Andrew Graham-Yooll

Medium: Print Journalism

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Artist: Andrew Graham-Yooll

Confronting Bodies: Argentine government

Dates of Action: 1968, 1975, 1977

Location: Argentina

Description of Artwork: Andrew Graham-Yooll first faced censorship while writing for the Buenos Aires Herald. During this time he was also a correspondent for the London Daily Telegraph. He was known among colleagues as the "Chronologist" for a series of publications he wrote which documented political events in Argentina from 1955 without comment. His records of the 1975 political murders were for a long time the only records of these events. In 1989 a collection of these accounts of political events was published in Buenos Aires under the title De Peron a Videla (From Peron to Videla).

The Incident: When working for the Buenos Aires Herald Graham-Yooll was first arrested by the government of general Juan Carlos Ogania. From that time on he was branded as a communist and faced death threats and attempts on his life. He became the official contact for Amnesty International in Argentina. His books documenting political events were deemed subversive by the government. In 1976 Graham-Yooll went into exile in Europe with his family. At that time he was on criminal trial under a security law that classified the publication of guerrilla information and other political offenses as subversive. Graham-Yooll was brought to trial for an interview he did of the leadership of the People's Revolutionary Army and for participating in a guerrilla press conference. He was acquitted in 1977 but remained in exile in London. Many of his friends in Argentina were dead, missing, or exiled.

Results of Incident: In 1989 Graham-Yooll became the editor of Index on Censorship. In 1994 he returned to Buenos Aires to become editor-in-chief of the "Buenos Aires Herald". His book "A State of Fear: Memories of Argentina's Nightmare" documented his life as a censored journalist under Argentina's totalitarian government.

Source: Censorship: A World Encyclopedia