Argentina began experimenting with a democratic form of government in the 1800s.   After years of fragile liberal democracies and/or authoritarian regimes, Argentina found democratic political and economic stability with the election of Radical leader, Hipolito Yrigoyen, to the presidency in 1916.  This period of stability lasted until the 1929 Great Depression.  The subsequent economic crash devastated Argentina’s fragile economic balance with a sudden decline in export revenues and scarcity of hard currency for import.  Though the Conservative leader of the 1930 coup, Jose Uriburu, attempted to create an oligarchic regime with uncontested political domination and economic prosperity, he was not successful and this period from 1930-1943 is known as the “infamous decade.”  A 1943 coup, the successive rise of Peronism, and acceptance of Eva Duarte (Evita) as a key figure in the Peronist regime drastically changed the political spectrum in Argentina, especially in regards to the rights and role of women in politics.  Argentina entered its third wave of democratization after the 1977 military overthrow of Isabel Peron and the subsequent Dirty War that lasted until 1983.  An interesting aspect of this wave of democratization of Argentina is the important role played by women, namely, the group Las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, whose acceptance was achieved both because of Evita’s public acceptance  and their own determination to find the desaparecido, the disappeared political victims of the Dirty War.  It will be shown that the Argentinean transition to democracy was unique because of the expansive role of Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo, who continue to be a powerful voice for women and social justice in the political arena of Argentina.   

            Colonel Juan Peron was a strong military leader who became a powerful political figure among the officers in control at the end of the infamous decade following the 1943 coup.  Peron emerged into political life as a highly controversial figure who made alliances with labor groups and gained the support of the working and middle class sectors of Argentinean society.    First as the Secretariat of Labor and Social Welfare in 1943, Peron usurped three political positions during the government restructuring, taking over the Ministry of War and the vice presidency in 1944 (Navarro, 232).  At a fundraiser in 1944, Juan Peron was introduced to an actress and radio personality named Eva Duarte.  Even though it was an unacceptable situation because of Peron’s public position and conservative values prevailing at the time, the couple began living together two months after meeting.  During this time, Evita became increasingly involved in Peron’s day to day political life, simply being present during his meetings with politicians and military officers.  That same year, Evita began to broadcast a daily radio program where she publicly promoted Peron’s endeavors on behalf of workers.

            Such labor policies prompted a mass opposition against Peron; a coalescence of all political parties, called the Union Democratica, joined together to bring about his resignation from all three government positions on October, 9, 1945.  Before backing down, Peron gave a radical speech that incited his opponents and lead to his arrest and exile.  The working and middle class masses, called the descimisados, rallied against his confinement, fearing a regression of the labor movement that had seen great success since 1943 when Peron became Secretariat of Labor and Social Welfare.  During his incarceration, Evita, although fearful for her safety, continuously fought for his release but was unsuccessful in attaining a writ of habeas corpus dictating such.  An infamous date in Argentinean history is October 17, 1945: Peron supporters flooded the streets of the Plaza de Mayo and refused to leave until Peron addressed them near midnight from the balcony of the Casa Rosada.  Evita’s dedication to Peron was evident after the crises of his detainment, and they were married within a week.  She continued to gather support for Peron and promised the working class her continued support for their aid in her husband’s release: “she therefore contracted with them an immense “debt of gratitude” which could only be repaid by loving them as they had loved Peron and dedicating her life to them” (Navarro, 235).

            The current fragmented military regime was no longer able to ignore the growing demands for democratization and held elections in February 1946.  Though forced to resign from government by opposition forces less than one year earlier, Evita’s pledge to the working class majority won Juan Peron the support of the Partido Laborista, and the presidency with 54% of the vote (Prevost, 401).  He dissolved the Partido Laborista in favor of a new, more adaptable party, Partido Peronista.  Though her humble origins led the working and rural factions of Argentina to embrace her, Evita’s illegitimate birth, impoverished upbringing, and sordid love life created disdain for her among the Argentinean upper classes.  This opposition from the elite gave her even more determination to be an active participant in the political arena. 

            As Peron assumed the presidency it became clear he could no longer function effectively as the leader of the labor movement.  He had relied upon the support of the descamisados since the October 17th crisis, and recognized the necessity of maintaining control over their movement, as their support was key to his political dominance.  Fearing personal gain of political power for anyone but himself, Peron chose a weak Minister of Labor, who was largely ignored by party leaders as they continued to seek Peron’s guidance.   As “Peron always preferred direct communications with his followers…no meaningful intermediary leaders emerged during his period with the exception of his wife, Eva” (Ciria, 24).  He instilled Evita as his personal representative in the ministry of labor, with a strategic move from her office in the Postal Service building to the Ministry of Labor itself, as she was already meeting with labor officials three times a week.  “ Peron’s decision to rely on Evita for maintaining his personal contact with labor legitimized the activities she had been carrying out since his inauguration and altered their political value significantly” (Navarro, 238).

            In addition to acting as Peron’s labor liaison, Evita organized the Partido Peronista Feminino in 1949, started the Fundacion Eva Peron, carried out a daily radio show spreading Peronist propaganda, and maintained constant involvement with the masses through speeches.   In other words, Evita was gaining political power and acceptance through her public promotions of Peron’s doctrines by evoking emotion among the workers and poor.  Evita was able to garner such support from the masses because of her charismatic personality and acting background that allowed her great comfort when addressing crowds at union rallies in Peron’s name and on her radio broadcast.

“She did not represent a threat to him or to his relationship with the descamisados precisely because she was a woman…As his wife, she was an extension of him, and since all her actions appeared to be endorsed by him…she had a substantial latitude to exert her influence…She gradually made herself into the indispensable link between Peron and the descamisados...’the bridge between Peron and the people’ (Navarro 239).

 Even though Peron faced mounting opposition against his campaign for a constitutional convention to institute presidential reelection, the possibility led factions of union leaders, female activists, and even elected officials to attempt to nominate Evita as a vice presidential candidate.  Evita’s failing health and opposition from military leaders lead her to decline the nomination for the vice presidency (Prevost, 402).  Peron succeeded in his re-election in 1951, receiving 65% of the vote, including those from women in the first Argentinean election in which they were allowed to participate, and in large thanks to Evita’s mobilization of the Partido Peronista Feminino.  In recognition of her contribution to his continued successes, a few days following Peron’s inauguration he granted Evita the title of Spiritual Leader of the Nation, a role she had fulfilled for the preceding five years.  The entire nation of Argentina entered a state of morning after her death from cancer on July 26, 1952.  With over 2000 injuries reported at local hospitals in the day following her passing, from people crowding the streets of Buenos Aires to see her body, and flower shops being completely sold out within the same 24 hour period, Evita’s profound impact on the people and politics of Argentina became increasingly evident.

Juan Peron was unable to continue to mobilize such large majorities of the Argentinean population due to allegations of corruption, scandals, increased repression and his inability to sustain all of the positions through which Evita was able to maintain support.  Peron became increasingly isolated from the descamisados, who had grown to accept and revere Evita as their leader.  Peron was overthrown in September 1955 by a faction of the military who opposed his rule.  The period that followed was marked by rotating successions of authoritarian and civilian governments who were unable to operate and evolve past political instability and economic crises facing the end of the Peronist era. 

Between 1955 and 1973, Peronism was banned by the Argentinean military; however these administrations were forced to allow for transition to civilian rule to escape disaster.  When civilian administrations proved ineffective, they were overthrown by the same military that put them in power.  Military overthrow of legitimate democratic governments became a recurring theme in the Argentinean experience.  “Since 1930, the military has overthrown six legally elected governments, and has ruled Argentina for a longer period than all the democratic governments together” (Agosin, 428). 

Recognizing their failure to make any real progress, the military allowed the reemergence of Peronism in the electorate, but not Peron himself.  In the 1973, Peronist Hector Campora was elected only to resign three months after inauguration in an attempt to initiate a new election in which Peron could participate.  In October 1973, Peron avoided internal divisions within his movement by selecting his third wife Isabel as his vice presidential candidate.  The Peron-Peron ticket was victorious gaining 62% of the votes cast, however Juan Peron died in July of the following year, leaving his widow to succeed him as president and continue the Peronist movement.   

            Isabel Peron was unsuccessful in improving the domestic problems facing Argentineans.  Within three years she had “exacerbated, through a combination of governmental mismanagement, corruption, and authoritarian practices, the domestic strife” present before the reinstitution of Peronism (Prevost, 404).  In 1976, the military overthrew Isabel in response to growing political violence in Argentina. The following seven years constitute the period known as the Dirty War in which citizens were subjected to a regime empowered by torture and fear.

            Disappearances of Argentinean citizens began in 1973, before the death of Juan Peron and continued through the presidency of his wife Isabel until such heinous human rights violations reached a head under the new military government (called the Proceso) after 1976 (Agosin, 427).  The repressive regime instituted a state of terror, involving kidnappings, torture, rape and drowning any opposition to the state: “At first perhaps the victims were known opponents, such as labor union members, university activists, or journalists.  Later the choice of victims came to be what one can only describe as random” (Agosin, 427).  Any compassion for victims or their families could result in one’s own disappearance or death.  Such scare tactics of targeting victims’ families after loss, acted as a tool for military leaders to quiet and maintain strong power against those they considered subversives.

            The definition of ‘subversive’ used by the military was extremely broad:

“Any person might be suspect: a socialist, liberal, social activist, reform-minded Catholics and Jews, a trade union member, an intellectual, a nun, an adolescent, or anyone who remotely or accidentally aided an opponent to the military”  (Krause, 370);  such a broad definition allows for severe brutality that can be somewhat justified by military leaders.  Anyone was subject to the brutality and anger of the military, including for the first time, women, even those who were pregnant, children and the elderly.   The Argentine Constitution was suspended, as was Congress; civil rights were denied.  The military controlled the media and disallowed society to assemble without express permission of the state.

Disappearance and kidnapping, especially of truly innocent children, was an extremely effective tactic capable of instilling fear in the masses, but also a deliberate action to avoid accountability and monitoring by human rights groups (Brysk, 677).  As if the state of terror ran by the Argentinean military was not torturous enough, new styles of abuse emerged: the kidnapping of pregnant women whose babies were taken and adopted to military families. “While disappearances initially paralyzed domestic resistance, the unresolvability of personal loss later perpetuated a high level of mobilization by victims’ families in the human rights movement” (Brysk, 689). 

                  Though not necessarily targeted because of gender, women, seen as vulnerable sexual beings, faced horrifying conditions during the Dirty War.  “Women are often dealt with in particularly brutal ways through repeated rape, prolonged torture, genital mutilation and slow death” (Schirmer, 24).  25% of the disappeared were women, and of these 10% were pregnant at the time of their arrest.  And even more deeply horrifying for Argentinean women at the time was the notion that their children, and unborn grandchildren could be taken with no explanation, and little hope for their return.  This fear being realized as the disappearances continued, mothers and wives began searching for their lost loved ones in 1975. Often when women would go to the police to inquire about their missing loved ones, “they were told: ‘It’s your own fault, Senora, for raising a subversive’” (Agosin, 429).  From this time of desperation and desire to be reunited with the lost, a new group, Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo emerged in 1977.

Though not a formal organization until August 22, 1979, Las Madres began as individual women in ’77 who became a united group fighting for all the lost children of Argentina during the Dirty War, with an over-reaching goal of an established democracy to ensure the rights of a free society, and even continue to fight for human rights today.  Las Madres began meeting illegally in 1977 and held their first public rally, illegally, on April 13th of that year, with thirteen mothers convening in the Plaza de Mayo. Because standing would have qualified as a meeting, which was against the law, the Madres moved around the Plaza in a great circle.  Their second meeting in the plaza drew twenty mothers.  Las Madres slogan became: LET THEM APPEAR ALIVE AND LET THE GUILTY BE PUNISHED!  By December 1977, 300 mothers, wives, grandmothers, daughters and sisters had joined. 

 A unique aspect of Las Madres is that they were the only public protesters against the Argentinean military while the military still maintained power. 1977 was an extremely volatile year for the relationship between Las Madres and the military.  Three months after beginning their demonstrations in the Plaza, the Madres presented 159 writs of habeas corpus in June, and “ on 15 October 1977, some 300 Madres were dispersed from the Presidential Palace by tear gas and arrested by the Federal Police after gathering to present a petition, with 24,000 signatures, calling for investigations into the disappearances” (Schirmer, 7). Las Madres requested a meeting with President, General Videla but were refused.  In December, eleven Madres were kidnapped from the Church of Santa Cruz. Two days later, Madres leader Azucena DeVicenti disappeared near Buenos Aires. Around the same time, two French nuns were kidnapped and disposed of by being thrown out of a helicopter into the ocean; the military later gave this horrific act the nickname “The Flying Nuns” (Agosin, 431).    

            Las Madres became known world-wide in 1978 when the World Cup was held in Buenos Aires, and media from five countries spoke with women in the Plaza, and covered the story in their respective countries. Visibility and publicity were key to the success of the Madres and powerful acts of protest.  The day after the World Cup, lawyers representing the relatives were kidnapped. Some Madres were promised the return of their children if they would only stop the Plaza demonstrations while others were threatened or disappeared themselves. But, “given the public silence about the fate of the disappeared, the relatives alone carried the burden of keeping the memories of their loved ones alive, documenting that they had names, jobs, homes, children, and friends,” the Madres refused to back down after the threats and losses (Femenia, 14).           

            Another unique situation Las Madres faced was their relationship and understanding of the Catholic tradition of women and the role of women in Latin American societies based on a patriarchal model.  Latin American women are shaped by their role in the family as mother and care-taker.  This role is extremely important to the Madres motivation and activism.  Military leader relied on the assumption that terror would dissolve the family bond, but “by offering up their lives in the Plaza de Mayo, the Mothers exploded that assumption and perhaps redeemed their society in the eyes of future generations of Argentines” (Femenia, 10).  The Spanish legacy that treats mothers with respect and veneration still exists in the Argentinean society.  Even during the Dirty War, police officers usually met the Madres with at least superficial politeness and never entered the Madres headquarters. 

Though the institution of the Catholic Church did not support Las Madres, the Mothers used the Catholic ideology of motherhood and “privileged female guilt” to justify their action as responsible for their lost family members (Agosin, 434).  As the assumed custodian if the children and family, women were expected, as Evita was, to be both responsible for the political transgressions of their husbands and children while at the same time being apolitical.  With Evita as a role model, Las Madres saw that their role as protector of the family demands their participation in the political arena.  The Catholic belief in marianismo, the image of The Virgin Mary and the expectation of a woman to uphold purity, emotion and ethereal goodness; Latin American women find themselves in an awkward position of being responsible politically for their family, in defiance of marianismo. 

Latin American belief in marianismo, the counter balance of machismo, maintains that politics pollute the purity of women. “Once a woman is perceived as ‘political’, she becomes ‘tainted’, soiled and, by definition, sexually aggressive and active – she becomes a whore” (Schirmer, 26).  Still, Latin American women remain faithful to Catholic symbolism and have even found ways to use marianismo to their political advantage.  Despite extremely repressive regimes, women were not seen as a threat to the patriarchal head of society, making the task of organizing less difficult or suspicious. 

Interestingly, Las Madres never considered themselves feminists and refuse the concept of their movement to be anything other than a mother’s persistent fight to find the lost children of Argentina.  As one woman explained, “we are mothers, not women. We are looking for our children” (Schirmer, 21).  Of Latin American women’s groups, Las Madres are the only group to formally disallow the participation of men and feel that the inclusion of both sexes would weaken their organization (Krause, 373).  The image of a weak and powerless female offered Las Madres more protection and better means for mobilization.     

The Dirty War would last until a military collapse following the failed invasion of the Falkland Islands in the early 1980s that was simply an effort by a desperate military to divert attention from the growing domestic problems and a foreign debt in the billions; this crises lead to several groups to align themselves with Las Madres.  In 1983 just before the collapse, the military attempted to create a law that would pardon all political crimes, though with the help of Las Madres, the new Congress choose to overturn this rule (Krause, 375).  By 1984 approximately 2,000 criminal complaints had been filed against the military (Crawford, 23). “Even if they did not contribute directly to the fall of the military, they are of great importance as an example to other nonviolent groups in Latin America” (Agosin, 432).

In O’Tooles terms, in 1983 after the Falkland War, the Argentinean government experienced a transition by collapse.  A transition by collapse occurs when an authoritarian regime is pressured through active opposition and war to remove military from government.  The first democratically elected president after the collapse was Raul Alfonsin, who was elected on a human rights platform.  He took the first steps toward justice for the disappeared, but because the military was still involved in politics, and out of fear of more violence, Alfonsin was a dramatically less powerful voice than Las Madres had hoped. 

Procedural democracy emphasizes the existence of “formal political institutions, elections, a representative style government, contestation of political interests, constitutionalism and inclusiveness” (O’Toole, 105).  Democratization of a country occurs in stages, and can both grow and regress in progress toward a consolidated democracy. Democratic consolidation is the idea that political actors have faith in democratic policies, and focus on encouraging conditions to preserve and stabilize democracy. A consolidated democracy considers the democratic state the only acceptable means to settle competition for political office and policy has a greater focus on the relationship of the system and society, and implies a strong belief in and execution of law and procedure. Though Argentina is still a democratic country, it is far from a consolidated democracy.           

There are vast discrepancies between the numbers of lost formulated by the government and those compounded by Las Madres.  When the first democratic president after the 1983 military collapse, Alfonsin ordered an official report of the disappeared by CONADEP, the victory of official recognition of their loved ones was bitter sweet as the official numbers were dramatically lower than those gathered by Las Madres.  Though the CONADEP numbers are devastating, Las Madres were seeking justice for all Argentinean loses, and the official figures, especially for poor urban neighborhoods were drastically lower than figures collected by grassroots activists (Brysk, 683).  The CONADEP figure of disappeared was 8,960 while the numbers collected by Las Madres were closer to 300,000.

After the collapse in 1983, 340 underground detention centers were uncovered.  There were an estimated 1.5 million exiles, as many as 10,000 official political prisoners, and 250 missing children between 1977 and 1983 (Krause, 370).  CONADEP also showed around 150 of the disappeared were under fifteen years old, 125 were older than 60 years old, 268 pregnant women, and a large number of physically incapacitated people were taken.  Still, Las Madres do not feel that the official numbers do justice for their families. For one, the CONADEP report was closed in 1984 and there are new reports of disappearances as late as 1988 (Brysk, 690).  A controversial example of official discrepancies can be seen in the case of disappearances recorded by the State Department in 1980: “The State Department reported only twenty eight new cases of disappearance for 1980 (and only 12…were “credibly documented”).  For the same period, Argentine human rights organization records showed 79 cases- a figure later confirmed by the CONADEP investigation” (Brysk, 683).  Such vast differences in official numbers and the voice of the people cannot be ignored and Las Madres continued their fight for the disappeared. 

“Argentina was one of the few countries in the world to attempt sweeping human rights reforms following its transition to democracy” (Brysk, 679).  Alfonsin arranged a trial of military leaders, saying he would only try those who gave the orders during the Dirty War.  More than 80,000 people joined a Las Madres march on August 2, 1985 demanding justice and punishment for the guilty.  There were more than 1,300 members of the military were implicated for crimes of repression in the hearings conducted from 1984-1986.  Still, only the top 9 members of 3 juntas were tried.  In June 1987, the Supreme Court of Argentina declared constitutional the Due obedience Law.  This law states no member of the military can be prosecuted for the torture and killing of citizens of they were acting under orders, awarding amnesty to nearly 300 officers (Crawford, 17).  As Alfonsin searched for the truth, the military retaliated with a series of uprisings, leading wider trials only to encompass a few violators. Between 1989 and 1990, the next democratic President Carlos Menem pardoned all officers of human rights violations.  Despite such obstacles, Las Madres continued to search for the truth regarding their lost loved ones.

The Madres used several methods of activism to spread their message of justice and human rights.  Along with their weekly march in the Plaza de Mayo, Las Madres publish a newspaper and travel giving speeches both domestically and abroad.  The Mothers fight for basic human rights and by refusing to believe that their loved ones are dead without the production of bodies, these Madres maintain hope: “they translate this vague limbo of uncertainty into a positive force of protest” (Schirmer, 25). 

Las Madres activism has had lasting effects on Argentinean society and public policy.  A major accomplishment was gained by the Grandmothers of the Plaza, who represent the mothers of abducted pregnant women and have been able to locate hundreds of the missing children and have returned dozens to their biological families (Brysk, 680).  A new technique of blood-typing was created specifically to assist the Grandmothers and a National Genetic Data Base has been created.  The Madres have also had incredible impact on women’s groups around the world as an example of the responsibility to pursue justice, truth and freedom with mother’s groups from Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras visiting the Madres to help in the organization of their movement.  Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo also won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.  The Madres are the heroines of Argentina’s human rights movement.    

                        After a close examination of the Argentinean transition to democracy, it is clear that Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo played a significant role in bringing human rights to the fore front of politics. While a consolidated democracy has not been achieved in Argentina, equality, justice and freedom, at least have a voice among the people of Argentina, making consolidation a possibility in the future.  Just as Evita transformed the role of the First Lady, Las Madres altered forever the conception of motherly responsibility and strength in Argentina and across the world.  By studying their accomplishments, an understanding of the unique nature of the Argentinean transition in regards to its relationship with women was unique. 

            Argentina has had a long, troublesome relationship with democracy; a struggle that continues today.  After the Dirty War, the final wave of Argentinean democratization began after the military regime collapsed.  The women of Las Madres had a dramatic effect on this final transition, bringing human rights violations into the spot light of Argentinean politics.  Though the military was not stripped of all power and not all the guilty were punished, Las Madres was able to ensure the protection of future generations of Argentinean children from the same devastating fate.  Activism and persistence allowed Las Madres to create an environment of equality and respect between the citizens or Argentina and their government.

            In conclusion, the unique situation Argentina faced during its transition to democracy resulted from the acceptance of the voice of women in politics that began with the voice of Evita in the 1940s.  Las Madres continued the tradition of accepting the responsibility, political or otherwise, for the transgressions of their children, and used Catholic and motherly rhetoric to strengthen their voices.  By defining themselves as mothers, Las Madres were able to appear unthreatening to the repressive regime, and become a clear force of change in Argentina.  After years of being the only voice of opposition willing to risk their lives for the cause of justice, Las Madres are respected around the world as an example of the power of nonviolent, women’s group.  Agosin explains Las Madres situation with optimism and pride:

“Slowly their healing aura spreads and creates a blue space in this Plaza…They form their sacred circle. Earlier the world watched them and supported them, but silent, fearful Argentina averted its eyes.  Now the country joins them and weeps with them, because the Mothers fight not only for their children but for all children.  They are marching to win all rights due a free people, to make unacceptable any violations of these rights.  The Mothers have a close acquaintance with death, but they are completely committed to life” (Agosin, 435). 

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