were. I
would also like to thank Marcelo, Hernán, Emiliana, Carlos, Deborah among
others who made my stay memorable. Thanks are also due to Raul Feldman and
Judith Brandwaiman. Natasha Zaretsky provided me with valuable advice when I
arrived.
Without the kind cooperation of Las Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, this
dissertation would have not been possible. I would like to thank everyone in the
organization that took the time to help me. In particular, I thank Alba Lanzillotto
who helped me coordinate interviews and gave me access to their archives. I
would also like to thank Clarisa Veiga, Alcira Ríos, Alicia Lo Giúdice, Ana Zabala,
and Abel Madariaga for their time and assistance. I would like to thank all of the
family members who agreed to interviews. Argentina Rojo was kind and gracious
during our interview and her death in 2005 was a loss. It was nice to have been
able to interview her.
At Memoria Abierta, Silvina Segundo, the coordinator of the Oral Archive,
never lost her patience as I kept returning to request to see more interviews.
Thanks to everyone else at Memoria Abierta as well. Jaime Gluzmann of the
Permanent Assembly of Human Rights in La Plata was extremely gracious and
helpful. He warmly welcomed me to his home, introduced me to numerous
people, and gave me access to valuable information. His death last year was a
great loss for the Argentine human rights movement. He was a wonderful person.
I would also like to thank Daniel Tarnopolsky, Emiliano Hueravilo, Chicha
Mariani, Elsa Pavón, Clara Petrakos, Juan Carlos Volnovich, Eva Giberti, Ruth
Teubal, Bettina Stein, the Mental Health Team from CELS and EATIP, and the
archivists from CELS and MEDH for their time and assistance. I am indebted to
Rosana Guber who provided invaluable advice and introduced me to Argentine
social scientists. Sigifredo Leal was a diligent and creative research assistant
who tracked down numerous sources that I could not locate. He also helped me
clarify my own ideas in the process.
Research was funded through an Individual Research Grant from the
Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. Additional funding came
from a SSHRC McGill Internal Research grant. McGill Majors helped to support
me from the beginning of my dissertation studies. Rose Marie Stano, Cynthia
Romanyk, and Diane Mann in the anthropology department and Adele Tarantino
and Heike Faerber in the Department of Social Studies of Medicine helped me
navigate through the bureaucracy. Rose Marie has been a constant support
throughout my time at McGill and her resilient spirit is inspiring. I have benefited
greatly from being in the Department of Social Studies of Medicine. I thank
STANDD for giving me the opportunity to present several times in their speaker
series during the writing of this dissertation. I would like to thank my officemates
in the SSoM basement: currently, Raul Necochea, Loes Knaapen, Wilson Will,
Jennifer Cuffe, Annalisa Salonius, Janet Childerhose, and, previously, Hanna
Kienzler, Hannah Gilbert, Cristiano Martello, Kelly McKinney, Carol Kidron, and
Stephanie Lloyd. Stephanie has been a close colleague who was there from the
beginning of my graduate studies (even if she finished before me).
My greatest intellectual debt is to my dissertation supervisor, Allan Young.
Allan is not only an impeccable scholar but also a mensch. He has tempered my
tendency towards laborious sentence constructions, awkward phrasings, arcane
word choices, and general exegetic excess (it is quite evident that he has not
edited these acknowledgements). Needless to say, all lapses in logic or diction
are entirely my own. My other committee members, Ellen Corin and John Galaty,
have helped in numerous ways. I thank Ellen for both her critical insight and
empathy. Kristin Norget, always a patient and willing listener, has provided
invaluable help and assistance ever since I first arrived at McGill. Sandra Hyde
has given me extremely helpful critical commentary and practical advice. Taking
courses with Margaret Lock during the early part of my studies helped me
immeasurably.
McGill has provided a lively and stimulating environment throughout my
graduate studies. Other graduate students and friends that I would like to thank
are Mary K. Smith, Julia Freeman, Gillian Chilibeck, Remy Rouillard, Allan
Dawson, Sean Brotherton, Emilio Dirlikov, Paula Godoy-Paiz, Scott Matter,
Cameron Welch, Tak Uesugi, Yasir Khan, Sebastien Normandin, and Petur
Waldorff. I would also like to thank Matt Reichl, Elena Goldstein, Eugene Raikhel,
and Ajay Gandhi for their friendship and support over the years. My family has
been a constant source of encouragement. I thank my mother and father who are
always there when I need them. Thanks also to Dana, David, and Lily, Arnold
Herman, Andrea Gordon, Robert Loveless and Elisabeth Mueller. And, finally,
thanks to Sibylle Berger for her endless support and for putting up with me during
these last months of writing.
Introduction

Countless academic and journalistic accounts of contemporary Argentina
open with what is variably termed the Argentine “paradox” (see Erro 1993; di
Tella & Vogel 2003), “enigma” (Armony 2004; Taylor 1992), or “puzzle” (della
Paolera & Taylor 2003). “How did a country that was one of the world’s richest in
the first decades of the 20th century end up in such economic disorder?”(Yergin &
Stanislaw 2002:240) “Why did the hugely prosperous and increasingly
democratic nation of the 1910s and 1920s go so badly off the rails in the decades
after 1930?”(Collier 1990: 646)
At the dawn of World War I, Argentina was one of the wealthiest countries
in the world with a small population and vast natural resources. Considered a
“land of opportunity” in South America, the country drew masses of immigrants
from Southern and Eastern Europe. Buenos Aires was hailed as the “Paris of
South America,” renowned for its imposing boulevards and Beaux-Arts
architecture. Argentina had an educated and literate urban population with a
burgeoning middle class. It seemed that the country’s manifest destiny was to
become a global power. The consensus today is that Argentina is “a utopian
dream that went awry,” (Nouzeilles & Montaldo 2002), a country mired in the
“third world.” It has followed a “reversal of development” (Waisman 1987) that
saw its status downgraded from categories of developed to underdeveloped. The
once seventh-richest country in the world (with a per-capita income ahead of
countries like Canada, France, Spain, Japan and Italy) descended into
1