WEBVTT - Avenger | 7. The Pilots 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 --> 0:01:13.680 at Orbitmedia dot fm. Thanks. In today's episode, the disappeared 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:19.280 people who were literally unaccounted for. No one could find them, 0:01:19.440 --> 0:01:22.000 no one had seen them, no one knew if they 0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:27.320 were still alive. The dictator of Argentina denied knowing anything 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:33.800 about them, if they even existed, and then bodies bloated, 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:38.920 bodies washed up on shore. A quick word about subscriptions. 0:01:39.400 --> 0:01:42.440 If you love ads, listen on. If you're not so 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:46.160 keen on ads, sign up for True Crime Clubhouse on 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:51.200 Apple Podcasts. That's our subscription channel. You'll get no ads, 0:01:51.200 --> 0:01:55.960 and also you can binge the entire Avenger series. It's 0:01:56.040 --> 0:01:57.240 just two ninety nine a month. 0:01:57.880 --> 0:01:58.960 Thanks. 0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:03.240 Before we begin, please note that for this story we 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:07.200 interviewed medium and everyone else for dozens of hours in Spanish. 0:02:07.480 --> 0:02:24.120 We hired actors to voice their words in English. In 0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:29.480 Buenos Aires, there's a particular weather phenomenon, a storm called aasulistada. 0:02:30.720 --> 0:02:35.600 Cold southern winds mixed with ocean humidity to create powerful gusts, rain, 0:02:36.000 --> 0:02:41.400 and rough seas. In December of nineteen seventy seven, Asulhstada 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:49.000 slams into the coast of Buenos Aires. Days after the storm, 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:52.799 six bodies wash up on shore. Witnesses who find the 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:57.440 bodies describe them as swollen, severed. They call the police. 0:02:58.040 --> 0:03:01.160 The police. Magical examiner dem meant that the bodies that 0:03:01.320 --> 0:03:06.480 surfaced had vertical bone fractures. This happens when someone falls 0:03:06.600 --> 0:03:08.000 from a very high place. 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:13.160 That's Carlos Somiliana, who goes by Marco. He's a forensic 0:03:13.200 --> 0:03:15.359 expert you heard from in the last episode. 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:19.760 Since they couldn't identify the bodies, they buried them as 0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:24.359 an n that short for no menesco Latin for unknown name. 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:29.520 In nineteen seventy nine, two years after those bodies washed ashore, 0:03:30.200 --> 0:03:34.079 General Jorge Rafael Videla gives a rare press conference at 0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:38.440 the presidential Palace. Pope John Paul the Second had recently 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:42.640 called out the number of disappeared in Argentina, and a 0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:51.720 brave reporter asks a sensitive question. What the reporter asked, 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:57.360 is the government doing anything about the disappeared. General Videla 0:03:57.520 --> 0:03:58.200 is thrown. 0:03:59.520 --> 0:03:59.920 He could not. 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:05.480 He tries to fill the awkward silence as he thinks 0:04:05.480 --> 0:04:08.720 of a response. He starts saying he's going to speak 0:04:08.720 --> 0:04:12.960 from a Christian pro human rights perspective, which didn't make 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:17.880 much sense, and then he says the disappeared are just 0:04:18.080 --> 0:04:23.400 a mystery. They're neither dead nor alive. They're just disappeared. 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:32.279 Notty that no is that. 0:04:37.160 --> 0:04:40.159 But it won't always stay that way. More will be 0:04:40.240 --> 0:04:44.640 known about those six unidentified bodies that washed up on shore. 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:48.720 They'll become crucial evidence that will lead to the truth 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:51.600 about one of the most horrific operations carried out by 0:04:51.600 --> 0:04:56.240 the Junta, the death flights. It's a gruesome discovery that 0:04:56.320 --> 0:05:00.560 will finally confirm what Medium and Giancarlo say. They've uncovered 0:05:01.160 --> 0:05:10.320 the names of those responsible from Orbit Media. I'm Andres 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:14.039 Caaba Scheedo. This is a Venger. The story of Medium 0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:36.039 Lewin Episode seven, The Bodies. Months after Videla's press conference 0:05:36.200 --> 0:05:39.520 where he talked about the mystery of the disappeared, Carlos 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:43.040 and Medium are getting to know each other better. Carlos 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:45.960 is a fellow prisoner Medium had started seeing around the 0:05:46.000 --> 0:05:49.400 time she was released from captivity. She's slowly fallen in 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:52.159 love with Carlos, and now they have a baby on 0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:52.479 the way. 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:56.240 I slowly warmed up to Carlos. It it took a 0:05:56.279 --> 0:06:00.240 while because I was still mourning the death of one 0:06:00.640 --> 0:06:02.960 the man I married before my kidnapping. 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:07.560 Before her release from prison, Medium had gotten confirmation that 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:10.760 Juan had been killed. He was the love of her life. 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:15.239 A fellow activist. They had gone underground together, living every 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:21.680 moment like it was their last. For Medium, her relationship 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:25.600 with Cardlos developed slowly but steadily. They had been thrown 0:06:25.640 --> 0:06:30.040 together by circumstance, two survivors who understood each other's trauma, 0:06:30.960 --> 0:06:33.240 and she knew he would be a good dad to Juan, 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:35.400 which is the name she gave her baby. 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:40.520 Even with all the uncertainty about the future, I never 0:06:40.680 --> 0:06:42.400 doubted about not having the baby. 0:06:43.279 --> 0:06:46.080 With Medium out of captivity and about to give birth, 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:49.280 she and Godlos decide that the only way for them 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:53.839 to live a normal life is to leave Argentina become exiles. 0:06:54.600 --> 0:06:57.440 Medium had family in New York City, so that was 0:06:57.480 --> 0:06:58.200 their best option. 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:02.200 But I couldn't leave the kind without government officials knowing 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:02.680 about it. 0:07:03.839 --> 0:07:07.719 Remember, she had been released but with certain conditions. So 0:07:07.960 --> 0:07:11.400 Medium and Cardlos follow protocol and ask for permission to 0:07:11.520 --> 0:07:12.239 leave the country. 0:07:12.800 --> 0:07:14.800 I told them I was going to be a mother 0:07:15.520 --> 0:07:18.560 and that I wanted a new life far away from 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:20.440 all the trauma I had experienced. 0:07:21.080 --> 0:07:24.360 At first, it seems Medium and Carlos will leave without 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:28.679 any issues, but then three esthma survivors who had recently 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:32.040 been allowed to move to Europe had held a press conference. 0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:37.600 They accused the Junta of its brutal crimes. Suddenly, the 0:07:37.640 --> 0:07:41.400 processing of Mediums in Cardluss's passports is canceled. 0:07:42.040 --> 0:07:45.720 We were frustrated. It was a reminder that we were 0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:46.920 still hostages. 0:07:48.040 --> 0:07:50.400 Medium will have to give birth in Argentina. 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:54.240 My mom was still getting over her anger and shame 0:07:54.400 --> 0:07:58.000 because I wasn't married. I never thought I'd get pregnant 0:07:58.000 --> 0:08:01.360 in the first place, especially in such a new relationship, 0:08:01.400 --> 0:08:05.000 but still I was always sure I wanted to have 0:08:05.120 --> 0:08:10.280 the baby. 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:13.960 Medium carried the painful memory of her two best friends 0:08:14.040 --> 0:08:16.480 who were captured and killed by the Junta years earlier. 0:08:17.200 --> 0:08:18.920 They were also pregnant. 0:08:19.280 --> 0:08:22.880 Having that baby was a way to honor life itself 0:08:24.440 --> 0:08:28.840 and my friends who were murdered before giving birth. 0:08:30.160 --> 0:08:34.160 But many women did give birth well captive, they didn't 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:37.720 get to keep their children. During the six years in power, 0:08:38.120 --> 0:08:42.040 the Junta stole roughly five hundred babies from their mothers, 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:45.280 selling them or giving them to families cozy with the military. 0:08:46.200 --> 0:08:51.400 Medium knew that tragedy up close. One day, when Medium 0:08:51.440 --> 0:08:54.840 was still captive at ESMA, a pregnant woman came into 0:08:54.880 --> 0:08:59.559 the prison. Medium immediately recognized her. That was Patricia, her 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:03.240 friend from college. When she heard that Paticia was about 0:09:03.280 --> 0:09:05.880 to give birth, she immediately ran to see her. 0:09:06.920 --> 0:09:11.760 The doctor had this stern look on his face before 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:15.160 he cut the umbilical cord. I smiled at Patricia and 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:20.319 asked about the name of the baby. She replied Rodolpho. 0:09:21.080 --> 0:09:25.559 Then the doctor congratulated her and took them away, mother 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:31.120 and newborn. I never saw Patricia or the baby again. 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:39.360 It never crossed my mind that they were stealing babies. 0:09:40.800 --> 0:09:45.679 I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe people were capable 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:52.280 of doing such a thing. Pregnant women were told their 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:56.760 babies would be given to their grandparents. They were encouraged 0:09:56.800 --> 0:10:00.480 to write letters to their family members them know the 0:10:00.480 --> 0:10:03.280 baby's name, the instructions on how to raise them until 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:08.480 their release. Unfortunately, these mothers never got to see their 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:16.240 children again. Instead, they would be put on death flights 0:10:17.400 --> 0:10:21.760 about Patricia and her baby. I actually helped her family 0:10:21.800 --> 0:10:27.200 search for him, and we found him. He was twenty three. 0:10:27.280 --> 0:10:30.360 He had been stolen by an agent from the Air Force. 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:34.640 They named him Guillermo. He had no clue who his 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:37.680 real mother was. It was very hard for him to 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:38.199 learn the. 0:10:38.200 --> 0:10:52.600 Truth Abla el tal donjorhir Rafael Vivela. 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:56.920 By nineteen eighty one, an economic crisis is brewing and 0:10:56.960 --> 0:11:00.920 among the junta members there's a growing conflict. Some want 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:05.320 to adopt a harder line, others want democracy. In the 0:11:05.320 --> 0:11:08.400 middle of this, the junta follows through with a plan 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:18.400 for Videla to step down. During a televised speech, General 0:11:18.480 --> 0:11:23.200 Vivela relinquishes power to another junta leader. While this is happening, 0:11:23.600 --> 0:11:27.680 Medium and her family's passports are finally issued. They're free 0:11:27.800 --> 0:11:34.680 to go into exile, away from the fear, the paranoia. 0:11:34.720 --> 0:11:38.840 And we finally landed in New York City. We moved 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:42.679 into the second floor of a two family house in Flushing, Queens. 0:11:43.720 --> 0:11:47.360 It was close to a botanical garden in an immigrant neighborhood, 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:51.560 mostly Latinos, but also a lot of people from India China. 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:55.959 Our place was big, a lot of light came in. 0:11:56.480 --> 0:11:59.360 The walls were covered in beige wallpaper with a little 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:04.400 square powder, and downstairs from us lived a Filipino family. 0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:08.720 Medium's aunt also lives in New York, so she has 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:12.240 family there and they spend most of their time working 0:12:12.760 --> 0:12:15.880 a lot to pay the bills and support their new baby. 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:21.760 Life wasn't easy. Godless gets a van and delivers newspapers. 0:12:22.240 --> 0:12:26.040 Carlos didn't really want to be there. He found it 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:29.560 hard to adapt. He didn't want to learn English either. 0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:33.200 He'd get up at four am and when he was done, 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:36.640 we would have breakfast. I'd drop my baby off with 0:12:36.679 --> 0:12:39.240 a babysitter and head straight to work. 0:12:40.080 --> 0:12:43.040 Medium works as a paralegal at an immigration law firm. 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:47.560 We still lived in fear. Every time someone asked me 0:12:47.600 --> 0:12:51.960 about my past, I'd look around, paranoid I'd be kidnapped 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:52.920 again at any moment. 0:12:57.559 --> 0:13:00.240 She's also careful who she shares her past with. 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:06.320 It was normal for many survivors to be accused of 0:13:06.360 --> 0:13:09.720 being traitors by friends or family members of the disappeared. 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:12.680 If you were a man like Carlos, you would be 0:13:12.679 --> 0:13:16.640 accused of giving away information that led others to getting captured. 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:20.600 And if you are a woman, you likely survived because 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:24.000 you slept with your captors and because you gave away information. 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:27.679 With that stigma comes guilt, a. 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:35.000 Lot of guilt. Because we survived. Many times I burst 0:13:35.040 --> 0:13:39.000 into tears and asked myself, why didn't I manage to 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:44.280 swallow that pill. Why why am I not dead right now? 0:13:45.720 --> 0:13:51.360 It was unbearable. I mean, it's the early eighties. D 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:55.199 Arunta was still in power in Argentina. At that time, 0:13:55.320 --> 0:13:58.640 no one dreamed of a trial against the arunta still 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:01.880 Carlos and I never doubted that sounding the alarm about 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:04.080 what was happening was the right thing to do. 0:14:05.200 --> 0:14:07.280 Medium connects with the human rights lawyer. 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:10.440 The lawyer would call me from Washington, d C. To 0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:14.240 ask questions, and I would write down my experiences and 0:14:14.280 --> 0:14:16.600 mail the documents to their office. 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:20.440 Going public is a necessary step for Medium for her 0:14:20.480 --> 0:14:23.640 own sanity, but it's not easy. 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:28.560 After all those years of being held captive, I became 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:34.560 hypervigilant that feeling that I was being surveilled, especially when 0:14:34.560 --> 0:14:38.040 I started collaborating with the human rights groups, telling them 0:14:38.080 --> 0:14:45.160 everything I knew. 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:50.600 Meanwhile, in Argentina, foreign debt and record inflation are pushing 0:14:50.640 --> 0:14:55.400 the country closer to financial collapse. The Junta's desperate and 0:14:55.440 --> 0:15:00.480 creates a distraction. It starts a war against England. They 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:05.240 call on patriotism, nationalistic pride, and many butt into this 0:15:05.360 --> 0:15:06.080 cul to unity. 0:15:06.640 --> 0:15:11.160 Siege and benitheveng and represent Vataza. 0:15:12.080 --> 0:15:15.960 In nineteen eighty two, the dictatorship orders its troops to 0:15:16.040 --> 0:15:20.120 invade the Malvinas, also known as the Falkland Islands, off 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:24.520 Argentina's southern coast. They had long been disputed and occupied 0:15:24.520 --> 0:15:25.200 by the British. 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:29.600 It was a risky and ridiculous move by the junta, but. 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:33.720 It works in a way. The Calton nationalism is powerful. 0:15:34.520 --> 0:15:38.680 People rally behind the junta. Medium even notices it. 0:15:38.760 --> 0:15:39.280 In New York. 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:42.840 I saw how a lot of anti junta activists were 0:15:42.960 --> 0:15:46.280 so invested in this war that they got into a 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:48.960 feastfight with an Englishman on Fifth Avenue. 0:15:49.560 --> 0:15:53.360 Argentina has seized the British Falkland Islands, whose ownership she's 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:57.600 been disputing with Britain for two centuries. Britain has suffered 0:15:57.640 --> 0:16:01.280 its first major losses in the Falklands inflict the Ministry 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:02.480 of Defense. 0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:06.800 But the tide turns in Britain ramps up its assault. 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:11.400 The war lasts seventy four days. There's more than six 0:16:11.480 --> 0:16:16.320 hundred dead Argentines and thousands of wounded soldiers. The military 0:16:16.360 --> 0:16:18.360 junta surrenders. 0:16:18.200 --> 0:16:20.720 As were of the Argentine defeat, leaked out in winners Iris. 0:16:20.800 --> 0:16:24.040 Thousands of demonstrators began to gather outside the presidential palace. 0:16:24.320 --> 0:16:27.160 Will the junta lasts and if so, for how long? 0:16:30.920 --> 0:16:36.479 The dictatorship falls? And after six years democracy returns to Argentina. 0:16:37.200 --> 0:16:40.160 The war was just a desperate move by the junta 0:16:40.200 --> 0:16:43.960 to stay in power. They once actually used the World Cup, 0:16:44.280 --> 0:16:47.640 which helped them, but this war meant the end of 0:16:47.680 --> 0:16:48.640 the dictatorship. 0:16:53.120 --> 0:16:57.840 People are ecstatic, hopeful. The newly elected president, Raoul al 0:16:57.880 --> 0:17:03.240 Fonsine promises freedom, peace. He waves from a balcony as 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:06.320 tens of thousands of people cheer below in the main square, 0:17:07.080 --> 0:17:14.920 Confetti flying everywhere outside of Argentina. More survivors in exile 0:17:15.119 --> 0:17:19.160 are denouncing the junta and its crimes. Medium and Carlos 0:17:19.200 --> 0:17:22.160 are called to testify at the Argentine consulate in New York. 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:26.400 And really, that was the first time I even imagined 0:17:26.400 --> 0:17:29.959 the possibility that survivors like us would ever find justice 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:33.159 and that we would become such key players in the 0:17:33.200 --> 0:17:37.280 trials against the junta. 0:17:41.280 --> 0:17:44.840 It's been three years since Medium in Carlos left Argentina. 0:17:45.680 --> 0:17:48.200 Now they start talking about going back. 0:17:48.800 --> 0:17:51.960 We wanted to raise our kids in our own country, 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:56.120 a free country. Life in New York was complicated at 0:17:56.119 --> 0:17:57.960 one point. We were offered to be part of a 0:17:58.040 --> 0:18:00.760 housing program and buy an apartment in the city, but 0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:05.040 Carlos didn't want to get involved. He thought it was 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:09.760 too much of a commitment. I didn't mind it. My 0:18:09.840 --> 0:18:12.919 aunt wanted me to stay. I was still young and 0:18:12.960 --> 0:18:15.879 I had a green card, so I could stay and 0:18:15.920 --> 0:18:17.680 go to college. 0:18:17.720 --> 0:18:22.360 Gordless prevails. In nineteen eighty four, Medium and her family 0:18:22.600 --> 0:18:24.720 board a flight to Buenos Aires. 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:29.760 Exile is like having a hole in your soul. I 0:18:29.880 --> 0:18:34.399 was happy to go back, hopeful about the future, these 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:36.679 trials that were in the making. I knew that I 0:18:36.720 --> 0:18:40.720 could potentially be a part of something important, a new 0:18:40.800 --> 0:18:48.360 process that could transform the country. 0:18:49.320 --> 0:18:53.159 Medium's excitement about the future about this new free Argentina 0:18:53.640 --> 0:18:56.960 doesn't last long. As she steps off the plane with 0:18:57.000 --> 0:18:59.920 her kids, she sees two men in uniform at the egg. 0:19:00.960 --> 0:19:02.400 They're staring right at her. 0:19:04.119 --> 0:19:07.520 As soon as I made eye contact with them saw 0:19:07.560 --> 0:19:10.240 who they were, I started to panic. 0:19:11.359 --> 0:19:13.919 These men had been in the torture room with Medium 0:19:14.000 --> 0:19:16.560 years earlier, the day she was kidnapped. 0:19:17.160 --> 0:19:20.200 I tell Carlos who those men were. I thought they'd 0:19:20.200 --> 0:19:23.359 been sent to kidnap me again. So my instinct was 0:19:23.400 --> 0:19:26.640 to turn around and walk back onto the plane. 0:19:26.800 --> 0:19:29.920 But the men weren't there to kidnap her. They were 0:19:29.960 --> 0:19:32.640 working as security now employed by the airport. 0:19:33.160 --> 0:19:38.440 When they recognized me, they also started panicking. I think 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:41.280 they thought I was going to accuse them of kidnapping 0:19:41.320 --> 0:19:44.680 and torture, right there in front of everyone. 0:19:44.880 --> 0:19:48.320 But as she walks past them, she keeps quiet, and 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:48.960 so do they. 0:19:49.680 --> 0:19:54.600 Not only were they free, they were security guards, and 0:19:54.800 --> 0:19:57.360 they were carrying out their lives as if nothing had 0:19:57.400 --> 0:19:58.120 ever happened. 0:19:58.920 --> 0:20:03.679 The dictatorship has foun democracy has returned, but these men 0:20:03.880 --> 0:20:08.360 are free, living with impunity, working as airport police. 0:20:09.640 --> 0:20:16.000 Sea do wios antecedent and then moved. 0:20:16.800 --> 0:20:20.720 Not long after Medium returns to Buenos Aires, President Alfonsine 0:20:20.760 --> 0:20:24.679 announces that a trial will begin to prosecute the military leaders, 0:20:25.320 --> 0:20:28.720 the Trial of the Juntas. It's the first of its kind, 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:32.120 not just for Argentina but for all of Latin America. 0:20:32.920 --> 0:20:35.919 The first time military leaders will be held responsible for 0:20:36.040 --> 0:20:40.320 human rights abuses. Some see it as the most significant 0:20:40.480 --> 0:20:55.879 since the Nuremberg trials. The commanders refuse to recognize the 0:20:55.960 --> 0:21:00.920 trial as legitimate. Some elected officials dismiss it as retaliation 0:21:01.240 --> 0:21:06.639 by the subversives, and many Argentines are skeptical too. Is 0:21:06.640 --> 0:21:10.199 it all a show? Could these junta leaders really be 0:21:10.320 --> 0:21:14.280 sentenced for their crimes? The military is still powerful. 0:21:15.000 --> 0:21:20.240 The cougom opinion termina racons in quendanio de froutracion democratica. 0:21:20.280 --> 0:21:20.560 In the. 0:21:22.119 --> 0:21:26.320 An estelevised speech, the president promises the trial will help 0:21:26.440 --> 0:21:27.560 heal the country. 0:21:28.400 --> 0:21:32.280 I started getting recruited to testify in all sorts of cases. 0:21:32.960 --> 0:21:36.640 My mother was horrified by the idea. It was scary 0:21:36.960 --> 0:21:41.320 there could be retaliation. Many of my comrades didn't feel safe. 0:21:41.960 --> 0:21:44.840 Some came back from exile to testify and then immediately 0:21:44.920 --> 0:21:46.359 left the country. 0:21:46.520 --> 0:21:49.520 The prosecutors tell medium to avoid her home during the 0:21:49.600 --> 0:21:53.440 days before and after the trial. She could be a target, 0:21:53.880 --> 0:21:54.680 and so could they. 0:21:55.400 --> 0:21:59.320 It was my duty to testify, also my chance to 0:21:59.400 --> 0:22:04.440 address that guilt for having survived, to avenge the torture, 0:22:04.800 --> 0:22:08.119 the murder of my friends, of all the victims of the. 0:22:08.160 --> 0:22:15.560 Junta quioi alas members dilatares de jamalo pro. 0:22:19.440 --> 0:22:23.680 It's nineteen eighty five and the trial begins. The court 0:22:23.840 --> 0:22:28.400 has high ceilings, wood paneled walls, and it's packed with journalists, 0:22:29.119 --> 0:22:34.600 relatives of the disappeared and activists fill the balcony. Medium 0:22:34.720 --> 0:22:38.880 sits in front of the judge ready to testify. She's 0:22:38.920 --> 0:22:42.600 wearing a black blazer, her reddish brown hair at shoulder length, 0:22:43.600 --> 0:22:46.199 and sitting in the road. Just behind her are the 0:22:46.320 --> 0:22:51.760 nine Junta commanders on trial, most of them still in uniform. 0:22:52.240 --> 0:22:57.160 There's Admiral Masceda, then the main Junta leader, General Videla, 0:22:57.520 --> 0:22:59.720 in a gray blazer and thick glasses. 0:23:00.480 --> 0:23:05.040 The whole scene was intimidating, nine of the commanders and 0:23:05.080 --> 0:23:08.399 their defense attorneys looking right at you. 0:23:09.480 --> 0:23:13.720 The trial is public, which means anyone can attend, but 0:23:13.760 --> 0:23:18.040 it's not broadcast live on TV. Only minutes of each 0:23:18.119 --> 0:23:23.239 hearing were broadcast. Some say because of pressure intimidation by 0:23:23.280 --> 0:23:27.240 the military in different sectors of society. Others going to 0:23:27.280 --> 0:23:30.800 the media still being fearful of upsetting the military. And 0:23:30.840 --> 0:23:46.160 then there's Medium, the Avenger, confident, fearless. That's the real Medium, 0:23:46.520 --> 0:23:50.720 testifying in Spanish. She smokes and ashes a cigarette while 0:23:50.760 --> 0:23:55.600 she testifies in detail about prisoners being sedated and thrown 0:23:55.640 --> 0:23:59.800 out of planes into the sea. It was upsetting, but 0:24:00.119 --> 0:24:03.240 this is a moment Medium was waiting for. She was 0:24:03.320 --> 0:24:05.280 focused at peace. 0:24:07.760 --> 0:24:14.000 At that moment, I was so calm and collected, I 0:24:14.080 --> 0:24:16.679 could have eaten a slice of pizza and testified. 0:24:16.720 --> 0:24:20.040 At the same time, she talks about the prisoners she 0:24:20.119 --> 0:24:25.359 met in captivity and names her captors, among them Alfredo Astis, 0:24:25.800 --> 0:24:29.840 the blond angel of Death. She also mentions Admiral Maceda, 0:24:30.080 --> 0:24:44.000 who ran Esma now the ten Defender. The junta commanders 0:24:44.040 --> 0:24:49.160 refused to admit guilt. They called the trial unconstitutional. They 0:24:49.200 --> 0:24:52.760 deny that clandestine torture centers existed and say they had 0:24:52.760 --> 0:24:56.840 never met any of the survivors testifying against them. But 0:24:56.960 --> 0:25:00.919 Medium has proof. She tells the story of the Taimastis 0:25:01.080 --> 0:25:03.760 knocked on her door when she was living outside of 0:25:03.920 --> 0:25:07.600 Esma under surveillance. The Deasties took her to a cafe 0:25:07.920 --> 0:25:10.920 before he left the country and wrote his contact information 0:25:11.080 --> 0:25:12.480 in ink on a napkin. 0:25:15.560 --> 0:25:18.800 I told the judge, here's the napkin for the court 0:25:18.840 --> 0:25:21.919 to see. I found it inside one of my notebooks 0:25:21.960 --> 0:25:23.400 from nineteen seventy nine. 0:25:24.440 --> 0:25:27.359 The judge tells Medium to hand over the napkin to 0:25:27.440 --> 0:25:32.320 one of the clerks. That napkin becomes crucial evidence. It 0:25:32.400 --> 0:25:35.560 proves that the junta leaders are lying about not knowing 0:25:35.600 --> 0:25:38.640 the prisoners, there's no way to deny it. 0:25:42.000 --> 0:25:48.680 Emilio Elmira, Raa, Gualo Rossi and Delitos. 0:25:49.359 --> 0:25:55.440 The trial lasts several months. Hundreds of witnesses testify. Finally, 0:25:56.080 --> 0:26:01.159 Chief Prosecutor Julio Cesar Strasera delivers his closing argument. It 0:26:01.200 --> 0:26:13.040 will go down in Argentine history. He says, quote, I 0:26:13.080 --> 0:26:15.480 want to use a phrase that doesn't belong to me, 0:26:16.000 --> 0:26:20.600 because it now belongs to the Argentine people. Never again 0:26:23.000 --> 0:26:35.920 a Totalino, Senor quess. People are chanting and crying, shouting 0:26:35.960 --> 0:26:40.040 things like murders at the commanders. General Videla stands up 0:26:40.359 --> 0:26:49.680 scans the room, anxious to get out. Videla and Macera 0:26:49.880 --> 0:26:54.560 are convicted for kidnapping, torture, murder to life in prison. 0:26:55.680 --> 0:26:58.760 The trials for sexual abuse and stealing of babies would 0:26:58.840 --> 0:27:04.600 follow years later. Yes, this trial was historic, the first 0:27:04.600 --> 0:27:08.520 of its kind, but justice was still not at hand. 0:27:09.280 --> 0:27:12.520 They were found guilty, but the former junta leaders and 0:27:12.560 --> 0:27:16.359 their accomplices wouldn't be punished, not yet. 0:27:17.119 --> 0:27:20.320 In the years that followed, the new president came under 0:27:20.359 --> 0:27:23.680 a lot of pressure from the military. They were still 0:27:24.000 --> 0:27:28.840 very powerful. The government felt pressure to pass new amnesty laws. 0:27:29.359 --> 0:27:33.080 Those laws brought twenty more years of impunity. 0:27:35.600 --> 0:27:38.720 Exactly one year after the trial, the so called full 0:27:38.760 --> 0:27:42.480 Stop law interrupts all new or ongoing trials related to 0:27:42.520 --> 0:27:47.800 the junta's crimes. Impunity becomes the watchword. Soon after the 0:27:47.920 --> 0:27:52.399 Due Obedience Law takes effect. It exempted lower military members 0:27:52.400 --> 0:27:56.880 from charges because they were quote just following orders. Those 0:27:56.920 --> 0:28:00.680 who kidnapped medium, those who tortured her were free. 0:28:01.119 --> 0:28:05.600 The survivors we'd continue to come across our kidnappers torturers 0:28:05.880 --> 0:28:09.600 on the street, at a stoplight, at the movie theater, 0:28:09.880 --> 0:28:15.400 wherever we felt helpless, because it showed that these trials 0:28:15.400 --> 0:28:22.720 had brought no real punishment, no real justice. 0:28:24.720 --> 0:28:29.080 Fast forward two decades. In December of two thousand and four, Mako, 0:28:29.480 --> 0:28:32.240 the guy from the forensic team, gets a tip about 0:28:32.240 --> 0:28:34.920 a mass grave where the remains of people who had 0:28:34.920 --> 0:28:36.560 disappeared may be buried. 0:28:38.000 --> 0:28:41.400 This information led us to a cemetery where we found 0:28:41.440 --> 0:28:46.360 six bodies buried in a mass grave. They were all unidentified. 0:28:49.000 --> 0:28:51.320 They were the same bodies that had been discovered on 0:28:51.360 --> 0:28:55.680 the beach two decades earlier, in nineteen seventy seven. The 0:28:55.720 --> 0:29:01.160 bodies described by witnesses as swollen severed, the medical examiners 0:29:01.200 --> 0:29:05.320 could tell that the storm that powerful Sudhestalla had driven 0:29:05.360 --> 0:29:10.040 the bodies to shore. But then they made a surprising discovery. 0:29:10.760 --> 0:29:14.800 The victims didn't die from drowning. They died from impact 0:29:15.560 --> 0:29:19.920 from falling from a high altitude. These were, without a doubt, 0:29:20.360 --> 0:29:23.440 bodies of the disappeared who had been tossed from death 0:29:23.440 --> 0:29:29.360 flights for years. Maco's job was to identify the remains 0:29:29.640 --> 0:29:33.440 and return them to their families, but this case is different. 0:29:34.000 --> 0:29:36.600