WEBVTT - Avenger | 6. Miriam in Court 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 --> 0:01:13.479 at Orbitmedia dot fm. Thanks. In today's episode, a Miracle, 0:01:14.160 --> 0:01:18.679 imagine that you're in a cargo plane. You're naked and 0:01:18.800 --> 0:01:23.240 chained to a seat. You're drowsy for medication. You hear 0:01:23.360 --> 0:01:27.960 a rear door open, you feel a sudden wind, and 0:01:28.000 --> 0:01:31.520 you know what's in store. You're about to be tossed 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:37.280 out of a plane into the ocean when, though you 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:41.319 don't know it, a phone rings in the cockpit. The 0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:46.600 caller wants to talk about your destiny. A quick word 0:01:46.640 --> 0:01:50.880 about subscriptions. If you love ads, listen on. If you're 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:53.920 not so keen on ads, sign up for True Crime 0:01:53.960 --> 0:01:59.160 Clubhouse on Apple Podcasts. That's our subscription channel. You'll get 0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:04.040 no ads, and also you can binge the entire Avengers series. 0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:05.960 It's just two ninety nine a month. 0:02:06.600 --> 0:02:07.640 Thanks. 0:02:08.720 --> 0:02:11.840 Before we begin, please note that for this story we 0:02:11.960 --> 0:02:15.760 interviewed Medium and everyone else for dozens of hours in Spanish. 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:24.760 We hired actors to voice their words in English. It's 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:28.360 nineteen seventy seven, the year that Medium Lewin is kidnapped 0:02:28.360 --> 0:02:32.160 and imprisoned. Someone else is in a cell too, in 0:02:32.240 --> 0:02:38.280 a different part of Buenos Aires. Adolfo Peres Esquiel a sculptor, painter, 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:43.280 a well known writer and political activist in Argentina. Very 0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:47.679 few people dared to speak against the military, but Adolfo did. 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:52.320 His criticism had reached other countries. He was an international figure. 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:57.200 How did the junta react? He was disappeared. But for 0:02:57.240 --> 0:03:01.560 a regime increasingly conscious of its global imag disappearing a 0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:14.960 famous activist is a delicate matter. At dawn one morning, 0:03:15.480 --> 0:03:19.200 a guard wakes up, a chains him and tells him 0:03:19.320 --> 0:03:26.360 he's being transferred. That's Adolfo in a TV interview talking 0:03:26.400 --> 0:03:30.440 about what happened. He knew that being transferred meant he 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:34.720 be put on a plane, a death flight. Adolfo is 0:03:34.760 --> 0:03:43.320 taken to an airstrip and loaded onto a small military Planeacium. 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:45.880 They chained his legs to a seat near the cargo 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:51.600 door in the back. He looks out the windows and 0:03:51.720 --> 0:03:54.280 notices they're flying over water in. 0:03:54.280 --> 0:04:00.400 Circles Jella the y. 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:04.560 He sees this dark mass, the riot and the lights 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:08.440 off the Uruguayan coast. He asked the soldiers what they 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:11.960 were going to do with him. No one responds by 0:04:13.960 --> 0:04:19.800 a cal comiosa manipulata. Adolfo sees an official holding a 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:24.000 box that usually stored tranquilizers. He thinks of his wife, 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:38.960 his kids and praise Ilarisa Givens. Then he says one 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:45.440 of the pilots gets a message there's new orders. The 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:53.200 plane turns around. According to Adolfo, it was pressured from 0:04:53.200 --> 0:04:56.720 the Kennedys in the US that explained why he survived 0:04:56.720 --> 0:05:00.159 that flight. The Junta, no doubt hoped that he had 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:04.280 learned his lesson from his near death experience. He didn't. 0:05:04.600 --> 0:05:07.320 Once back in the world, he doubles down on his 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:14.200 criticism of the Junta. Three decades later, he will come 0:05:14.240 --> 0:05:17.640 forward to help Medium and Giancarlo bring the pilots of 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:19.560 those flights to justice. 0:05:20.040 --> 0:05:24.000 When we approached him, he didn't think twice. He joined 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:24.760 the case. 0:05:30.560 --> 0:05:34.800 From Orbit Media. I'm Andres caaba Scheedo. This is Avenger 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:46.800 the story of Medium Lewin Episode six, The Pilots. It's 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:51.320 twenty ten and by now Medium in Jiancadlo's investigation has 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:52.440 come a long way. 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:55.440 To be honest, When I joined Giancarlo, I thought it 0:05:55.560 --> 0:05:58.160 was all going to be a waste of time. I 0:05:58.200 --> 0:06:02.400 had no faith whatsoever. Seriously, I never thought we would 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:03.560 get to where we are now. 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:07.040 Not only have they identified the planes used to carry 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:09.839 out the death flights, they had found one that was 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:13.080 still flying, a plane with flight logs that dated back 0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:16.040 to the time of the dictatorship logs with the names 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:19.600 of the pilots, and then they managed to air an 0:06:19.600 --> 0:06:23.840 expose a on national TV. They were excited, even though 0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:25.200 no one else seemed to care. 0:06:28.520 --> 0:06:31.920 The lack of attention from other news outlets was disheartening, 0:06:32.680 --> 0:06:35.920 but the TV report was never our endgame. When we 0:06:35.920 --> 0:06:38.679 were deciding how to show the flight logs on TV, 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:42.320 we debated whether to blur out the pilot's names or not. 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:46.240 My colleagues didn't want to imply their responsibility during the 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:50.480 death flights on the spot. I agreed, but for different reasons. 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:53.880 On the TV report, Medium had blurred out the names 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:56.880 of the pilots. She sensed that revealing them at the 0:06:56.880 --> 0:06:59.760 wrong time could ruin her chance of bringing them to 0:06:59.839 --> 0:07:00.160 just this. 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:03.520 I wanted those names to remain secret until we had 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:07.279 a chance of filing a formal judicial claim. If we 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:10.320 had aired the names and those pilots or their friends 0:07:10.400 --> 0:07:13.440 saw it, they would have a chance of fleeing the country. 0:07:14.200 --> 0:07:16.400 We were getting ready to take what we had gathered 0:07:16.440 --> 0:07:19.800 to the courts, but we still needed the right person 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:22.720 to be the face of this case. I couldn't do it. 0:07:22.760 --> 0:07:25.880 I was already a witness in other trials, including my 0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:29.440 own kidnapping. We needed someone else. 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:32.280 They needed someone fearless. 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:34.400 Enrique volunteered drive Away. 0:07:35.080 --> 0:07:39.000 Enrique Pinnedo, the actor in Mogul and former airline pilot 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:43.080 Jan Carlo admired that larger than life character who always 0:07:43.120 --> 0:07:46.400 saw himself on a stage. Some saw him as arrogant. 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:47.720 He's perfect. 0:07:48.280 --> 0:07:51.000 He had the expertise and we knew he wouldn't be 0:07:51.040 --> 0:07:53.080 afraid to be at the forefront of all of this. 0:07:53.920 --> 0:07:57.520 But we needed a second person, and Riquae Pinnedo was 0:07:57.560 --> 0:08:02.160 an expert pilot and also bold and maybe outlandish. They 0:08:02.200 --> 0:08:06.520 needed someone serious, someone with gravitas, someone who could speak 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:13.200 from experience. Endrique starts floating Adolfo perees Esquiel. After Adolfo's 0:08:13.200 --> 0:08:18.120 release thirty years earlier, his story gained international attention. It 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:23.200 was incredible, moving, horrifying. He survived a death flight and 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:26.920 brought back a first hand account. The world couldn't ignore 0:08:26.920 --> 0:08:31.240 the evil the military junta did. Adolfo could not be ignored, 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:35.480 especially after the news came out of the award Brasivan 0:08:35.880 --> 0:08:41.199 Mi profunda gra yel saludo los mil dees de pas 0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:46.959 ivim Garcia in nineteen eighty in the middle of the dictatorship, 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:51.400 Adolfo won the Nobel Peace Prize. It made headlines all 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:55.199 over the world, an Argentine human rights activist, winning over 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:58.280 candidates like Pope John Paul the Second and US President 0:08:58.360 --> 0:09:04.160 Jimmy Carter. Tina's government ignored the news. Local reporters cover it, 0:09:04.240 --> 0:09:08.160 but superficially, never mentioning that Alulfo won the prize because 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:11.880 of his anti junta activism. The junta had a firm 0:09:12.000 --> 0:09:15.920 grip on most of the press, but still Alolfo's popularity 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:21.240 continues to grow. By twenty ten, Alolfo is a national hero, 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:25.280 so for Endrique it was obvious he was the person 0:09:25.320 --> 0:09:25.880 they needed. 0:09:26.840 --> 0:09:30.840 I had worked with Adolpho before, I knew that having 0:09:30.880 --> 0:09:34.680 a Nobel Prize winner would be powerful. I called him 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:37.360 and explained the case to him, and he said yes. 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:43.280 The first step is to go to the federal Prosecutor's 0:09:43.280 --> 0:09:47.440 office and make a formal complaint against the pilots, handing 0:09:47.480 --> 0:09:50.360 over the flight lugs in all of the evidence they've gathered. 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:54.200 A judge then as signs of prosecutor to look into 0:09:54.240 --> 0:09:58.840 the evidence and conduct a thorough investigation, and eventually decides 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:01.560 if there's enough evidence for the case. To go to trial. 0:10:02.640 --> 0:10:07.400 Medium and Giancarlo are engineering what once seemed impossible. They're 0:10:07.440 --> 0:10:11.599 putting the death flights on the national spotlight, making them unignorable. 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:15.400 Official impunity would no longer be an option. 0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:20.600 So there they were, Adolfo Perez, Esquioel and Enrique Pinero 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:23.920 going together to ask a judge to investigate the lugs 0:10:23.920 --> 0:10:26.600 we had found, to see if the planes and their 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:31.040 pilots participated in the death flights. Enrique is there as 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:34.360 a flight expert and Alotfo as someone who actually survived 0:10:34.360 --> 0:10:38.160 the death flight. They were a powerful duo. The courts 0:10:38.320 --> 0:10:39.040 had to act. 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:51.120 In nineteen seventy nine, three years into the dictatorship, the 0:10:51.200 --> 0:10:55.920 junta has disappeared thousands of people. Medium is still being 0:10:55.960 --> 0:11:00.000 held captive. The military leaders, meanwhile, are running a public 0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:05.040 relations offensive. It's aimed at countering the Inner American Commission 0:11:05.080 --> 0:11:09.040 for Human Rights. They're coming to Argentina in response to 0:11:09.040 --> 0:11:16.079 allegations of crimes against humanity. The junta works with person Marstellar, 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:20.040 the New York PR firm, which has an idea print 0:11:20.040 --> 0:11:23.360 two hundred and fifty thousand stickers with a slogan that 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:28.760 plays with the words human rights. Derichos Umanos, which the 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:33.200 junta is accused of violating. The sticker's background is the 0:11:33.240 --> 0:11:37.360 blue and white Argentine flag over it in black letters, 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:43.600 it reads quote dos Argentinos, some of Derichos Eumanos Argentines 0:11:43.760 --> 0:11:48.280 are righteous and human. They plaster the stickers all over 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:53.480 one osietis. Less visible are the shifts within the military 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:58.959 junta itself. By now, Navy Admiral Emilio Marsea, who helped 0:11:58.960 --> 0:12:02.160 plot the coup that to the dictatorship, has stepped down 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:04.640 as the head of the Navy and the top authority 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:09.120 at Esma. He has bigger dreams to become president. The 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:12.120 junta will remain in power for several more years, but 0:12:12.240 --> 0:12:15.840 Masia is eager to build a foundation for a future campaign, 0:12:16.400 --> 0:12:19.920 and so he hatches a plan. He will have reformed 0:12:20.000 --> 0:12:23.520 prisoners like twenty one year old Medium help him fulfill 0:12:23.559 --> 0:12:26.440 his dream. But the only way to harness the talents 0:12:26.480 --> 0:12:29.920 of people like Medium is to let those reformed prisoners 0:12:30.120 --> 0:12:38.880 live outside of Esma. 0:12:39.280 --> 0:12:42.280 He saw us, the people working in the press office 0:12:42.320 --> 0:12:46.080 he had built, as his workers. He started trying to 0:12:46.120 --> 0:12:48.280 figure out ways to let some of us live and 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:52.520 work outside of Esma. They told us we were being released. 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:56.600 The challenge for Masida is how to let his workers 0:12:56.720 --> 0:13:00.000 live and work outside while keeping them under his control. 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:05.319 Yeah, Massa had recently left aesthma, but it wasn't as 0:13:05.320 --> 0:13:08.920 if his power suddenly vanished. He was a strong man 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:12.840 in Argentina, and he still had loyalists inside and outside 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:16.440 the Navy. Even though he was no longer a part of, say, 0:13:16.800 --> 0:13:20.520 the Navy's formal structure, he could still do whatever he wanted. 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:24.240 For most of the time she had been in captivity. 0:13:24.520 --> 0:13:29.959 Approaching two years, Medium's parents hadn't known her whereabouts. Early 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:32.480 in her captivity, she was allowed to phone them, but 0:13:32.640 --> 0:13:34.760 forced to lie and tell them she was with a 0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:40.440 fellow activists underground. Then, almost a year after her kidnapping, Medium, 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:45.040 as a good prisoner, a seemingly reformed prisoner, was given 0:13:45.080 --> 0:13:52.760 permission to tell her parents the truth over the phone. 0:13:52.960 --> 0:13:56.360 When I told my mom I was in prison, the 0:13:56.480 --> 0:14:01.080 first thing she said was thank God, because she thought 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:04.760 I was better off there than on the streets. She 0:14:04.840 --> 0:14:09.600 felt I was at least protected. She had no idea. 0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:14.280 I tried to calm my parents down, tell them I 0:14:14.360 --> 0:14:19.720 was okay, and before saying bye to them, I'd assure 0:14:19.760 --> 0:14:22.720 them that one day they would see me again. I 0:14:22.880 --> 0:14:26.960 just couldn't tell them when it would actually happen. Even 0:14:27.040 --> 0:14:31.040 when my dad encouraged me to learn about anarchism and 0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:35.160 leftist ideology, he never imagined it would go beyond the 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:40.040 intellectual As soon as I formed my first anarchist group 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:44.440 back in high school, he was worried sick and started 0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:46.200 barring me from activism. 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:49.920 And by the time she disappeared, they knew what the 0:14:50.000 --> 0:14:53.360 junta was capable of. Her dad knew people who had 0:14:53.360 --> 0:14:57.640 been disappeared. Medium hadn't told her parents anything about being 0:14:57.680 --> 0:15:01.080 tortured or about her suspicions that people were being tossed 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:04.960 out of planes, so her parents were grateful in a 0:15:04.960 --> 0:15:08.200 way to whatever forces had kept their daughter alive all 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:11.960 this time, to whoever was looking after her while in prison. 0:15:13.480 --> 0:15:16.520 One day, Medium is allowed to see her parents for 0:15:16.560 --> 0:15:20.560 the first time since their kidnapping. She's escorted by an 0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:23.000 armed Navy officer in civilian clothes. 0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:26.760 My mother opened the door and she hugged me and 0:15:26.920 --> 0:15:32.040 started crying. The situation was a little uncomfortable because the 0:15:32.160 --> 0:15:35.440 armed officer was there the whole time. While my parents 0:15:35.440 --> 0:15:38.400 and I sat around the table, having tea and pastries. 0:15:39.280 --> 0:15:43.400 It was horrible. They asked me all sorts of questions 0:15:43.720 --> 0:15:47.320 in front of him. Are you okay? Are they treating 0:15:47.360 --> 0:15:52.080 you well? What could I reply in that scenario? Yes, Mom, 0:15:52.120 --> 0:15:56.520 they treat me okay. I'm okay. Don't worry. I mean, 0:15:57.120 --> 0:15:59.480 the last thing I wanted was to upset my parents 0:15:59.520 --> 0:16:03.040 even more. I couldn't tell them the truth. 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:14.600 Then something crazy happens. One day, while Medium is still 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:20.160 in captivity, Marceda's right hand man, Jrgueduardo Costa, calls her parents. 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:24.920 He invites them to dinner. They meet at a fancy steakhouse. 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:29.800 Her parents chose Medium would be there too. A Costa 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:34.960 also known as Aldigree the Tiger. He's notorious and terrifies Medium. 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:39.880 He was a complete psychopath. Often he would tell us 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:42.200 that every night he had a little chat with a 0:16:42.240 --> 0:16:44.960 little Jesus who sat on his left shoulder and told 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:48.600 him which of us prisoners would go upstairs. Now we 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:50.920 knew he was alluding to the death flights. 0:16:51.760 --> 0:16:55.280 This guy now wants to meet Medium's parents to tell 0:16:55.320 --> 0:16:58.840 them the truth about having kidnapped their daughter, to talk 0:16:58.840 --> 0:17:00.800 about the conditions of her release. 0:17:01.400 --> 0:17:04.200 It took them by surprise. But they were willing to 0:17:04.240 --> 0:17:06.960 meet him. They didn't know I was living in a 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:09.359 concentration camp and people were being killed. 0:17:11.720 --> 0:17:14.639 Medium was wearing a blouse with a blazer and a 0:17:14.640 --> 0:17:18.240 bell jacket she had borrowed from fellow prisoners. A guard 0:17:18.520 --> 0:17:20.240 waited outside the restaurant for her. 0:17:20.880 --> 0:17:25.119 When I got there, Acosta hadn't arrived yet. My parents 0:17:25.160 --> 0:17:28.840 were already there. They were nervous because they knew he 0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:30.680 was some sort of big boss. 0:17:31.359 --> 0:17:35.439 Medium's parents apparently saw it as a celebratory dinner. They 0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:38.080 show up to the restaurant with a gift for Acosta, 0:17:38.720 --> 0:17:42.920 a nice bottle of scotch. She was regal. Medium can't 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:44.560 believe how surreal it is. 0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:47.919 I had never told my parents about the horrors I 0:17:47.960 --> 0:17:53.040 had lived through, about the torture, So there I am 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:58.600 watching them thanking my captor. Imagine they thought he had 0:17:58.640 --> 0:18:00.879 saved their daughter's life. 0:18:01.040 --> 0:18:05.240 When Acosta arrives, Medium notices her parents a bit tense, 0:18:05.640 --> 0:18:09.479 with fake smiles on their faces. They wanted a Coosta 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:12.240 to know that they would make sure their daughter didn't 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:17.800 return to political activism. Acosta orders himself a thick, juicy 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:21.800 steak in a bottle of wine. He did most of 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:22.680 the talking that night. 0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:27.359 Agosta tells my parents that I had been reformed, that 0:18:27.480 --> 0:18:31.000 I was very intelligent, that I had a bright future, 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:34.800 and that now I was ready to be reintegrated into society. 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:38.240 Then he tells my parents he needs them to rent 0:18:38.240 --> 0:18:41.639 me a specific apartment to keep me safe, that I 0:18:41.680 --> 0:18:44.800 was in danger of being targeted, being seen as a 0:18:44.880 --> 0:18:48.639 trader for working with the military. It was a huge 0:18:48.640 --> 0:18:52.200 financial commitment for my parents, but they wanted to see 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:54.760 me so badly that they agreed to rent me the apartment. 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:04.040 At last, Medium is released from prison from esthma, but 0:19:04.320 --> 0:19:06.120 they're not really letting her go. 0:19:10.000 --> 0:19:13.040 They wanted us to think they released us because we 0:19:13.040 --> 0:19:17.640 were finally reformed, but in reality, we were stuck working. 0:19:18.760 --> 0:19:22.879 They forced me to work in different places. Some days 0:19:22.920 --> 0:19:26.359 I was assigned to the Ministry of Welfare. Other days 0:19:26.400 --> 0:19:28.800 I was in Admiral Mascera's office to work on a 0:19:28.840 --> 0:19:30.840 new publication he created. 0:19:35.480 --> 0:19:38.560 In the months that follow Medium keeps a low profile 0:19:38.800 --> 0:19:42.720 to avoid upsetting her captors, but she does manage to 0:19:42.720 --> 0:19:45.879 meet up with fellow activists at times, even though it 0:19:46.000 --> 0:19:49.040 was extremely risky. 0:19:49.119 --> 0:19:54.040 We met in secret. It was scary because they could 0:19:54.040 --> 0:19:57.600 be watching us but we needed to feel like we 0:19:57.600 --> 0:20:02.200 were doing normal things, like other normal young people. Sometimes 0:20:02.240 --> 0:20:05.200 we'd meet at one of our houses, we'd go out 0:20:05.240 --> 0:20:09.280 to the movies or to eat pizza. Only we understood 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:13.240 one another. We had lived through similar horrors. 0:20:12.880 --> 0:20:16.600 And on one occasion there were consequences. 0:20:17.680 --> 0:20:21.000 I had met with a comrade who had also survived 0:20:21.040 --> 0:20:23.919 and got in permission to leave the country. It was 0:20:23.960 --> 0:20:28.400 forbidden to meet other prisoners, but somehow got to Acosta 0:20:28.680 --> 0:20:31.640 that we had met that night, so I was told 0:20:32.200 --> 0:20:33.280 he wanted to see me. 0:20:34.600 --> 0:20:36.320 She was taken back to Esma. 0:20:36.840 --> 0:20:40.199 He kept me waiting for three hours. I thought he 0:20:40.320 --> 0:20:41.199 was going to kill me. 0:20:42.400 --> 0:20:46.560 Instead, a Costa arrived with a little velvet box. In 0:20:46.600 --> 0:20:50.119 it was a silver bracelet. He told her he chose 0:20:50.160 --> 0:20:51.520 it especially for her. 0:20:52.160 --> 0:20:55.560 I think what he wanted to convey was I have 0:20:55.680 --> 0:20:58.880 the power to kill you right here, right now, or 0:20:59.240 --> 0:21:03.080 I could save you if I trust you. I was 0:21:03.520 --> 0:21:07.639 in shock. I had to wear that bracelet everywhere. 0:21:10.400 --> 0:21:14.119 Medium by now knows how to play her role. She 0:21:14.200 --> 0:21:17.760 thinks a Costa for his thoughtfulness. She's learned to control 0:21:17.800 --> 0:21:22.560 her emotions in front of officials, and Medium continues to 0:21:22.600 --> 0:21:25.760 go to those meetings she grows close to a prisoner 0:21:25.800 --> 0:21:28.840 she had met inside Esthma, who, like her, is on 0:21:28.880 --> 0:21:30.560 this work release program. 0:21:30.640 --> 0:21:37.840 Carlos. He was a kind, warm, genuine person. That night 0:21:37.920 --> 0:21:41.280 I first arrived at the clandestine Center, he had brought 0:21:41.320 --> 0:21:45.280 me some ice cream, told me to stay calm. He 0:21:45.400 --> 0:21:48.480 was in the maintenance group inside Esthma, but his real 0:21:48.560 --> 0:21:52.639 value was that he had experience in graphic design. He 0:21:52.720 --> 0:21:55.600 knew how to use the printing press, so now and 0:21:55.640 --> 0:21:58.520 then they forced him to make false ideas for the 0:21:58.560 --> 0:22:06.320 intelligence agents. Carlos and I had lived through a lot. 0:22:06.720 --> 0:22:09.560 They had captured him the same year as me, also 0:22:09.640 --> 0:22:13.840 for being an activist opposing the dictatorship. He actually tried 0:22:13.920 --> 0:22:18.600 to kiss me inside the clandestine center once we had chemistry, 0:22:18.680 --> 0:22:22.880 but I stopped him. I knew that prisoners were sexually 0:22:22.920 --> 0:22:26.560 abused there. I was repulsed by any idea of romance 0:22:26.600 --> 0:22:31.679 inside prison. Other fellow prisoners developed relationships there, but for me, 0:22:32.240 --> 0:22:36.680 it just felt wrong. But once we were outside those walls, 0:22:37.400 --> 0:22:40.040 Carlos and I would meet up as much as we could, 0:22:40.720 --> 0:22:43.320 and soon after that I was pregnant. 0:22:44.320 --> 0:22:47.400 This wasn't the same exuberant love she had once had 0:22:47.440 --> 0:22:51.520 with one her activist comrade and secret husband, but she 0:22:51.680 --> 0:22:54.160 decided to have the baby first. 0:22:54.359 --> 0:22:57.280 I wasn't in love, but I felt that I could 0:22:57.320 --> 0:23:01.240 trust Carlos. He was a good man. I knew he 0:23:01.359 --> 0:23:04.480 was going to be a good father. Then I fell 0:23:04.520 --> 0:23:05.840 in love with him. 0:23:06.200 --> 0:23:09.719 The pregnancy was unexpected, but at least it allowed her 0:23:09.760 --> 0:23:11.399 to work at just one place. 0:23:12.160 --> 0:23:15.400 They let me choose what type of forced labor I preferred. 0:23:16.400 --> 0:23:19.240 I chose the Ministry of Welfare because it was the 0:23:19.280 --> 0:23:23.320 farthest from Masea in terms of location, though we were 0:23:23.320 --> 0:23:26.720 still working for Masea himself. But if I failed to 0:23:26.800 --> 0:23:29.960 arrive home on time, they'd knock on my apartment door 0:23:30.000 --> 0:23:32.760 and ask me what was wrong. They reminded me that 0:23:32.840 --> 0:23:36.480 my family was also being watched. Not obeying would put 0:23:36.520 --> 0:23:37.960 their lives in danger. 0:23:39.960 --> 0:23:42.800 And every once in a while, as part of her surveillance, 0:23:43.119 --> 0:23:44.920 there were surprise visits. 0:23:46.359 --> 0:23:49.600 One day as Tis shows up at my door. 0:23:51.280 --> 0:23:55.600 Alfredo Astis a naval officer in the Junta. Medium knew 0:23:55.640 --> 0:23:59.320 him from captivity. He was always around. He worked under 0:23:59.320 --> 0:24:02.879 the supervision Veltira Costa, the guy who took Medium and 0:24:02.920 --> 0:24:06.600 her parents to that fancy dinner. One of Astis's jobs 0:24:06.760 --> 0:24:10.240 was to infiltrate a human rights group. He gathered information 0:24:10.320 --> 0:24:13.959 on activities and whereabouts. He helped set up a raid. 0:24:14.200 --> 0:24:17.000 The activists were kidnapped and taken to prison. 0:24:17.680 --> 0:24:20.679 It was very easy for him to do that because 0:24:21.200 --> 0:24:25.159 Astise had a face that looked like an angel's. His 0:24:25.320 --> 0:24:29.320 peers back at ZMA actually called him a lang Hill Rubio, 0:24:30.119 --> 0:24:31.080 the blonde angel. 0:24:31.880 --> 0:24:34.440 That day, Astis knocks on Medium's doore. 0:24:36.680 --> 0:24:40.199 He takes me to his car and drives us to 0:24:40.600 --> 0:24:44.720 this bar and tells me he's leaving the country. He's 0:24:44.720 --> 0:24:49.159 off to help South Africa's government and that if I 0:24:49.280 --> 0:24:52.960 needed anything, I could reach out to him through his parents. 0:24:54.240 --> 0:24:57.840 He then took a napkin and scribbled down their phone 0:24:57.920 --> 0:25:01.040 number save that napkin. 0:25:01.880 --> 0:25:05.359 The tortures seem to believe that they're the protectors of 0:25:05.400 --> 0:25:09.800 people like Medium and are appreciated for it. Astes's openness 0:25:09.800 --> 0:25:14.040 to share his parents' names, their phone numbers, his assumption 0:25:14.400 --> 0:25:16.960 that Medium would want to stay in touch with him. 0:25:17.320 --> 0:25:21.320 It's a big mistake, an amateurish mistake made by a 0:25:21.320 --> 0:25:25.200 respected commander who was traveling to South Africa to help 0:25:25.280 --> 0:25:27.880 that government eliminate resistance to apartheid. 0:25:28.760 --> 0:25:32.280 They had so much power that in their minds they 0:25:32.280 --> 0:25:36.479 were convinced that we were reformed, that we were on 0:25:36.560 --> 0:25:39.480 their side now as allies not enemies. 0:25:40.560 --> 0:25:44.000 That Napkin will later become an important piece of evidence 0:25:44.119 --> 0:25:47.200 in the case linking asties to the junta's atrocities. 0:25:54.320 --> 0:25:58.120 A year after Adolfo and Enrique present their evidence, their 0:25:58.160 --> 0:26:01.840 formal complaint to a judge. Things feel like they're moving 0:26:01.920 --> 0:26:02.840 in slow motion. 0:26:03.680 --> 0:26:08.880 There's no action, but evidence is accumulating. By twenty eleven, 0:26:09.480 --> 0:26:13.840 more and more cases against former Junta leaders emerge. A 0:26:13.960 --> 0:26:17.040 judge decides to include the case against the Pilots. The 0:26:17.080 --> 0:26:20.560 accusations Alolfo and Enrique had made based on medium and 0:26:20.600 --> 0:26:25.000 gian Carlo's investigation to the biggest trial in Argentina's history. 0:26:25.600 --> 0:26:30.680 The outside world starts paying attention, especially in Italy. Gian 0:26:30.720 --> 0:26:31.600 Carlos homeland. 0:26:32.320 --> 0:26:36.399 In Italy, one newspaper devoted five pages to the court 0:26:36.440 --> 0:26:41.200 proceedings and our findings. Dey cited proudly that an Italian 0:26:41.240 --> 0:26:43.400 photographer had been part of the investigation. 0:26:44.160 --> 0:26:52.200 Gian Carlos a good Snigoa the chest of the de Dicartio, 0:26:52.920 --> 0:26:57.119 Pimeno and Argentina. 0:26:58.600 --> 0:27:01.520 This coincides with gen Carlo moving back to Rome. 0:27:02.400 --> 0:27:06.080 In Argentina, there's zero press about the investigation. 0:27:07.440 --> 0:27:10.760 The media was still sleeping on the story. 0:27:11.320 --> 0:27:15.840 But Medium is determined more than ever to see justice done, 0:27:16.040 --> 0:27:20.680 so she turns her energy to the judicial fight. Giancarlo, though, 0:27:20.960 --> 0:27:21.560 has moved on. 0:27:23.760 --> 0:27:26.800 Giancarlo's passion for covering what was happening in the present 0:27:27.040 --> 0:27:31.439