The US government has submitted declassified documents on the Argentine dictatorship

(From Washington) Germán Garavano did not hesitate to describe this event as "historical". At an official ceremony, the Minister of Justice and Human Rights received this morning in the North American capital about 43,000 declbadified archive pages of the last military dictatorship. Some relevant elements: the documents of security agencies, intelligence services and other sectors of the US government, which are now made public, cover the period from 1975 to 1984, one year before the coup d'etat. Military state, when Isabel was still in power. Perón, a few months after the departure of people in uniform, after the return of democracy with the government of Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín. Unlike previous declbadified materials, these contain almost no deletions.

David Ferriero, National Archivist of the United States, handed the Minister a white box containing six CDs containing all the contents of the files, 97% without any censorship, a percentage considered very high. What remains secret, he said, is linked to other countries. "This project is fundamental, it went through two administrations, it took 30,000 hours of work for 320 people"said the US official.

Ferriero then read a message from the president Donald Trump directed to Mauricio Macri in which he emphasized the coincidence between the two governments in the defense of truth, transparency and democracy. "I hope this downgrade will help the Argentineans to heal their wounds", transmitted the North American general agent.

This is the latest and most important series of secret documents from 16 US government agencies, including the CIA and the FBI, that put an end to a process that required many years of effort on the part of the United States. Argentine government. and human rights organizations. Previous deliveries took place in August and December 2016 and the third in April 2017, as part of the process of opening the secret initiated under Barack Obama's presidency.

President Mauricio Macri announced the new delivery of the archives on 24 March, Remembrance Day, also emphasizing that the documents "will constitute a fundamental element for justice to advance in the causes of the past, still pending", of the "Remembrance Day". one of the times. darkest of the history of Argentina ".

Visibly moved, Garavano repeated these words and told the headquarters of the National Archives Administration that this opening of the archives "would do justice" after so many years.

"It is very important that Argentina learn from the past and not repeat mistakes."said the Minister of Justice.It is the result of the efforts of many people"he added, and in particular stressed the" tireless "task of the Argentine human rights organizations that, for years, have promoted the process and supported their requests for declbadification.

The initial request to reveal the secret of this material, which could shed light on the years of military repression, came from Argentinian human rights organizations, including CELS and the grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo. Today, however, there were no representatives of these organizations in the law.

"The declbadification project – Argentina, the largest distribution of declbadified documents among governments in US history, reflects the US government's historic commitment to transparency, accountability and respect The families of the victims continue their quest for truth and justice, and downgrading these documents makes it possible to face the past with honesty and transparency, and these documents support the efforts of the United States. Argentina to bring to justice those responsible for violations of human rights, "explained the embbady in Buenos Aires.

It began in 2000 with a promise to the mothers and grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo to help clarify cases of human rights violations. It lasted almost 20 years and included four presidencies. Until now, the United States government has handed over about 6,000 documents relating to missing persons under the Argentine military government. In today 's final delivery, more than 5,600 new documents, including 2,100 from the State Department, have been added. The clbadification project – Argentina has resulted in the delivery of approximately 50,000 pages of documents.

"To our knowledge, the information is very detailed, many cases are already completed and convictions have been pronounced, but in other cases, these documents can simplify the procedures and serve as evidence for pending trials", added the Argentine minister.

The boxes with the files will arrive in Argentina next week, by diplomatic bag.. An official delivery will then be made to the General Archives of Memory, which work in the former ESMA, where they will be available.