Salvi, Valentina. ‘We’re All Victims’: Changes in the Narrative of ‘National Reconciliation’ in Argentina – 2015

In her article, Valentina Salvi describes a major turn in how Argentine military officers, their descendants, and supporters narrate the military dictatorship (1976-1983). During the first democratic decade, this narrative triumphantly framed the military as the “victors in the antisubversive war” (41) and the defenders of democracy against the communist threat, who had to kill and repress in order to save their country. In the mid-2000s, however, in the midst of the reopening of the trials for crimes against humanity, military officers are re-framed as “victims of terrorism” (43), martyrs who died at the hands of the guerrillas, and yet are willing to forgive their “attackers” for the sake of national unity. According to Salvi, this shift reverses the victim-perpetrator relationship and brings about a tangible effect in the rhetoric of national reconciliation. By forgiving and thus entitling itself to be forgiven, this group attempts to secure impunity and close down the debate about the past through a notion of “mutual forgiveness” (48). In addition, through the discursive construction of an “undifferentiated victimhood” (48) guilt becomes fuzzy, the crimes of state terrorism are obscured, and perpetrators are exonerated morally and legally. As Salvi succinctly summarizes – “where everyone is a victim no one is guilty” (48).

By looking into the way in which the Argentine military writes and rewrites the memory of the dictatorship, Salvi aligns herself with previous work on the topic by authors like: Lucía Brienza, Ludmila da Silva Catela, Claudia Feld, Marina Franco, Aldo Marchesi, and Beatriz Sarlo among others.

For further reading see:

Brienza, Lucía. “La escritura de la historia del pasado reciente en la Argentina democrática.” Anuario del Centro de Estudios Históricos «Prof. Carlos S. A. Segreti», no. 8 (2008): 223-241. Accessed March 19, 2019. https://cehsegreti.org.ar/archivos/FILE_00000142_1341259856.pdf.

Brienza, Lucía. “Relatos en pugna sobre el pasado reciente en Argentina: las visiones militares sobre los años setenta desde Alfonsín hasta el primer gobierno de Menem.” Revista Temáticas 17, no. 34 (2009): 71-104.

Da Silva Catela, Ludmila. “Pasados en conflicto: de memorias dominantes, subterráneas y denegadas.” Problemas de historia reciente del Cono Sur. Edited by Ernesto Bohslansky, Marina Franco, Mariana Iglesias, and Daniel Lvovich. Buenos Aires: Prometeo Libros, 2010: 99-123.

Feld, Claudia. “La construcción del ‘arrepentimiento’: los ex-represores en la televisión.” Entrepasados 10, no. 20 (2001): 35-53.

Franco, Marina. “Reflexiones sobre la historiografía argentina y la historia reciente de los años 70.” Nuevo Topo. Revista de historia y pensamiento crítico, no. 1 (2005): 141-164.

Marchesi, Aldo. “Vencedores vencidos: las respuestas militares frente a los informes ‘Nunca Más’ en el Cono Sur.” Memorias militares sobre la represión del Cono Sur: Visiones en disputa en dictadura y democracia. Edited by Eric Herschberg and Felipe Agüero. Madrid: Siglo XXI: 157-207.

Sarlo, Beatriz. Tiempo pasado: Cultura de la memoria y giro subjetivo. México: Siglo Veintiuno, 2006.

Author of this entry: Sofia Forchieri

Salvi, Valentina. “‘We’re All Victims’: Changes in the Narrative of ‘National Reconciliation’ in Argentina.” Latin American Perspectives, vol. 42, no. 3, 2015, pp. 39-51. doi:10.1177/0094582X15570890.