On March 24, 1976, a military dictatorship came to power in Argentina, lasting until 1983. To be labeled a subversive by the regime would almost certainly mean imprisonment and torture, if not disappearance and death.

At least 9,000 died, and some human rights groups say the true cost in lives is probably closer to 30,000.

But now, Argentinans are confident those horrible times are forever behind them, says this BBC story.

Some excerpts:

Daniel Acosta was a young art student in the city of La Plata when in 1977 agents working for the state abducted him, a hood over his head. He spent the next five years in prison and was often tortured. He was labelled a subversive.

He drew while in prison to help come to terms with a situation that made no sense. Some of those works are on display at the Recoleta Cultural Centre in Buenos Aires as part of an exhibition to mark the anniversary.

Newspaper cuttings, telling stories of bomb attacks, dead bodies found on the street and political turmoil, line the walls. One painting is of the waters of the River Plate where bodies, some still alive, were dumped from military planes.

People are leaving behind the fear Artist Daniel Acosta

Another is a study of the Ford Falcon, an Argentine-made car that has become a symbol of the repression since it was these vehicles, with darkened windows and licence plates removed, that were used to abduct victims in the middle of the night.

One of Daniel Acosta's works - of two shoes left behind when agents came to collect him in the night - has the word "Censored" stamped in one corner.

He says that this anniversary feels different from previous ones because the victims and Argentine society have put some distance between themselves and the horror of the military rule.

"People are leaving behind the fear," he says. "We can have a calmer look at the subject. That doesn't mean forgetting or pardoning but more justice and more truth." ...

The most prominent of those who refused to give up the search for justice are the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo.

When no-one would listen to them, they marched, silently outside the government palace in Buenos Aires every Thursday afternoon, demanding to know what happened to their sons and daughters.

They march to this day. They have in the past suffered death threats and constant abuse.

Daniel Acosta's art has helped him come to terms with his abduction

While their work continues, they find themselves now operating in a very different environment, alongside the government of President Nestor Kirchner, rather than against it.

They recently stopped their annual 24-hour march of resistance, designed to get the authorities to listen to their demands, because they said they were being heard. ...

After the return to democracy in 1983, some of the perpetrators of some of those crimes were tried and sentenced.

But subsequently the governments of, firstly, Raul Alfonsin and then Carlos Menem pardoned the military leaders responsible for the terror. They talked about moving on, putting the past behind them.

But the Argentine people have not done that. A recent campaign in the continued fight for justice is the "escrache" - a popular denunciation of alleged human rights violators.

Last week, several thousand people turned up outside the apartment block where the former military leader, Jorge Rafael Videla, lives. They shouted "murderer" and threw red paint at the building.

He may never be brought to justice but the protesters are determined that his retirement, at the very least, will not be a comfortable one.