Far From the Center, Close to Terror. San Rafael, Mendoza

Traces of the last Argentine military dictatorship and its prelude.

Abstract

This paper falls within the field of recent history studies, particularly those focused on the last Argentine military dictatorship. We will analyze a geographical area far removed from the country's major cities, but not from the repressive practices that were prevalent before and during the dictatorship. This area is the San Rafael department in Mendoza province, where state terrorism carried out brutal repression against political and social activists with a territorial base and/or individuals associated with certain political figures. For this analysis, we have relied on documentary research of primary sources, such as diaries, court rulings, among others. We also conducted in-depth interviews with key informants (former political prisoners, relatives of the detained and/or disappeared, and members of human rights organizations). One of the significant contributions of this work is the analysis of the weekly newspaper El Caudillo de la Tercera Posición, due to the intimidation it carried out between 1973 and 1975 against political actors linked to San Rafael, who, along with their associates, subsequently suffered repressive actions. This provides us with elements to support the participation of civilian agents in the call to the military forces for the criminalization of the political opponent.