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Volumn 110, Issue 1, 2005, Pages 46-67

The Instruction of Great Catastrophe: Truth Commissions, national history, and state formation in Argentina, Chile, and Guatemala

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EID: 33749681861     PISSN: 00028762     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1086/531121     Document Type: Review
Times cited : (121)

References (98)
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    • Rotberg and Thompson, eds., Truth v. Justice.
    • Although methods and mandates differ from commission to commission, in general, commissions of inquiry into political violence in Latin America and elsewhere have gathered testimony from victims and witnesses in order to document the patterns by which state or non-state agents violated human rights recognized by either national or international law. Commissions then made individual decisions on each case, similar to a panel of voting judges. When the investigative period ended, the commissions issued final reports that quantified violations, generally with the aid of a statistical database, and assigned global institutional responsibility. For a discussion of procedural questions related to the work of truth commissions, see Sanford Levinson, "Trials, Commissions, and Investigating Committees: The Elusive Search for Norms of Due Process," in Rotberg and Thompson, eds., Truth v. Justice.
    • Trials, Commissions, and Investigating Committees: the Elusive Search for Norms of Due Process
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    • Ever again: Legal remembrance of administrative massacre
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    • See the discussion in Mark J. Osiel, "Ever Again: Legal Remembrance of Administrative Massacre," University of Pennsylvania Law Review 144 (December 1995): 463-704, 501-520.
    • (1995) University of Pennsylvania Law Review , vol.144 , pp. 463-704
    • Osiel, M.J.1
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    • note
    • For example, of the forty-five individuals, not including secretaries and computer specialists, that staffed the Chilean National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation, thirty-nine were lawyers, law school graduates, or law students.
  • 11
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    • For a definition of the Latin American Cold War as a struggle to define the relationship of the individual to society, see Grandin, The Last Colonial Massacre, 191-98.
    • The Last Colonial Massacre , pp. 191-198
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  • 13
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    • The TRC report: What kind of history? What kind of truth?
    • Deborah Posel and Graeme Simpson, eds. Johannesburg
    • The CEH's historical analysis has implications for postmodern debates surrounding the validity of narrative as such, a debate this essay will not directly touch on but which was explicitly addressed by the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. See Deborah Posel, "The TRC Report: What Kind of History? What Kind of Truth?" in Commissioning the Past: Understanding South Africa 's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Deborah Posel and Graeme Simpson, eds. (Johannesburg, 2001).
    • (2001) Commissioning the Past: Understanding South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission
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    • A group of moral and legal philosophers from the United States, including Ronald Dworkin, Thomas Nagel, and Owen Fiss, also became involved in the transition process, as observers and advisors. Nino, Radical Evil, 84.
    • Radical Evil , vol.84
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    • The making of human rights policy in Argentina: The impact of ideas and interests on a legal conflict
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    • Mark Osiel, "The Making of Human Rights Policy in Argentina: The Impact of Ideas and Interests on a Legal Conflict," Journal of Latin American Studies 18 (May 1986): 135-80, 142.
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    • Punishment and a rights-based democracy
    • Summer/Fall
    • For Malamud-Goti: "Punishment and a Rights-Based Democracy," Criminal Justice Ethics 10, no. 2 (Summer/Fall 1991): 3-13
    • (1991) Criminal Justice Ethics , vol.10 , Issue.2 , pp. 3-13
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  • 21
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    • According to Nino, Alfonsin's primary objective was the "reinstatement of the rule of law and the prevention of such human rights violations in the future. Impunity was incompatible with these principles. While the pursuit of truth would be unrestricted, the punishment would be limited, based on deterrent rather than retributive considerations." Nino, Radical Evil, 68. By "retributive," Nino is referring to an opinion that "the evil caused by the violations of human rights should be met by the closest possible equivalent." It is a term that Alfonsín and his legal advisors generally used to describe what they felt was the absolutist position of human right groups that, "invok[ing] Kant," asked "for the punishment of every last individual responsible for the atrocities, even if society were at the brink of dissolution." Radical Evil, 136. Prior to their becoming advisors to Alfonsín, Nino and Eduardo Rabossi, a member of the CONADEP, both adhered to retributive views similar to human rights organizations; see Nino, Los límites de la responsabilidad penal
    • Los Límites de la Responsabilidad Penal
    • Nino1
  • 23
    • 84890622274 scopus 로고    scopus 로고
    • Osiel, "Ever Again," 478-89, describes Durkheim's influence on the Argentine jurists.
    • Ever Again , pp. 478-489
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    • Carlos Nino, "Transition to Democracy, Corporatism and Constitutional Reform in Latin America," University of Miami Law Review 44 (1989-1990): 129-64, 136.
    • (1989) University of Miami Law Review , vol.44 , pp. 129-164
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    • For "anomie." see Emile Durkheim, Suicide (New York, 1951), 250-54.
    • (1951) Suicide , pp. 250-254
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    • In Un país al morgen de la ley: Estudio de la anomia como componente del subdesarrollo argentine) (Buenos Aires, 1992), Nino lays out in detail his understanding of the historical relationship between institutions, values, authoritarianism, and violence, drawing directly from Durkheim as well as from subsequent modernization theorists, such as Samuel Huntington and Seymour Martin Lipset, and Latin American sociologists such as O'Donnell and Cardoso.
    • (1992) Un País Al Morgen de la Ley: Estudio de la Anomia Como Componente del Subdesarrollo Argentine
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    • Introduction to the english edition
    • Chile. National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation, Phillip E. Berryman, trans., 2 vols. Notre Dame, Ind., xxx. For Weber's influence on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission
    • For thé influence of this essay on transitional justice jurists, see José Zalaquett, "Introduction to the English Edition," in Chile. National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation, Report of the Chilean National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation, Phillip E. Berryman, trans., 2 vols. (Notre Dame, Ind., 1993), 1: xxx. For Weber's influence on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission
    • (1993) Report of the Chilean National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation , pp. 1
    • Zalaquett, J.1
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    • for his influence in Uruguay's return to constitutionalism, see Weschler, A Miracle, A Universe, 186.
    • A Miracle, A Universe , pp. 186
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    • Politics as vocation
    • H. H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills, eds. and trans. New York
    • Max Weber, "Politics as Vocation," in From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, H. H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills, eds. and trans. (New York, 1946), 120.
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    • Body memories: Aide-memoires and collective amnesia in the wake of the Argentine terror
    • Michael Ryan and Avery Gordon, eds. Boulder, Colo.
    • Julie Taylor, "Body Memories: Aide-Memoires and Collective Amnesia in the Wake of the Argentine Terror," in Body Politics: Disease, Desire, and the Family, Michael Ryan and Avery Gordon, eds. (Boulder, Colo. 1994), 197.
    • (1994) Body Politics: Disease, Desire, and the Family , pp. 197
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    • Legal accountability for human rights violations in Argentina: One step forward and two steps backward
    • Alejandro M. Garro and Henry Dahl, "Legal Accountability for Human Rights Violations in Argentina: One Step Forward and Two Steps Backward," Human Rights Law Journal 38 (1987): 283-344, 311, n. 115.
    • (1987) Human Rights Law Journal , vol.38 , Issue.115 , pp. 283-344
    • Garro, A.M.1    Dahl, H.2
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    • See Kathryn Lee Crawford, "Due Obedience and the Rights of the Victims: Argentina's Transition to Democracy," Human Rights Quarterly 12, no. 1 (1990): 17-52.
    • (1990) Human Rights Quarterly , vol.12 , Issue.1 , pp. 17-52
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    • Truth commissions: A comparative assessment
    • Harvard Law School May accessed November 3, 2004
    • José Zalaquett, "Truth Commissions: A Comparative Assessment," Interdisciplinary Discussion, Harvard Law School (May 1996), at www.law.harvard.edu/programs/HRP/Publications/truth3.html (accessed November 3, 2004).
    • (1996) Interdisciplinary Discussion
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    • Patricio aylwin: El adversario clave
    • Santiago, Chile, September 5
    • Militza García, "Patricio Aylwin: El Adversario Clave," Qué Pasa (Santiago, Chile), September 5, 2003.
    • (2003) Qué Pasa
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    • Personal communication, February
    • Zalaquett, Personal communication, February 2001.
    • (2001)
    • Zalaquett1
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    • note
    • The report does not cite any primary or secondary sources to indicate how its accounting of "some characteristics of the climate" that preceded the coup was compiled. It is commonly known that conservative Chilean historian and commission member Gonzalo Vial, who had previously served in Pinochet's government, wrote the first draft of the section describing events leading to the coup.
  • 52
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    • Personal communication, February
    • Zalaquett, Personal communication, February 2001.
    • (2001)
    • Zalaquett1
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    • The following quotations come from Informe de la Comisión, 1: 35, 36, 38.
    • Informe de la Comisión , vol.1 , pp. 35
  • 54
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    • Sergio Grez Toso and Gabriel Salazar Vergara, eds., Santiago
    • Sergio Grez Toso and Gabriel Salazar Vergara, eds., Manifiesto de historiadores (Santiago, 1999).
    • (1999) Manifiesto de Historiadores
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    • New York
    • The report was obliquely referencing a plan by a left-wing group not formally part of the Popular Unity coalition to organize support for Allende within the military to forestall a coup. See John Dinges, The Condor Years: How Pinochet and his Allies brought Terrorism to Three (New York, 2004), 43-44.
    • (2004) The Condor Years: How Pinochet and His Allies Brought Terrorism to Three , pp. 43-44
    • Dinges, J.1
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    • note
    • The report also lists other reasons the coup could be interpreted as a defense of national sovereignty, including the escalating disruptions of public order, the threat such disruptions posed to the country's food supply, and the "whetting foreign appetites" eager to take advantage of political instability (a reference to territorial conflicts with Argentina and Peru).
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    • Clarification commission in Guatemala
    • Head commissioner Christian Tomuschat describes his interpretation of the CEH mandate in "Clarification Commission in Guatemala," Human Rights Quarterly 23, no. 2 (2001): 233-58.
    • (2001) Human Rights Quarterly , vol.23 , Issue.2 , pp. 233-258
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    • 12 vols. Guatemala City, (Hereafter, CEH, Memoria del silenció.)
    • The accord is in the commission's final report: Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico, Guatemala: Memoria del silencio, 12 vols. (Guatemala City, 1999), 1: 23-26. (Hereafter, CEH, Memoria del silenció.)
    • (1999) Guatemala: Memoria del Silencio , vol.1 , pp. 23-26
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    • note
    • From commencement of operations in August 1997 to the issuance of its final report in February 1999, the CEH drew on multiple resources to compile its historical section: individual testimonies; U.S. declassified documents; secondary sources; "context reports" from fourteen regional field offices; inputs by a group of Guatemalan social scientists convened by the commission to serve in an advisory capacity; "illustrative cases" described in detail (as opposed to the 8,000 "ordinary cases," based on testimony and not investigated at great length). When the commission moved to the writing-up stage, four teams-corresponding to the four major sections of Memoria del silencio (1. an interpretation of the "causes and origins" of the armed conflict; 2. a description of the techniques of violence and the establishment of institutional responsibility; 3. an account of the social consequences of the violence; 4. the elaboration of a series of policy recommendations)-synthesized this voluminous information. A team of editors then produced the final report which, unlike the Rettig Report, is copiously cited. Reluctance on the part of the lawyers who ran the CEH to formulate preliminary working hypotheses, however, led to a certain degree of methodological incoherence and a figure-it-out-as-needed approach to data collection, as Marcie Mersky, the coordinator of the final report, describes in "Some Initial Thoughts on the Commission for Historical Clarification in Guatemala," paper presented at Yale University (April 7, 1999).
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    • Rethinking the modular nation form: Toward a sociohistorical conception of nationalism
    • As such, they replicate what Manu Goswami has identified as an operating assumption that handicaps many studies of nationalism: they mistake categories of analysis with categories of practice. Goswami, "Rethinking the Modular Nation Form: Toward a Sociohistorical Conception of Nationalism," Comparative Studies in Society and History 44, no. 4 (2002): 770-99.
    • (2002) Comparative Studies in Society and History , vol.44 , Issue.4 , pp. 770-799
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    • Alternative responses to serious human rights abuses: Of prosecution and truth commissions
    • Stephan Landsman, "Alternative Responses to Serious Human Rights Abuses: Of Prosecution and Truth Commissions," Law and Contemporary Problems 59, no. 4 (1996): 81-92.
    • (1996) Law and Contemporary Problems , vol.59 , Issue.4 , pp. 81-92
    • Landsman, S.1
  • 88
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    • describes the work of commissions in Uruguay and El Salvador. For Peru, which presented its findings in August 2003 and in many ways is not comparable to the commissions here under examination due to the particular nature of insurgent and state violence, see http://www.cverdad.org.pe/.
  • 91
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    • Documento de cheyre se anticipa a duro informe sobre la tortura
    • November 6
    • "Documento de Cheyre se anticipa a duro informe sobre la tortura," La Tercera, November 6, 2004.
    • (2004) La Tercera
  • 92
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    • Monthly Update, August
    • Human Rights Watch, Monthly Update, "Argentina Faces its Past," August 2003, http://hrw.org/ update/2003/08/#1.
    • (2003) Argentina Faces Its Past
  • 96
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    • Weekly Briefs, March 4
    • CERIGUA News Wire, Weekly Briefs, March 4, 1999.
    • (1999) CERIGUA News Wire
  • 97
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    • Democracy as subterfuge: Researchers under siege in Guatemala
    • Fall
    • Charles Haie et al. "Democracy as Subterfuge: Researchers under Siege in Guatemala," LASA Forum 33, no. 3 (Fall 2002): 6-10.
    • (2002) LASA Forum , vol.33 , Issue.3 , pp. 6-10
    • Haie, C.1
  • 98
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    • The truth commission and teaching history in guatemala
    • paper presented at University of British Columbia, Vancouver, November 8
    • Elizabeth Oglesby's study of the short and long-term impact of the CEH argues that the report did not "fix" a particular "version of history, but rather [established] some parameters within which future discussions can take place. In a context like Guatemala, where until recently it was extremely dangerous to raise the issue of human rights violations in public venue, this means establishing some firm ground, the Truth Commission report is out there with the imprimatur of the United Nations, it's impossible now to deny certain realities." Yet Oglesby points out that the interpretation of those realities are still debatable. For instance, the U.S. Agency of International Development-funded project to disseminate a summary of the report omits any mention of the United States' role in the violence, including the CIA's actions in 1954, and ignores the report's structural analysis, instead portraying the violence as the byproduct of armed struggle-a clear contradiction of the CEH's conclusions. Oglesby, "The Truth Commission and Teaching History in Guatemala," paper presented at Carnegie Council History and the Politics of Reconciliation Workshop, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, November 8, 2003.
    • (2003) Carnegie Council History and the Politics of Reconciliation Workshop
    • Oglesby1


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