Pinochet's dictatorship in Chile is relatively well known in the UK, but
what happened during the Argentine dictatorship, 1976-83, when thousands
of men, women, and children were subjected to state terrorism, remains
largely unknown. The book describes the secret detention camps, the
disappearances, the kidnapping of hundreds of babies and small children.
It is based largely on eyewitness accounts gathered by CLAMOR, an
ecumenical group of volunteers in São Paulo, Brazil which was backed by
the Catholic church and the World Council of Churches. The group was
instrumental in finding the first 'disappeared' children to be located,
and contributed to the search for many others.
The book also covers the situation in the other South American countries
ruled by military dictators, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and Bolivia, where
CLAMOR supported local human rights organizations and sent missions. The
group was one of the first organizations to denounce the collaboration
between the security forces of the dictatorships, involving cross-border
kidnappings, torture and murder of dissidents, which later became known
as Operation Condor.
Clamor's work involved careful, daring and at times dangerous work, and
this book has the intensity and excitement of a crime or spy thriller.
Because CLAMOR closed its doors when the region returned to democracy,
its role has gone largely unreported. As a founder member of CLAMOR,
with access to all the archives, Jan Rocha, Journalist and former
Correspondent for the BBC and the Guardian, is in a unique position to
tell its story. She concentrates on eyewitness accounts, including her
own, and on the question of the children, not only those kidnapped, but
those left behind when their parents disappeared.
The book also fills a gap in understanding why the UK government, and
Europe as a whole, reacted so differently to the human rights situation
in Chile and Argentina.
