ABSTRACT
The military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983 was one of the more repressive and ruthless governments in the world. Although it is difficult to know the exact figure, estimates of the number of people killed by this regime approach thirty thousand. The methods used were diabolical, almost impossible to believe. People were kidnapped, put in internment camps, tortured, murdered. Men and women were thrown from airplanes into the ocean, bound and alive, never surfacing, never seen again. The details of such deeds sometimes come to light long after victims and even perpetrators of these violations are dead and the regime has ended. Apart from incredulity and horror that specific events generate, there are questions that arise about why governments act in these ways, in spite of international law, in spite of clear norms against such violations.
