Saturday Matinee: Avenger

Summary

History Daily Episode Summary: "Saturday Matinee: Avenger"

Podcast Information:

• Title: History Daily
• Host/Author: Airship | Noiser | Wondery
• Description: On History Daily, host Lindsay Graham explores significant events that occurred on each day in history, bringing to life the true stories of people and moments that shaped our world.
• Episode: Saturday Matinee: Avenger
• Release Date: January 11, 2025

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Introduction

In the episode titled "Saturday Matinee: Avenger," History Daily delves into the harrowing yet inspiring story of Miriam Lewin, an Argentine activist who survived the brutal "death flights" during the military dictatorship of the late 1970s. Fast forward to 2010, Miriam is now a respected investigative journalist determined to uncover the truth behind these atrocities. This episode intricately weaves Miriam's past and present, highlighting her relentless pursuit of justice against the backdrop of Argentina's tumultuous history.

Historical Context: Argentina’s Dark Chapter

The episode begins by setting the stage in 1977 Argentina, a nation under the oppressive control of a military junta led by General Jorge Rafael Videla. The military coup promised peace and stability but instead unleashed a reign of terror against political dissidents. Lindsay Graham narrates:

[03:33] Miriam: "I run into a nearby store and try to stay calm, but the men follow me relentlessly."

This period, known as the National Reorganization Process, saw the disappearance and torture of thousands, often through "death flights" where victims were thrown alive from airplanes into the sea.

Miriam Lewin’s Early Life and Activism

Miriam's upbringing in a middle-class Buenos Aires neighborhood exposed her to political activism from a young age. Influenced by her leftist father, she immersed herself in anarchist literature and joined the militant movement. Lindsay recounts:

[18:07] Giancarlo Cerado: "I was into political militancy, but I also loved the idea of working for a newspaper."

Miriam's dedication led her to journalism school, balancing it with activism, much to her parents' concern. As tensions in the country escalated, Miriam became a target, forcing her to go underground to evade capture.

Surviving the Death Flights

The narrative intensifies as Miriam describes the brutal reality of living under dictatorship:

[27:43] Giancarlo Cerado: "They would protect us, but the fear was omnipresent. We never knew when we would be caught."

Miriam's eventual capture highlights the terrifying efficiency of the military regime. Despite her preparation to resist capture, she is overwhelmed by the authorities, marking a pivotal moment in her life.

A Decades-Long Quest for Justice

Three decades later, in 2010, Miriam has transformed into a formidable investigative journalist at Canal Trece, focusing on uncovering the perpetrators of sexual abuse and other atrocities committed during the dictatorship. Her encounter with Italian photojournalist Giancarlo Cerado becomes the catalyst for a new investigation:

[15:29] Giancarlo Cerado: "Do you know where the planes used for the death flights are?" [15:33]

This question sets Miriam on a path to locate the aircraft involved in the death flights, potentially leading to the identification and accountability of those responsible.

Collaborating for Truth

Giancarlo Cerado, passionate about documenting the scars left by the dictatorship, partners with Miriam to delve deeper into the mystery of the death flights. Their collaboration is marked by both professional dedication and personal challenges:

[13:20] Giancarlo Cerado: "I was in a bad place emotionally at the time. I needed some sort of distraction, something to occupy my time." [13:51]

Their combined efforts aim to piece together flight logs and other evidence that could break open decades-old secrets.

Emotional and Physical Toll

The investigation takes a significant emotional toll on Miriam, forcing her to confront painful memories and the reality of her past:

[32:38] Giancarlo Cerado: "I tried to puncture the pill with my teeth as fast as I could. But the officers catch on and force me to spit it out. I never imagined they would catch me alive." [34:03]

This harrowing account underscores the constant danger Miriam faces as she seeks the truth, reflecting the broader struggle of Argentina to come to terms with its past.

Cliffhanger: Miriam’s Kidnapping

The episode culminates in a dramatic and heart-wrenching moment where Miriam is captured by military officers during her investigation:

[34:25] Andres Cavachero: "In the next episode, Medium is taken alive to a clandestine center to be interrogated. The exact scenario that she and her fellow comrades had tried to avoid at all costs."

This cliffhanger leaves listeners eagerly anticipating the next installment, promising deeper insights into Miriam's fight for justice and the ongoing quest to expose the truth behind Argentina's dark history.

Production and Credits

The episode was produced by Orbit Media, with contributions from a dedicated team of producers, editors, and legal advisors. Voice actors, including Alexis Bledel as Miriam Lewin and Frank Fulvio de la Volta as Giancarlo Cerado, bring the characters to life, adding depth and authenticity to the narrative.

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Notable Quotes:

• [07:35] Giancarlo Cerado: "We had no money to make the trip ourselves, so we hired a stringer, a freelance journalist, and actually Bruno was a sports commentator."

• [16:10] Giancarlo Cerado: "Through those planes, we could get to the pilots and maybe identify them, and that would be amazing."

• [31:52] Giancarlo Cerado: "We had decided to take our own lives before having to endure torture which could lead to us giving away information."

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Conclusion

"Saturday Matinee: Avenger" is a poignant exploration of resilience, truth-seeking, and the enduring scars of political oppression. Through Miriam Lewin's courageous journey, History Daily not only recounts a significant historical atrocity but also underscores the importance of memory and accountability in healing a nation.

Listeners are left reflecting on the complexities of justice and the personal sacrifices made by those who dare to confront the darkest aspects of history.

Transcript

[Andres Cavachero]

There are more ways than ever to listen to History Daily ad free. Listen with Wondry plus in the Wondery app as a member of Noiser plus at noiser.com or in Apple Podcasts. Or you can get all of History Daily plus other fantastic history [e-mail] you know how they say truth is stranger than fiction? There's a truth is more gruesome than fiction too. For instance, here's some promotional copy for what sounds like a Hollywood thriller. It's 1977 Argentina. The military has seized power. Miriam Lewin is 19 years old, an activist and a target of a brutal dictatorship. She'll spend two years in prison, but Miriam is one of the lucky ones. Her fellow prisoners will be tossed from airplanes to their deaths on the infamous death flights. Three decades later, Miriam is respected investigative journalist. She steadfastly avoided doing stories about the death flights, the subject being too painful, until a phone call from an Italian photojournalist changes everything. It's harrowing edge of your seat stuff. And it's not fiction. On today's Saturday matinee, we're bringing you the first episode from the new podcast Avenger, about one journalist's quest to hold accountable those responsible for unspeakable atrocities. I hope you enjoy While you're listening, be sure to search for and follow Avenger. We put a link in the show notes to make it easy for you Most weight loss plans are one size fits all, not taking into account each person's individual needs. Noom, on the other hand, is built for your psychology and your biology, meeting you where you are. Noom Weight uses psychology and that's why they say losing weight starts with your brain, but it also takes into account your unique biological factors which also affect weight loss success. The program helps you understand the science behind your eating choices and why you have cravings. Stay focused on what's important to you with noom's psychology and biology based approach. Sign up for your trial [e-mail] that's n o o m.com this message comes from Greenlight Ready to start talking to.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

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[Andres Cavachero]

Get started risk [e-mail] wondry. Before we begin, please note that for this story, we interviewed Miriam and everyone else for dozens of hours in Spanish. We hired actors to voice their words in English.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

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.

[Andres Cavachero]

It's late afternoon, 1977. Miriam is in a neighborhood in Buenos Aires. She's 19. It's been a year since Argentina's military seized power. A coup to bring back peace and stability, says the military dictator. People like Medium, a young political dissident, are now targets.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

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 flag. 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 tried 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.

[Andres Cavachero]

From Orbit Media, I'm Andres Cavachero. This is Avenger, the story of Miriam Lewin. Episode 1 the Process Fast forward three decades to 2010. It's four in the afternoon, the busiest time of day at Canal Trece, a national TV channel in Buenos Aires. Miriam sits in her office chair looking through a big glass window at the cars driving by. In Argentina, Miriam is a well known investigative journalist and she's relentless, going after perpetrators of sexual abuse. She's reported from Gaza, Russia, lots of Places. Now she's in the middle of the biggest investigation of her career. Miriam looks at her phone. It's a US number.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

Hola. Hola, Miriam. Hola, Bruno.

[Andres Cavachero]

Si. Hola.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

Si. Decime.

[Andres Cavachero]

An Argentine reporter calling from Florida. Medium had recently hired him to help her follow up on a tip she had sent him to meet the owner of a small plane that maybe had once been used by Argentina's dictatorship to kill hundreds of people. They were tossed out of planes alive into the sea. Somehow the plane ended up in Fort Lauderdale. Medium hoped that it still held clues, evidence of the atrocities.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

We had no money to make the trip ourselves, so we hired a stringer, a freelance journalist, and actually Bruno was a sports commentator.

[Andres Cavachero]

No se puede crier.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

Si enserio.

[Andres Cavachero]

On the phone, the reporter confirms it's the right plane.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

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.

[Andres Cavachero]

I spent a lot of my childhood in Argentina in the early 90s at my grandfather's repair shop behind our house. It was a middle class suburb of Buenos Aires and every morning I would wake up to Radio Colonia, my grandfather's favorite station. Inside his repair shop, the floors and shelves were stacked with old radios, tools and countless broken televisions. One day he decided I was old enough to hear about the death flights. He told me how only about a decade earlier, thousands of people had been kidnapped, loaded into airplanes and thrown into the ocean. I was barely nine at the time. We lived several blocks from the shore. I could picture the plains above the water, bodies free falling. I had a lot of questions, but my grandfather didn't have answers. This was in the 90s and many Argentines were still searching for answers about loved ones who had gone missing. Mothers, fathers were still mourning in fear and in silence. It seemed at times that Argentina, the entire country, was looking away, intent on burying the ghosts of the past. For a long time. Journalist Miriam Lewin wanted to bury them too, for good reason. She'd been one of the disappeared. Better to forget years of captivity, of torture. Then one day, an annoying, rude, incredibly persistent Italian photojournalist entered her life, asking lots of uncomfortable questions. Theirs would be an unlikely alliance, but together they set out to bring justice to the victims of the Bulos de la Muerte, the death flights. It would prove to be the investigation of a lifetime. The investigation would also become crucial in my search for answers. How did an entire country allow this to happen? Was there Will there ever be justice? Where were the pilots who flew the Death flights in 2007? Giancarlo Cerauldo is living in Buenos Aires. He's the annoying Italian photojournalist who gets in touch with Miriam. He invites her to a cafe to take some photos.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

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.

[Andres Cavachero]

I had no idea whether she'd tell me to just go to hell. The photos were just an excuse for us to meet. I mean, why would I take portraits of a survivor inside a cafe? I knew I wasn't going to use those photos. History Daily is sponsored by Acorns. Studying history is studying survival. And at the heart of survival most of the time is money. It's always been a challenge. From bartering livestock to trading crypto saving and investing feels aspirational. Something you want to do, but just not right now. In fact, last year, Save More Money was the most popular New Year's resolution in America. So how do you start for real? Acorns makes it easy to start automatically saving and investing so your money has a chance to grow for you, your kids and your retirement. You don't need to be an expert. Acorns will recommend a diversified portfolio that fits you and your money goals. You don't need to be rich. Acorns lets you invest with the spare money you've got right now. You can start with $5 or even just your SP change. Head to acorns.com historydaily or download the Acorns app to start saving and investing for your future today. Paid non client endorsement compensation provides incentive to positively promote Acorns Tier 2 compensation provided investing involves risk. Acorns Advisors LLC and SEC registered investment advisor. View important [e-mail] historydaily packages by Expedia. You were made to be rechargeable.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

We were made to package flights, hotels.

[Andres Cavachero]

And hammocks for less. Expedia Made to travel in his 30s, Giancarlo is a bit of a nomad. He's been all over the world telling stories, taking photos, fulfilling his obsession to document the scars left by fascist governments. Recently, he traveled from Italy to Argentina on a mission. He's become obsessed with the death flights. He's heard about Miriam and decided he needs her. A survivor and just as important, a journalist on the Ground who might help him find some answers. And Giancarlo's request comes at a good time.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

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.

[Andres Cavachero]

She agrees to meet Giancarlo at a cafe in the center of Buenos Aires. It's a gray, windy day in August, and Medium comes straight from her office wearing her signature fluorescent orange jacket, her red curly hair blowing in the wind. The cafe is on Avenida Nuevo de Julio, a majestic avenue lined up with purple jacaranda trees. It's not the first time that a foreign journalist contacts Medium for an interview. But Giancarlo is different.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

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-20s and long, wavy hair, green eyes and an earring.

[Andres Cavachero]

And I'm shocked by her face. She's beautiful, and her eyes have this light to them. And a lot of the survivors that interview didn't have the light in their eyes. They start talking. Giancarlo seems eager. Too eager. He's leaning toward Medium over the table. Miriam is not impressed. The whole setup seems off.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

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.

[Andres Cavachero]

Do you know where the planes used for the dead flights are?

[Giancarlo Cerado]

He was kind of telling me, how come you never thought of this? I was an experienced investigative reporter, so that felt like a lack of respect, you know? How dare he ask me that? I'm a survivor of a concentration camp. Also, I'm like 12 years older than him. I have no idea where the planes could be and why. Why should I care? But then again, through those planes, we could get to the pilots and maybe identify them, and that would be amazing.

[Andres Cavachero]

Giancarlo's convinced that if they could find the planes, that could lead to the pilots of those death flights. I mean, these are the guys who were responsible for the genocidal machine that killed so many people. I'm trying to See how she would react, hoping it would make her want to help me with the investigation. That's their strategy, at least.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

And then Giancarlo pulls this strange looking book from his backpack. He puts it on the table. It's written by a guy named Adolfo Silingo, a former Navy captain. He was the first navy officer to admit to being part of a death flight crew. I knew about Silingo. I mean, I had heard about him, but I hadn't seen this book yet.

[Andres Cavachero]

It was an obscure book. Only a few copies were ever printed. Giancarlo gives it to her and she puts it in her bag. Their meeting ends without a commitment, but it sparked something within her.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

Was there possibly something big to investigate? Something that had been overlooked? For a while, I avoided investigating the dictatorship, revisiting that trauma. I had friends who were put on those death flights. I didn't feel I could stick to journalistic boundaries. Like my emotions might betray me at any moment and send me into a breakdown.

[Andres Cavachero]

Miriam grew up in a nice middle class neighborhood in Buenos Aires. She was an intellectual child. She loved books and poetry. Her dad was a big influence. He was a leftist. He gave her books about socialism, workers movements.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

When my dad noticed me bringing flyers home, bringing the anarchist paper, he started feeding me more anarchist literature.

[Andres Cavachero]

Soon she was an activist.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

I was into political militancy, but I also loved the idea of working for a newspaper. I was a good writer, so I signed up for journalism school. The problem was my parents wanted me to have a real career. So I had to enroll in economics at the same time to appease them. We were young, but we felt like we'd lived through a lot. Social change, access to education, better salaries. It all seemed at our fingertips. I mean, it didn't feel like a fantasy. It felt like we could actually change the world. I wanted to see a country where there was equality. We were young and we felt invincible.

[Andres Cavachero]

When Miriam's parents started to worry about her safety, they offered to fly her to Brazil or somewhere outside Argentina.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

Abandoning the cause wasn't even an option for us. We thought if we abandoned the militancy and activism, we would be betraying our friends who gave their lives for the movement.

[Andres Cavachero]

The economy was in shambles for 60 days.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

6,000 metal workers struck unofficially against wage restraint in face of huge inflation.

[Andres Cavachero]

Political violence and tensions grew. Federal police moved in. 500 workers were sacked and 143 flung.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

In jail without trial. One man handing out leaflets was machine gunned from a police car, another shot.

[Andres Cavachero]

Dead while painting a slogan on a wall. It was Ruth. Leftist groups retaliate, targeting government officials, police chiefs. At 6:30 one morning in this down.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

At heel Buenos Aires suburb, two cars pulled up.

[Andres Cavachero]

Five men got out. One knocked on the door.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

The policeman who answered received one bullet in the brain. The remaining men then drilled the front.

[Andres Cavachero]

Of the house with at least 80 bullets. Before leaving, they blasted holes in the.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

Roof with three grenades, injuring the man's.

[Andres Cavachero]

Widow and two children. Violence divided the country. The best known group targeting police and government forces was called the Montoneros. Some supported them, including Medium, as the best hope against forces of repression. But others saw only chaos and violence. They craved stability. Meanwhile, Miriam was in the midst of a political awakening. She got a job at a factory and helped organize union workers. Her parents started to worry about her. But Medium was on a different path now. The entire nation was on edge. Inflation was skyrocketing. The violence was getting worse. The government seemed powerless.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

During the last months of 1975, everyone already knew that a military coup was about to happen.

[Andres Cavachero]

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[Giancarlo Cerado]

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[Andres Cavachero]

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[Giancarlo Cerado]

It was March 24, 1976. My mom barges into my room with a portable radio broadcasting about soldiers marching. And then she tells me that there was a coup. I remember being in bed and just getting into a fetal position and crying. I was crying because I felt a afraid of the changes that were coming. More control, less freedoms. And I remember what it felt like to step out of my house for the first time just after the coup, watching the tanks rolling down the streets in the middle of the city. We had seen this before. The military that targets activists, sending them to jail, trying them in court. We actually thought, we hoped the military would help stop the violence. I never imagined an underground extrajudicial process. Never imagined they would kidnap me, put a hood on me, torture me.

[Andres Cavachero]

Argentina's armed forces took control. A coup led by General Jorge Rafael Videla. Up until then, he had played a neutral role when it came to politics, but he was the country's most powerful military leader. He promised peace, a stable economy. Officially, his plan was called the National Reorganization Process, or just the process.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

He would say things like the process would require time and effort. They had their own vision for the country. A right wing neoliberal nation with conservative Christian values.

[Andres Cavachero]

Values that General Videla says were threatened by subversives. Students, union members, teachers, activists, people like Medium, who he vowed to quote that.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

Rhetoric about preserving Western Christian values, about creating paranoia that communism was taking over our country. To me, none of that was surprising. I remember a friend telling me he was leaving the country because he'd heard that the military was planning a bloodbath, that they were going to kill us all. We thought it was an exaggeration. We didn't see Argentina as a banana republic. And we had never witnessed the type of bloodbath my friend was predicting. We thought he was a coward.

[Andres Cavachero]

General Videla's swearing in takes place inside the presidential palace. The room is filled with men in green and blue military uniforms, Catholic bishops and families of junta leaders watching from.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

A balcony in Greece and Ja? Al Salon Blanco.

[Andres Cavachero]

Everyone is standing. Suddenly, two giant doors open and General Videla appears. He's tall, slim, with a thick mustache. He has a stern look and he takes the oath.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

Rumors about horrific torture started Going around.

[Andres Cavachero]

The rumors are true. The junta takes its crackdown on leftist groups to a new level.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

People having their arms ripped off their bodies, electric shocks, rape. The orders from our group leaders were do not be captured alive.

[Andres Cavachero]

For Miriam, it means leaving her parents house. She knows she's a person of interest. She fears she will bring danger to her family. So she goes into hiding.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

The thing is that immediately after the coup, the military started arresting friends. People I knew, right? So we knew that the military were going to torture those friends. And they had information about where I lived. And the reality is, not everyone can endure torture. So if they gave your information, the military would be at my door. The fear and terror was not only aimed at armed groups or known activists. It was aimed at society. They were going after schoolteachers, professors, union members. And then they were targeting their families too. It was too dangerous for me to keep sleeping at home. At one point, my dad didn't speak to me for at least six months. He was against my activism. He knew how committed I was. And he. And he knew how dangerous it was. He was scared because people he knew were disappearing left and right. And he didn't want me to get killed.

[Andres Cavachero]

By then, Medium had fallen in love with a fellow journalism student, Juan Estevez. They met in college. He was an activist like her.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

He was sweet, adorable. Never again did I feel the way I felt for Juan. His voice was so special. Just hearing him talk made me emotional. He loved his family and he loved me.

[Andres Cavachero]

After the coup, they drop out of journalism school and go underground.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

Juan and I got a place at first, but I would only sleep there a few days a week. I would lie to my parents. I'd tell them I was going to sleep at friends houses. But then more of our friends started to get kidnapped. So we had to leave. We were never in the life of a typical couple. We were on the move almost every week, living one day at a time. We never even thought about the future.

[Andres Cavachero]

Before they go underground. Together, they buy two cheap wedding bands. And ask the leader of their activist group to marry them.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

And at that very informal ceremony, the guy called us a revolutionary couple. He said that our commitment to each other, our vow was to fight, to change Argentina, to make it a more just place. And we moved to the outskirts of Buenos Aires. And we got this tiny, tiny apartment with a tin roof. It was in the back of a family's house. And we started buying some furniture. A couple of chairs, a table and some plates. A cover for our bed. And we put a Beatles poster in the bedroom.

[Andres Cavachero]

Miriam and Juan don't get to live there for very long. Crackdowns become more frequent. They have to go back to hiding at friends houses or at cheap motels. They're preparing for the worst.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

I looked out the window, and if we saw anyone that looked like an officer or a soldier, I would freak out. And Juan calmed me down. He always told me I was paranoid. Everything was so intense. The loss of our friends, attending nearly empty group meetings because most people disappeared. I mean, for us, one day felt like 10 years. We made love a lot. We loved each other, but we were living on the edge. So every time we could touch each other, every time we could kiss each other, it was like it could be the last time.

[Andres Cavachero]

And there was one critical part of their group's training that they would always carry a cyanide pill and pledge to swallow it before they were captured.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

We had decided to take our own lives before having to endure torture which could lead to us giving away information, and that could lead to our friends getting captured also. It was an order coming from the leaders of our organization. Don't get captured alive. To me, it was simple. You get captured and they own your body. They would pass you over from one force to another, or if they wanted to, they would just put a bullet in your head. So they would dictate when and how you died. But with the cyanide pill, we were in control of our death. So it was kind of like a small victory over them, you know?

[Andres Cavachero]

Two nights before her kidnapping, Miriam is walking through the streets of Buenos Aires, heading back to where she and Juan are staying. They're still in hiding.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

It was raining that night. I notice a car with foggy windows. Inside, I see the silhouettes of three or so men. I start zigzagging my way through the streets and corners to evade it. But sooner or later, it would be there again.

[Andres Cavachero]

Two days later, on May 17, 1977, Miriam finds herself running for her life, being chased by three men in a Ford Falcon.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

And I keep screaming off the top of my lungs, I'm Miriam Lewin. Please help me.

[Andres Cavachero]

She yells out her phone number, begging anyone who can hear to call her family. Then, the moment Miriam and her fellow militants had prepared for.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

I reach into the pocket of my leather jacket, I take out the cyanide pill, and I put it in my mouth. I look up at the sky, and in my head I think, God, thank you for letting me die to help save my friends.

[Andres Cavachero]

Usually cyanide pills are made out of glass. Once you crush it with your teeth. The glass cuts your mouth. The poison enters the bloodstream quickly. But medium cyanide capsule is homemade. It's plastic.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

I tried to puncture the pill with my teeth as fast as I could. But the officers catch on and force me to spit it out. I never imagined they would catch me alive. I was young, healthy. But at that moment I didn't hesitate. I just wanted to die.

[Andres Cavachero]

In the next episode, Medium is taken alive to a clandestine center to be interrogated. The exact scenario that shoots she and her fellow comrades had tried to avoid at all costs.

[Giancarlo Cerado]

He says, miriam, look at me. I am the man responsible for your life and your death. As long as you collaborate, as long as you're good, nothing will happen to you.

[Andres Cavachero]

From Orbit Media, this is Avenger, the story of Medium Lewin. I'm your host and senior producer Andres Cavachero. The series was produced by Ezequiel Rodriguez Sandino and edited by Monica Campbell. Original score Nicolas Pachela Mixing and mastering Christopher Hough and Austin Smith Assistant producer Producers Andres Festenholz and Eliana Gillespie Fact check Alejandro Marinelli and Leonardo Scanone Legal review Neil Rossini Casting director Paula Gammon Wilson the executive producers from Orbit Media are Steve Fishman, Fisher Stevens, Marcy Wiseman and Katie Springer. The voice actors in Avenger include Alexis Bledel as Medium Lewin, Frank Fulvio de la Volta as Giancarlo Cerado, Gonzalo Vargas as Enrique Pineiro, Edgardo Manono Castro as Bruno Vane and Tom Schubert as Carlos macOS, Omiliana and Gustavo. This podcast was produced in association with Sonodo. The Sonodo executive producers are Camila Victoriano, Joshua Weinstein and Jasmine Romero. The rest of the Sonoro production team includes Sino senior producer Carmen Grattol, editor Rodrigo Crespo, producer Paloma Navarro Nicoletti, Evelyn Uribe, Mariana Coronel, Sara Mota, Manuel Parra, Hannah Bottom and Tasha Sandoval. Special thanks to Radio Encasa and Pomerane recording studios in Buenos Aires and to Miriam Lewin and Giancarlo Cerado for letting us tell their story. Thank you for listening. If you're running a retail business, don't let disorganized order fulfillment cause chaos. Use shipstation instead. From running a business out of your garage to multiple warehouses, shiftstation is ideal for every phase of your growth. Save time with one login for all your stores and by automating tasks. Plus, you'll get the best shipping rates from global carriers. Calm the chaos with the shipping software that delivers. Start a free [e-mail] audio that's shipstation.com audio.