Memorial narratives and diplomatic claims to the military dictatorship: France and the United States facing the case of the vanished French nuns in Argentina (December 1977-November 1978)

Abstract

This article analyses French and US diplomatic claims in the case of the French nuns, Alice Domon and Léonie Duquet, who disappeared in Buenos Aires in December 1977. The analysis allows for questioning the mainstream memorial account, which claims the inaction, weakness or collusion of the French and US governments with the Argentine dictatorship in this particular case. Close study of the declassified diplomatic archives in both countries, proves that the claim was continuous, highly vehement and brought about the alteration of bilateral relationships. In turn, the article compares the different modalities of complaint adopted, the interlocutors at stake and the “responses” obtained through each of the diplomatic channels. This allows to conclude that both diplomatic channels led to “dead-end” situations, whose successful resolution turned out to depended on a change in the diplomatic discourse leading from the claim related to particular cases to the general human rights problem.

Keywords

• memoria
• diplomacia
• derechos humanos
• dictadura
• desaparecidos