Sleight of Hand: Violence As Performance and the Spectacle of Absence in the Southern Cone
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Sleight of Hand: Violence as Performance and the Spectacle of Absence in the Southern Cone Item Type text; Electronic Thesis Authors Barefoot, James Collin Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 24/09/2021 20:39:47 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/560936 SLEIGHT OF HAND: VIOLENCE AS PERFORMANCE AND THE SPECTACLE OF ABSENCE IN THE SOUTHERN CONE by James Barefoot ____________________________ Copyright © James Barefoot 2015 A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2015 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This thesis has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this thesis are allowable without special permission, provided that an accurate acknowledgement of the source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED: James Barefoot APPROVAL BY THESIS DIRECTOR This thesis has been approved on the date shown below: May 7, 2015_____ Jadwiga Pieper Mooney Date Professor of History 2 Acknowledgements My name is listed as the author of this work, but I had plenty of help along the way. My advisor, Dr. Jadwiga Pieper Mooney, pushed me to excel in my writing and spent many hours reading and discussing this work with me to ensure a quality finished product which I am proud of. My committee members, Dr. Bert Barickman and Dr. Linda Green, aided the development of my analytical skills as a historian and fostered my interest in interdisciplinary approaches to my subjects. I am grateful to all of you and the trust you all displayed towards my production of this work means a great deal to me. The University of Arizona permitted me to excel as a graduate student. The wonderful faculty I have had the pleasure of working with over these few years, especially my advisor and committee members, enhanced my understanding of this field and influenced the ways I viewed my argument and produced this work. I also acknowledge and thank Texas A&M University for instilling in me the discipline and work ethic to enter the profession of history and complete a thesis worthy of defense and academic pride. Thank you to those who came before me and generated a historiographical base upon which I could build my own work. Whether we agree or not, we are all in this together to enhance our collective knowledge of both the past and present. Last, but not least, I thank my friends and family for aiding me in my life, as well as my academic endeavors. Without the unconditional love and conditional funding from my wonderful parents, James and Lindy Barefoot, I do not know if this journey could have come to fruition. Thank you to my sister, Ashley Skinner. Here’s to competing in our undergraduate studies and for your watchful eye keeping me on track. Thanks to Jon Skinner for feeding me through many years of college, as well as being a great friend and brother-in-law. Thank you to my grandparents, Don and Bobbye Collins and Inez and the late James Weldon Barefoot, for providing me with years of love and stories which encouraged me to become a historian. Thank you to Danielle Blalock for putting up with me while this work was in progress and for all the proof reading, debating of ideas, and general aid you provided. Finally, thank you to George Carroll for being a great friend/colleague and for our frequent lunches/discussions at Panda. 3 This work is dedicated to my mother, Lindy Barefoot. Without your care, guidance, and patience, this work and my life would not be possible. Thank you and I love you. 4 Table of Contents List of Acronyms ........................................................................................................................... 6 Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... 7 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 8 I. Performances of Violence and Power ...................................................................................... 23 A. Origins ........................................................................................................................ 23 B. I Am Legion for We Are Many .................................................................................. 29 C. Babylon Undone ......................................................................................................... 34 D. All the World’s a Stage................................................................................................38 E. Tactical Violence ........................................................................................................ 46 F. The Lone Star of the South and the Sun of May ........................................................ 51 II. Inside the Argentine Inferno: Violent Spectacles as Communication ................................... 56 A. The Gang ................................................................................................................... 57 B. Caught in the Middle ................................................................................................. 66 C. Enter the Exile ........................................................................................................... 74 D. Those Who Killed the Least ...................................................................................... 79 III. The Red, White, and Blue Elephant in the Room ................................................................ 88 A. Do You Have a Receipt? ........................................................................................... 88 B. A Meeting with HR ................................................................................................... 97 C. Look Who’s Talking to Whom ................................................................................ 106 D. Burning Like Dry Ice ............................................................................................... 111 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 120 Bibliography: Primary Sources ................................................................................................ 126 Bibliography: Secondary Sources ............................................................................................ 150 5 List of Acronyms AAA – Alianza Anticomunista Argentina (Argentine Anticommunist Alliance) ARA – Bureau of Inter-American Affairs, U.S. Department of State BA – Bureaucratic Authoritarianism CIA – U.S. Central Intelligence Agency CNI – Central Nacional de Informaciones (National Information Center – Chile [Post-1977]) CONADEP – Comisión Nacional sobre la Desaparición de Personas (National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons) DIA – U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency DINA – Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (National Intelligence Directorate – Chile [1973 1977]) DOD – U.S. Department of Defense ERP – Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo (People’s Revolutionary Army) ESMA – Escuela Superior de Mecánica de la Armada (Navy School of Mechanics – Argentina) FBI – U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation GOA – Government of Argentina INR – Bureau of Intelligence and Research, U.S. Department of State ISA – Ideological State Apparatus JCR – Junta Coordinadora Revolucionaria (Revolutionary Coordinating Junta) MIR – Movimiento de Izquierda (Revolutionary Left Movement – Chile) RSA – Repressive State Apparatus RSO – Regional Security Officer, U.S. Department of State SIDE – Secretaría de Inteligencia de Estado (Secretariat of State Intelligence – Argentina) UN – United Nations UNHCR – United Nations High Commission for Refugees 6 Abstract I explore the changing use of political violence by the new Latin American military regimes, specifically post-1976 Argentina with comparative analysis towards Augusto Pinochet’s Chile, as well as by those who protested military authoritarianism during the Dirty War and Operation Condor. These military dictatorships adopted aggressive anti-communist ideologies and displayed them through internal, covert violence. In this study, I adopt definitions of the ‘spectacle of violence’ and the ‘spectacle of absence’ that seek to explore the politics of diplomacy behind violent acts that have informed the processes of staging, or hiding, both the methods and outcome of inflicted violence. Geopolitics of the post-human rights legistlation era and the Argentine military’s perception of a failed judicial system fostered the institutionalization of a new violent performance, the spectacle of absence, in opposition to the guerrillas’ application of the public spectacle of violence. My analysis of violent spectacles within Argentina and their reception at home and abroad displays the various meanings transmitted and