Antigone Videla? (On the Problem of Burying the Dictator)

Abstract

The article aims to analyze the rejection of the possibility of burying the remains of the dictator Videla in the city of Mercedes (Buenos Aires, Argentina). Based on a survey of the press, on the specialized literature on the deaths of political criminals and authoritarian leaders and on Martha Nussbaum's theorization of political emotions, the paper proposes an interpretation of the turn that took place in a few days after the death of the dictator: from serene expressions of relief in the national public space to the vehement rejection of his burial in his hometown. In the light of the tragedy of Antigone, our interpretation proposes that the problem of Videla's burial points to the knot tied in Argentina between the culture of human rights and the experience of disappearances.