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evidence: archives

The archives of human rights organizations were pivotal to the criminal proceedings shortly after the end of the dictatorship, as they were the only ones who had collected and organized information on enforced disappearance and clandestine centers. Survivors were key in providing information to these archives.

Since late 1983, the Armed Forces denied having documents on the victims of the repression, invoking an incineration order from November of that year. The documentary material they did provide for the initial judicial investigations focused on information about the chains of command to prove the repression’s alleged lawfulness. The police and intelligence services also denied –and in some cases still maintain their position until the present day– having archives that can be useful reconstruct the fate of the disappeared and the actions of each of their members during the dictatorship.

Record check sheets. Collection, DIPBA, Comisión Nacional de la Memoria

Systematization sheets for the complaints received during the military dictatorship by the Permanent Assembly for Human Rights. Archive, Permanent Assembly for Human Rights.

Database of newspaper news about the repression during the military dictatorship. Archive, Permanent Assembly for Human Rights.

Reports on the Clandestine Detention Centers produced during the investigation by the National Commission on Disappearances of Persons. Collection, CONADEP, Archivo Nacional de la Memoria.

Roberto Eduardo Viola’s military file. Archive, Argentine Army.

Miguel Osvaldo Etchecolatz’s signature. Docket of the Intelligence Directorate of the Province of Buenos Aires. Collection, DIPBA. Comisión Provincial por la Memoria.

In 1998, the government of the province of Buenos Aires, as part of a reform of the police force of the Province of Buenos Aires, decided to dissolve the Directorate of Intelligence (Dirección de Inteligencia de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, DIPBA). In 2001, by law, its documentary collection was transferred to the Commission for Remembrance of the Province (Comisión Provincial de la Memoria), which has managed it ever since. In the following years, this archive provided relevant documents for the trials for the truth and the subsequent trials held since 2005.

The reopening of the judicial process resulted in a rise in requests from the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Judiciary to various armed and security forces asking for the information they needed to advance criminal proceedings. In general, these forces justified their limited responses by arguing the secret nature of the information requested, often providing little or no information at all. In 2010, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner issued an executive order to declassify all the information produced during the dictatorship or related to it. During her administration, a civilian investigation policy was devised for the archives maintained by the Ministries of Defense and Security. This initiative led to the discovery of a wealth of information recorded in various types of documents, allowing for the investigation of members of the repressive regime and providing evidence of specific events.

Between 2016 and 2019, US intelligence files for the period going from 1975 to 1984 were declassified. These files contain information that still needs to be assessed taking into account the then historical context. However, they have proven to be invaluable in the judicial process surrounding Operation Condor, to mention an example.

oral testimonies

Memoria Abierta Argentina 2025

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