La Noche de los lápices

The Night of the Pencils (in Spanish: La Noche de los Lápices), was a series of kidnappings and forced disappearances, followed by the torture, rape, and murder of a number of young students in September 1976, during the last Argentine dictatorship, also known as the National Reorganization Process.

In March 1976 the Argentine military seized power following a coup d'état. The military junta then implemented what was called the National Reorganization Process which was a set of policies used by the regime to destroy left-wing guerrilla forces and oppress resistance to its rule. The process included kidnappings, torture and murder. Meanwhile, the Montoneros, a leftist guerilla group, responded violently to the junta and its actions as they enlisted other Argentines to join their campaign against the regime. Those enlisted included young, left-wing, politically active students from the organization named the Unión de Estudiantes Secundarios (Union of High School Students) of La Plata. The UES was committed to achieving school reforms and other political reforms, through demonstrations and protests that irked the ruling regime.

The circumstances of the kidnappings, in conjunction with the testimony of one of the survivors, Pablo Díaz, are the reason many hold the view that the kidnappings were a direct consequence of these peaceful protests and that Pablo had nothing to do with the guerrillas. However, Antonius C. G. M. Robben, Professor of Anthropology at Utrecht University wrote:

At 4:00 A.M. on 21 September 1976, Pablo Diaz was taken from his home, hooded, thrown into a car, and taken to La Arana police station in La Plata. They interrogated him briefly about the upcoming student protest and his alleged guerrilla activities. They also brought in another captive, and asked him about Pablo Diaz. The blindfolded man did not know that Pablo was present and responded that Pablo Diaz sympathized with the Guevarist Youth.

Several hundred guerrillas of the Guevarist Youth Group disappeared in a series of gun battles and abductions between 1976 and 1977, after it was discovered they were planning to mount a military offensive during the 1978 World Cup in Argentina.

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