Being the head of the national reconciliation commission in Argentina I realize my mission and the mission of the organization. Argentina is in the period of renewal, or, to be more correct, in the period of adoption of new to our land, democratic principles. The fact that the process of our society’s democratization is on the initial stage makes the situation more complicated. There are lots of different tasks we should cope with, many aspects we should examine, and a variety of national problems we need to deal with before starting the way of reconciliation in Argentina. I believe that that the process of democratization we would choose would be connected with national obstacles which do not allow our society to become a civilized community. Nevertheless, there are several possible paths we may choose. That is why the commission and I should analyze all possible variants and choose the most appropriate for our country.
To begin with, the people of El Salvador should realize that the commission on the truth was created to investigate a violation of human rights, an offense because of which citizens of Argentina suffer. On the one hand, it would help and promote the process of crimes investigation. On the other hand, it would be the first step for democratization and realization by citizens of Argentina of their rights. Our Truth Commission was established only at the end of the twentieth century, after the Dirty War ended, in 1983. The Commission aimed to investigate the destiny of people who disappeared after it. As a result “we have discovered close to 9000 of these unfortunate people who were abandoned by the world” (Report of considering). The goal of our organization is to explore the reason for the violation, main and minor branches in which the violation is held. Still, I cannot but admit that the Truth Commission of Argentina has some limitations. One of them is the absence of total access to the examination of criminal cases of all levels. It means that we could not inquire about the cases which were ultra vires. On the other hand, “in the course of our investigations we have been insulted and threatened by the very people who committed these crimes” (Report of considering). So, we can do nothing when we are not supported by the government in full.
Nevertheless, the Commission was created to follow the principle of justice. The thing is that many people who committed crimes against citizens of Argentina, as well as other Latin-American countries, had held an opinion that they are more equal than others. Still, my aim and aim of the Commission is at least to try to set moral principles and get rid of mistakes of the previous governments. One of the main principles which are based on the Commission policy is the practical investigation of anti-human crimes. The guideline of our work is to uncover, reveal and punish deeds that were committed against people. My colleagues and I are sure that reconciliation is impossible without a complete understanding of the term “justice”. We follow the statement that concealment is the wrong way to the process of democratization and reconciliation. As a result, we succeeded in many cases, revealed criminal deeds, and promoted imprisonment or other types of punishment. For example, as a result of our work Antonio Domingo Bussi is “under house arrest, he is facing either a trial here in Argentina or, failing that, extradition to Spain, where he is also wanted for crimes against humanity” (Argentina Revisits ‘Dirty War’: Will General Be Tried?). We face many difficulties with this case because even though the general is accused of many awful things many people support him. In this aspect, we meet contradiction: many people suffered because of the general’s policy, still, what we see nowadays is the absence of oppression to offenders. I mean that it is very difficult to conduct the policy of justice when people who suffered from this or that person of a group of people keep silent. After we investigated several cases connected with the Dirty War, “in 1986 and 1987, Congress, faced with threats of military uprisings, passed a pair of amnesty laws that prevented any further prosecutions” (Argentine Congress Likely to Void ‘Dirty War). That is why I may assure you that even though we are fighting for the maintenance of justice and democracy in our country, we face lots of obstacles that do not allow us to follow our mission.
Our principle of justice and truth contradicts the principle of forgiveness. To illustrate the importance of this guideline I need to refer to the film Discovering Dominga. The woman who decided t uncover crimes that were committed against her nation, her village, and relatives, did not want to forgive the people who killed the whole village (Discovering Dominga). The cases we investigate are not connected with personal mistakes, they are not crimes that are committed as a result of an affective state. The cases we deal with are the thought-out, preconceived plan of the holocaust, they are crimes against the nation.
The history of our work is not long. Still, it is a firm step towards reconciliation. There are some changes which are to be made in our society. We are not the first and not last people who are involved in the fight against tyrannies. To succeed in the process of democratization and reconciliation we need to follow examples of successful and effective policies which are led in other countries of the word. We do not need to search for it. In Chile “President Ricardo Lagos, the courts, opposition parties, and even the military are searching for ways to achieve the reconciliation they all say they want” (Chile’s Leader Presses Rights Issues Softly but Successfully). The work of the Truth Commission is the collaboration on all levels of the country: from the president to the country. They united to find those whose who are guilty of the crimes against the nation. Moreover, the president of Chile offered to introduce the victims of the previous governments’ crimes. On the one hand, we need to follow the benefits of our neighbors, and on the other hand, their example allows us to omit the mistakes they made. Moreover, the realization of the reconciliation importance should begin in the minds of ours citizens. It is very difficult to fight for those who do not want to be rescued but keep silent. We should provide people with information about their rights and examples of those who did not wish to stand aside but decided to fight for the truth. The example of Denise Becker is very bright. Such films should be distributed in all parts of our country.
Works Cited
“Discovering Dominga”. American Documentary, n. d. 2010.
“Report of Conadep (National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons)”. n. d. 2010.
Rother, Larry. “Argentine Congress Likely to Void ‘Dirty War’ Amnesties”. The New York Times, 2003.
Rother, Larry. “Argentina Revisits ‘Dirty War’: Will General Be Tried?” The New York Times, 2003.
Rother, Larry. “Chile’s Leader Presses Rights Issues Softly but Successfully”. The New York Times, 2003.