Alice Domon

Who was Alice Domon?

Alice Domon, Caty, was a Roman Catholic nun from France who was one of two French nationals to be "disappeared" in December 1977 in Argentina during the military dictatorship of the "National Reorganization Process". She was among a dozen people associated with the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, a human rights group, who were kidnapped and taken to the secret detention center at ESMA.

According to witnesses who saw her there, over a period of about 10 days, she was interrogated and tortured, forced to write a letter claiming participation in guerrilla group opposing the government, and photographed in a staged setting in front of a Montoneros banner. That group of detainees, including Sister Léonie Duquet, was "transferred", a euphemism for being taken out and killed. Domon's remains have never been found.

Bodies began to wash up on beaches south of Buenos Aires in December 1977. They were quickly buried in mass graves. A March 1978 Agence France-Presse article reported that the bodies of the missing two French nuns and others associated with the Mothers were believed to have been among them.