Human rights abuses during South American military dictatorships

Historical accounts highlight the human rights violations committed during the military dictatorships in Argentina and Uruguay. In Argentina, the commemoration of the National Day of Secondary Student Rights honors the victims of ‘La Noche de los Lápices’. This event, occurring in mid-September 1976 in La Plata, involved the kidnapping and torture of several high school students by the Armed Forces in clandestine detention centers such as the Pozo de Arana and Pozo de Banfield.

Related accounts detail the case of Washington Javier Barrios Fernández, a Uruguayan citizen who became the first Uruguayan disappeared in Argentina. Following an operation in April 1974 that resulted in the deaths of his pregnant wife and two other women, Barrios Fernández was detained in Córdoba. Despite legal proceedings that initially suggested his release, he disappeared from police custody in February 1975. Testimonies place his detention in the ‘Pozos de Banfield’ clandestine center.