Coming to Terms with the Past: Transition, History and Human Rights

‘A country without justice or memory does not have a destiny.’ Speaking shortly after his victory in the May 2003 Argentine elections, the new President Nestor Kirchner’s forthright manner struck a chord with his compatriots. During the military dictatorship of the 1970s, some 30,000 people died – the so-called ‘Disappeared’ – and in recognising the need to face up to this bitter past Kirchner was acknowledging the incomplete nature of Argentina’s political transition. Formally the country had become a democracy again in 1983, after the end of General Galtieri’s regime, but the system had never completely won over the trust of its citizens. The ease with which military leaders escaped justice made large numbers of Argentinians cynical about politics, a cynicism that was brought to breaking point by the economic collapse at the end of December 2001.