Night of the Pencils

Night of the Pencils
Part of the Dirty War
LocationArgentina
Date16–21 September 1976
TargetStudents
Attack type
Kidnappings, forced disappearances, torture, rape, murder
Victims4 survivors
6 missing
PerpetratorsNational Reorganization Process
AssailantsMiguel Etchecolatz

The Night of the Pencils (in Spanish: Noche de los Lápices), was a series of kidnappings and forced disappearances, followed by the torture, rape, and murder of 10 high-school students that began on the evening of 16 September 1976 and continued into the next day, during Argentina's last civil-military dictatorship. The event is one of the most infamous acts of repression committed by the last Argentine military dictatorship, as most of the victims were under 18 years of age. Four of the victims survived; the remains of the others have never been found.