Start Year: 2014 – End Year: Ongoing

Project for the organization and access to the archives and documents of the repressive regimes of Latin America

The basic objective of the project is to locate, consult and investigate documentation relating to the victims of the dictatorships of the Southern Cone and repressive governments, with the aim of gathering and relating the information obtained, through the organization of working groups in the different affected countries.

This is a cooperation project for the recovery and organization of archives and documentary funds produced by the various governments of the military dictatorships of Latin America, especially from the 1970s and 1980s, as well as the documentation produced by social organizations defending human rights that have worked over the past decades in the fight for knowledge of the truth, the demand for justice for the victims and affected people, and the restitution of the moral and social rights of citizens. In this framework, the archives and all the information recovered provide documentary evidence or testimonies that can be used to prosecute before the judicial power the political and military leaders of that time for the atrocities they committed. In addition, it can also allow citizens to know the truth about the events that occurred and, if necessary, those affected can claim compensation for the damages they suffered during this political period and have their rights as citizens restored –moral, social, economic or other rights–. With this objective, a census of the archives of the military dictatorships of Latin America is being prepared, promoted by Archivists without Borders together with several working groups of archivists from those countries. Likewise, it has been agreed to use a common working methodology that will make it possible to draw up a homogeneous inventory with a similar structure that will allow the computerized data to be consulted in a global manner.