Are they 30,000? The Category of detenido-desaparecido in the C.A.D.H.U. (1977-1981)

Abstract

In a new political scenario that compels us to review our banners to sustain the dispute over meaning, this article analyzes the category detenido-desaparecido in documents from the Argentine Human Rights Commission (Comisión Argentina de Derechos Humanos; C.A.D.H.U.). Focusing on the period from 1977 to 1981, we reconstructed the uses and variations of this category to then, in a second instance, delve into the process of estimating the 30,000. Starting from the conception of the last military dictatorship as a genocidal social practice, whose goal lay in transforming social relations beyond mere annihilation, the 30,000 detenidos-desaparecidos are affirmed as political potentialities that have been erased.