Rating this book is as difficult as reading it. Its content cannot be described as enjoyable, but what kept me going was its purpose. I would not look for literary value in something that is called a “report”.
This report is the work of the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons created by the newly elected president, Raúl Alfonsin, in December 1983. Its purpose was to investigated the “desaparecidos” and other human rights violations that happened during the previous military dictatorship (1976-1983).
The first part of the book contains the description of all the known illegal detention centres in Argentina: their location, the buildings’ description and the military service they belonged to. All these centres were identified with the help of people that were illegally detained there. Some of them were demolished and some of them were still being used for different purposes. The report explains the way victims were arrested in their homes or in public places. Most of the times the number of the people carrying on such an operative vastly exceeded the number of people being placed under detention. Nobody was safe from the repressive forces. It was enough for one’s name to be found in a subversive’s agenda for that person to be kidnapped and tortured. These forced disappearances affected all layers of society. The “desaparecidos” were workers, students, lawyers, journalists and religious figures.
The report is backed by fragments of the testimonies of the witnesses. Many of them end with “….and that was the last time I saw him/her”. I believe books like this should be on everyone’s reading list. By reading them, we can all become more empathic and learn that we should respect other groups of people and their opinions.
All I could think while reading was how painful it must have been both for the people working for CONADEP to listen to all the testimonies and for the victims that had to remember this painful part of their past. The huge amount of work that the members of CONADEP put in, was described in the last chapter. Although the commission had limited time and resources, they managed to create a comprehensive report and put together files to be used in bringing the culprits to justice. The work of the commission was supported by several international organizations, by the Argentine people and by local organizations such as Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo.