MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina opens “dirty war” files except those related to South Atlantic conflict

The Navy’s Mechanic School, a notorious death and torture centre during the “dirty war”

Argentina declassified and has made public all documents and information related to military activities for the period extending from 1976 to 1983 when the country was ruled by the Armed Forces, However decree 4/2010 excludes all information and documents related to the South Atlantic (Falklands/Malvinas) conflict and any other inter-state conflict”.

The decree published Wednesday in the Official Gazette is aimed at clarifying human rights allegedly committed by the military during the so called “dirty war”. Legislation from 2007, decree 44/07, had already exonerated from keeping secret information all those linked to intelligence services and who had been called by the courts to declare.

“The classified information and/or documents with restricted public access were not committed to the protection of legitimate interests of a democratic State but rather served as a means to hide the illegal actions of a de facto government”, affirms the decree.

The decree adds that 25 years after the re-establishment of democracy in Argentina “it is not possible to continue to keep such information inaccessible under the argument that it would threaten state security” or in any other category of “security” that impedes from knowing recent Argentine history, curtailing the right of the community to learn about its past.

The decree adds that declassifying documents has become more necessary with the recent reopening of numerous human rights cases involving intelligence personnel from the military and police forces of the time.

Thousands of opponents to the military regime and political dissidents disappeared during the period extending from 1976 to 1983.

The South Atlantic conflict in 1982 and defeat of the Argentine military following the recovery of the Falkland Islands by the British Task Force helped to accelerate the downfall of the Argentine de facto regime and return of democracy in 1983.