Operation Massacre

Starred review from July 29, 2013
This captivating and clear-eyed book, a true crime narrative first published in Spanish in 1957 and fluently translated here by Gitlin, is Argentinian political journalist Walsh’s account of “the execution, on June 9, 1956, of five men suspected of participating in a failed coup against the military government designed to return Péron to power.” Walsh opens with his experience that night, when he came home to find government forces using his house as a point of defense against Péron supporters. In December 1956, a rumor that one of the men believed to be executed might be alive inspires Walsh’s year-long investigation, which turns up survivors of the secret executions, the circumstances that led to the illegal executions, and the failures of the justice system. Walsh provides a moment-by-moment account and reveals as much as he can about the survivors and those who were executed. The reason for such precision becomes clear as events unfold. In addition to the introduction by Michael Greenberg and afterword by Ricardo Piglia, the book’s helpful appendices include prologues and epilogues from previous editions, as well as the “Open Letter from a Writer to the Military Junta,” which Walsh delivered to local and foreign press correspondents on March 24, 1977, a day before he was kidnapped, never to be seen again.

Starred review from July 15, 2013
A mesmerizing, prophetic tour de force of investigative journalism exposing the pervasive thuggishness of the Argentine military elite. Originally published in 1957, this is the first English-language edition. In the wake of a Peronist challenge to the country's leaders on June 9, 1956, a dozen alleged Peronist revolutionaries were dragged out of a gathering in a house in Buenos Aires, driven by bus to a deserted field by government officials and shot. When Walsh, a young journalist and novelist steeped in detective fiction, heard that there were survivors from the massacre, which took place not far from his flat, he was profoundly shaken, resolved to unearth the facts and expose what he calls a pernicious culture by the criminal minority of Argentine society "that can only stay in power through deceit and violence." Over the course of a year, Walsh obsessively pursued the victims--the severely wounded Juan Carlos Livraga and other survivors, their families, informers and "anonymous heroes"--to root out the truth of what happened that fateful night. Walsh's meticulously detailed style is remarkable, and he ably portrays each victim, his family life and struggles, and he sorts out the sequence of events on the night and the later charade of bringing the military officers to court. The author's exposure of the outrageous usurping of justice and truth would prove only the tip of the criminal iceberg as Argentina's subsequent "Dirty War" progressed, earning the courageous journalist notoriety. On March 25, 1977, the day after he posted another incendiary text, "Open Letter from a Writer to the Military Junta" (included here), he was murdered. A chilling, lucid work, beautifully translated by Gitlin, which serves as a great example of journalistic integrity.

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