It was the early hours of Wednesday, March 24, 1976. Outside, it was dark. Sunrise was still several hours away when the voice on the radio made the announcement: Isabel Perón’s government had fallen.

The reins of the country had been, once again, taken over by the armed forces in Argentina’s sixth coup d’etat, one that would lead to the darkest period in the country’s history, with the forced disappearance and murder of 30,000 people at the hands of state terrorism.

At around 3 a.m., a military march started playing on all radios. From the Casa Rosada, the presidential palace, and broadcast to the entire country, the voice of official announcer Juan Vicente Mentesana read out the proclamation of the new military junta explaining the motives for the coup.

“Having exhausted all constitutional avenues, having ruled out the possibility of corrective action within the institutional framework, and having irrefutably proven the impossibility of restoring the process through normal channels, a situation that harms the nation and jeopardizes its future has come to an end. […] The Armed Forces, in fulfillment of an inalienable duty, have assumed control of the State,” the message said.

The proclamation was signed by the heads of the three branches of the armed forces: Jorge Rafael Videla (Military), Emilio Eduardo Massera (Navy), and Orlando Ramón Agosti (Air Force). Soldiers had broken into TV and radio stations and taken control.

Over the course of the morning, the broadcaster read out 31 new “communiqués” issued by the Junta, including a ban on gatherings and any political activity, the death penalty for anyone who hurt or murdered security force members, a takeover of unions, and the shuttering of Congress, among many others.

Beatriz (38 at the time) was travelling with her father from her home in Isidro Casanova to a Jehovah’s Witnesses’ assembly in Bahía Blanca, in Buenos Aires province, in the early hours of March 24.

It was well past midnight when she started seeing soldiers bearing arms alongside the road. They were pointing their weapons at the cars. Her father was fast asleep beside her, so she woke him up. “Dad, there are soldiers outside. What do we........

© Buenos Aires Herald