Memory, Recent Past and the Rice of the Right in Argentina (2008-2019

SALVI , VALENTINA

Amsterdam

Mesa redonda; Roundtable Recent Past-Memories and the Growth of Right-wing Political Forces in the Southern Cone of America: Chile, Argentina y Brazil; 2021

Memory Studies Association

Alianza Cambiemos came to power at a moment when dozens of trials were underway for a broad set of individuals responsible for state terrorism at all levels. By 2015, nearly 40 sites of memory and museums had opened across Argentina, many at the very places where secret detention centers had formerly operated. March 24th, the day of the 1976 coup, had become the National Day of Memory for Truth and Justice; and state terrorism had been integrated to public school curricula.-. All were the result of public memory policies promoted under the three Kirchner administrations (2003-2015). In a context of marked political polarization, the new right party publicly expressed its desire for “change” with regard to this legacy. It thus served as a channel for a set of remarkably different voices and actors that disputed the ways in which the dictatorial past was remembered, challenging the memory and justice policies that had prevailed under the Kirchners.