Alice Domon
Encyclopedia
Charquemont
Charquemont is a commune in the Doubs department in the Franche-Comté region in eastern France.-Population:-External links:*...
, Doubs
Doubs
Doubs is a department the Franche-Comté region of eastern France named after the Doubs River.-History:As early as the 13th century, inhabitants of the northern two-thirds of Doubs spoke the Franc-Comtois language, a dialect of Langue d'Oïl. Residents of the southern third of Doubs spoke a dialect...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
; disappeared on December 17 or 18, 1977 near Santa Teresita
Santa Teresita, Buenos Aires
Santa Teresita is a city in the seaside La Costa District of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina.-History and overview:Established in 1946, the town owed its initial growth to the Santa Teresita Development Association led by José Milano, who successfully lobbied provincial authorities for...
by the Argentine Sea
Argentine Sea
thumb|150px|Argentine Sea, off the [[Atlantic Ocean|atlantic]] coast of ArgentinaThe Argentine Sea refers to the sea within the continental shelf off the Argentine mainland...
) was a Roman Catholic nun from France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
whose forced disappearance
Forced disappearance
In international human rights law, a forced disappearance occurs when a person is secretly abducted or imprisoned by a state or political organization or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the...
occurred in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
during the military dictatorship of the "National Reorganization Process
National Reorganization Process
The National Reorganization Process was the name used by its leaders for the military government that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. In Argentina it is often known simply as la última junta militar or la última dictadura , because several of them existed throughout its history.The Argentine...
" (1976–1983).
Life
Alice Domon was born in CharquemontCharquemont
Charquemont is a commune in the Doubs department in the Franche-Comté region in eastern France.-Population:-External links:*...
in France's Doubs
Doubs
Doubs is a department the Franche-Comté region of eastern France named after the Doubs River.-History:As early as the 13th century, inhabitants of the northern two-thirds of Doubs spoke the Franc-Comtois language, a dialect of Langue d'Oïl. Residents of the southern third of Doubs spoke a dialect...
region. As a girl she entered the Paris Foreign Missions Society
Paris Foreign Missions Society
The Society of Foreign Missions of Paris is a Roman Catholic missionary organization. It is not a religious order, but an organization of secular priests and lay persons dedicated to missionary work in foreign lands....
, which invited her to Argentina in 1967, installed in Hurlingham
Hurlingham
Hurlingham may refer to a number of places:*The Hurlingham Club, a sports club in the southwest of London, England, world headquarters of polo.*The Hurlingham Club , a sports and polo club in Argentina...
and Morón
Moron
Moron may refer to* Moron , disused term for a person with a mental age between 8 and 12, and a common insult for a person considered stupid * "Moron" * "Moron"...
at the industrial cord of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, to orient to the catechesis for handicapped persons.
Domon was a member of the group directed by Father Ismael Calcagno, first cousin of Jorge Rafael Videla
Jorge Rafael Videla
Jorge Rafael Videla Redondo is a former senior commander in the Argentine Army who was the de facto President of Argentina from 1976 to 1981. He came to power in a coup d'état that deposed Isabel Martínez de Perón...
, the dictator in power at the time of the kidnapping and murder. Alice Domon was assigned there along with Léonie Duquet
Leonie Duquet
Léonie Duquet was a French nun who was killed by the military regime of Argentine President Jorge Rafael Videla during the Dirty War.-Biography:...
with whom she established a deep friendship. Paradoxically, Léonie Duquet and Alice Domon knew Videla because Alexander requested his aid for the attendance of his son, a handicapped boy whom Alice and Léonie helped, taught, and catechized in the House of the Charity of Morón.
Alice Domon was dedicated to her social work with the inhabitants of poverty-stricken shanty towns
Villa miseria
A villa miseria is a form of shanty town or slum found in Argentina, mostly around the largest urban settlements. The term is a compound noun made of the Spanish words villa "village, small town" and miseria "misery, dejection"...
. In 1971 she went to Corrientes
Corrientes
Corrientes is the capital city of the province of Corrientes, Argentina, located on the eastern shore of the Paraná River, about from Buenos Aires and from Posadas, on National Route 12...
in order to collaborate with the Ligas Agrarias organization, that was organized by the small producers of cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
.
When the military coup of March 24, 1976, installed a regime founded on state terrorism
State terrorism
State terrorism may refer to acts of terrorism conducted by a state against a foreign state or people. It can also refer to acts of violence by a state against its own people.-Definition:...
, Domon made the decision to actively participate in human rights organizations. Upon her return to Corrientes she found lodging at Léonie Duquet's house.
In December 1977, Sisters Alice and Léonie, along with the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo and other human rights activists, prepared a request for the names of those who disappeared and for the government to divulge their whereabouts. The reply was publicized in the newspaper La Nación
La Nación
La Nación is an Argentine daily newspaper. The country's leading conservative paper, the centrist Clarín is its main competitor. It is the only newspaper in Argentina still published in broadsheet format.-Overview:...
on December 10, 1977, the same day Alice Domon disappeared. The name Gustavo Niño was found among the signatures as a false name, used by navy captain Alfredo Astiz
Alfredo Astiz
Alfredo Ignacio Astiz was a Commander, intelligence office and maritime commando in the Argentine Navy during the dictatorial rule of Jorge Rafael Videla in the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional...
, to infiltrate the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo in May.
Disappearance, kidnapping, torture, and assassination
Between Thursday, December 8 and Saturday, December 10, 1977 a militant group under the command of Alfredo Astiz, who was under the command of Argentine President Jorge Rafael Videla, kidnapped a group of 12 people connected with the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo. Among them one was Alice Domon, along with Azucena VillaflorAzucena Villaflor
Azucena Villaflor was an Argentine social activist, and one of the founders of the human rights association called Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, which looked for desaparecidos .Villaflor was the daughter of a lower class family, and her mother, Emma Nitz, was only 15...
her companion and founder of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, and French nun Léonie Duquet
Leonie Duquet
Léonie Duquet was a French nun who was killed by the military regime of Argentine President Jorge Rafael Videla during the Dirty War.-Biography:...
.
Most of the group was kidnapped in the Church of Santa Cruz ,where they used to meet, located in the San Cristóbal
San Cristóbal, Buenos Aires
San Cristóbal is a barrio of the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires.The Line E goes under the San Juan Avenue.- External links :*...
district within the city of Buenos Aires. Alice Domon was kidnapped there.
Sister Alice was taken directly to the secret detention center in the Navy Sub-Officers Mechanics School
ESMA
The Navy Petty-Officers School of Mechanics , commonly referred to by its abbreviation ESMA, is a facility of the Argentine Navy that was employed as an illegal detention center during the dictatorial rule of the National Reorganization Process...
(ESMA), under the control of the Argentina Navy
Argentine Navy
The Navy of the Argentine Republic or Armada of the Argentine Republic is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the Army and the Air Force....
, where she was shut in detention in a "Hood". There she remained approximately 10 days, during which she was constantly tortured. On Nunca Más inquiry, the witness testimonies from Maggio and Cubas, survivors of the ESMA, related what they knew on the subject:
...The same thing happened to the French nuns Alice Domon and Leonie Renée Duquet. I had the chance to speak with Sister Alice personally, she had already been taken along with Sister Renée to the third floor of the Officers' MessMessA mess is the place where military personnel socialise, eat, and live. In some societies this military usage has extended to other disciplined services eateries such as civilian fire fighting and police forces. The root of mess is the Old French mes, "portion of food" A mess (also called a...
in the ESMA, that was where I found her captive. This happened around December 11 or 12. I remember that was when she had been kidnapped at the church. I was soon aware of 13 people; the Sisters were weak and badly beaten; Alice already needed two guards to carry and maintain her in the bathroom. I asked if they had been tortured and they answered yes: they had been tied to a bed completely naked and stabbed all over their body; in addition they told of later being forced to write a letter to the Leader of their Congregation, they wrote it in French under constant torture, afterward they both had a photo taken of them seated next to a table. The pictures were taken to the basement of the same building where the torture took place: the basement of the Officers' Mess. They were both at ESMA about 10 days,SHe had sex. Later the eleven remaining people were transferred. The rumours mention the haste of their departure, this indicates the murders of the same (Testimony of Horacio Domingo Maggio, File #4450).
... Around 10 or 12 of them were taken down, including the French Sister Alice Domon. Later Sister Rennée Duquet, from the same religious congregation as Alive, was also taken to ESMA. They put Sister René in "Capuchita". Sisters Alice and Renée were savagely tortured, especially Alice. Their conduct was admirable. Up until their worst moments of pain, Sister Alice, who was in "Capucha", asked for the luck of her compadres and, at the pinnacle of irony, she emphasized the "little blond boy", who was none other than Frigate Lieutentat Astiz (who had infiltrated the group, passing himself off as a relative of a desaparecido. At gunpoint they made Sister Alice write a letter in her own handwriting [...] As the crowning glory of this parody, they took pictures (of both Sisters) in the photo lab of the ESMA, in which they appeared seated at a table with a flag of the Montonero Party behind them. Sisters Alice and Renée were "transferred" and, along with them, the other that were captured in their group. (Testimony of Lisandro Raúl Cubas, File #6794).
The French nationality of the two sisters, Léonie Duquet and Alice Domon, generated an international scandal, especially with France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. For this reason, Army Chief and Junta Member Emilio Massera tried to make it appear as if both nuns had been kidnapped by the Montoneros
Montoneros
Montoneros was an Argentine Peronist urban guerrilla group, active during the 1960s and 1970s. The name is an allusion to 19th century Argentinian history. After Juan Perón's return from 18 years of exile and the 1973 Ezeiza massacre, which marked the definitive split between left and right-wing...
guerilla organization. To this end, Domon was obligated under torture to write a letter to her superior in her order, in French, saying that she had been abducted by a group opposed to the administration of Jorge Videla. The torturers then took a picture of the two nuns seated in front of a Montonero flag and sent it to a national newspaper. The picture, which was taken in the basement of the ESMA
ESMA
The Navy Petty-Officers School of Mechanics , commonly referred to by its abbreviation ESMA, is a facility of the Argentine Navy that was employed as an illegal detention center during the dictatorial rule of the National Reorganization Process...
, showed obvious signs that the two women were tortured, and were sent to the French press.
On December 15, 1977, La Nación
La Nación
La Nación is an Argentine daily newspaper. The country's leading conservative paper, the centrist Clarín is its main competitor. It is the only newspaper in Argentina still published in broadsheet format.-Overview:...
published a notice from the EFE
EFE
EFE is a Spanish news agency created in 1939 by Spain's former minister of the press and propaganda Ramón Serrano Súñer and Manuel Aznar Zubigaray....
news agency under the title "Vivas y con buena salud" (Alive and in good health). The article informed that the Mother Superior of the Congreagation in France said that the Sisters Léonie and Alice had been detained but remained alive and in good heath. She clarified that the information came from the Papal Nuncio in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
.
Either on December 17 or December 18, 1977, the two Sisters and the rest of their group were trasladadas ("transferred": a euphemism used by the military when murdering dissidents) to the military airport in Buenos Aires, were seated in a Marine plane and thrown out of the plane while still alive into the sea on the coast of Santa Teresita, dying as soon as they hit the water.
An example of the atrocious humor of the marines linked with the repression during the so-called Guerra Sucia or Dirty War, they would occasionally make reference to the "flying nuns.". In 1990, Capitan Alfredo Astiz
Alfredo Astiz
Alfredo Ignacio Astiz was a Commander, intelligence office and maritime commando in the Argentine Navy during the dictatorial rule of Jorge Rafael Videla in the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional...
was sentenced in absence to life in prison by the Appellate Court in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
for his responsibility in the deaths of Léonie Duquet
Leonie Duquet
Léonie Duquet was a French nun who was killed by the military regime of Argentine President Jorge Rafael Videla during the Dirty War.-Biography:...
and Alice Domon.
Search for remains
On December 20, 1977, dead bodies began to appear on the beaches of Buenos Aires ProvinceBuenos Aires Province
The Province of Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous province of Argentina. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880...
, seemingly coming out of the sea, near the bathing areas of Santa Teresita
Santa Teresita
Santa Teresita may refer to:Places in the Philippines:*Santa Teresita, Batangas*Santa Teresita, CagayanPlaces in Argentina:*Santa Teresita, Buenos Aires, Atlantic coastal holiday resort in La Costa Partido...
and Mar del Tuyú
Mar del Tuyú
Mar del Tuyú is a resort town and capital of the La Costa Partido, on the Argentine Atlantic Coast, with access to Provincial Route 11.- Overview :According to INDEC, the population of Mar del Tuyú was 6,916 in 2001, including...
. Forensic doctors examined the corpses and determined the cause of death to be "a crash against hard objects from great heights", indicated by the type of bone fractures that were sustained before death. Without further investigation, the local authorities immediately buried the corpses in unmarked graves in the cemetery of the city of General Lavalle
General Lavalle
General Lavalle is a town located in the east of the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It's the head of the partido of General Lavalle, and the General Lavalle municipality. It has a population of 3,046 , who was a military and political figure in the early years of the Argentine state.The city...
.
After the re-establishment of democracy in 1984, the investigations of the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons and the Trial of the Juntas led to the exhuming of graves in the cemetery of General Lavalle, in which they found a great deal of skeletal remains belonging to the cadavers found in the beaches of San Bernardo
San Bernardo
San Bernardo may refer to:In Mexico:*San Bernardo, Baja California Sur*San Bernardo, Chihuahua*San Bernardo, Coahuila*San Bernardo, Durango*San Bernardo, Guanajuato *San Bernardo, Hidalgo *San Bernardo Tlamimilolpan, Mexico State...
and Lucila del Mar. The remains were used in the trial against the Juntas and then stored in sixteen bags.
From that point on, Judge Horacio Cattani began to accumulate cases about desaparecidos. After the Ley de Punto Final
Ley de Punto Final
Ley de Punto Final was a law passed by the National Congress of Argentina after the end of the military dictatorship of the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional . Formally, this law is referred to by number Ley de Punto Final (Spanish, roughly translated Full Stop Law) was a law passed by the...
and the Ley de Obediencia Debida
Ley de Obediencia Debida
Ley de Obediencia Debida was a law passed by the National Congress of Argentina after the end of the military dictatorship of the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional . Formally, this law is referred to by number Ley de Obediencia Debida (Spanish, Law of Due Obedience) was a law passed by the...
, that froze the investigation, Cattani obtained in 1995 an archive of 40 square meters containing potential answers to these questions.
In 2003, the Chief of Police of General Lavalle
General Lavalle
General Lavalle is a town located in the east of the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It's the head of the partido of General Lavalle, and the General Lavalle municipality. It has a population of 3,046 , who was a military and political figure in the early years of the Argentine state.The city...
informed that they had identified more unmarked graves in the town cemetery. Judge Cattani ordered that new excavations be carried out by the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team
Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team
The Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team is an Argentine not-for-profit scientific non-governmental organisation...
, who discovered two rows of graves side-by-side. They discovered eight skeletons: five female, two male, and one uncertain (classified as "probably male").
As a result of further study, the five female remains were found to belong to five of the women captured between December 8 and 10, 1977: Azucena Villaflor
Azucena Villaflor
Azucena Villaflor was an Argentine social activist, and one of the founders of the human rights association called Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, which looked for desaparecidos .Villaflor was the daughter of a lower class family, and her mother, Emma Nitz, was only 15...
, María Ponce de Bianco, Esther Ballestrino de Careaga, Angela Auad, and Sister Léonie Duquet
Leonie Duquet
Léonie Duquet was a French nun who was killed by the military regime of Argentine President Jorge Rafael Videla during the Dirty War.-Biography:...
. All of them have now been buried in the garden of the Santa Cruz church. The remains of Alice Domon were not found and remain missing.
Knowledge and cover-up by the United States government
Secret government documents from the United States Government declassified in 2002 prove that the American government knew since 1978 that the lifeless bodies of the French nuns Alice Domon and Léonie Duquet and the Madres de Plaza de Mayo Azucena Villaflor, Esther Ballestrino and María Ponce had been found in the beaches of Buenos Aires ProvinceBuenos Aires Province
The Province of Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous province of Argentina. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880...
. This information was maintained in secret and was never revealed to the democratic Argentine government.
The fact is included in Document #1978-BUENOS-02346 directed by the former U.S. Ambassador to Argentina, Raúl Castro
Raúl Héctor Castro
Raul Hector Castro is a Mexican-born American politician. He has served in both elected and non-elected public offices, including United States Ambassador and the 14th Governor of Arizona. He was the first Mexican American to be elected governor of Arizona...
, to the Secretary of State
Secretary of State
Secretary of State or State Secretary is a commonly used title for a senior or mid-level post in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the Government....
of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, dated March 30, 1978 and carried the subject line "Report of nuns death". The document reads:
1. A.F.P. March 28 story filed from Paris reports that the bodies of the two French nuns (Alicia Doman and Renee Duguet) (sic) who were abducted in mid December with eleven other human rights activists were identified among corpses near Bahía Blanca
2. Buenos Aires was filled with such rumors over a month ago based on accounts of the discovery of a number of cadavers beached by unusually strong winds along Atlantic Sea, points closer to the mouth of La Plata River some 300-350 miles to the north of Bahía Blanca.
3. (Name redacted), which has been trying to track down these rumors, has confidential information that the nuns were abducted by Argentine security agents and at some point were transferred to a prison located in the town of Juníi, which is 150 miles west of Buenos Aires.
4. Embassy also has confidential information through an Argentine government source (protected) that seven bodies were discovered some weeks ago on the beach near Mar del Plata. According to this source, the bodies were those of the two nuns and five mothers who disappeared between December 8 and December 10, 1977. Our source confirmed that these individuals were originally sequestered by members of the security forces acting under a broad mandate against terrorists and subversives. Source further states that few individuals in GOA were aware of this information.
5. The source has reported reliably in the past and we have reason to believe he is reliable concerning disappearance questions.
Her Memorial
Every December 8, in the Santa Cruz church of San CristobalSan Cristóbal, Buenos Aires
San Cristóbal is a barrio of the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires.The Line E goes under the San Juan Avenue.- External links :*...
, the anniversary of the disappearance of the group of members of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, activists for human rights and the two French nuns, Léonie Duquet
Leonie Duquet
Léonie Duquet was a French nun who was killed by the military regime of Argentine President Jorge Rafael Videla during the Dirty War.-Biography:...
and Alice Domon.
In 2000, Law #397 declared by the Legislature of the City of Buenos Aires named a small plaza "Hermana Alice Domon y Hermana Leonie Duquet" located at the intersection of Moreto, Medina, and Cajaravilla streets. In the same year, film director Alberto Marquardt premiered a film titled Yo, Sor Alice about Alice Domon's life that was an Argentine-French co-production