Miriam Lewin
speaker
112 appearances
2 recordings
2 series
first heard Dec 2024
last heard Mar 2025
Miriam Lewin’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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The sheer breadth of convictions that the trials have led to is hard to believe. Everything from torture, rape, and murder to tearing newborn children from mothers and organizing their illegal adoptions. There are still adults living in the country today who likely don't know their real family. They've been called Argentina's recovered grandchildren, and at least 133 have been identified.
One year after the plane's return to Argentina, 11 more officials were convicted in a trial that shed light on the overlooked population of trans women who had been targeted during that time. It's a lot to reconcile, but Miriam says not everyone in Argentina looks back on their shared past with the same reaction.
In 2024, Argentina's president, Javier Malay, and his administration released a video disputing the number of deaths that took place.
The estimate of 30,000 desaparecidos is often cited by human rights organizations, and it's based on a variety of sources, including now declassified documents from the military itself. According to The Guardian, those records stated the military had disappeared or killed about 22,000 people between the years 1975 and 1978, which was still five years before the dictatorship fell.
But memory is imperfect. Andres Caballero was born in Buenos Aires, but isn't old enough to remember the military's rule.
As people have fallen into other trends, Miriam has watched division take root in her country again.
Thank you for listening to Conspiracy Theories, a Spotify podcast. We're here with a new episode every Wednesday. Be sure to check us out on Instagram at The Conspiracy Pod. If you're listening on the Spotify app, swipe up and give us your thoughts or email us at conspiracystories at Spotify.com. Thanks again to Miriam Lewin, Andres Caballero, and Steve Fishman for lending us their time.
For more information on Argentina's death flights and Miriam Lewin's investigation, check out Orbit Media's eight-part limited audio series, Avenger, out now on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. Until next time, remember, the truth isn't always the best story. And the official story isn't always the truth. Conspiracy Theories is a Spotify podcast.
This episode was written and researched by Connor Sampson, edited by Mickey Taylor, fact-checked by Laurie Siegel, and video editing and sound design by Alex Button. And I'm your host, Carter Roy.
By then, it was much more than a feeling. I knew that I was being followed. I avoided going to my family's house because I knew they would be there waiting for me.
I was actually worried about my grandmother. It had been a while since I'd last seen her. She was 92 and she was frail. I just wanted to call, you know, check in. I get to the phone booth and I notice a man in line. He's young, slim, and he's wearing a jean jacket. And I see that when his turn comes up, he doesn't end up making a call. So now I'm on alert.
I start heading toward the nearest bus stop where at least there were more people around. First, he follows me to the bus stop. Then I see him inside the bus. I immediately jump off at a random stop, but he also manages to get out. So I turn my head and I see a dark red Ford Falcon and a long gun barrel hanging out from one of the windows. Now I'm running out of ideas.
I run into a nearby store and when I look back I see that three men were following. I try to stay calm and make my way through the meat aisle pretending I'm shopping. There's no back exit so I take off again through the front door. I try to catch a bus that was slowing down and the Ford Falcon speeds up right toward me.
The bus driver, other people try to help, but the men pull out their guns and scare everybody away. The bus also takes off. They tackle me and they tell me they're police. So I start screaming, I'm Miriam Lewin. Please help me.
We had no money to make the trip ourselves, so we hired a stringer, a freelance journalist, and actually, Bruno was a sports commentator.
I mean, we never even dreamed of running into something so valuable. And then the owner of the plane shows him the flight logs that were left inside, untouched. Those logs date back to the late 70s and early 80s, when the military junta was in power. It was all there. Dates, routes, origin, destination, and the most important part, the names of the pilots.
He says he's been assigned to take some portraits of me. I don't know, something about a story about survivors of the dictatorship.
I was in a bad place emotionally at the time. I was in my 50s. My two boys were in their mid-20s, so they were never home. The man I was with back then left me for a younger woman. I was alone, heartbroken. I needed some sort of distraction, something to occupy my time, even if it involved meeting a stranger to talk about trauma.
He says hi with a kiss on the cheek. He's clearly not American. He has this baby face that makes him look in his mid-twenties and long wavy hair, green eyes and an earring.
I'm thinking, how does this serious, prestigious Italian magazine send this guy to do a story about the dictatorship? He just doesn't seem very professional. And then he grabs his camera and starts taking pictures of me without even looking into the camera. I thought that was kind of weird, so I asked if he got the shots that he needed. Instead of answering, he smiles and asks me a question.
Showing 61–80 of 112 · page 4 of 6
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