Argentinian DNA: The Fracture. Argentina’s violent past feeds left-right political battle

Argentinians show the same unconditional loyalty to their political leaders as they do to their football teams. On one side are fans of the Kirchners, Néstor and later his widow Cristina, who governed Argentina from 2003-2015. The leftist power couple had promised to champion the poor in the tradition of the country's legendary president, Juan Peron. 

Former Argentinian President Cristina Kirchner wipes a tear from her eye. Still taken from RTD documentary Argentinian DNA: The Fracture.
Argentinian politics have long been bitterly divided between left and right. Cristina Kirchner, who was president of Argentina from 2007 to 2015, represented Peronism, the party that champions the poor.

On the other side are supporters of the present president, Mauricio Macri, who replaced them. The centre-right leader was elected on a platform demanding fiscal responsibility to fix Argentina's economic crises. The antagonism between the two camps often goes beyond class-consciousness and devolves into deep-seated hatred.

President Mauricio Macri on stage at a political rally. Still taken from RTD documetary Argentinian DNA: The Fracture.
President Mauricio Macri claims to stand for fiscal responsibility in a country that has been dogged by high inflation.

This divide, known as The Fracture, is a legacy of the violence between Marxist guerrillas and the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. RTD correspondent Francisco Guaita hears the stories of some of the victims of that period. There's a grandmother who launched the Plaza di Mayo protest to recover babies kidnapped by the junta.

Head of a grandmother wearing a headscarf and sunglasses during a grandmothers' demonstration at the Plaza di Mayo in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Still taken from RTD documentary Argentinian DNA: The Fracture.
Many left wing activists were "disappeared" by the military dictatorship during the 1970s in Argentina. For decades, their mothers, the "Grandmothers of the Plaza di Mayo", have been holding demonstrations to find out what happened to their grandchildren, who were often adopted by their ideological enemies.

You'll also meet the grown son of disappeared leftist militants, who is now torn between his adoptive parents and his new-found granny. The son of an anti-Marxist Catholic describes how he witnessed his father's assassination. These voices want to be heard.

Black and white photographs of the Sacheri family. Still taken from RTD documentaryArgentinian DNA: The Fracture.
The conflict of the 1960s and 70s left victims on both sides of Argentina's political divide. Jose Maria Sacheri's father was a Catholic academic who opposed Marxism: he was murdered by left-wing guerillas in front of his son.


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