Walsh used this open letter to excoriate the military government in Argentina, which had taken power in a coup the previous year. The extent and scale of the repression was startling: “fifteen thousand missing, ten thousand prisoners, four thousand dead, tens of thousands in exile: these are the raw numbers of this terror.” The victims of the repression in Argentina included Walsh’s own daughter. Walsh sent the letter by post to local newspapers and to foreign press correspondents. The following day he was killed by armed men. Rodolfo Walsh is considered to be an important influence on the development of investigative journalism in Argentina and beyond.