"The climate of terror" on the eve of the procession of the Virgen del Valle on December 8, 1974

Abstract

On December 8, 1974, a procession was held in the capital of Catamarca in honor of the Virgen del Valle. In the afternoon, the sacred image was accompanied by thousands of people when a loud noise was heard that caused the faithful to suddenly flee, shouting “The subversives are coming!”.

The event was not at all surprising. Those who were running believed they were in the presence of an explosive attack.

In the weeks prior to the celebration, rumors, press reports and statements had circulated that warned of a “terrorist” attack. According to some testimonies, most of the faithful were immersed in a “collective psychosis” induced by a wave of rumors about the presence of guerrillas in the province. Almost half a century later, what happened has still not been recovered by the provincial State's memory policies or by the accounts of human rights organizations, even though this event, a priori, met all the conditions to be evoked as a symbol of the political violence that took place in Catamarca.

In this work we present some possible explanations for this "hole" in the testimonial or academic accounts of our recent local past and, based on the analysis of journalistic sources and oral testimonies, we propose a narrative about the episode that, we hope, will contribute to its adequate historical contextualization.