The Government of Javier Milei announced this Thursday the declassification and publication of historical documents from the Secretariat of State Intelligence (SIDE), corresponding to the period 1973-1983, a key stage in Argentine history that spans since the return of Juan Domingo Perón until the end of the last military dictatorship
.
The initiative is part of a comprehensive process that includes the publication, preservation and subsequent transfer of material to the General Archive of the Nation. The task is carried out by SIDE following a direct request from the president
.
As officially reported, in a first phase, a set of 26 official documents covering a total of 492 pages will be made available. This material will be accompanied by a specific guide designed to facilitate its understanding by citizens, researchers and communicators
. SIDE publication.
The documentation was organized in thematic folders following criteria of historical and institutional relevance. Among the materials included are resolutions, reports, memoranda, circulars and directives produced between January 1, 1973 and December 10, 1983
.
In addition, the guide incorporates a timeline that allows each document to be placed in its original context, providing greater clarity to the process of analysis and public consultation.
The material also includes a summary of the evolution of the intelligence agency in Argentina, from the creation of the Information Coordination of the Presidency of the Nation (CIDE) in 1946, during the first Perón administration, to its transformation into SIDE.
The files disseminated
Among the documents already released is the Glossary attached to Resolution “S” No. 1047/77, which details concepts related to the organization's activity, such as “special intelligence activities”, “special counterintelligenceactivities”, “secret psychological operations” and the “registration ofindividuals and organizations
”.
In this framework, “secret psychological operations” were defined as the “execution of the surreptitious psychological action that must be carried out by the Secretariat in accordance with the guidance of the IAPA internally and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs externally, in accordance with the Directives of the Army's Chief Command with regard to the fight against subversion, in order to achieve effects or motivations that contribute to the achievement of their own objectives and in turn disturb, neutralize or destroy the development of activities of the enemy or opponent”.
SIDE publication.
In addition, specific functions of the different areas of the body are detailed. For example, the Undersecretary of State Intelligence “A” had among its tasks the “registration of national and foreign individuals and organizations resident in the country” and the “investigation of individuals, organizations and social communication media operating in the field”.
Undersecretary “B” performed similar functions abroad.
The 1979 organization chart also evidences the internal structure of the organization, where the Counterintelligence Directorate included a Department of Countersubversion divided into areas such as “Marxism”, “Other Ideologies”, “Terrorist Organizations” and “Background”.
Another relevant document is Circular No. 3/76, whose objective was to “Provide guidance on the true mission of SIDE and its component bodies”.
It states that “the mission of SIDE is only Informational and not Operational” and that “Consequently, Regional Delegations must grant all types and the broadest collaboration to Military Commands, but only in the Information and/or Intelligence order, leaving the Operational or Repressive aspect in charge of the Armed and Security Forces”.
The measure is part of a policy aimed at opening historical archives and public access to key documentation, in a process that seeks to provide greater institutional transparency and facilitate the study of one of the most important periods in Argentine history.
