Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
remains of the disappeared and to bringing military perpetrators to justice. The
other, known as the Asociación Madres de Plaza de Mayo held its last yearly
protest in January 2006, saying it no longer had an enemy in the presidential seat.
Línea Fundadora, however, still holds a silent vigil every Thursday afternoon in re-
membrance of the disappeared - and to protest other social causes.
The Falklands/Malvinas War
In late 1981 General Leopoldo Galtieri assumed the role of president. To stay in power
amid a faltering economy and mass social unrest, Galtieri played the nationalist card and
launched an invasion in April 1982 to dislodge the British from the Falkland Islands,
which had been claimed by Argentina as its own Islas Malvinas for nearly a century and
a half.
However, Galtieri underestimated the determined response of British Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher. After only 74 days Argentina's ill-trained, poorly motivated and
mostly teenaged forces surrendered ignominiously. The military regime collapsed, and in
1983 Argentines elected civilian Raúl Alfonsín to the presidency.
The Falklands War (Guerra de las Malvinas) is still a somewhat touchy subject in Argen-
tina. If the subject comes up, try to call them the 'Malvinas' instead of the 'Falklands,' as
many Argentines have been taught from a young age that these islands have always be-
longed to Argentina.
Aftermath of the Dirty War
In his successful 1983 presidential campaign, Alfonsín pledged to prosecute military of-
ficers responsible for human-rights violations during the Dirty War. High-ranking junta
officials were convicted for kidnapping, torture and homicide, but when the government
attempted to try junior officers they responded with uprisings in several different parts of
the country. The timid administration succumbed to military demands and produced the
Ley de la Obediencia Debida (Law of Due Obedience), allowing lower-ranking officers
to use the defense that they were following orders, as well as the Ley de Punto Final
(Full Stop Law), declaring dates beyond which no criminal or civil prosecutions could
take place. At the time these measures eliminated prosecutions of notorious individuals;
in 2003, however, they were repealed. Dirty War crime cases have since been reopened,
and in recent years several officers have been convicted for Dirty War crimes. Despite
these arrests, many of the leaders of El Proceso remain free, both in Argentina and
abroad.
