This photograph came from a blog that discussed the impunity in Argentina. It is appropriate to accompany my bibliography because it has on the background the thousands of faces of men and women who were disappeared during the dirty war. And the words “nunca mas” on the face of an anonymous person illustrates that moral and judicial process that the country must take on to adequately bring justice to the future Argentine society.
Alfonsín speaks about the building and restoration of democracy through governmental institutions and commissions in Argentina after the egregious human rights violations that occurred during the Dirty War. He explains that’s the Argentine society has decided to carry on a policy of condemnation against human right violations and inserting a moral conscience to prevent future violations from taking place. However, he does note that Argentina’s version of punitive punishment comes from weighing if the transgressions committed will further do social harm to the society, which will potentially leave many exempted from punishment.
Raul Alfonsin was President of Argentina after the 1982 collapse of the military junta and dealt extensively with how the country would try the human rights violations that occurred. His authorship is very much credible in that he speaks of this topic through the eyes of someone who has essentially molded how justice would be served in the country. However, what is doubtful is that his position as former president leads to question whether if he himself is credible to speak of justice when he could be covering up information to protect his political figure. He presents his information in first-person, which also questions the validity of his argument in terms of human bias.
Essentially, this article will be very useful in my future research for the human rights dossier because our group is looking to see how judicial impunity is present in post dirty war Argentine society and how even with human rights campaigns present, punitive law continues to be absent. In terms of how this article relates to the class’s themes as a whole, it is interesting how even after the review of the dirty war, justice has been partially served and continues to be a question of legitimacy in the contemporary Argentine society.
Tags: Argentina, Human Rights, Justice, Post-Memory, Violence, Impunity, Democracy, Punishment, Moral Conscience, Nunca Mas, Desaparecidos
Human Rights in Latin America 