The Terrorist State and Its Margins: The Repressive Experience of Subordinate Personnel in the Armed and Security Forces in Operation Independence, Tucumán, Argentina, 1975–1977

Abstract

In this article, I will analyse a seldom-heard voice in the recent history of the Southern Cone: testimonies from soldiers and former gendarmes who witnessed state crimes and, years later, found the courage to share their experiences in court. This is an unusual approach in Argentina to the study of perpetrators, which so far has prioritised public statements, official memories, and the experiences of career personnel in the Armed Forces. Instead, this research aligns with those works that seek to (re)think political disappearance from the margins and focuses on Operation Independence (Operativo Independencia), a military campaign carried out between 1975 and 1977 in the province of Tucumán. During this Operation, an institutional policy of forced disappearance of persons and of clandestine detention centres was put into practice for the first time; after the military government took power on March 24, 1976, it would spread to the rest of the country. I will examine an intermediate category between victims and perpetrators, namely the low-ranking personnel that occupied auxiliary functions, and argue that such stories from the margins of the terrorist State will allow us to access key aspects of the use of violence in that military campaign.