Issue and Opponent: On March 29, 1976, Jorge Rafael Videla was appointed President by a military junta. As a former Army General, he became the leading dictator. Videla and his government exercised repression by kidnapping and killing students, intellectuals, priests, artists, political activists, journalists, and professionals every day. On April 30, 1977, 14 mothers bravely ignored the warnings from their friends and families when they decided to march in defiance against the Argentinian dictatorship. Their purpose was to raise awareness for the disappearance of their sons, whom the regime wished to keep buried, as they were deemed “traitors” to the state. The direct order by the Argentinian regime known as the National Reorganization Process was created to silence dissenters to the regime from 1976 to 1983. They were responsible for the disappearance of approximately 30,000 people. This figure may be slightly skewed, given that they could not be formally reported as “missing” due to the nature of state terrorism. The regime targeted anyone deemed a social or political threat. While grieving their lost children, 14 mothers marched in Buenos Aires outside the government houses and demanded information on the return of their children and friends who disappeared. Dilemma Action: The mothers wore white headscarves to symbolize their struggle and the justice they demanded as they marched around the square- the Plaza de Mayo. They returned every Thursday to pray and often demanded answers from the police passing by. They began to grow in numbers from this day forward. They carried newspapers and notebooks to swat at the police dogs which were sometimes released on them. These demonstrations were part of a larger campaign against military dictatorships and their repression in Argentina. Thousands of citizens and foreign reporters were going missing every year.
Outcomes: There are very few recorded accounts of children being returned to their mothers after a military release. The majority of the disappeared remained unaccounted, while more began to disappear.