Professionalize the Complete Memory. The Centro de Estudios Legales sobre el Terrorismo y sus víctimas as a Professional Victimizing Agent (2006-2017)

Abstract

The Center for Legal Studies on Terrorism and its Victims (CELTYV) is a nongovernmental organization founded in 2006 with the aim of making visible the deaths caused by the actions of Argentine armed organizations during the 1970s. In this article we will examine how the CELTYV has made law as a principle of adherence and public recognition in its struggles. We argue that the CELTYV promoted certain legal interpretations to give legitimacy to the cause of complete memory, at the same time that it sought to enshrine an expert mode of interpretation that allows to avoid controversial edges and political definitions around the justification of State terrorism. A qualitative approach and both primary and secondary sources were used to develop this article. Particularly, an in-depth interview with the president of CELTYV, Victoria Villarruel.