Identities of two dictatorship victims found in La Perla detention center announced

The identities of two of the 12 dictatorship victims identified during excavations at the former clandestine detention center known as La Perla in Córdoba were revealed, following the discovery and analysis of the remains carried out by the Argentine Team of Forensic Anthropology (EAAF, by its Spanish initials). The names of the two victims, who had remained disappeared for nearly five decades, are Mario Alberto Nívoli Gauchat and Ramiro Sergio Bustillo Rubio. Their identities were made public by their families. Nívoli Gauchat and Bustillo Rubio are part of a group of 12 people whose remains were identified by the world-renowned NGO EAAF following a widespread excavation at La Perla,  which began in September per request of a Córdoba federal court. La Perla was a military compound where one of the largest clandestine centers of detention, torture and extermination in the country operated in the late 1970s. Over 2,000 people were forcibly held there. On Tuesday, the court and the EAAF announced the identification of the victims, but did not reveal their names. The forensic anthropologists said that information about their identities would be released by the court with the consent of their families after they were notified. Hoy sabemos dónde está.@hijoscba comunicó que Ramiro Sergio Bustillo Rubio es una de las 12 víctimas cuyos restos fueron encontrados en terrenos del ex centro clandestino La Perla e identificados. Fue desaparecido en 1977. Militaba en el Partido Comunista. pic.twitter.com/pusnQT4uVZ— H.I.J.O.S. Capital (@hijos_capital) March 13, 2026 Nívoli Gauchat was an electrician and had two children. He studied chemical engineering at the Litoral National University and was a member of the Peronist University Youth, a students’ organization. He was kidnapped from his home when he was 28, in February 1977, while his family was present, and taken to La Perla. Bustillo Rubio had a son, and his wife was expecting another child at the time of his kidnapping, in October 1977, when he was 27 years old. He attended the Córdoba National University, worked at a factory, and was a member of the Communist Party. Before being taken to La Perla, he spent some time detained at a clandestine detention center that operated in the mainCórdoba Police building. Those responsible for the kidnapping and forced disappearance of both men were judged in a 2016 trial. María Soledad Nívoli, daughter of Nívoli Gauchat, said on Wednesday that she felt relieved and at peace after finding her father’s remains, after 49 years of searching. “There’s a certainty that appeared in my mind: I am no longer the daughter of a disappeared man,” Nívoli said in an interview with Cadena 3 radio station. “My dad is no longer a desaparecido. Now, I am an orphan on my father’s side. My father is dead. It’s a big change.” Hoy sabemos dónde está.La familia de Mario Alberto Nívoli comunicó que es una de las 12 víctimas cuyos restos encontrados en terrenos del ex centro clandestino La Perla, Córdoba, fueron identificados. Estuvo desaparecido desde 1977. Tenía 28 años y era militante peronista. pic.twitter.com/eNy70YYdZm— H.I.J.O.S. Capital (@hijos_capital) March 13, 2026 Nívoli said that she found out about the news when her lawyer Ramiro Fresneda — also the son of a disappeared couple — called her as she was picking up her son from school alongside her husband. She was used to not expecting news, so it never crossed her mind what the call would be about, despite knowing about the 12 identifications. “When he told me, I burst into tears. I hugged my partner and my son. I told him: ‘They found grandpa.’ He asked me if it was his bones, and I said yes.” Nívoli stressed the need to continue searching, and said that this was just the beginning. “There are many more out there.” Bustillo Rubio’s identification was announced in an Instagram post by the families of the La Perla desaparecidos who are part of the plaintiff. “Although they tried to hide you forever, no disappearing power was able to erase the mark left by your life,” they said. His brother, Gustavo Bustillo Rubio, told local outlet La Nueva Mañana: “I feel tremendous emotion… The disappeared will continue to reappear.”