Link to National Security Archive: https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/18433-national-security-archive-doc-17-cia-cable
The CIA cable titled “Argentina: Interrogation and Killing of at least Nine Subversives” and the firsthand accounts in Never Again uncover the violent and strategic methods used by the Argentine regime under Jorge Rafael Videla. These documents reveal how the dictatorship systematically used violence, specifically targeting opposition groups like the Montoneros. The CIA cable illustrates how Argentine security forces operated with chilling efficiency, capturing, interrogating, and killing suspected political opponents in a calculated manner. High-ranking Montoneros like Raul Yager were not only tortured for information but later, deaths were staged as though they were accidents and not related to the detentions of people. By staging these deaths, the regime aimed to create a public illusion of legitimacy and control while concealing the extrajudicial nature of its actions.
The cable also sheds light on how military and police forces coordinated to carry out these state-sanctioned killings. In the CIA cable, the actions of the Argentine security forces are described in a detached, official way. For example, when a document says security forces would “arrange for them to die,” it’s using formal language to describe state-sanctioned executions. This type of language makes the violent acts seem routine and masks their brutality, giving the impression that these killings were just ordinary procedures within government operations. Torture was a key part of the regime’s strategy to eliminate dissent and instill terror. When prisoners under torture revealed information about others, this led to further arrests, creating a cycle of violence that dismantled opposition networks.
While the CIA document presents a detached and organized view of these repressive tactics, Retamozzo’s testimony in Never Again brings out the raw suffering endured by the detainees. He describes specific torture methods like “electrodes on the teeth” and the physical reaction of “retching and vomiting” (Nouzeilles & Montaldo, 442), showing how the regime experimented with new ways to break down detainees both physically and mentally. Prisoners were stripped of identity and reduced to numbers, as Retamozzo recounts, I “… was number 11” (Nouzeilles & Montaldo, 443). This form of dehumanization erased any sense of self, possibly as a tactic by the regime to prevent escapees from identifying others, ensuring that survivors couldn’t share the names of fellow detainees with the outside world and further concealing the extent of the repression.
Beyond physical torture, psychological manipulation was a relentless tool. Guards forced Retamozzo to walk up and down stairs as a disorienting tactic, after which interrogators tried to make him question his memories, even suggesting that the pain he endured was less severe than he recalled. The regime’s tactic of instilling self-doubt was designed to make prisoners question their own experiences, isolating them and making it even harder to share their trauma. Although Retamozzo eventually shared his story, these psychological tactics were designed to confuse prisoners and discourage many from talking about what they endured. These forms of psychological manipulation aimed to further break the detainees on every level, ensuring any sense of opposition was thoroughly subdued.
The CIA cable shows that the U.S. was aware of these abuses, but its response was initially muted. Due to Cold War alliances, the U.S. maintained diplomatic ties with Argentina’s military regime in the early years, prioritizing anti-communist objectives over human rights concerns. It wasn’t until the late 1970s under the Carter administration that the U.S. began to take a more critical stance, reducing military aid as reports of human rights violations mounted. However, this shift was seen as slow and limited, underscoring how international silence or hesitancy enables authoritarian regimes to continue their repression unchecked.
Work Cited:
CIA, Directorate of Operations, “Argentina: Interrogation and Killing of at least Nine Subversives,” Secret/Exclusive for, Intelligence Information Cable IN 83 1260378, May 21, 1983, The National Security Archive, Argentina Declassification Project, (Washington, D.C.: The National Security Archive, George Washington University, Digital National Security Archive, 2018), accession number C06698600.
National Commission of the Disappearance of Persons, “Never Again,” in The Argentina Reader: History, Culture, Politics, ed. Gabriela Nouzeilles and Graciela Montaldo (Duke University Press, 2002), 440-47.