Wednesday, December 9, 2009

The Disappeared

Up to 30000 people disappeared during the period of dictatorship in Argentina, lasting from 1976 to 1983. The desaparecidos, as they are commonly called (the dictator General Videla infamously said they were "neither alive or dead, but disappeared"), are still a very hot topic in Argentina. Following the political changes, the new democratic government introduced what they called the Ley de Punto Final, which impeded any attempts of legally pursuing the lower-level executioners of the Dirty War - thus, granting them impunity. The law of the Punto Final was voided by the Supreme Court of Argentina in 2005.
The majority of the desaparecidos still remain missing.
What made me enquire into all this was a photographic project called Ausencias ("Absences", 2007) by Gustavo Germano.
Yes, the people who disappear from the photos are cases of the desaparecidos.


1975
Omar Darío Amestoy
Mario Alfredo Amestoy


2006
.
Mario Alfredo Amestoy

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1970
Maria Irma Ferreira
Maria Susana Ferreira

2006
.
Maria Susana Ferreira

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1973
Andrés Servín
Raúl María Caire
Luisa Inés Rodríguez

1973
Andrés Servín
.
Luisa Inés Rodríguez



An interview with the artist (in Spanish) can be found at the Argentinian Museum of Memory.

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