‘Never Again’: Thousands Protest Against Argentine Dictatorship

BUENOS AIRES, 25 March 2025 (BSS/AFP) – Tens of thousands of Argentines took to the streets of Buenos Aires on Monday to mark the 49th anniversary of the coup d’état that led to a brutal military dictatorship, blamed for the disappearance of approximately 30,000 people.

Carrying torches and holding up photographs of their missing loved ones, demonstrators gathered under the banner of Memory, Truth, and Justice on Argentina’s National Day of Remembrance.

As protesters demanded justice, the government announced plans to declassify intelligence files related to the actions of the armed forces during the 1976-1983 dictatorship. The files will be transferred to the National Archives, according to government spokesperson Manuel Adorni. The move comes amid accusations that President Javier Milei has sought to downplay the crimes committed under military rule.

Call for Justice and the Ongoing Search for the Disappeared

Human rights organisations estimate that around 30,000 people were forcibly disappeared during the dictatorship. Among the victims were pregnant women, whose babies were taken from them at birth and illegally adopted—an atrocity that remains an open wound in Argentine society.

"We have identified 139 of these stolen children, but we believe there are at least 400 more still out there," said Estela de Carlotto, a prominent member of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo movement, which has spent decades searching for the disappeared.

"We need the whole of society to help us find them—it is never too late. The State has an obligation to restore these children to their true families," she urged during Monday’s march.

Argentina’s military dictatorship was one of the most violent of the authoritarian regimes that cast a shadow over Latin America from the 1960s to the 1980s, characterised by torture, extrajudicial killings, and systematic repression.

Criticism of Milei’s Administration

President Milei has sparked outrage by questioning the widely accepted number of desaparecidos (the disappeared), a stance that has drawn strong criticism from human rights activists and families of the victims.

Several demonstrators carried signs condemning Milei, whose austerity policies have resulted in job losses within the country’s human rights secretariat and funding cuts for memory sites established where former torture centres once operated.

"Milei, garbage, you are the dictatorship!" protesters chanted, waving Argentine flags and wearing scarves embroidered with the words Nunca Más (Never Again).

Despite coming just weeks after violent clashes between police and pensioners protesting government cuts, Monday’s demonstration remained peaceful.

"For me, it is more important than ever to be here today," said Maria Eva Gómez, a 57-year-old shop worker marching alongside her husband and three teenage children.

"We live in a democracy that came at the cost of so much innocent blood. The only way to protect it is to remember what happened," she added.

Context and Lasting Impact

The scars of the dictatorship continue to shape Argentina’s political and social landscape. Many former military officials have been convicted of crimes against humanity, though trials remain ongoing.

Public memory initiatives, such as the ESMA Museum and Memory Site, located in a former torture centre, serve as stark reminders of past atrocities. However, recent cuts to these institutions have raised concerns that the government may be seeking to erase history.

For many Argentines, the chant of Nunca Más is not just a slogan—it is a solemn commitment to ensuring that history never repeats itself.