WEBVTT - Avenger | 3. The World Cup 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.880 Hello, Avenger listeners, It's Steve Fishman and I'm really glad 0:00:03.880 --> 0:00:06.120 you've tuned in. I hope you love this show as 0:00:06.200 --> 0:00:09.200 much as we do. A quick word on an upcoming 0:00:09.280 --> 0:00:14.160 bonus episode. We're doing a bonus with Miriam, the real Miriam. 0:00:14.440 --> 0:00:18.720 We'll be asking her questions, your questions and getting answers. 0:00:19.040 --> 0:00:21.840 She'll update us on what's going on in her world 0:00:21.880 --> 0:00:26.040 and a lot has Please email your questions or thoughts 0:00:26.200 --> 0:00:32.840 or comments too. Info at Orbitmedia dot fm. Oh and 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:36.120 Fisher Stevens can answer your questions too. He's our co 0:00:36.240 --> 0:00:39.639 founder and resident Oscar winner. He's an actor you saw 0:00:39.680 --> 0:00:43.520 him in Succession and director of actors like al Pacino 0:00:44.120 --> 0:00:48.760 and Justin Timberlake. For Avenger, he directed Alexis Bledel, who 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:52.720 voices Miriam. If we're lucky, Alexis who was the star 0:00:52.760 --> 0:00:56.400 of Gilmore Girls and Handmaid's Tale and is the daughter 0:00:56.440 --> 0:01:01.639 of an Argentine. We'll chip in answers to so let 0:01:01.680 --> 0:01:05.600 us know your thoughts and questions, hopes and prayers. Info 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:12.120 at Orbitmedia dot fm. Thanks. One quick note on the 0:01:12.160 --> 0:01:15.600 production as Andres, our host is about to tell you, 0:01:16.120 --> 0:01:20.640 we translated Spanish interviews into English and then we were 0:01:20.840 --> 0:01:24.000 very excited that we were able to get Alexis Bledell 0:01:24.120 --> 0:01:27.959 to voice the person at the center of this story, Miriam. 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:32.120 Alexis was a star of Gilmore Girls, an Emmy winner 0:01:32.480 --> 0:01:37.080 and Emmy winner for Handmaid's Tale. Also, and crucial for us, 0:01:37.520 --> 0:01:42.160 her father is Argentine. Spanish was her first language. Alexis 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:45.360 told us that she's determined to explore her roots, which 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:48.560 is just one reason her participation in this story has 0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:52.560 been so powerful. In today's episode, Miriam gets a terrible 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:57.760 lesson about the cost of survival. A quick word about subscriptions. 0:01:58.200 --> 0:02:01.720 If you love ads on If you're not so keen 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:05.480 on ads, sign up for True Crime Clubhouse on Apple 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:10.120 Podcasts that entire subscription channel. You'll get no ads, and 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:14.960 also you can binge the entire Avengers series. It's just 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:17.560 two ninety nine a month. Thanks. 0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:22.440 Before we begin, please note that for this story we 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:26.480 interviewed Medium and everyone else for dozens of hours in Spanish. 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:38.320 We hired actors to voice their words in English. By now, 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:42.079 Medium Lewin has been a hostage of Argentina's military junta 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:50.480 for weeks. Her captors tester. She recalls the first warning 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:54.160 she received the day of her kidnapping. If you don't cooperate, 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:59.440 you die. Her captors constantly bring the phone to her cell. 0:03:00.240 --> 0:03:03.040 They want information about her comrades, so they make her 0:03:03.040 --> 0:03:05.360 call the safe house she reported to every day she 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:09.200 was in hiding, and they're persistent despite the fact that 0:03:09.280 --> 0:03:13.040 no one has picked up after dozens of attempts, until 0:03:13.040 --> 0:03:15.119 the day someone breaks protocol. 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:22.160 They were taking me to the location where my friend, 0:03:22.440 --> 0:03:26.800 the guy who broke protocol asked to meet. They blindfolded me, 0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:29.600 and then they put me inside the trunk of a 0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:33.200 Ford falcon. All I could think about was how this 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:37.320 meeting should not be happening. We had agreed on a 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:40.880 protocol with our comrades. If any of us were captured alive, 0:03:41.400 --> 0:03:44.720 pick up the phone, but always assume the person calling 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:49.840 has been compromised. I still don't get why he broke 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:52.880 the protocol, or why he picked up the phone in 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:55.280 the first place and gave me a code with a 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:58.800 meeting location. In that confusion, I was still sure no 0:03:58.840 --> 0:03:59.760 one would show up. 0:04:04.280 --> 0:04:08.080 Medium arrives at the agreed meeting place, closely monitored by 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:08.720 her captors. 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:12.040 It was near a gas station at a busy intersection. 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:16.039 My captors had told me to tap on my head 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:19.640 as soon as I saw my friend. Suddenly, out of 0:04:19.680 --> 0:04:22.560 the corner of my eye, I see someone waving at me, 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:28.159 trying to get my attention. It's my friend. Instead of 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:31.159 tapping my head, I ignore him and immediately look the 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:34.839 other way. But when I turn, my captor is right there, 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:39.599 watching everything, and then he grabs my arm and drags 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:40.120 me away. 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:44.320 Medium's comrade is captured, abducted. 0:04:45.120 --> 0:04:49.279 I see him on the floor. He's bleeding from his stomach. 0:04:50.120 --> 0:04:52.440 They ask me who is he. I tell them I 0:04:52.440 --> 0:04:57.880 don't know him. They take us back to the detention 0:04:58.040 --> 0:05:01.240 center and they drag my friend away. I thought they 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:04.200 were going to torture me for saying I didn't know him, 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:08.400 but instead they just slap me, insult me, and throw 0:05:08.440 --> 0:05:11.000 me back in my cell. But then they leave my 0:05:11.080 --> 0:05:13.880 door open so I would hear everything they're doing to 0:05:13.960 --> 0:05:20.080 him in a nearby cell. The worst torture is listening 0:05:20.080 --> 0:05:24.600 to another person being tortured, the crying, the screaming, and 0:05:24.680 --> 0:05:28.240 not being able to do anything about it. It's worse 0:05:28.520 --> 0:05:29.760 than your own torture. 0:05:31.839 --> 0:05:35.360 Listening to her friend. Medium thinks about her suicide attempt 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:36.560 the day she was kidnapped. 0:05:37.320 --> 0:05:40.320 I was willing to swallow that cyanide pill because I 0:05:40.360 --> 0:05:45.280 wanted to protect my friends so badly, so badly that 0:05:45.480 --> 0:05:46.920 dying was the only option. 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:51.440 But now here she is living a scenario she feared. 0:05:52.160 --> 0:05:54.560 At the end of the day, she collaborated in the 0:05:54.600 --> 0:05:59.400 capture of her comrade, and now she's being tortured too, psychologically. 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:05.440 And when my friend's torture ends, a guard walks over 0:06:05.520 --> 0:06:09.640 to my cell and point blank tells me, by the way, 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:11.559 Juan is dead. 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:15.440 Juan, the guy she had married and got into hiding 0:06:15.480 --> 0:06:16.760 with before her kidnapping. 0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:25.840 I cried for days. They still miss him. 0:06:25.880 --> 0:06:30.560 From Orbit media, I'm Andrescaba Scheedo. This is Avenger, the 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:54.960 story of Medium Lewin Episode three, the World Cup. I've 0:06:55.000 --> 0:06:58.960 spent more than half of my life outside Argentina. Now 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:02.599 as a journalist, reconnecting with my homeland, learning more about 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:05.920 this horrific part of my country's history. I can't help 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:09.760 but ask did people know about what the military junta 0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:13.440 was doing about the clandestine torture centers in the middle 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:17.440 of Buenos Aires. People in Argentina had plenty to worry 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:22.600 about inflation, keeping their jobs, ongoing violence, in the streets. 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:25.920 All of this is happening as the junta prepares to 0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:33.880 host the biggest sports event on the planet in Argentina. 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:37.480 Soccer or football, as most of the world calls it, 0:07:37.520 --> 0:07:42.000 is the ultimate distraction. Argentina had been chosen to host 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:44.280 the World Cup for the first time in its history, 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:55.000 right in the middle of a dictatorship. More people watch 0:07:55.080 --> 0:07:58.520 the World Cup than the Olympics. The Super Bowl doesn't 0:07:58.520 --> 0:08:02.360 even compare for the Junta. That timing couldn't be better. 0:08:03.120 --> 0:08:05.960 There's brutal repression, but that's not what the world's paying 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:10.680 attention to. What everyone sees is a well ordered pageant, 0:08:11.120 --> 0:08:13.480 cheering fans, celebrity athletes. 0:08:14.040 --> 0:08:16.720 Alden Dayocho. 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:25.920 SOCASA said, this event, according to the propaganda machine, shows 0:08:26.000 --> 0:08:30.880 the world what Argentines are capable of, but medium. She's 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:34.640 captive in a small cell inside a Coindestine detention center 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:36.040 in the middle of the city. 0:08:37.280 --> 0:08:41.040 My holding cell was so close to an apartment building 0:08:41.120 --> 0:08:46.160 where regular families lived. I could hear them singing happy birthdays, 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:50.600 and I could hear siblings fighting, a mom calling her 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:55.600 kids to dinner, sounds of dishes being washed, life as usual, 0:08:56.640 --> 0:08:57.440 And there I was. 0:08:58.320 --> 0:09:03.040 Frozen in time not quite frozen. Medium is well aware 0:09:03.280 --> 0:09:04.400 of the World Cup approaching. 0:09:04.960 --> 0:09:09.480 Every morning, the guards would tune into Radio Rivadabya. There 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:13.680 was a show hosted by a legendary sports announcer everyone loved. 0:09:14.880 --> 0:09:17.839 He was pro dictatorship and the junta used him for 0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:22.560 political propaganda. He would announce how many days were left 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:25.280 until the start of the World Cup. Then you would 0:09:25.320 --> 0:09:28.480 talk about how we Argentines were great humans and that 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:32.920 all that talk about human rights violations were nothing but lies. 0:09:35.400 --> 0:09:39.360 For Medium, the psychological torture inside the detention center starts 0:09:39.400 --> 0:09:42.800 getting worse. The captors play good cop, bad cop with 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:45.760 the prisoners, and they tell them that if they cooperate, 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:49.640 if they show remorse for their actions, they won't be punished, 0:09:50.240 --> 0:09:52.720 and that death and harm to their loved ones outside 0:09:53.160 --> 0:09:57.319 is the cost of not complying. Medium has found a 0:09:57.400 --> 0:10:00.280 way to survive. She will play by the room rules, 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:01.640 their rules. 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:05.079 One day they took me out of the cell and 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:07.400 they put me in front of a camera where I 0:10:07.480 --> 0:10:10.880 had to explain why I had chosen violence as a 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:15.480 way to protest against the government. They also asked me 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:17.920 what family, God, and country meant to me. 0:10:18.720 --> 0:10:23.360 She's being forced to apologize for her mistakes. She knows 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:25.800 they're making an example out of her. She had never 0:10:25.880 --> 0:10:28.920 been a violent activist, but she went along with it. 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:33.160 I was absolutely against their values, but I had heard 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:36.959 their rhetorics so much I was very familiar. It was 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:39.240 easy for me to tell them what they wanted to hear. 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:43.160 Days later, they came into my cell and told me 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:45.079 I had saved my own life. 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:03.240 The World Cup was just days away, and I kept. 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:06.160 Hearing that same sports show coming from the Guards radio 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:08.520 with the World Cup countdown. 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:12.240 This massive event that people around the world would tune 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:15.000 in to see. Little did Medium know that she would 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:16.840 soon be thrust into the middle of them. 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:22.439 Get provided by another Privaan and now the beginning of 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:24.800 the arrade of representative. 0:11:26.840 --> 0:11:29.760 The World Cup's opening ceremony takes place at the River 0:11:29.880 --> 0:11:33.319 Plate Stadium in Buenos Aires in front of eighty thousand people. 0:11:34.400 --> 0:11:37.880 On TV, you can see hundreds of pigeons released into 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:38.240 the air. 0:11:39.640 --> 0:11:44.360 This is Augentina, sevent to eight of the eleven World 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:52.120 Cup final sixteen times Tenian. 0:11:57.440 --> 0:12:01.920 The announcer introduces General Horge Raphael Videla, who stands in 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:06.640 front of two microphones. He's ditched his military uniform for 0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:09.960 a gray suit and a blue tie. He looks dapper. 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:12.520 Everyone turns around to face. 0:12:12.360 --> 0:12:16.200 Him, Senor, Senor. 0:12:26.720 --> 0:12:29.840 In his speech, Midela talks about the World Cup bringing 0:12:29.920 --> 0:12:39.959 happiness to the entire country, about diversity, unity, Yes, the EVENTO, 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:44.319 and then he calls on God, the Lord. He talks 0:12:44.440 --> 0:12:48.319 about how the event affirms world peace. It's a pass 0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:58.839 that piece that we all long for, he says, I 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:00.640 know what it's like to be a sess with the 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:04.040 World Cup. I wasn't alive yet in nineteen seventy eight, 0:13:04.400 --> 0:13:07.280 but I grew up watching countless video replays of the 0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:12.319 final game. A ruthless striker Mario Kempis taken on the 0:13:12.400 --> 0:13:26.959 Dutch defenders, the entire stadium erupting with each goal. I 0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:30.199 recently went back to Buenos Aires. I took a tour 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:33.520 of the stadium where that final took place during the dictatorship. 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:37.520 One thing that took me by surprise was how close 0:13:37.679 --> 0:13:43.439 the stadium was from those who were being tortured. When 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:46.319 the tour ended, I got into a cab, and about 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:48.920 a mile away from the stadium, we passed the very 0:13:49.040 --> 0:13:53.600 building where Medium was imprisoned. It's behind a black iron gate. 0:13:54.360 --> 0:13:58.319 There's big trees and these stately white pillars, and above 0:13:58.400 --> 0:14:02.719 them the words etched them Black. The Naval School of Mechanics, 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:08.200 also known as ESTHMA. There's nothing clandestine about this building, 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:11.839 but in nineteen seventy eight during the World Cup, what 0:14:12.000 --> 0:14:14.040 went on inside was kept secret. 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:22.080 The stadium was just blocks away. Depending on the direction 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:24.120 of the wind, we could hear the sounds of the 0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:27.840 euphoric crowd seeping into the torture chambers. 0:14:31.680 --> 0:14:34.640 And if the wind blew in a different direction, Medium 0:14:34.680 --> 0:14:37.760 could still hear the World Cup madness coming from the 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:40.480 radio that the guards huddled around in the hallway. 0:14:44.760 --> 0:14:49.080 The World Cup stirred rage inside me. I felt helpless. 0:14:49.200 --> 0:14:53.440 It was painful because the World Cup blinded all Argentines 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:58.080 from what was happening, and we the disappeared were the 0:14:58.280 --> 0:15:00.600 number one victims of that blindness. 0:15:04.440 --> 0:15:09.240 That disappeared or disapparicidos the term given to people who 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:15.960 were kidnapped and never heard from again. Inside Esthma, Medium 0:15:16.040 --> 0:15:20.760 starts noticing something new. Prisoners who showed more resistance were 0:15:20.840 --> 0:15:23.280 starting to be quote transferred. 0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:28.760 The transfers happened on Wednesdays, and they would tell people 0:15:28.840 --> 0:15:31.160 they were taking them to a ranch in the south, 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:33.880 where they would have a better life and where they 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:35.480 would be re educated. 0:15:36.680 --> 0:15:41.480 Five thousand prisoners passed through the detention center. Medium was 0:15:41.520 --> 0:15:44.600 among the few, just three hundred or so who survived. 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:49.280 She had convinced her captors that she was reformed, that 0:15:49.400 --> 0:15:54.200 she had repented from her leftist sins. The reformed prisoners 0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:57.440 were being kept in detention and forced to work jobs 0:15:58.280 --> 0:16:02.680 mundane stuff like the cells doing laundry. But if a 0:16:02.760 --> 0:16:07.200 prisoner had special skills, they'd get a special assignment. Medium 0:16:07.280 --> 0:16:11.400 had studied journalism, and that's useful to the junta. She's 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:15.320 assigned to the press office. In exchange, she's rewarded with 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:16.560 better living conditions. 0:16:17.240 --> 0:16:20.880 We got to sleep on beds with sheets, We could shower, 0:16:21.440 --> 0:16:23.440 We had access to phones we could use to call 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:26.160 our families, and I was allowed to make short calls 0:16:26.200 --> 0:16:28.320 to my parents to let them know I was alive. 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:32.440 During the first year after my kidnapping, I would call 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:34.240 them and I would tell them I was in hiding. 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:39.080 They didn't know I'd been captured. When my mother asked 0:16:39.120 --> 0:16:41.440 me where I was, I would just tell her I 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:45.400 couldn't say for safety reasons. I would assure my parents 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:48.520 I was okay, and they believe me. 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:52.760 The men in charge of everything that happens at the 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:58.040 detention center is Navy Admiral Emilia Massea. He helped orchestrate 0:16:58.080 --> 0:17:01.160 the coup. He'd like to be president, and he's been 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:05.600 assigned a crucial task for the junta. Admiral Maceda is 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:10.760 running the propaganda campaign. News about human rights violations in 0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:14.240 Argentina is heating up in the international press ahead of 0:17:14.280 --> 0:17:17.760 the World Cup. Marcera's job is to spin a counter 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:22.360 narrative that the junta is creating law and order. Part 0:17:22.440 --> 0:17:26.080 of that effort is masterminded by an American public relations 0:17:26.119 --> 0:17:30.920 firm hired by the junta, Burson Marstellar. It turns out 0:17:31.240 --> 0:17:34.640 that hiding the truth is one of the PR firms specialties. 0:17:35.280 --> 0:17:38.959 Their involvement helping dictatorships and other immoral types clean up 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:43.879 their image was part of Burson Marstellar's portfolio, and before 0:17:43.960 --> 0:17:47.240 Medium was captured, the junta was already putting its PR 0:17:47.320 --> 0:17:52.960 plan in action. Their target audience the United States, Great Britain, Canada, 0:17:53.359 --> 0:17:56.360 and a handful of other countries where news of torture 0:17:56.640 --> 0:18:03.480 is becoming a political problem. So ahead of the World 0:18:03.520 --> 0:18:06.879 cup William F. Buckley Jr. Is invited to record his 0:18:07.000 --> 0:18:10.000 PBS show in Buenos Aires in front of high school students. 0:18:10.960 --> 0:18:14.040 Buckley seems like a safe bet for the junta. He's 0:18:14.119 --> 0:18:16.720 known to be friendly with the powers that be, a 0:18:16.840 --> 0:18:18.520 law in order advocate. 0:18:18.760 --> 0:18:22.359 As I understanded, as I understanding you're interest in human rights, 0:18:22.680 --> 0:18:25.359 your INSIDR rights, I'm inst in human rights, and we 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:27.439 think that general be then as interested in your right right. 0:18:28.480 --> 0:18:32.080 One of Buckley's guests is the US Ambassador to Argentina, 0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:37.399 Robert Hill. Oddly, it's the US Ambassador who gets agitated 0:18:37.760 --> 0:18:39.639 and starts interrogating Buckley. 0:18:40.080 --> 0:18:42.320 What caused the human rights problems the Buckley in your 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:45.719 opinion in Argentina, Well, what caused the human rights problem 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:50.240 is a series of reports by people who are allegedly 0:18:50.359 --> 0:18:56.199 innocent who have disappeared. Essentially that the failure of the government, 0:18:56.359 --> 0:18:58.320 who releases the names of those who doesn't. That's not 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:00.000 that's not correct in my opinion. 0:19:00.560 --> 0:19:03.359 It's not a hard hit against the dictatorship. But even 0:19:03.440 --> 0:19:08.040 this soft criticism from Buckley was unexpected, so the US 0:19:08.119 --> 0:19:11.440 Ambassador quickly jumps in to set the record straight. 0:19:11.840 --> 0:19:14.120 The human rights problem was caused by the terrorists. 0:19:15.040 --> 0:19:16.440 They were killing innocent people. 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:21.600 Week two months after this interview, Medium is kidnapped off 0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:27.600 the streets. Now Medium finds herself deep inside the junta's 0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:28.520 propaganda machine. 0:19:29.280 --> 0:19:32.520 I also knew English and French, so they asked me 0:19:32.640 --> 0:19:34.720 to help out in the translations department. 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:38.680 She scans foreign newspapers to see what they're saying about 0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:43.240 Argentina and the dictatorship. She writes articles for media sources 0:19:43.359 --> 0:19:44.399 controlled by the junta. 0:19:44.840 --> 0:19:48.040 We were hostages. They would tell us what to write, 0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:50.600 and one day they asked me to write about the 0:19:50.680 --> 0:19:53.960 World Cup. They brief me to make sure the script 0:19:54.040 --> 0:19:58.320 had a patriotic spirit, a nationalist tone. I knew none 0:19:58.359 --> 0:20:01.639 of us had guarantees of coming out alive simply for 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:05.399 being part of the staff. And sure I could have 0:20:05.880 --> 0:20:08.560 resisted and earned myself a spot on a death flight, 0:20:08.720 --> 0:20:10.679 but I wanted to live. 0:20:19.040 --> 0:20:21.879 Less than a week until the World Cup final. Former 0:20:22.000 --> 0:20:25.679 US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger lands in Buenos Aires. 0:20:26.880 --> 0:20:29.440 It's not just an American pr firm that is burnishing 0:20:29.480 --> 0:20:33.439 the junta's image. Kissinger is invited to the games by 0:20:33.480 --> 0:20:39.280 his friend, the dictator, General Videla. Kissinger had helped orchestrate 0:20:39.359 --> 0:20:42.600 Nixon's war in Vietnam. He helped organize the rights of 0:20:42.680 --> 0:20:46.880 Chili's dictator at Gusto Pinochet, and he supported Videla's claim 0:20:47.119 --> 0:20:54.960 to impose law and order in Argentina. At the airport, 0:20:55.240 --> 0:20:59.600 he's welcomed by journalists and military officers in uniform. The 0:20:59.680 --> 0:21:03.320 class if I transcripts show that Kissinger was briefed soon 0:21:03.400 --> 0:21:07.159 after Villela took power. He was told to expect to 0:21:07.280 --> 0:21:11.040 quote a fair amount of repression, probably a good deal 0:21:11.119 --> 0:21:15.359 of blood in Argentina before too long. He doesn't seem 0:21:15.400 --> 0:21:20.000 to mind in about the military junta. He responds, quote, 0:21:20.520 --> 0:21:24.560 whatever chance they have, they'll need a little encouragement, because 0:21:24.600 --> 0:21:30.840 I do want to encourage them. End quote. By now, 0:21:31.320 --> 0:21:35.160 Kissinger is no longer Secretary of State, but his visit 0:21:35.480 --> 0:21:38.960 helps legitimize the dictatorship in the eyes of the world. 0:21:45.920 --> 0:21:49.680 On June twenty fifth, nineteen seventy eight, Argentina plays the 0:21:49.760 --> 0:21:54.320 World Cup final against Holland. Video from the opening ceremony 0:21:54.600 --> 0:21:59.119 shows hundreds of soldiers and military bands marching. Kissinger is 0:21:59.200 --> 0:22:05.560 there too. Then General Videla makes his entrance, anal pal 0:22:09.000 --> 0:22:15.159 who's excellent. Yes, the announcer calls Videla, his excellency and 0:22:15.560 --> 0:22:23.520 commander in chief and excellent your president. General Videla makes 0:22:23.560 --> 0:22:26.720 his way through the stands and sits next to Navy 0:22:26.800 --> 0:22:30.640 Admiral Marcera, the top boss at Esthma and the man 0:22:31.000 --> 0:22:34.760 leading the propaganda campaign that Medium is now helping to implement. 0:22:47.680 --> 0:22:50.840 Medium is watching the game live from inside the prison. 0:22:54.359 --> 0:23:01.160 You stop your mob of the casino stopt. 0:23:00.920 --> 0:23:04.760 And they forced us to watch the games. Some of 0:23:04.880 --> 0:23:08.240 my fellow captives, I must confess, sometimes got carried away 0:23:08.359 --> 0:23:13.600 by emotions and embrace their tortures. When Argentina scored, it 0:23:13.760 --> 0:23:15.520 made me sick to my stomach. 0:23:23.840 --> 0:23:27.280 With less than five minutes left, Argentina scores the third 0:23:27.359 --> 0:23:31.480 goal and clinches its first World Cup title ever a 0:23:31.760 --> 0:23:53.520 Cana Canina. The sounds of people celebrating seep through the 0:23:53.600 --> 0:23:58.280 walls in the windows of the colandestine center. Suddenly, a 0:23:58.400 --> 0:24:00.800 guard in the hallway starts yelling out names. 0:24:01.560 --> 0:24:06.200 I hear my name and my friends Gracila Valleo. The 0:24:06.280 --> 0:24:09.320 guards took us outside with a dozen other people, and 0:24:09.400 --> 0:24:12.880 then they forced us into a car that was part 0:24:12.920 --> 0:24:13.640 of a convoy. 0:24:15.119 --> 0:24:18.040 The gate opens and they drive out into the mass 0:24:18.040 --> 0:24:27.520 of people. It's pure euphoria. The guards instruct Medium and 0:24:27.600 --> 0:24:30.840 Gracila to look out the car windows and look happy 0:24:31.400 --> 0:24:36.359 like everyone else. Gracila asked for permission to stick her 0:24:36.440 --> 0:24:37.960 head out of the car sunroof. 0:24:39.080 --> 0:24:41.439 People were getting out of their cars to hug one 0:24:41.480 --> 0:24:46.359 another on the sidewalks. We drove through traffic slowly. It 0:24:46.520 --> 0:24:49.080 was incredible, so many people. 0:24:55.920 --> 0:24:59.920 The cars with Medium and Gracila eventually stop. They part 0:25:00.240 --> 0:25:07.040 in front of a restaurant. The waiter puts some tables 0:25:07.080 --> 0:25:10.320 together while the guards order pizza and beer and share 0:25:10.320 --> 0:25:14.160 it with their prisoners, including a woman that Medium knows 0:25:14.440 --> 0:25:16.480 they had just raped and tortured. 0:25:17.119 --> 0:25:20.760 People were literally jumping on top of the tables. There 0:25:20.880 --> 0:25:25.920 was no end to it. It was pure, uncontrollable joy. 0:25:27.480 --> 0:25:33.160 And I sat there silent pale. I looked at my friends, thinking, 0:25:33.720 --> 0:25:37.320 how do they not realize we're being held captive? How 0:25:37.359 --> 0:25:42.360 do they not know these men are torturers. It made 0:25:42.440 --> 0:25:46.240 us think that the dictatorship would easily last another forty years. 0:25:47.760 --> 0:25:50.800 At one point, her friend Razila gets permission to use 0:25:50.880 --> 0:25:54.720 the bathroom. Once there, she takes out a red lipstick 0:25:54.920 --> 0:25:56.960 one of her captures had given her so she would 0:25:57.000 --> 0:26:00.480 look like any other woman celebrating with their friends. With 0:26:00.600 --> 0:26:06.200 the lipstick, she writes the words quote military murderers, Maceda 0:26:06.520 --> 0:26:10.399 the murderer, all over the walls. She goes back to 0:26:10.480 --> 0:26:13.560 her table. They sit watching people dance. 0:26:18.040 --> 0:26:22.080 What Graciela did was basically a modest act of rebellion. 0:26:23.040 --> 0:26:26.280 It was a statement. There wasn't much else we could 0:26:26.359 --> 0:26:29.840 do to say. We were kidnapped right at that moment, 0:26:30.240 --> 0:26:35.159 out in the open. It was completely unthinkable. No one 0:26:35.240 --> 0:26:38.920 would have believed us. For me, it would have been suicidal. 0:26:39.400 --> 0:26:42.359 It would have put my friends' lives in danger. It 0:26:42.480 --> 0:26:46.400 was like another form of torture, another test of how 0:26:46.560 --> 0:26:49.600 submissive we were. The junta had won. 0:26:52.440 --> 0:26:55.719 After about an hour, Medium and Grazila are taken back 0:26:55.760 --> 0:26:58.720 to the Clendestine Center to be tortured by the sounds 0:26:58.760 --> 0:27:00.800 of joy that would contain you through the name. 0:27:02.960 --> 0:27:06.080 The way the dictatorship used this passion shared by the 0:27:06.240 --> 0:27:11.360 Argentine people. It was just horrible. It's hard to think 0:27:11.400 --> 0:27:11.800 about it. 0:27:25.480 --> 0:27:29.160 In the next episode, Medium and Giancarlo continue their hunt 0:27:29.240 --> 0:27:33.880 for the planes, and they finally come across one promising lead. 0:27:34.760 --> 0:27:37.240 On one list, there was a plane called the Rio 0:27:37.320 --> 0:27:40.880 Grande for more than a decade. It sat there, motor less, 0:27:41.280 --> 0:28:04.800 right under our noses. From Orbit Media, This is Avenger, 0:28:05.240 --> 0:28:08.480 the Story of Medium Lewin. I'm your host and Senior 0:28:08.560 --> 0:28:13.720 producer Andrescavachedo. The series was produced by Seguiel Rodrie Sandino 0:28:13.960 --> 0:28:19.359 and edited by Monica Campbell. Original score Nicolas Paschela, mixing 0:28:19.440 --> 0:28:24.479 and mastering Christopher Hoff and Austin Smith. Assistant producers Andres 0:28:24.640 --> 0:28:30.200 Feschtenholz and Eleana Gillespi. FactCheck Alejandro Marinelli and leonardos Canone. 0:28:30.720 --> 0:28:35.879 Legal review Neil Rossinia, Casting director Paula Gammon Wilson. The 0:28:36.000 --> 0:28:40.480 executive producers from Orbit Media are Steve Fishman Fisher, Stevens, 0:28:40.840 --> 0:28:45.160 Marcy Wiseman, and Katie Springer. The voice actors in Avenger 0:28:45.480 --> 0:28:49.840 include Alexis Bloddell as Medium Lewin, Fulio de la Volta 0:28:50.000 --> 0:28:55.120 as Giancarlos Siraudo, Gonzalo Vargas as Enrique Pinedo, Edgardo Manono 0:28:55.200 --> 0:28:59.920 Castro as Bruno Vain and Tom Schubert as Carlos, Macosmiliana 0:29:00.160 --> 0:29:04.720 and Gustavo. This podcast was produced in association with Sonodo. 0:29:05.320 --> 0:29:10.160 The Sonoto executive producers are Camilla Victoriano, Joshua Weinstein, and 0:29:10.320 --> 0:29:13.800 Jasmine Romero. The rest of the Sonoda production team includes 0:29:14.160 --> 0:29:20.160 Senior producer Carmel Gratol, editor Rodrigo Crespo, Producer Paloma Navarro, Nicoletti, 0:29:20.560 --> 0:29:26.120 Evelyn Urivea, Marianna Cornelo, Sara Mota, Manuel Parra, Hanna Baram 0:29:26.440 --> 0:29:30.680 and Tasha Sandoval. Special thanks to Radio and CASA and 0:29:30.800 --> 0:29:35.080 Pomeeranek Recording Studios in Buenos Aires, and to Medium Lewin 0:29:35.240 --> 0:29:38.640 and Giancarlo Serraaldo for letting us tell their story. Thank 0:29:38.680 --> 0:29:39.320 you for listening. 0:30:02.280 --> 0:30:05.840 A quick word about subscriptions. If you love ads, listen on. 0:30:06.480 --> 0:30:08.960 If you're not so keen on ads, sign up for 0:30:09.080 --> 0:30:15.720 True Crime Clubhouse on Apple Podcasts no ads and also Bingeability. 0:30:16.080 --> 0:30:19.680 You can hear the entire Avenger series all at once. 0:30:20.320 --> 0:30:21.800 It's just two ninety nine a month.