Responsibilities in the system of enforced disappearance of people in Argentina: A historical perspective

Abstract

This article historicises the way in which the responsibilities in the enforced disappearance of people in Argentina have been represented and conceived of, starting with its systematic implementation during the last military dictatorship, which ruled the country between 1976 and 1983, and up to the present day. To this end, this paper assumes a synchronous perspective which allows us to highlight the simultaneous coexistence of dissimilar representations of the perpetrators, even among the most active denouncers of the military regime, and, at the same time, a diachronic perspective that allows us to analyse the trajectory of changes and continuities in the identification of those responsible for the disappearances. Thus, this article contributes to understanding 1) the procedural nature adopted by the elaboration of knowledge of criminal responsibilities; 2) the political, cognitive and emotional obstacles faced by denouncers when establishing said responsibilities; and 3) the persistence and modification of the ways of representing and identifying the culprits as a result of the successive regimes of memory affecting the past of violence in Argentina.