Identifications

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Miguel Angel Pintos (left), 25 years old, kidnapped on February 5, 1977 in Berazategui, city of Buenos Aires, remains disappeared. The photo reads 'Year 1975: An Unforgettable Friend'. (Photo: Courtesy of the Pintos family)

This section is dedicated to the 'disappeared' people, primarily of Argentina, whose remains have been identified by EAAF. Most of these victims 'disappeared' under the military government that ruled Argentina between 1976 and 1983.

This section provides brief biographical information about the lives of the 'disappeared' that have been identified, in addition to EAAF's investigation on each case. Permission has been granted by the families of those individuals.

EAAF will continue to update this section periodically as other identifications are made in Argentina and may expand this section in the future to include identifications made by EAAF in other countries.

Identification Methodology in Argentina

Horacia Oscar Garcia Gastelú, who was disappeared from the home of his girlfriend while serving mandatory military service. With a gunshot wound in the back of his skull, Garcia's remains were found by EAAF in 1987 and were returned to his family for reburial.

Locating the remains of the 'disappeared' involves extensive historical research, including the analysis of bureaucratic documents, and conducting interviews with survivors, among many other tasks. (For further explanation about the research in Argentina disappearance, please see Argentina section in country reports). This extensive work is necessary due to the particular complex and clandestine nature of repression in Argentina. In most cases, after a person was kidnapped by security forces, he or she was taken to one or several of the more than 300 illegal detention centers that operated at the time in Argentina. There, he or she was tortured, and unfortunately, in many cases killed.

In some cases, victims were sedated and thrown into the sea from airplanes. Others were executed and buried in anonymous graves in the free areas of municipal cemeteries. Since it is very difficult to find the remains of those who were thrown into the sea - only approximately 30 bodies have been recovered - EAAF focuses on the recovery of the latter cases.

An EAAF member takes samples for the blood bank in Argentina. Photo: EAAF.

Once the location of the remains is ascertained, EAAF determines whether a recovery is possible. It is imperative to make this distinction as in some cases, although the burial site has been located, upon arrival it is discovered that the person's remains have been removed from the sepulture and put into a general ossuary, where they can no longer be recovered. According to municipal decree in Argentina, if after five years the sepulture of an indigent or of a John or Jane Doe is not paid for, the remains can be removed and placed in a general ossuary. Fortunately, some graves have remained untouched due to vacancy in particular cemeteries. In other cases, the judiciary ordered that certain areas of cemeteries thought to contain the remains of disappeared persons, not be disturbed. These orders protect these graves, allowing for further investigation.