Karen Robert, a Professor of Latin American history, discusses her book that reveals the harrowing plight of 24 Ford autoworkers who became victims of Argentina's dictatorship. They were kidnapped for their union activism, enduring torture while fighting for justice over decades. Robert also explores the Ford Falcon's transformation from a family car to a symbol of state terror amid the Cold War, highlighting how labor repression intertwines with corporate complicity. The conversation also touches on art and activism in the continued fight for memory and justice.
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Falcon's Dual Meaning
The Ford Falcon shifted from beloved family car to a symbol of terror in post-dictatorship Argentina.
Its contradictory meanings reflected broader social memory after the military years.
insights INSIGHT
Car As Cold War Symbol
The Falcon originated as an economy model tied to 1950s U.S. modernity and Cold War consumer ideals.
Its marketing and the interstate system framed cars as symbols of U.S. anti-communist modernity.
insights INSIGHT
Argentina's Early Motorization
Argentina had early high car consumption and Ford became culturally embedded through the Model T and racing.
Ford entered manufacturing later because national industrial policy incentivized local production.
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Driving Terror: Labor, Violence, and Justice in Cold War Argentina (U New Mexico Press, 2025) by Dr. Karen Robert tells the story of twenty-four Ford autoworkers in Argentina who were tortured and “disappeared” for their union activism in 1976, miraculously survived, and pursued a decades-long quest for truth and justice. In December 2018, more than four decades after their ordeal, the men won a historic human-rights case against a military commander and two retired Ford Argentina executives who were convicted of crimes against humanity.
The book uses this David-and-Goliath story to explore issues of labor repression and corporate complicity with Argentina’s last military dictatorship as well as to shed light on the enormous obstacles facing victims of such crimes. Its emphasis on working-class activism in the arenas of labor and human rights introduces North American readers to a new narrative of contemporary Argentine history.
The Ford survivors’ story intertwines with the symbolic evolution of the car the men helped build at Ford: the Falcon sedan. The political polarization and violence of the Cold War era transformed the Falcon from a popular family car to a tool of state terror after the coup of 1976, when it became associated with the widespread practice of “disappearance.” Its meaning continued to evolve after the return to democracy, when artists and activists used it as a symbol of military impunity during Argentina’s long-term struggles over justice and memory.
This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda’s interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts.
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