[Memory: the past should teach us something about the present]

This article evokes the historical, professional and intellectual context in which the Argentine Federation of Psychiatrists (FAP) [Federación Argentina de Psiquiatras] drafted "The Mendoza Letter of Argentine Psychiatrists," during the 2nd National Conference on Union and Professional Problems of Psychiatrists that took place in Mendoza on July 18 and 19, 1972. The position of the FAP regarding health policies, and especially mental health policies, is analyzed, as are the FAP's relationships with other social actors such as organizations of patients' families, community and union leaders, and professionals of different disciplines, within the framework of the de facto governments of those years. As a conclusion, the article reflects on the way the dictatorships were able to silence the recent past and posits the need to defend and safeguard our collective memory. The document reprinted in this article was recovered from the Mario Testa Fund, part of the Research and Documentation Center Pensar en Salud of the Institute of Collective Health of the Universidad Nacional de Lanús.