The newly declassified documents from the U.S. government show that the United States was fully aware of the forced disappearances, torture, and executions carried out during the dictatorship of Jorge Rafael Videla in Argentina (1976–1981). A 1980 draft of the annual human rights report from the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires states that detainees were routinely tortured during interrogation and then executed without trial. These records also show the internal debates within the Jimmy Carter administration, which tried to pressure Argentina on human rights but struggled to balance that goal with broader geopolitical concerns, especially slowing Soviet influence in South America. This tension defined the U.S. diplomatic approach: alternating between pressure and cooperation.
MATIAS JOFRE 