When is Truth and Justice Memorial Day?
The Day of Remembrance for Truth and Justice (Día de la Memoria por la Verdad y la Justicia) is a public holiday in Argentina always held on March 24th.
It commemorates those who 'disappeared' under the military junta that came to power in 1976.
History of Truth and Justice Memorial Day
This Argentinian public holiday is held on March 24th, the anniversary of the coup d'état of 1976 that overthrew President Isabel Peron and brought the National Reorganization Process to power. The coup installed the bloodiest dictatorship in the history of the country, led by General Jorge Rafael Videla, Admiral Emilio Eduardo Massera and Brigadier-General Orlando Ramón Agosti.
It was this that started a period of state terrorism aimed at left-wing guerrillas, political groups, and socialists.
During over seven years of dictatorship, Argentine security forces, along with right-wing death squads such as Triple A, hunted down anyone believed to be associated with socialism, left-wing Peronism, or the Montoneros movement. While nearly 10,000 people are known to have 'disappeared' under the junta, the true number may have been much higher as so many documents and records were destroyed by the military. The actual figure may have been over 30,000 students, activists, trade unionists, writers, journalists, artists and any citizens suspected of being left-wing activists were kidnapped, tortured and disappeared. The military junta silenced any political or ideological dissidents, even those seen as antithetical to its neoliberal economic policies.
The period lasted until December 1983 when democratic elections were held to install a new president.
The commemoration was sanctioned as Law 25633 by the Argentine National Congress on August 1st 2002, and promulgated by the Executive Branch on August 22nd of the same year. However, it was not implemented as a public national holiday until 2006.
The day is marked by peaceful rallies and marches by those who lost loved ones during the period. Hundreds of thousands of citizens, relatives of the disappeared people, members of social movements, human rights organizations and left-wing political parties march to the Plaza de Mayo in the capital Buenos Aires to commemorate the victims of the last dictatorship and demand justice for the crimes against humanity committed by the State during that period.
