La Plata recalls 46th Anniversary of "The Night of the Pencils"

[Judi Lynn]

Saturday, September 17th 2022 - 10:12 UTC

Groups of survivors, students, and other human rights organizations Friday commemorated the 46th anniversary of the massacre known as “The Night of the Pencils” (La Noche de Los Lápices) in the Argentine city of La Plata where the atrocities committed by the military dictatorship were perpetrated.

“At 46 years, being in La Plata, where the walls speak to me and the streets bring me the absences, but being surrounded by so many young people and flags is restorative, it is a good tribute and a good opportunity to talk about the past in our present,” survivor Emilce Moler told Hoy.

She also pointed out that the issue has been discussed with the younger generations “so that it never happens again, so that political differences are never again settled through weapons.”

Starting Sept. 16 and over the next few days, state terror groups kidnapped students who had been demanding a special bus fare for students to the Arana clandestine detention centers where they were tortured for weeks.

More:
https://en.mercopress.com/2022/09/17/la-plata-recalls-46th-anniversary-of-the-night-of-the-pencils

[peppertree]

1. Thank you for posting this, Judi.

Much like some Republicans like to pretend certain ugly chapter never existed, Argentina's right-wingers will tell anyone who'll listen that either a) they deserved it; or b) if the Dirty War did happen, it killed far fewer than it actually did.

Some even take selfies in front of old Ford Falcons (the preferred car of the 'task forces'), with messages to the effect that "it should happen again."

And they still call these (and hundreds of other) teenagers who lost their lives at the time, "terrorists."

A few may have been in some cases - but these kids never hurt a soul. They merely had the audacity to ask for a provincial subsidy pass for bus fare and school supplies - which, amid 500%+ inflation at time, was hardly unreasonable.

The subsidy pass was restored in, I believe, 2014, under Cristina Kirchner's administration.

If you have 90 minutes to spare, here's a good docudrama - subtitled! - on that tragedy, made several years after the fact (shortly after democracy was restored).

Have a great weekend, Judi, and All the Best.