To the Editor:
I wish to present some additional points in support of Dr. Briehl's plea which appeared in the December 1979 Newsletter for a resolution protesting the persecution and incarceration without trial by the Argentinian government of psychoanalysts, psychiatrists, psychiatric social workers and paramedics—a total of some 254 people. Is it inconceivable that protests by the scientific professional community might have lessened the suffering of some of our colleagues during the period of Nazi-Fascist power in Europe?
Some months ago in a New York Times Magazine article, many specific cases of “Desaparecidos” were cited. I have in my possession a list of many others who have disappeared or emigrated to Mexico, Spain, France, and other countries. This list was obtained from a psychologist who formerly worked in Argentina and is now in the U.S. His story is brief: As he was about to complete his didactic analysis, two of his patients disappeared. Some days later, as he opened his office door, a plainclothesman sitting in the waiting room remarked, “I'm just looking around.” The psychologist was advised by friends to leave the country. He did not belong to the underground, he was not a Communist. As a matter of fact, he claims the Communists fare better than the non-aligned in Argentina's repressive regime. After many of the names on my list are the words: “No political affiliation.”
At the 31st IPAC last summer, the point was repeatedly raised by the Argentinian speakers and by some of our members (also at the December '79 APsaA meeting), that the Argentinian
analysts would be jeopardized by the passage of a specific resolution citing the maltreatment of our colleagues who live and work in Argentina. But the latter may say they dissociate themselves from any action by the APasA. They may point to their previous successful efforts, at the Jerusalem and N.Y. meetings, in preventing any specific resolution. Wittingly or unwittingly, however, they serve the purposes of the Military Junta which passes for the government of Argentina.
The same speakers claimed that there were no documented cases of individual psychoanalysts, psychologists, etc., or their families in Argentina who were terrorized, tortured, or made “Desparecidos.” On 4/19/76, Dr. Hugh Francisco Bellagamba, a psychoanalyst, was abducted from his office by armed plainclothesmen, and the act was witnessed by his patients. Assorted guns were found in his home—but gun collecting was his hobby! He has not been heard of since.
A third case: On 12/8/77, Angela Auad, a psychology student, while going to church to protest the disappearance of her husband, was kidnapped along with two French nuns, sisters Leonie Duquet and Alice Domon. Her husband, released, is appealing for information about her whereabouts.
Never in man's history has injustice been redressed by Silence. It is a well-known maxim that silence signifies consent. If we do not consent to the disappearance and exile of our colleagues, we must say so openly and without equivocation. The bland, generalized resolution passed at the 31st IPAC in New York even omitted the name of the country we were discussing—Argentina! In 1979, the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, after prolonged investigation and consideration of the facts, branded Argentina the worst violator of human rights in Latin America.
International publicity has been an important factor in the release of some of the persecuted not only in the Soviet Union, but also in Argentina. A mail ballot along the lines of Dr. Briehl's resolution, which he introduced at the December APsaA meeting, should be implemented as soon as possible.
For too long we have been dragging our feet on this humanitarian issue, which should concern all psychoanalysts who, in their work, are concerned with the Human Condition!
William W. Pike, M.D.
New York