Listo Para El Viaje!

Just finished writing my “things to not forget” list, and it is a long one! I’m just about ready to start packing up my suitcase for tomorrow. After a long week of reading, and reading, and researching, and planning, I’m finally starting to feel super excited for tomorrow. My plane leaves Tucson at 4:25 pm and goes straight to L.A.. From there it’s about 13 hours to Chile and then another hour or so to Cordoba, Argentina, my final destination and birthplace. I arrive in Argentina on Tuesday at about 10 in the morning Argentina time (which is four hours ahead of Tucson time). Anyway, I’m going to Argentina to study the role that the press had in the decline of the military dictatorship from 1978-1983. I’ll be doing some major research every morning from 7:00 to about 1:30 (or whenever I get really hungry) in the archives of one of the biggest newspapers in Argentina: La Voz del Interior. In addition to that, I will interview at least three journalists (probably more!) who wrote during those times to get a feel for what things were like. That whole decade, from the 70’s to the 80’s, was a really hard time for the people of Argentina. As you may or may not know, the military dictatorship of that time was responsible for the “disappearance” (kidnap, brutal torture, and in most cases murder) of about 30,000 people. The dictators also made sure to keep all of their activities secret by heavily censoring the press. The government threatened the newspaper companies and kidnapped journalists and pretty much anyone who did not agree with their policies and said so. My grandfather, who was a journalist during that time, (a pretty important one at that!) has many stories about being threatened by the government and about when the government planted a bomb in the newspaper company he worked for. Well, I think that’s enough history for now, but stay tuned…

Just to keep the trend going, I guess I’ll talk a little bit about where I will be staying and all that. I will be staying with my grandparents and cousins at my grandparent’s house, which means I get a bed, a bathroom, a microwave, an oven, and even a sweet old lady to make me awesome meals! And check this out, the next time you hear from me I’ll be in a different hemisphere.

Agustin

Some Pictures of "Los Desaperecidos"