The Night of the Pencils (in Spanish: ''La Noche de los Lápices''), was a series of kidnappings and forced disappearances, followed by the torture, rape, and murder of a number of young students during the last Argentine dictatorship, also known as the National Reorganization Process.
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In March 1976 the Argentine military seized power following a coup d'etat. The military junta then implemented what was called the National Reorganization Process which was a set of policies used by the regime to oppress resistance to its rule. The process included kidnappings, torture and murder. Meanwhile the Montoneros, a leftist guerilla group, responded violently to the junta and its actions as they enlisted other Argentines to join their campaign against the regime. Those enlisted included young, left-wing, politically active students who formed an organization named the Union of High School Students of La Plata. The UES was committed to achieving school reforms and other political reforms, through demonstrations and protests that irked the ruling regime.[1]
The circumstances of the kidnappings, in conjunction with the testimony of one of the survivors, Pablo Díaz (a self-confessed supporter of the ERP-backed Guevarist Youth[2]an underground organization that was to lose 369 militants disappeared when it was discovered that this group was going to mount armed attacks[3]during the 1978 World Cup held in Argentina), are widely believed to validate the hypothesis that the kidnappings were a direct consequence of these protests and their activism. However, it is the belief of other survivors, such as Emilce Moler, that the student's benefits' demands had no direct bearing on the kidnappings, but rather it was the mere fact that the students were considered to be Montoneros militants by the military regime that was the catalyst for the kidnappings and forced disappearances.[4]
Jorge Falcone, the brother of one of the kidnapped students, María Claudia Falcone, has maintained that her activities against the military dictatorship went beyond student protests, and that on the day she was kidnapped she was hiding weapons in her aunt's residence and was prepared to use them. [5] He wrote his sister was not a victim, or a martyr, but a hero of the Montoneros[6].
He also defended his sister's commitment to the Montoneros guerrilla movement in Argentina:
"My sister wasn't Little Red Riding Hood who the wolf gulped down. She was a revolutionary militant. […] The militant was the type who in a moment could send a molotov flying in a lightning act... They could also carry out support action in a major military operation."[7]
Whatever the exact reason for the kidnappings and murders the junta was undoubtedly fearful of the Montoneros and others who orchestrated opposition to the military junta. Thus they sought to destroy any opposition including the UES. Colonel Ramon Camps, leader of the Batallón de Inteligencia 601,and his superior, general Miguel Etchecolatz, were tasked with eliminating the UES. Camps and Etchecolatz's campaign, which would come to be known as the Night of the Pencils, to dismantle the UES began at 12:30am on September 16th, 1976.[8] It concluded five days later on September 21,1976 when Camps' henchmen kidnapped the student, Pablo Diaz. Diaz was taken to a detention center, joining his fellow high school activists, where they were tortured and some were murdered or reported missing and presumed murdered. Diaz, however, was one of three from that period of September 16-September 21, to be released by the captors.
The 10 kidnapped students were alleged activists and student militants, as well as members of the High School Student Union of the city of La Plata. The students were held for months in several illegal detention centers, where they were tortured, some of them raped, and ultimately presumed murdered. Only 4 of the 10 detainees are known to have survived. The other six, according to testimony by survivor Pablo Diaz, were executed in the first week of January, 1977. [9] The kidnapped students were:
| Name | Age (in 1976) | Date of Disappearance | Current Status | Additional Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| María Claudia Falcone | 16 | September 16 1976 | Murdered | The daughter of a former mayor of a La Plata Peronist, Falcone joined the UES soon after attending Bellas Artes. Following 1973, she became involved in schools and health departments in poor neighborhoods of La Plata. In 1975, Falcone actively participated in the campaign for the Secondary School Ballot (Boleto Escolar Secundario-- BES).[10] She was kidnapped from her grandmother's house along with her friend María Clara Ciocchini. According to her brother Jorge Falcone, she was a Montoneros militant. |
| Claudio de Acha | 17 | September 16 1976 | Murdered | After Héctor Cámpora's victory in '73, Acha participated in the takeover of the Colegio Nacional de la Plata for its democratization. After Juan Perón's death, Acha joined the UES. He participated in protests for the BES.[11] Acha was kidnapped while at the house of Horacio Ungaro. --> |
| Gustavo Calotti "Francés" | 18 | September 8 1976 | Survivor | Calotti was a graduate from the Colegio Nacional. By the time he was kidnapped, Calotti had become a police cadet. He had fought in the UES, but in '76 he had left and become more involved in left-wing groups. [12] Although kidnapped on September 8, he is considered a survivor of the "Night of the Pencils" due to his association with the other students. |
| María Clara Ciocchini | 18 | September 16 1976 | Murdered | A student of Catholic schools, Ciocchini participated in the scouting and the UES parish of Bahia Blanca. Because of the crimes of the Triple A (Argentine Anticommunist Alliance) and the CNU (Concentracion Nacional Universitaria) in that city, Ciocchini moved to La Plata at the end of '75, where she enrolled in Bellas Artes. She lived in the home of María Claudia Falcone.[13] Ciocchini was kidnapped along with María Claudia Falcone. --> |
| Pablo Díaz | 18 | September 21 1976 | Survivor | As the son of a Peronist right-wing university professor, Díaz was expelled from a Catholic school and ended up in "La Legión" (The Legion). He had fought in the UES, but in 1976 Díaz was active in La Juventud Guevarista (The Guevarist Youth).[14] Kidnapped on 21 September 1976. In 1985 he made his experiences public while testifying in court. According to the book Political Violence and Trauma in Argentina, he was a militant of the ERP that was planning to attack during the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. |
| Francisco López Muntaner "Panchito" | 16 | September 16 1976 | Murdered | The son of a Peronist oil worker, Panchito fought for the UES of Bellas Artes. Along with Claudia Falcone, he participated in volunteer work in poor neighborhoods and in the struggle for the BES in 1975.[15] --> |
| Patricia Miranda | 17 | September 17 1976 | Survivor | She had not participated in, nor did she belong to, any political or militant organizations. [16]She was held until March 1978. |
| Emilce Moler | 17 | September 17 1976 | Survivor | Daughter of a retired inspector commissioner and UES militant in Bellas Artes.[17] |
| Daniel A. Racero | 18 | September 16 1976 | Murdered | Son of a Peronist naval officer who died in 1973, Racero worked as a messenger even as a child. When he joined the UES of Normal N.3 de La Plata, Racero wrote: "I found a trench to fight for a just cause." He administrated vaccinations, fixed housing and worked for schools in poor neighborhoods and participated in the conquest of the BES. [18] Racero was kidnapped in the house of Ungaro Horace. --> |
| Horacio Ungaro | 17 | September 16 1976 | Murdered | Born to a Communist family, in 1974, Ungaro broke the family tradition and joined the UES of Normal N. 3. He participated in the struggle of the Coordinator for the BES. Ungaro worked at slum schools located behind the La Plata racetrack.[19] He was kidnapped on 16 September 1976. --> |
Details of the Night of the Pencils were provided by the two of the three survivors from that September 16-21 period. Emilce Moler said: "They tortured us with profound sadism. I remember being naked. I was just a fragile small girl of about 1.5m and weighed about 47kg, and I was beaten senseless by what I judged was a huge man" and "after about a week at our first detention centre, we were all taken to another place in a truck. At some point we stopped and some of my friends were taken out. Those are the ones that disappeared."[20] Moler also claimed to not know why some UES members were allowed to live and others were tagged for death. While Pablo Diaz testified: "in Arana, they gave me electric shocks in my mouth, my gums, and my genitals. They tore out one of my toenails. It was very usual to spend several days without food."[21]
In September 2011, nearly two dozen junta officials were charged with crimes against humanity for their respective roles in the Night of the Pencils. Among them was Miguel Etchecolatz, 82, who is already serving a life sentence for other crimes committed during his time as an officer in the regime.[22]
Today the victims of the Night of the Pencils are remembered, along with thousands of other victims of the dictatorship, on March 24, the Argentine Day of Remembrance for Truth and Justice. Night of the Pencils is also now seen as the opening salvo in Argentina's Dirty War.
The saga of the students' ordeal was depicted in Hector Olivera's 1986 film Night of the Pencils. While the testimony of Pablo Díaz, the last survivor to be released, served as the basis for a song with the same title by Canarian singer Rogelio Botanz.