Adrián Grünberg judged the crimes of the State Intelligence Secretariat (SIDE) in the clandestine detention center known as Automotores Orletti, condemned those responsible for the Condor Plan and also handed down a sentence against Jorge Acosta and Alberto González for the violations in the Navy Mechanics School (ESMA). As a judge of the Nation, he heard some of the most chilling testimonies in Argentine history. From that experience came Manual on State Terrorism in Argentina (Editorial Octubre), which was presented this Monday in the Carlos Gorostiza room of the 48th Buenos Aires International Book Fair with the presence of its author, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Taty Almeida and Hugo Soriani.
The general director of Page 12 He defined the event as “a meeting between friends” and said: “A while ago Adrián Grünberg came, whom I knew because of his great career as a judge. Unfortunately these cases stand out quickly because we are not used to having failures with condemnations of the genocides like those dictated by the Federal Court of which he is a participant. For Editorial Octubre it is an honor to have this book.” Furthermore, he explained that the volume proposes “a panoramic view of Argentine history” – reviewing tragic episodes such as the bombings of 1955, the terrorism of 1976, the Onganía coup or the Trelew massacre– and invited us to think about the FIL as a space for endurance with beacons such as Pérez Esquivel, Almeida or even Liliana Heker and Alejandro Vaccaro, who “with their speeches dotted the i’s.” “Right now voting is taking place. “a law that shames and destroys the country”said Soriani.
Pérez Esquivel, for his part, appreciated that the book appears in the category of “study manual” and is designed “so that everyone can understand it in a simple way” without having to resort to the language of jurists. He Nobel Peace Prize He assured that memory is not to stay in the past but rather “illuminates the present because from there we can build a new dawn” and described the current moment as “the obscurantism of the homeland.” “It is difficult to swallow the denialism “After so many years of struggle, this is very dangerous,” he warned. Whoever survived the death flights confessed that the book led him to relive many things. “We always try to find meaning in life. We suffer a lot but we do not lose our smile. That has to do with the struggle, resistance and rebellion of a people that does not resign itself to being slaves”, stood out, and recalled the way in which the genocidaires assumed the role of “lords of life and death” in those years.
The Nobel clarifies that the military did not go crazy overnight but rather they were educated through the National Security Doctrine. “All this was for defend the interests of the United States, The objective was to damage the social, cultural and political institutions of the country,” he said. “The homeland is in danger, then and now. The country is not for sale but today they want to undersell it. And what do we do? “Do we remain passive?” Pérez Esquivel is surprised that the political opposition does not raise its voice against what is happening. “Only the base of the suffering could transform that pain into the strength to love. Mothers, Grandmothers and human rights organizations transformed that into a different energy for rebuild the homeland.” Another point that stood out was the courage of the Argentine justice system at that time, since it set an important precedent because “those who committed crimes against humanity were not tried with ad hoc courts but through ordinary justice.”
Taty Almeida He greeted “everyone and everyone” – as is his custom – and celebrated the didactic nature from the book. “Reading it one realizes why we tell the vice president that here There was not a war but a genocide. There were not two demons but one. That demon threw three of our mothers alive into the Río de la Plata, raped political prisoners, tortured pregnant women, took their children and then murdered them. “This denialism is reprehensible,” criticized the representative of Mothers of Plaza de Mayo Founding Line, and celebrated that little by little they managed to pass the baton of this collective struggle to the new generations.
Almeida also said that “You don’t have to be afraid of the word militancy or commitment” because that was precisely what the 30,000 missing people did, including his son Alejandro. “Despite the canes and wheelchairs, the ‘crazy’ ones are still standing,” he stressed. Taty also appreciated the way in which the author narrates the history of Triple A to make it clear that State terrorism in Argentina began before 1975. “That is also memory,” he said, and recalled that This Tuesday marks 47 years since the first round in Plaza de Mayo. “We are not going to achieve anything separately, we have to come together”: that is what Azucena Villaflor said and marked a key milestone in history.
The author of Manual on terrorism… started with several thanksconfessed that it was “an honor, a pride and a satisfaction” to find out that he would share the table with “two gold medals”, but clarified that “it is not a joy because we are not presenting a book of stories or a fiction novel but “a horror manual.” He recalled that the project began at the end of 2022 and that he had always wanted to write about his experience as a judge in cases against humanity. “It is not an academic book intended for judges and lawyers but for the general public, especially to the new generations.” That is why it lacks legal technicalities and includes simple words and easy-to-read paragraphs.
In the structure of the book, each chapter is headed by a question mark because the author was inspired by Quintilian’s seven classic questions, So Grünberg listed those axes in the talk: who it was (he develops the plan there), why it happened (ideological and doctrinal background), how it came about (historical background and trials of horror), what State terrorism was (definition based in Strassera’s allegation), how they did it (the core and most extensive part that involves kidnappings, torture, sexual abuse, murders and disappearance of bodies), with what aid it was possible (political propaganda, media, business complicity , ecclesiastical and judicial) and finally where it occurred (the Latin American region affected by Plan Cóndor).
The writer reaffirmed the idea that “there were 30 thousand” based on documentary and objective sources, and also shared the dedication to Carla Graciela Artés Company, a girl just over a year old who was appropriated and abused by an Orletti repressor until she was 10 years old. “I want to extend tribute to all the victims, to those who survived and those who did not,” Grünberg concluded.
