Argentina's military junta threatens journalists with prison for reporting on its opponents

Hours after seizing power on March 24, 1976, Argentina's military junta, led by General Jorge Videla, issued Communiqué No. 19, threatening up to 10 years in prison for reporting favorable to groups it called subversive. Hundreds of journalists were later detained, killed or forced into exile.¹²³

Country

Argentina (RSF 2026 rank: 98th of 180)

Where

AR

Level of government

National

Tactics

Detention and violence, Prior restraint

Stage

Eliminate (see the ladder)

Head of government at the time

Jorge Rafael Videla

Issue of the day

Argentina's military had just overthrown the elected government and moved immediately to prevent reporting sympathetic to leftist groups it had outlawed or reporting it considered damaging to the armed forces' standing.

Outcome

Reversed, December 10, 1983. Argentina returned to civilian, elected government under President Raúl Alfonsín in December 1983, ending the junta's press decrees.

Era

The 1970s

What happened

Argentina's armed forces overthrew President Isabel Perón's government on March 24, 1976 and installed a military junta headed by General Jorge Videla. The same day, the junta issued Communiqué No. 19, threatening imprisonment of up to 10 years for anyone who published or reproduced material from organizations the government had banned, and threatening up to 10 years for reporting that the government said disrupted, harmed or discredited the armed forces. Security forces raided newspapers around the country, arresting and jailing editors and reporters and closing some publications outright. Jacobo Timerman, editor of the newspaper La Opinión, was detained in April 1977 and later held under house arrest. At the English-language Buenos Aires Herald, editor Robert Cox and journalist Andrew Graham-Yooll kept publishing the names of people who had disappeared under the military's rule, until death threats forced both men to leave the country. A subcommittee investigating the period found that roughly 500 journalists had left Argentina for political reasons, while dozens more were reported missing or held in detention centers.¹²³

What reason was given

The junta's Communiqué No. 19 framed reporting on groups it had banned, or coverage it considered damaging to the armed forces, as itself a punishable offense carrying years of imprisonment.¹

What changed for reporting

Newspapers were raided and some closed, editors and reporters were jailed, and rights investigators later documented dozens of journalists missing or in detention and roughly 500 who left the country for political reasons during the military's rule.²

Timeline

Who acted

Outlets and journalists

Sources

• Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Argentina, Chapter VII: The Right to Freedom of Investigation, Opinion, Expression and DisseminationInter-American Commission on Human Rights, Organization of American States, 1980, reporting. Source record
• 150 years, one missionBuenos Aires Herald, reporting. Source record