Una aproximación cuantitativa para el estudio del exilio político argentino en México y Cataluña (1974-1983) / A Quantitative Approach to the Study of Argentinean Political Exiles in Mexico and Catalunya (1974-1983)

Abstract

En la historia demográfica argentina de la última mitad del siglo xx los flujos emigratorios constituyen un fenómeno particularmente significativo. Sin embargo existen dificultades para estudiarlos pues los registros documentales que se han generado no permiten distinguir una emigración tradicional de otra que respondió a un contexto de marcada persecución política. Este artículo analiza dichas dificultades y revisa las distintas aproximaciones realizadas para medir la magnitud del exilio argentino durante la última dictadura militar (1976-1983). Se estudian los casos de México y de Cataluña, con base en los registros consulares y migratorios a los que en fechas recientes se pudo acceder. Éstas nuevas fuentes, con sus peculiaridades y limitaciones, permiten evidenciar los contrastes en los perfiles sociodemográficos de los argentinos que llegaron a México y Cataluña antes y después del golpe de Estado. Así, este trabajo permite acercarse con mayor precisión a las características de una emigración generada por la represión militar, y a las modalidades que asumieron los procesos de inserción de esos exiliados en las sociedades receptoras. AbstractIn the Argentinean demographic history of the second half of the 20th century, migratory flows constitute a particularly significant phenomenon. They have, however, proved difficult to study, since documentary records fail to distinguish between traditional migration and another type of migration that reflected a context of acute political persecution. This article analyzes these difficulties and reviews the various approaches used to measure the scope of Argentinean exile during the last military dictatorship (1976-1983). It studies the cases of Mexico and Catalunya on the basis of consular and migratory records that have recently been made available. These new sources, with their peculiarities and limitations, highlight the contrasts in the socio-demographic profiles of the Argentineans that arrived in Mexico and Catalunya before and after the coup d’état. This paper provides a detailed analysis of the characteristics of the emigration caused by military repression and the ways exiles were incorporated into receiving societies.

Debates en torno a “los desaparecidos”. El caso de la revista Controversia

“…A ello se contrapusieron voces de colegas exiliados y víctimas directas del terrorismo de Estado, pero el editor de la revista conservó su lugar de poder (Foucault, 1968) en cuanto 19 Este derrotero puede apreciarse en los sucesivos números de la revista Lucha Armada en Argentina publicada a inicios del siglo xxi. Recuperado de https://www.facebook.com/people/ Ejercitar-la-Memoria-editores/100069583132393/ 20 Véase, entre otras revistas, La Ciudad Futura (1986( -1998( ) y Unidos (1983( -1991. 21 Por ejemplo, el grupo que se nucleó en torno al Club de Cultura Socialista, encabezado por José Aricó, o en torno a la Renovación Peronista, cuyos referentes políticos fueron Antonio Cafiero y Carlos Menem.…”

“…Y me marcó. 10 Desde ese lugar de desgarro y compromiso, Schmucler trató de dar un salto crítico y reflexivo que, llegado 1979, estuvo en consonancia con un "momento de inflexión" (Jensen, 1998) en la trayectoria por los derechos humanos. Así, retomó su producción intelectual -escasa desde el golpe militar hasta la aparición de Controversiapara pronunciarse sobre un tema candente.…”

Almost disarmed: Politics and violence in the final years of the Argentine organization Montoneros (1979–1983)

“…Military activity, however, was restricted to the Argentine territory—for example, operations against military and government facilities during the 1978 World Cup (in addition to radio and television propaganda). Unlike other actors that promoted a boycott of the World Cup (Franco, 2008; Jensen, 2007), Montoneros used the tournament to draw international attention to the crimes of the Argentine regime. As they had announced at the beginning of 1976, all this was conceived as part of the “active defense” that would prepare the ground for the “counteroffensive” that was part of its “Strategic Defense,” all of which formed part of its general political-military strategy.…”

“…It should be noted that this contrasted with the shifts that were taking place at that time in some of the cities where Montoneros members had settled, rubbing shoulders with Argentine intellectuals, artists, and politicians who had also been forced into exile. For many, the experience of exile entailed a gradual dampening of revolutionary convictions and a move toward faith in liberal democracy, centered around respect for human rights and individual life, acceptance that the revolution had been defeated, and belief in democracy as a political regime (Franco, 2008; Jensen, 2007; Yankelevich, 2010). In 1979 and 1980, for example, the Mexican magazine Controversia para el examen de la realidad argentina published a series of criticisms of revolutionary militancy, censuring vanguardism, foquismo, bureaucratization, authoritarianism, contempt for democracy, and the failure to understand the working classes (Gago, 2012; Gauna, 2020).…”

“…Furthermore, as Confino (2018: 345) relates, two Montoneros leaders sought to enter Argentina to offer the military government support in the conflict, but the consul in Peru warned them that they would be arrested. Silvina Jensen (2007: 147) also describes the meeting with the president of Mexico in which support for the Falklands War was expressed. Undoubtedly, the Falklands War and its repercussions for Montoneros requires a more extensive and complex analysis.…”