timeline

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1975 – 1976 – 1977 – 1978 – 1979 – 1980 – 1981 – 1982 – 1983

events for 1978

Feb 1, 1978	Folklorist Jorge Cafrune killed while horseback riding when a pickup truck reportedly runs him down.
Feb 3, 1978	Government releases first list of executive branch detainees — 705 prisoners of Villa Devoto, 674 of them women. In late December of 77, the government had reported holding 3,607 executive branch detainees, and president Videla had agreed to release the prisoners’ names.
Feb 10, 1978	President Videla, quoted on page 1 of Clarín, declares that the struggle against subversion is not over.
Feb 25, 1978	Issue of La Razón banned for publishing a foreign cable about Argentina.
Mar 8, 1978	Blood specialist Dr. Beatriz Rosalia Iparraguirre abducted by gunmen the morning after a Nobel Prize-winning scientist had met with Videla to discuss concern about human rights.
Mar 8, 1978	Ministry of labor “reminds” workers that the train strike planned for the following day is illegal. Labor leaders jailed.
Mar 14, 1978	Large, suspicious riot in Villa Devoto prison leaves about 60 inmates dead.
Mar 30, 1978	Clarín quotes army as saying that 240 extremists remain active around Buenos Aires.
Apr 5, 1978	Dr. Hilda Norma Ereñu de Liwski abducted by 15 armed men who stopped the ambulance in which she was working at 9:30 am. Her husband also “disappears” around the same time. The two were reported to have worked voluntarily among the poor.
Apr 6, 1978	Government announces that police officers must show identification when dealing with the public. The new policy has little impact.
Apr 11, 1978	Miguel Tobias Padilla, undersecretary for coordination at the Economy Ministry, shot and killed near his home.
Apr 17, 1978	Jacobo Timerman transferred from prison to house arrest.
Apr 21, 1978	Government bans the day’s issues of La Opinión and Crónica after they speculated about the appointment of a “4th man” to the junta.
May 2, 1978	Government announces that Videla will continue as president until 1981, while retiring as Army Commander-in-Chief.
May 4, 1978	Several international film crews film the Mother’s march, which takes place every Thursday between 3 and 4 pm. The Mothers tell them “all we want to know is whether our children are alive or dead.” Turnout at the Mother’s gatherings had stood at around 300 before the Christmas-time disappearances, but afterwards fell to about 30.
May 17, 1978	La Prensa prints paid advertisement containing the names of 2,508 missing, 1,318 of which are legally documented, filling 3 entire pages of the paper.
May 17, 1978	Word reaches Argentina that Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, in prison since April 4, 1977, has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
May 17, 1978	Paid ad placed by the Permanent Assembly of Human Rights (APDH), the Ecumenical Movement for Human Rights and the League for the Rights of Man published in La Prensa, listing over 2,500 “disappeared” people.
May 18, 1978	Two members of the Australian media company Visnews detained at the Plaza de Mayo where they were reporting on the Mothers. About 100 Mothers had gathered for the occasion, the largest group since the Christmas-time “disappearances.”
May 23, 1978	Last government advertisement appears in El Día of La Plata.
Jun 1, 1978	World Cup opens in Argentina’s River Plate stadium, with Poland and Germany playing.
Jun 1, 1978	Government responds to list of missing published May 17 with information on 87, some of whom are in prison, some released, some in exile.
Jun 2, 1978	Julian José Delgado, editor-director of El Cronista Comercial and Mercado, “disappears” after visiting psychiatrists. Disappearance reported June 12.
Jun 4, 1978	Cronista-Mercado editor Julian José Delgado “disappears.”
Jun 7, 1978	La Prensa reports IMF figures saying that Argentina has the highest inflation rate in the world, at 172.9% annually.
Jun 10, 1978	Le Monde in Paris publishes an open card to Videla signed by 2,337 journalists, asking for information on fellow journalists, 40 of whom are reported “disappeared,” 31 killed, and 68 detained.
Jun 13, 1978	Herald editor Robert Cox called to Government House and rebuked for that day’s editorial linking Delgado’s “disappearance” to other political ones. Cox told Delgado has been found dead in his car, and emphasizes that he has psychological problems.
Jun 14, 1978	Herald publishes news of death of Julian José Delgado which the government had given the paper yesterday, but when the news is published the government denies that Delgado was found dead, saying the information given had been “inexact.”
Jun 15, 1978	Argentine ambassador to France, Anchorena, says all French citizens missing or detained in Argentina — including the 2 nuns abducted the previous December — “were involved in subversive and terrorist acts.”
Jun 18, 1978	Alfredo Bravo transferred from prison to house arrest.
Jun 22, 1978	Supposed “onlookers,” in reality plainclothes policeman, break up the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo’s Thursday gathering, while chanting of “Argentina! Argentina!”
Jun 25, 1978	Argentina beats Holland to win the World Cup.
Jun 28, 1978	Navy proposes publishing a list of names of those who died in “war on terrorism.”
Jun 30, 1978	The Army announces that it will not publish a list of names of people killed in the “war against terrorism,” in rejection of a Navy suggestion.
Jul 20, 1978	Supreme Court rules that Timerman’s detention has been illegal since October 13, 1978.
Jul 22, 1978	Clarín journalist Enrique Esteban kidnapped by 9 armed men. “Reappears” on September 29.
Jul 31, 1978	General Viola sworn in as Army Commander-in-Chief, replacing Videla, who retains his position as president.
Aug 1, 1978	Bomb in the home of Viceadmiral Armando Lambruschini — scheduled to become Navy head next month — kills his 15-year-old daughter Paula and a reported 2 others.
Aug 1, 1978	First issue of Convicción appears, a publication linked to retired admiral Massera.
Aug 4, 1978	General Motors announces that it will cease manufacturing in Argentina.
Aug 5, 1978	Twelve grandmothers publish a paid announcement in La Prensa asking for information on missing grandchildren who were abducted with their parents.
Aug 9, 1978	US undersecretary of state for human rights Patricia Derian testifies before a house sub-committee that Argentina is carrying out “systematic torture” and “summary executions.”
Aug 28, 1978	Editor of Confirmado, Horacio Agullo, shot.
Aug 29, 1978	Carlos Menem released form captivity.
Sep 14, 1978	Admiral Armando Lambruschini become Navy Commander-in-Chief, replacing Admiral Massera.
Sep 27, 1978	In 1985, former policeman Carlos Alberto Hours says Edgardo Sajón electrocuted to death on billiards table on this date.
Sep 29, 1978	Clarín journalist Enrique Esteban “reappears” alive.
Oct 13, 1978	Announcement made that Pérez Esquivel was to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
Oct 18, 1978	Coordinator of Buenos Aires chess competition Rodolfo Eduardo Zanlungo, who had been threatened if he did not cancel the championship, “disappears.”
Oct 24, 1978	Herald editor Robert Cox awarded Moors Cabot award at the Columbia School of Journalism.
Nov 22, 1978	Railway strike that began on 2 lines the previous day spreads throughout Argentina.
Dec 20, 1978	Diplomat Elena Holmberg, niece of former president Lanusse, “disappears.”
Dec 21, 1978	Over 1,000 Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo gather for their weekly demonstration in front of the Casa Rosada.
Dec 23, 1978	Pope John Paul II, named Pope on October 17, sends mediator Antonio Samoré to resolve dispute over the Beagle Channel that has brought Argentina and Chile to the brink of war.
Dec 26, 1978	Government announces that Videla has signed a law authorizing labor organizations to hold elections.
Dec 29, 1978	Physicist and chemist Alfredo Antonio Giorgi “disappears.”
Dec 29, 1978	Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo turned away from the Casa Rosada and the Plaza de Mayo despite having been told they would be received.

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