Night of the Pencils

The Night of the Pencils (in Spanish: Noche de los Lápices), was a series of kidnappings and forced disappearances, followed by the torture, rape, and murder of 10 high-school students that began on the evening of 16 September 1976 and continued into the next day, during Argentina's last civil-military dictatorship. The event is one of the most infamous acts of repression committed by the last Argentine military dictatorship, as most of the victims were under 18 years of age. Four of the victims survived; the remains of the others have never been found.

Context

The Argentine military seized power following a March 1976 coup d'état. The military junta then implemented what was they called a "National Reorganization Process" which was a set of policies used by the regime to destroy left-wing guerrilla forces and oppress resistance to its rule. The process included kidnappings, torture and murder. Meanwhile, the leftist guerilla group Montoneros responded violently to the junta and its actions as they enlisted other Argentines to join their campaign against the regime.

The Night of the Pencils victims were largely from the Unión de Estudiantes Secundarios (UES, Spanish for Union of High School Students) of La Plata. UES was committed to achieving school reforms and other political objectives, including the 1975 protests in which more than 3,000 students marched to protest recent price hikes in the bus fare and demanding the restoration of a subsidised bus ticket for secondary school students. As with many left-wing activists in Argentina, they were persecuted and targeted by the Police.