Pinochet's dictatorship in Chile is relatively well known in the UK, but what happened during the Argentine dictatorship, 1976-83, when thousands of men, women, and children were subjected to state terrorism, remains largely unknown. The book describes the secret detention camps, the disappearances, the kidnapping of hundreds of babies and small children. It is based largely on eyewitness accounts gathered by CLAMOR, an ecumenical group of volunteers in Sao Paulo, Brazil which was backed by the Catholic church and the World Council of Churches. The group was instrumental in finding the first 'disappeared' children to be located, and contributed to the search for many others.
The book also covers the situation in the other South American countries ruled by military dictators, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and Bolivia, where CLAMOR supported local human rights organizations and sent missions. The group was one of the first organizations to denounce the collaboration between the security forces of the dictatorships, involving cross-border kidnappings, torture and murder of dissidents, which later became known as Operation Condor.
Clamor's work involved careful, daring and at times dangerous work, and this book has the intensity and excitement of a crime or spy thriller.
Because CLAMOR closed its doors when the region returned to democracy, its role has gone largely unreported. As a founder member of CLAMOR, with access to all the archives, Jan Rocha, Journalist and former Correspondent for the BBC and the Guardian, is in a unique position to tell its story. She concentrates on eyewitness accounts, including her own, and on the question of the children, not only those kidnapped, but those left behind when their parents disappeared.
The book also fills a gap in understanding why the UK government, and Europe as a whole, reacted so differently to the human rights situation in Chile and Argentina.
