Los Andes, Antonio Di Benedetto and the parastatal violence. Mendoza, 1973-1976

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the coverage of parastatal violence perpetrated by Los Andes and its relationship with the figure of writer and journalist Antonio Di Benedetto. When analyzing the pages of this newspaper during the months before the last coup, we find that despite its well-known conservative character, Los Andes made a complete and deep coverage of the news that gave account of the action of the parapolitial bands.
When inquiring into the causes for which this conservative daily had such a commitment to what happened, we find the figure of Di Benedetto, who served as deputy director at that time. Known is the tragic fate of the writer, who was abducted and subjected to all kinds of harassment on the morning of March 24, 1976. Although it is difficult to unravel the logic with which repression acted, the question that always revolved was: what was the reason for the brutal "punishment" that was submitted to Di Benedetto being that he was never politically committed and was even known by his conservative political ideas? Based on the hypothesis that his detention was linked to the publication of the news about the repression before the dictatorship, the following work intends to
investigate what was the news that caused so much discomfort within the armed forces and what were the political consequences of its publication.