Dirty Wars and Democracy

AFP, August 7, 2009

BRASILIA — Brazil’s Supreme Court has approved the extradition to Argentina of retired Uruguayan military officer, Manuel Cordero, wanted for his role in Operation Condor, a plan to eliminate political opponents., in the 1970s

The top Brazilian court said Thursday that Cordero faces several charges, including responsibility for the 1976 “disappearance” of Argentine child Aldaberto Soba Fernandes.

The charges are linked to Cordero’s involvement in Operation Condor, the secret plan hatched by South American dictators in the 1970s to eliminate their political opponents in the region.

He is wanted by Argentina for the torture, disappearance and killings of leftist Uruguayan activists in 1976 in the “Automotores Orletti” secret detention center in Buenos Aires.

Cordero, 70, has been under house arrest since December 19, avoiding prison due to an earlier heart surgery. He married a Brazilian woman 32 years ago.

After three years at large, the former Uruguayan Army colonel and intelligence officer was arrested in February 2007 in the Brazilian city of Santana do Livramento, just across the border with Uruguay.

Uruguay has also requested Cordero’s extradition but he is being sent to Argentina because that is where the alleged crimes took place.

Pagina 12, Viernes, 19 de Junio de 2009

Deben seguir cumpliendo la pena perpetua impuesta en el Juicio a las Juntas. El tribunal aclaró que la sentencia de Massera sigue vigente más allá de que fue declarado “incapaz” y que podría ser trasladado a un “establecimiento médico psiquiátrico”.

Los indultos que concedió el ex presidente Carlos Menem a los dictadores Jorge Rafael Videla y Emilio Eduardo Massera en 1990 fueron declarados inconstitucionales por la Cámara Nacional de Casación Penal. La decisión, que ratifica un fallo de la Cámara Federal, deja firmes las condenas a reclusión perpetua que ambos represores habían recibido en 1985 en el marco del Juicio a las Juntas

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Upside Down World, Maria Luisa Peralta, Dec. 30, 2008

Diciembre es un mes especial en Argentina. El 10 de diciembre de 1983 asumió un presidente elegido por voto popular, dando fin a la última dictadura militar y marcando el inicio de la recuperación democrática. Este mes, se cumplieron 25 años de ese día y abundaron los balances. Muchas cosas están pendientes para poder hablar de democracia real, y numerosos análisis hicieron hincapié en la “calidad institucional” y en la pobreza extendida que alcanza grados de miseria en amplias zonas del país (hay unas 25 muertes diarias de niñas y niños vinculadas al hambre). Pero pocos fuera del movimiento de mujeres resaltaron la persistencia de un fenómeno que obedece ahora a causas distintas que las que tuvo durante la dictadura pero cuyo peso simbólico debería ser insoportable: la desaparición forzada de personas.

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The Latin Americanist (Dec. 22, 2008)

Last week we briefly mentioned the outrage in Argentina over a judge’s order to free fourteen men convicted of “Dirty War” atrocities. Though the leader of the human rights group Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo deemed the decision as a “slap in the face,” the court decided that the men were held for several years without facing trial.

Only hours after the court’s asinine decision, another Argentine court prevented the travesty of justice:

An Argentine high court Friday suspended a controversial decision to grant bail to high-profile defendants accused of torturing and killing dissidents during the 1976-1983 dictatorship.

The court instead sent the cases to the Supreme Court after prosecutor Raul Plee appealed the ruling. The decision will keep the suspects behind bars until the Supreme Court ruling, at a date still to be determined.

One of those originally to be freed on bail was Alfredo Astiz, known as the “Blond Angel of Death” (image). Astiz had been held over the disappearance of two French nuns, a Swedish adolescent and the founder of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo.

Image- BBC News
Sources- The Latin Americanist, BBC News, AP, Reuters, AFP

Today marks the 25th anniversary of a return to civilian rule in Argentina. You can find a selection of articles from the Argentine press on the topic at Resdal.org.

BUENOS AIRES (AP) — Inside a once secret detention center where political dissidents were tortured and killed during Argentina’s dictatorship 25 years ago, forensic anthropologists have discovered a pit containing 10,000 bone fragments.

The discovery, the first of human remains in a detention center, supports the testimony of hundreds of survivors who have said for years that the authorities tortured and killed political opponents and burned their bodies.

“This scientifically confirms the testimonies of the detained,” said Luis Fondebrider, a forensic anthropologist who helped uncover the remains in the former detention center in La Plata known as Arana.

The bone fragments were unearthed between February and September, and Mr. Fondebrider and his team announced Tuesday that the remains were human. Now, months of laboratory work is needed to determine even the minimum number of bodies that were destroyed in the pit.

But the evidence already shows that bodies were thrown into the pit, covered with fuel and burned along with tires, to mask the smell of burning flesh. More than 200 bullet marks were found along an adjacent wall.

The bones were not completely reduced to ash, allowing for genetic analysis to identify the dead. But Mr. Fondebrider cautioned that it would not be possible to identify many of the victims, because prolonged exposure to fire destroys most DNA.

“This is the first time there is proof that Arana wasn’t only a detention and torture center, but also a center of elimination,” said Marta Vedio, legal chairwoman for the Permanent Assembly for Human Rights La Plata.

Some backers of the military dictatorship have denied that detainees were tortured or killed, despite the well-documented toll from the so-called dirty war, a crackdown in which political opponents of the junta disappeared with their spouses, children and other innocent people whose names were in their address books.

Official records put the number who disappeared at 13,000. Human rights groups say 30,000 were killed.

New York Times – Dec. 10, 2008

BBC News, 29 November 2008

The former President of Argentina, Carlos Menem, has been formally charged with involvement in arms-trafficking.

Prosecutors said Mr Menem had illegally sold weapons to Croatia and Ecuador in the 1990s, when they were involved in conflicts. He denies the charges.

Mr Menem, who has been ill, took part in the session on a video-link from the northern province of La Rioja.

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30 países revisan su pasado más trágico y dejan en evidencia la escasa implicación del Gobierno español – Asociaciones de familiares han desenterrado ya 4.000 víctimas de la Guerra Civil

NATALIA JUNQUERA El País 17/11/2008

[...]

Políticas de memoria y reparación a las víctimas

- Argentina. Anuló las leyes de Obediencia Debida y Punto final (similares a una amnistía), juzgó y condenó a los represores y convirtió el símbolo del terror practicado por las juntas militares durante la dictadura (1976-1983), la ESMA, en un Museo de la Memoria.

– Chile. Las primeras excavaciones de fosas comunes comienzan durante la dictadura de Pinochet (1973-1990), lideradas por la Iglesia. Familiares de más de 3.000 ejecutados y de casi 30.000 torturados reciben pensiones económicas y servicios gratuitos. La presidenta del país fue víctima.

– Guatemala. El estado corre con los gastos de las exhumaciones en cementerios clandestinos e indemniza a las víctimas. Cuenta con el apoyo de la iglesia.

- Marruecos. El Rey Mohamed VI creó una comisión de la verdad para investigar las desapariciones, detenciones, torturas, violaciones y ejecuciones cometidas entre 1956-1999. Pidió perdón a las víctimas y se comprometió a hacer cambios en su Constitución para evitar que lo ocurrido se volviera a repetir.

– Suráfrica. Reconoció los terribles crímenes en audiencias públicas. No juzgó a los culpables. Estableció medidas de compensación económica para las víctimas difíciles de cumplir en el contexto de pobreza que vive el país.

- Alemania.Las potencias vencedoras de la Segunda Guerra mundial ya habían destruido los símbolos nazis. La cuestión más controvertida era el derecho. En 1998, el Parlamento aprobó una ley que anulaba las sentencias dictadas por el Tribunal Popular o en juicios militares sumarísimos.

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Pagina 12 (Buenos Aires), Nov. 5, 2008

La presidenta Cristina Fernández de Kirchner felicitó hoy al presidente electo de los Estados Unidos, Barack Obama, por “haber logrado interpretar los sueños y las esperanzas del pueblo americano”.

“El ciclo que se abre hoy en su país es, antes que nada, un gran hito de una de las epopeyas mas apasionantes de la historia, la lucha contra la discriminación, y por la igualdad de oportunidades”, señala el mensaje enviado hoy a Obama, dado a conocer esta mañana en Casa de Gobierno.