Tags: Argentina | coup | President Videla

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 marked the 34th anniversary of the military takeover in Argentina. The year 1976 would later be called the beginning of the “Dirty War” in a country already wrought with political confusion...

A short history of why this protest brought so many people to the streets on Friday is needed to better understand the pain many Argentines went through and why they are still trying to get over it.

Many know of Evita and her President-husband Juan Peron, popularized by the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical with the actress Madonna. Evita and Peron were known to many as a couple who aided the poor by taking from the rich and changing curriculum in schools to be based on honoring the President and his wife, thus garnering heavy support.

Some time passed, Evita died, and Peron was exiled. Returning in the early 1970s, Juan Peron was very old and died shortly after assuming office again. His second wife and then-Vice President assumed the Presidency in Argentina, only to be overthrown by a far-right, religious and power military coupe in 1976.

For years the military dictatorship, run by “President” Videla, captured and locked up fathers and sons who were known to be against the group in power. The military came in the night, busting down doors and grabbing the anti-military men and boys.

Many “suspects” were tossed alive out of helicopters thousands of feet up in the air. Others were luckier just to be shot and tossed in the river. Today bodies are still floating up from under water.

This is why March 24th was such a powerful day of protesting. It marked the another anniversary of the start of some terrible years in Argentine history. Partly because many still-grieving Argentines feel the relatively few trials of those accused was not enough (Past President Videla only remains under house arrest). Partly because so many people were affected.

But mainly for the mothers, Las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, who have protested every Thursday afternoon in front of the president's office, had an entire country rallying behind them at one moment, finally getting the recognition they deserved.

To walk the streets on Friday and see the tears drip from the eyes of these mothers who never got to see their fifteen year old son grow up, from daughters who never got to know who their dad was, was a remarkable experience for me.

Just think. Some weekday night you're sitting down for dinner, inside your home because of the imposed curfew by the government, and all of a sudden four men in uniform come tearing through and blindfold your husband and son, carting them away to meet their untimely death. Everyone was affected during the Dirty War, and everyone was on the streets last Friday for the new national holiday of remembrance.

Some may hate the outcome of democracy from time to time; a poorly crafted law or an over-confident president. But no one will argue that the negative side of democracy outweighs the benefits of a dictatorship.

At least not in Argentina.