Night of the Pencils

Night of the Pencils
For the film, see Night of the Pencils (film) (1986).

The Night of the Pencils (in Spanish: ''La Noche de los Lápices''), was a series of kidnappings and forced disappearances, followed by the torture, rape, and murder of a number of young students during the last Argentine dictatorship (known as the National Reorganization Process). The kidnappings took place over the course of several days beginning on September 16, 1976.

Contents

Causes

The victims were for the most part members of the forbidden "Union of High School Students of La Plata" (Union de Estudiantes Secundarios de La Plata, or UES). This student organization, was in reality a front of the Montoneros guerrillas[1]that had been agitating for a series of student benefits, mainly free public student transportion, from the Argentine Minister of Public Works.

These circumstances, in conjunction with the testimony of one of the survivors, Pablo Díaz (a self-confessed supporter of the ERP-backed Guevarist Youth[2]an underground organization that was to lose 369 militants disappeared when it was discovered that this group was going to mount armed attacks[3]during the 1978 World Cup held in Argentina), are widely believed to validate the hypothesis that the kidnappings were a direct consequence of these protests and their activism. However, it is the belief of other survivors, such as Emilce Moler, that the student's benefits' demands had no direct bearing on the kidnappings, but rather it was the mere fact that the students were considered to be Montoneros militants by the military regime that was the catalyst for the kidnappings and forced disappearances.[4]

Jorge Falcone, the brother of one of the kidnapped students, María Claudia, has maintained that her activities against the military dictatorship went beyond student protests, and that on the day she was kidnapped she was hiding weapons in her aunt's residence and was prepared to use them. [5] He wrote his sister was not a victim, or a martyr, but a hero of the Montoneros[6]

He also defended his sister's commitment to the Montoneros guerrilla movement in Argentina:

"My sister wasn't Little Red Riding Hood who the wolf gulped down. She was a revolutionary militant. […] The militant was the type who in a moment could send a molotov flying in a lightning act... They could also carry out support action in a major military operation."[7]

The kidnappings

The 10 kidnapped students were alleged activists and student militants, as well as members of the High School Student Union of the city of La Plata. The students were held for months in several illegal detention centers, where they were tortured, some of them raped, and ultimately presumed murdered. Only 4 of the 10 detainees are known to have survived. The other six, according to testimony by survivor Pablo Diaz, were executed in the first week of January, 1977. [8] The kidnapped students were:

Name Age (in 1976) Date of Disappearance Current Status Additional Details
  • Maria Claudia Falcone.jpg
María Claudia Falcone		 16 September 16 1976 Missing Kidnapped from her grandmother's house along with her friend María Clara Ciocchini. According to her brother Jorge Falcone, she was a Montoneros militant.
Claudio de Acha 17 September 16 1976 Missing Kidnapped while at the house of Horacio Ungaro.
Gustavo Calotti 18 September 8 1976 Survivor Although kidnapped on September 8, he is considered a survivor of the "Night of the Pencils" due to his association with the other students.
María Clara Ciocchini 18 September 16 1976 Missing Kidnapped along with María Claudia Falcone.
Pablo Díaz 18 September 21 1976 Survivor In 1985 he made his experiences public while testifying in court. According to the book Political Violence and Trauma in Argentina, he was a militant of the ERP that was planning to attack during the 1978 World Cup in Argentina.
Francisco López Muntaner 16 September 16 1976 Missing
Patricia Miranda 17 September 17 1976 Survivor She had not participated in, nor did she belong to, any political or militant organizations. She was held until March 1978.
Emilce Moler 17 September 17 1976 Survivor
Daniel A. Racero 18 September 16 1976 Missing
Horacio Ungaro 17 September 16 1976 Missing

The story of the students from their kidnapping until their death or release was depicted in the 1986 film Night of the Pencils, directed by Héctor Olivera who had earlier directed the anti-Argentine military film La Patagonia rebelde.[9]

The testimony of Pablo Díaz, the last survivor to be released, served as the basis for a song with the same title by Canarian singer Rogelio Botanz.

See also

References

  1. ^ Political violence and trauma in Argentina, By Antonius C. G. M. Robben, p. 213, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005
  2. ^ Political Violence and Trauma in Argentina, Antonius C. G. M. Robben, Page 214, University of Pennsylvania Press (January 25, 2005)
  3. ^ Historia del Peronismo III(1956-1983) La Violencia By Hugo Gambini, pp. 368-369, Stockcero (December 2008)
  4. ^ http://pdf.diariohoy.net/2006/09/14/pdf/10-c.pdf Una de las sobrevivientes de La noche de los lápices contó su historia en el Nacional]
  5. ^ Memorial de Guerralarga, Jorge Falcone, ISBN 9879125339
  6. ^ http://www.elortiba.org/lapices.html Carta abierta a María Claudia Falcone a tres décadas de su último combate
  7. ^ [Viviana Gorbato, Montoneros. Soldados de Menem. ¿Soldados de Duhalde?, Buenos Aires, Sudamericana, 1999, pp. 96-98]
  8. ^ Pablo Diaz sworn testimony in front of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Federal Court of Appeals, December 1998
  9. ^ Los 30 años de "La Patagonia rebelde", 17/03/2004, Diario La Nación

Bibliography

External links

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