The self-image of intelligence agents in an archive of state repression in Argentina

• Citation: 2022 Acta Juridica 88
• Date: 05 September 2022
• Published date: 05 September 2022
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.47348/ACTA/2022/a4
• Pages: 88-100

88

https://doi.org/10.47348/ACTA/2022/a4

The self-image of intelligence agents

in an archive of state repression in

Argentina

MARÍA ALEJA NDRA V ITALE*

This ar ticle examines, f rom a rhetorica l-discursive perspective,

the self-image or êthos of intelligence agents in a n archive of state

repression in A rgentina. The archive, which has been open to the

public since 20 09, once belonged to the In formation Service of the

North Atlantic Naval Prefecture (SI PNA). The article de scribes

some of the problems related to opening this t ype of archive,

such as disagreements about its current purpose a nd the histor ical

actors and memor y processe s involved. It then desc ribes two of the

predominant self-im ages that character ise the intelligence agents

who compiled it: that of repressors and that of political experts or

analysts. The corpus is composed of documents produced on the

occasion of the visit of the Inter-American Commission on Human

Rights ( IACHR) to Argentina in 1979. This visit was i n response

to international complaints about human rights violations by the

milit ary gover nment of the time.

I INTRODUCTION

This ar ticle examines the self-i mage or êthos of intelligence a gents

during the last militar y dictatorship in Argentina (1976–1983), as

found in reports of the Information Service of the North Atlantic

Naval Prefecture (SIPNA).1 These reports refer to the visit that

the Inter-Amer ican Comm ission on Human Rights (IACHR)

made to Argentina in 1979, following internationa l complaints

about forced disappearances of people, torture, and imprisonment

without trial.2 This st udy is part of a larger research project carr ied

* P rofessor at the Universit y of Buenos Aires, Ar gentina .

1 S ee Aristotle (Rhet oric I 2, 1356–1357); R Amossy La présentation de soi.

Êthos et identité ve rbale (2010); D Maing ueneau ‘Problèmes d’êt hos’ (2002)

113/114 Pratiques 55; D Maingueneau ‘ Retour crit ique sur l’ éthos’ (2014) 149

Langage & So cieté 31.

2 T hese documents are held i n CPM-FONDO, Prefectura Naval zon a del

Atlántico Norte (Provincia l Comm ission for Memor y – North At lantic A rea

2022 Acta Juridica 88

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