Declassifying Records Will Shed Light on US Role in Argentina

President Barak Obama’s recent decision to unseal U.S. files on Argentina’s “dirty war” is particularly valuable to us, since it will confirm our denunciations of the abuses by the Argentine military on that country’s civilian population.

President Barack Obama (L) walks with Argentine President Mauricio Macri as he pays homage to the victims of Argentina's "dirty war" at the Parque de la Memoria (Remembrance Park) in Buenos Aires on March 24, on the 40th anniversary of the 1976 military coup. Obama paid tribute to victims of Argentina's former Washington-backed dictatorship at a memorial on the banks of the River Plate, a monument to the estimated 30,000 people who were killed or went missing under the 1976-1983 military regime. Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

In 1979, with Paul Heath Hoeffel, I wrote “Missing or Dead in Argentina: The Desperate Search for Thousands of Abducted Victims.” For this article, published as a cover story in The New York Times Magazine, we received the 1979 Overseas Press Club of America award for the best article on Human Rights. For that article, I used the pseudonym Juan Montalvo, to protect my family in Argentina from possible military reprisals.

President Barak Obama’s recent decision to unseal U.S. files on Argentina’s “dirty war” is particularly valuable to us, since it will confirm our denunciations of the abuses by the Argentine military on that country’s civilian population.

Obama's decision to unseal U.S. files on Argentina's 'dirty war' ... will confirm our denunciations of the abuses by the Argentine military on that country's civilian population.