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The '''Dirty War''' in Argentina, from 1976-1983, was a seven-year  dictatorship and counterinsurgency campaign waged by the Argentinian military junta against left-wing guerrillas and supporting civilians. Tens of thousands of Argentinian nationals, both guerrillas and sympathizers among the civilian population, were abducted by military task groups and supporting volunteer civilian [[Triple A]] military death squads often in the middle of the night. They were taken to secret government detention centers where they were eventually released or killed. These people (including survivors from the detention camps) are known as internationally as ''"los desaparecidos"'' or ''detenidos-desaparecidos'' ("the disappeared" or "detained disappeared").

The '''Dirty War''' in Argentina, from 1976-1983, was a seven-year  dictatorship and counterinsurgency campaign waged by the Argentinian military junta against left-wing guerrillas and supporting civilians. Tens of thousands of Argentinian nationals, both guerrillas and sympathizers among the civilian population, were abducted by military task groups and supporting volunteer civilian [[Triple A]] military death squads often in the middle of the night. They were taken to secret government detention centers where they were eventually released or killed. These people (including survivors from the detention camps) are known as internationally as ''"los desaparecidos"'' or ''detenidos-desaparecidos'' ("the disappeared" or "detained disappeared").

Recently discovered documents of the Chilean Secret Police (DINA) cite an official estimate by the Argentinian Army's 601st Intelligence Battalion (''Batallón de Inteligencia 601'') of 22,000 killed and/or disappeared between 1975 and mid-1978. During this period, it was later established that at least 12,000 "disappeared" were in fact detainees held under National Executive Power (''Poder Ejecutivo Nacional'' or PEN), and kept in detention camps throughout Argentina before eventually being freed under diplomatic pressure.

The [[Mainstream media]] often cites the Chilean Secret Police (DINA) report on the official estimate by the Argentinian Army's 601st Intelligence Battalion (''Batallón de Inteligencia 601'') of 22,000 killed and/or disappeared between 1975 and mid-1978. However, it was later established that during this period at least 12,000 "disappeared" were in fact detainees held under National Executive Power (''Poder Ejecutivo Nacional'' or PEN), and kept in detention camps throughout Argentina before eventually being freed under diplomatic pressure.<ref>''"Durante la vigencia del estado de sitio entre noviembre de 1974 y octubre de 1983, los organismos de derechos humanos denunciaron la existencia de 12 mil presos politicos legales en las distintas cárceles de 'maxima seguridad' a lo largo de todo el territorio de Argentina."'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20130905061527/http://elortiba.org/pdf/Memoria-de-ex-presas-y-presos-politicos.pdf]</ref>

This unexpected Argentinian military defeat during the Falklands/Malvinas War in 1982 hastened the fall of the unpopular military junta that had lost the propaganda war, turning Argentina into a pariah state, and in mid-1982 Lieutenant-General Reynaldo Bignone (head of the interim government) restored basic civil liberties and retracted its ban on left-wing political parties. The Argentinian military dictatorship ended when [[Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín]]'s UCR (Unión Cívica Radical or Radical Civic Union) civilian government took control of the country on December 10, 1983.

This unexpected Argentinian military defeat during the Falklands/Malvinas War in 1982 hastened the fall of the unpopular military junta that had lost the propaganda war, turning Argentina into a pariah state, and in mid-1982 Lieutenant-General Reynaldo Bignone (head of the interim government) restored basic civil liberties and retracted its ban on left-wing political parties. The Argentinian military dictatorship ended when [[Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín]]'s UCR (Unión Cívica Radical or Radical Civic Union) civilian government took control of the country on December 10th 1983.

Many people, 7,158<ref>"The justification for the Dirty War was the armed actions of the Montoneros and the ERP. From 1969 to 1979, there were 239 kidnappings and 1,020 murders by the guerrillas. During the same period, however, the military kidnapped 7,844 and murdered 7,850." The Psychology of Genocide and Violent Oppression: A Study of Mass Cruelty from Nazi Germany to Rwanda, Richard Morrock, William Marchak, p. 184, McFarland, 2010</ref><ref>[http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1621505-hablan-de-30000-desaparecidos-y-saben-que-es-falso Hablan de 30.000 desaparecidos y saben que es falso]</ref><ref>[http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1464650-videla-admitio-que-la-dictadura-mato-a-7-u-8-mil-personas Videla admitió la muerte y desaparición de "7 u 8 mil personas"]</ref>-13,000,<ref>[http://edant.clarin.com/diario/2003/10/06/p-00801.htm Una duda histórica: no se sabe cuántos son los desaparecidos]</ref> both Peronist and Marxist guerrillas as well as civilian opponents of the Argentinian military regime were "disappeared". By the end of 1978, 22,000 thousand Argentinians (according to an often-quoted Chilean military intelligence report) had been taken to secret government detention centers where they were killed or eventually freed under international diplomatic pressure.  

Many people, 7,158<ref>"The justification for the Dirty War was the armed actions of the Montoneros and the ERP. From 1969 to 1979, there were 239 kidnappings and 1,020 murders by the guerrillas. During the same period, however, the military kidnapped 7,844 and murdered 7,850." The Psychology of Genocide and Violent Oppression: A Study of Mass Cruelty from Nazi Germany to Rwanda, Richard Morrock, William Marchak, p. 184, McFarland, 2010</ref><ref>[http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1621505-hablan-de-30000-desaparecidos-y-saben-que-es-falso Hablan de 30.000 desaparecidos y saben que es falso]</ref><ref>[http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1464650-videla-admitio-que-la-dictadura-mato-a-7-u-8-mil-personas Videla admitió la muerte y desaparición de "7 u 8 mil personas"]</ref>-13,000,<ref>[http://edant.clarin.com/diario/2003/10/06/p-00801.htm Una duda histórica: no se sabe cuántos son los desaparecidos]</ref> both Peronist and Marxist guerrillas as well as civilian opponents of the Argentinian military regime were "disappeared". By the end of 1978, 22,000 thousand Argentinians (according to an often-quoted Chilean military intelligence report) had been taken to secret government detention centers where they were killed or eventually freed under international diplomatic pressure.