Dictadura, represión y regulación de la religión: el caso de los Testigos de Jehová en la ciudad de Mar del Plata (1976-1983)

Abstract

Dictatorship, Repression and Regulation of Religion. The Case of Jehovah’s Witnesses in theCity of Mar del Plata (1976-1983) · The last Argentine military dictatorship (1976-1983) deployed its repressive policy within the framework of different projects that coincided in the need for a profound transformation of society. The proposals converging within the civil and military front that had seized power recognized catholicism among the pillars upon which the projected Argentina was to be built, and from this certainty, they encouraged or approved various manifestations of religious persecution. The objective of this article is to contribute to the understanding of this dimension of repressive action by considering the persecution to which Jehovah’s Witnesses were subjected.The proposed approach starts from the premise that this persecution must be understood withinthe general framework of mechanisms for the regulation of religion, and it offers an analysis that reduces the scale of observation to understand how different actors and discourses are articulat- ed and how the mechanisms through which regulation is constructed in more global terms are deployed locally. The arguments presented are based on a critical analysis of a set of qualitative sources, among which general periodical press, magazines published by Jehovah’s Witnesses, testimonies, decrees, laws and official resolutions, reports, and security force archives stand out.