The struggle of relatives of the Detained Disappeared in Latin America   - the archive legacy

The Latin American Federation of Associations of Relatives of Detained-Disappeared Persons (FEDEFAM), founded in 1981, seeks to investigate cases of the forced disappearances of locals throughout Latin America, allowing for relatives of victims to become active participants in their efforts. The Asociación Civil Memoria Abierta will work with a series from FEDEFAM that are part of a multi-archive collective, which includes five institutional archives and one personal collection. These archives includes the Madres de Plaza de Mayo - línea fundadora (Argentina), the Asociación de Familiares de Detenidos y Desaparecidos y Mártires por la Liberación (Bolivia), the Agrupación de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos (Chile), the Madres y Familiares de Uruguayos Detenidos y Desaparecidos (Uruguay), the Federación Latinoamericana de Asociaciones de Familiares de Detenidos-Desaparecidos (Venezuela), and the personal archive of Marta Ocampo de Vásquez, former president of FEDEFAM. Materials are primarily written documents, photographs, and audio records. Across all collections, this documentary heritage created a shared historical narrative necessary in facing a violent and significant part of human rights in Latin America.