Argentine students continue to march against the crimes and disappearances of the past

It’s September 16, 1976. The city of La Plata. Buenos Aires, Argentina. Six months into the country’s brutal military regime that would last for seven years. The regime is looking to eliminate opposition to the dictatorship and wipe out so-called subversives. It does not matter the person’s age. 

In La Plata, the previous year, high school students had fought for and won discounted student base fares. The regime now identifies the leaders of this movement and goes after them.

On this evening, at the orders of Battalion 601 and the Argentine State Intelligence Service, members of the Provincial Buenos Aires police force climb into Ford Falcones and drive into the night to find and capture. They drive to sow terror.

It’s known as the Noche de los Lapices — The Night of the Pencils. The police are masked and unidentified. They raid homes in the darkness. They kidnap 10 high school students this evening, the next day, and throughout the week.

The kids are all between the ages of 16 and 18. They’re taken to clandestine detention centers. 

They’re tortured for days. They’re detained for months. Six of them are killed. Their bodies disappeared. Four survive. Living to suffer from the nightmare of their experience and to recount the tale of one of the most heinous crimes of the Argentine dictatorship. One of so many.

But even today… people will not let it be forgotten. They will not be silenced. Not then, not now.

Nearly 50 years later, students march to remember this night. To honor the victims and to continue to demand justice and memory. On September 16, students hold huge rallies at universities and schools around the country, like this one on the streets of Cordoba, Argentina. Hundreds. Thousands marching.

The energy in the crowd is contagious. People hold blue and green smoke flares. The smoke blowing across the crowd of students. Rising into the sky with their voices and their chants. They carry signs, like “30,000″ written in big block letters—the number of people disappeared during Argentina’s military dictatorship. 

Another reads “The Pencils Will Continue to Write”—because this terrible moment of history was known as the Night of the Pencils. They say it’s more important now than ever, as the government of Javier Milei tries to gut funding for schools and higher education and student rights.

Many of the teenagers here are the same age as the kids who were kidnapped half a century before, and they will not let this night be forgotten.

In 2024, Argentine courts handed down 10 life sentences against former police and army officers for their role in human rights abuses and crimes against humanity under the dictatorship. This included the kidnapping and disappearance of the students on the Night of the Pencils.

In Buenos Aires, September 16 today is recognized as the “Day for the Rights of High School Students” in honor of the victims of the Night of the Pencils. 

Hi folks, thanks for listening. I’m your host Michael Fox.

I attended this student march honoring the victims of the Night of the Pencils last year in Cordoba, Argentina. I’m so happy to be able to share this story with you today. I have posted pictures of this protest on my Patreon. You can check those out at Patreon.com/mfox. 

As always, if you like what you hear and enjoy this podcast, please consider becoming a subscriber on my Patreon. It’s only a few dollars a month. I have a ton of exclusive content there, only available to my supporters. And every supporter really makes a difference.

Also… you might be interested to know that there was a 1986 movie made about this horrendous moment in Argentine history. It’s called The Night of the Pencils. I’ll add a link in the show notes to a version in Spanish with English subtitles.

This is the latest episode of Stories of Resistance, a podcast series produced by The Real News. Each week, I bring you stories of resistance and hope like this. Inspiration for dark times. If you like what you hear, please subscribe, like, share, comment, or leave a review.

Thanks for listening. See you next time.