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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 26, 1987)
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Any 2 Movies & VCR U of O SPECIAL $5.95 Oaac 1600 TiiIm la Stock (■■HUItal KcmcmIIohi Wrriily Spoclai* On Morin H.trm Coma ol IMti t Agata Propac I 0 Raqutrad Coupon a«plra« 10/28/87_ 4* German A U TO SERVICE VW’S MERCEDES BMW’S DATSUN TOYOTA 2025 Ff«n*in Btvd E u9»r» Oe 97403 Bus Ph M2 2912 rehttbta sennet tot YOut totatgn cat "Since 1963" Expert tells of Argentinean atrocities By Kevin Harrington Emerald Contributor In spite of a recent return to civilian government in Argen tina, the effects of a genocidal "dirty war" against leftists by the country's former military government during the 1970s have left deep scars on Argen tine society, according to men tal health expert Dr. Mario Epelman Epel man spoke on the "Psychological Effects of Human Rights Abuses" at a brown bag lunch forum at the University on Friday The forum was co-sponsored by the Council for Human Rights in I,atin America, the University Department of Psychology and the l.atin America Support Committee. "We are still suffering the long-term consequences of the dictatorial period (1976 to 1983)." Epelman said "During this time many human rights abuses were committed. Thirty thousand people ’disappeared.' Many people suffered torture that was nazi-style, but more sophisticated. "In Argentina we lived through real genocide and this period of terror has left many consequences. It is still a daily struggle to regain freedom of thought," he explained Epelman, an occupational health physician and en vironmental physiologist cur rently teaching at the School of Medicine at the National UO-Bookstore Small Appliance Sale 20% Off THIS WEEK ONLY HAMILTON < BEACH Blender WEAR-EVER Popcorn Pumper ** ijin & Mf t JO SAT to00100 I J Coffee Mill r - -- HAMILTON BEACH Eurostyle “Mini Drip” Proctor Silex Coffee Maker • Limited to Stock on hand University of Cordova in Argen tina. said he was implied to leave his country when the military took over and the repression began in 1976. As a leader of a teacher's union. Epelman was considered a "subversive.” and an army of ficer informed Epelman that he should leave. Fpeiman said although there was a well-organized, active lef tist guerilla movement in Argentina during the so-called "dirty war." most of the people who were arrested by tbe government had nothing to do with it. Merely having one's sympathies in the wrong place was ground for incarceration, he said. "One of the ways the military carried out this repression was through the idea that subver sion was a 'cancer.' " Epelman said. “In other words, anyone who didn't think the way they were supposed to was con sidered a ‘cancer cell' — and cancer cells had to be removed. As a result, a lot of people end ed up in jail who had not par ticipated in any type of political activity." Under the direction of Gen. Jorge Kiifael Videla (now serv ing life in prison for human rights abuses), Argentina's military government enacted a series of repressive policies that consciously were designed to terrorize the country. Teachers, social workers and students were hauled off to concentra tion camps and clandestine prisons by the thousands for be ing ‘‘cancer cells.” The military, determined to prevent "cancer" from being passed on to future generations, took children born to in can erated leftists away from their natural parents and gave them to politically acceptable families for upbringing This, according to bpelman, is one of the most poignant legacies of the "dirty war" period "These kids grew up believing they were the children of the parents who raised them," he said "Now the truth is coming out, and they are being returned to their families, so you can imagine the conflict within these children. In some cases the people who adopted and raised the children were the same people who tor tured their parents With all these significant psychological problems, these children are go 1 n g to need ongoing psychological help and support.” Another legacy of the repres sion is the "fear that won't go away." Epelman said. "The situation of not being able to speak and not being able to have a dialogue with others changed I)r. Mario Epelman a family’s values. So families became more isolated and lived a life inside their houses that was not shared with others beyond the home. This left its mark on Argentine society. “Today we have to actively retrieve the freedom to think, to speak, and to disagree. Just because we have a democracy doesn't mean that these things will reappear automatically,” Epelman added. Epelman also noted that there is lingering grief among the friends and relatives of the 30,000 people who “disap peared” during the repression. He characterized contemporary Argentina as a divided society where one might go to a restaurant and see his former torturer sitting at the next table. He said the mental health needs of Argentine society are unprecedented and demanding “We don't know how long these effects will last. . . most of us (in the mental health sector) are not trained to treat people who've been tortured, or who may have lost their brothers or sisters, or their children, and have no idea what happened to them," Epelman said. University Neighborhood Dentist Gentle care for students for 15 years Student Discount Available J. Scott Baxter, D.M.D., P.C. Complete Dental Service • Fillings • TV's • Root Canals • VCR's • Nitrous Oxide • Cosmetic Bonding 622 E. 22nd Ave. Building F (corner of Patterson & 22nd) 344-6371 Argentina's reign of military terror finally ended in 1983. after a faltering economy and the disastrous loss of the Falklands war to Hritain forced the generals to allow democratic elections to be held One of the first actions of Presi dent Raul Aifonsin's civilian government was to order the prosecution of nine military leaders, including three former heads of state, for human rights abuses during the "dirtv war." This meant that Kpelman could return to Argentina Dur ing his years of exile, he lived in Mexico and .Spain and spent five years working in Nicaragua where he founded and directed the Department of Occupational Health and Safety of the Ministry of Labor. In 198*1, he returned to his native country where he resumed teaching at the School of Medicine at the National University of Cordova