Based on severeal resources, I will try to account for

the situation that Argentinians had to undergo during the

period in which the militaries governed the country and

in which the World Cup took place.

The Football World Cup 1978 and

the military government

By Lucía Sánchez

As we all know, football world cups are sport events

which take place every four years in different

countries of the world. In 1978 it was carried on in

Argentina. This country was in the end the winner

of the cup. Everything that happened during this

competition is summarized in the film “Mundial de

fútbol Argentina 78. La película oficial”

If someone who did not know anything about the

history of Argentina saw this film, they wouldn’t

realize that something else -appart from the

championship- was happening during that

particular moment in the history of the country.

This happens because the movie hardly

mentions, at the very beginning, that Argentina

was under the power of the military government

at that time, and mainly gives details about the

football matches, the players and the stadiums

only.

Contrary to what has been mentioned previously,

the documentary “El mundial 78 – La historia

paralela” clearly shows the real situation in the

country. This is, how the military government was

trying to hide their atrocities by distracting the

inhabitants with football matches. They made a

real effort to show the rest of the world that

Argentina was perfectly fine under their control.

In the plan the government had set in order to distract

Argentinians from the terrible murderers and tortures that

were being carried on daily at that time, the football

players were used as icons which represented what

inhabitants wished: success. Most of them, as it is also

explained in the documentary, didn’t even realize that this

was happening. Otherwise, many of them ensure that

they wouldn’t have got involved in such a business. The

world Cup was

the perfect scenery for the go-

vernment to show their power

to keep everything under their

control without showing the

resources they actually used

for doing so.

Another important issue that can’t be omitted is

censorship. As shown in the documentary and in

other resources I have chosen (links are listed at the

end of the project), the media played an essential role

during the dictatorship and, especially, during the

football world cup 78. The information that reached

Argentinians was that which was published by the

newspapers and magazines (among other things)

that were previously checked by people who worked

for the militaries, so that nothing against their ideals

was published.

In this way, the only real information about the

situation that arrived at Argentina was the one that

came from abroad, only in the very few cases in

which it escaped the tough control. These were

mainly articles from newspapers from other

countries which harshly criticized the military

government for hosting the world cup while

hundreds of people were dying.

In many cases, when they were discovered, the

people who wrote or spoke against the

governement -many singers, writers, artists and

teachers- were murdered. If they were lucky, they

would go to live abroad with the uncertainty of

whether they would ever be back.

Resources:

https://sites.google.com/site/301comunicacion/home/

el-derecho-a-la-informacion/censura-y-dictadura-

militar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzqHXpscQV4

“El Mundial 1978, una pantalla para esconder las

atrocidades de la dictadura”

http://www.infobae.com/2013/05/17/711109-el-

mundial-1978-una-pantalla-esconder-las-

atrocidades-la-dictadura