The Argentine coup d'état of 24 March 1976 established a terrorist regime that sought to "disappear" their political opponents.

Neither another country, the Catholic Church, nor an international humanitarian organization, was willing to condemn the military regime's atrocities.

[3] Acuña de Baravalle's daughter, Ana María, who was five months pregnant at the time, and her son-in-law, Julio César, were among those arrested and "disappeared".

In October 1977, she received an invitation from Alicia Zubasnabar, another of the Mothers, to form a group of grandmothers who were looking for their missing grandchildren.

[citation needed] In 1986, due to internal discrepancies, Mothers of Plaza de Mayo fractured.