Thursday, March 29, 2007

Argentina: Thirty-One Years After Coup, Disappearances and Terror Back on the Streets

Written by Marie Trigona
Thursday, 29 March 2007
Toward Freedom
ImageArgentina marked the 31st anniversary of the nation's 1976 military coup on March 24 with a series of marches to commemorate 30,000 disappeared during the so-called dirty war. As the perpetrators face trial 31 years on, key witnesses are disappearing and terror is back on the streets. In the face of threats and attacks, demonstrators demanded an end to impunity for military personnel who served in the 1976-1983 dictatorship.

Rights representatives have expressed immediate concerns over Julio Lopez; a new name that has been inscribed on the doleful roll call of Argentina's disappeared. Human rights groups in Argentina report that the trials to convict former members of the military dictatorship for human rights abuses have been put on hold and that the wave of threats against witnesses continues.

Legacy of fighting for human rights

The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo held their weekly Thursday vigil in the plaza where they have met for 30 years to demand information on the whereabouts of their children who were kidnapped and later murdered, but whose bodies have never been found.

Mercedes Meroño, whose daughter was disappeared in 1978 said that the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo have gathered the strength to fight from their children. "After 30 years of struggle in the plaza and 31 after the dictatorship, we defeated the dictators with a struggle that we never abandoned, because we support the revolutionary struggle of our children. We continue to say that we were born out of our children’s fight, because before we didn’t know anything about this. For love we went out into the streets."

ImageDuring the Mothers’ 29 years of struggle they have endured physical attacks and endless threats. Three of the founding members were disappeared and murdered following the infiltration by Adolfo Astiz, a military officer, in 1977. Astiz, like many other former military leaders have been charged with human rights abuses, but has never been sentenced for his crimes. Astiz is facing trial for the 1977 disappearances of French nuns Alice Domon and Léonie Duque and a dozen other people, including Azucena Villaflor, the founder of Mothers of Plaza de Mayo.

Meroño, now 82 years old, says that the Mothers will continue to fight until ex-military leaders are convicted and put behind bars for human rights crimes "At 31 years since Argentina's worst military coup, what we want is peace, love and solidarity. And those of us who fight for those words are triumphant. The evil people, the murderers, those who threw young people alive into the sea, tortured and raped: all of them are hidden in their homes like cowards. We want for them to be put in jail just like any other murderer and to be placed in common jails."

Today’s terror and impunity

Right across from the Plaza de Mayo on March 22, a delegation from the group called Space for Memory, Truth and Justice presented a report of over 200 cases of recent attacks and threats against human rights activists. Police barricades blocked the delegation two blocks from the Interior Ministry.

Carlos Leiva is an activist from an unemployed workers organization Frente Dario Santillan. Speaking at the Interior Ministry, Leiva describes his kidnapping that occurred earlier this month. "On Friday, March 2, I was on my way to a movement meeting. A car stopped in front of me and two people who came from behind forced me into the car. They took me to an abandoned warehouse. I was held there for 6 or 7 hours while they threatened me a lot and asked personal questions and questions about our movement. The moment came when they had orders from a superior and they simulated shooting me."

ImageLeiva has identified his perpetrators as civil police who harassed him at a previous protest and says that authorities haven’t carried out an investigation since his kidnapping. "Every year the point is to go out and say we don't forget. During the dictatorship they disappeared an entire generation that thought, that could speak out. Today we are trying to fight for a better future in our organizations and the police are trying to fill organizations with fear. The clearest case is they disappeared Julio Lopez and he hasn’t turned up."

Human rights trials paralyzed

Argentina’s federal courts have virtually paralyzed upcoming human rights trials six months after the disappearance of Julio Lopez — a key witness who helped convict a former police officer for life. Lopez went missing September 18, the eve of the landmark conviction of Miguel Etchecolatz, the first military officer to be tried for crimes against humanity and genocide.

ImageIn his testimony, Lopez said that Etchecolatz tortured him during his detention from 1976-1979. Testifying before a court in La Plata, Lopez described the prolonged bouts of interrogation under Etchecolatz’s supervision. "I even thought that one day I find Etchecolatz, I am going to kill him. And then I thought, well, if I kill him I’ll just be killing a piece of garbage, a serial killer who didn’t have compassion." He said that the police chief would personally kick detainees until they were unconscious and oversee torture sessions.

Etchecolatz's sentence for crimes against humanity, genocide, and the murder and torture of political dissidents during the dictatorship represents the first time in the nation's history that the courts have sentenced a military officer to life for crimes against humanity.

This is only the second conviction of a former military officer charged with human rights abuses since 2005 when Argentina's Supreme Court struck down immunity laws for former officers of the military dictatorship as unconstitutional. Etchecolatz was arrested and sentenced to 23 years in 1986, but was later freed when the "full stop" and "due obedience" laws implemented in the early '90s made successful prosecution of ex-military leaders for human rights abuses virtually impossible.

In total, 256 former military personnel and members of the military government have been accused of human rights crimes and are now awaiting trial. However, this adds up to less than one ex-military officer for each of the country’s 375 clandestine detention centers that were used to torture and forcefully disappear 30,000 people. Aside from numbers, human rights representatives report that the trials are advancing at a snails pace, if advancing at all. Victims blame an inefficient court system filled with structural bureaucratic roadblocks and uncooperative judges.

Some trials have been delayed more than three years. President Nestor Kirchner, under pressure from human rights groups, addressed the issue publicly at the government’s official rally to commemorate March 24. He pleaded with the judicial system to speed up the trials but did not sanction any order or take any other action. Recently, 61 plaintiffs (mostly torture survivors) publicly accused four Magistrate Council members for deliberately obstructing the cases to try ex-military leaders for state supported terrorism. The council president, Alfredo Bisordi, has been investigated by the Magistrates Association for openly supporting the dictatorship and amnesty for human rights abusers. Human rights groups want Bisordi and the other three council members to be removed from their positions.

ImageGroups worry that judicial roadblocks and an atmosphere of fear may provide former members of the military dictatorship a window to escape conviction. Patricia Isasa, a former political prisoner and torture survivor is leading a case against 9 of her perpetrators in the province of Santa Fe. Currently, she is in a witness protection program after receiving threatening phone calls.

She says that many of the witnesses have dropped out of the trials since the wave of threats began: "The cases are clearly paralyzed. Before the kidnapping of Lopez I had a set date for the trial. The trial has been moved forward to no less than a year from now." Several judges have been threatened and are in police protection programs. In other cases, victims have reported that judges have ties to the military dictatorship. Isasa has made public complaints that her court case is being held up by a court with ties to one of her perpetrators, Victor Brusa, an interrogator in the concentration camps that later became a federal judge. Brusa served as a judge until he was put under house arrest thanks to Isasa’s efforts.

For Isasa, survivors deserve a quota of justice after 31 years of injustice and impunity. "The court delay means a year of impunity, a year of shame, a year of being a witness whose life is in danger. When can I have a sense of peace? When these people have a firm sentence in jail and deactivated as much as possible. Now, please don't put them in the same place!"

In recent months Human rights organizations have faced unrelenting threats in phone calls and emails defending crimes committed during the dictatorship. HIJOS, - an organization of children of the disappeared is one of those groups. Ramiro Gonzalez, son of a woman who was disappeared and member of HIJOS, was forced into an unmarked car by four men on October 4, who beat him while showing him pictures of activists and asking for their names.

ImageAccording to Gonzalez, many of the phone calls have been tracked to the federal prison where Etchecolatz and another 100 military officers are imprisoned. "We are continuing to receive phone calls from the federal penitentiary," says Gonzalez. "Everything is on hold, now that there are trials being held nationwide. Many of the witnesses don't want to take part in the prosecution out of fear, because the threats continue."

He adds that although HIJOS is on alert, they are continuing to fight for justice for their parent’s deaths during the military dictatorship. "We at HIJOS are particularly worried because we feel that we are an easy target. Many of our comrades are getting psychological help for the threats and some of us are truly afraid. But we are clear that we aren't going to abandon the struggle!"

With Julio Lopez missing for more than six months, it is almost certain that he is dead. His capturers are using his body as a negotiating tool to protect military personnel from any further criminal charges or trials. The political implications of Lopez’s disappearance has led to a virtual paralysis in the upcoming trials that human rights groups were promised when the Supreme Court overturned the amnesty laws that protected former military officers who served during the dictatorship.

Marie Trigona is a journalist and radio producer based in Buenos Aires. She can be reached at mtrigona@msn.com Visit http://mujereslibres.blogspot.com/ for more information on the human rights trials.

What is Bush doing in Uruguay?


Znet March 25, 2007 by Marie Trigona
“The precise pain, in the precise place, in the precise amount, for the desired effect.” These are the words of a US instructor in the art of torture teaching techniques in Uruguay during the nation’s 1973-1985 military dictatorship. The US played a major role in supporting Uruguay’s brutal dictatorship, agents from the CIA and Office of Public Safety operated abroad to teach intelligence techniques to fight communist and socialist dissidents.

Who could forget Constantin Costa-Gavra’s 1972 film State of Siege, set in Uruguay in the early 1970’s. In an unforgettable scene, a US official from the Office of Public Safety teaches a room full of cadets the technique of the picana or “electric prod.” The feature length film narrates a guerrilla group’s kidnapping of an official of the US Agency for International Development (a group used as a front for training foreign police in counterinsurgency methods). Using his interrogation as a backdrop, the film explores the Tupamaro urban guerrillas’ fight against US plans to implement terror and military dictatorship in their country. More than 200 were disappeared during Uruguay’s dictatorship and many more detained and tortured. The CIA aided dictatorships in coordinating Operation Condor, a shared plan by regional dictators in Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina to kill opponents in the 1970s and 80s.

Once again this small nation received a symbolic visit from a US representative who advocates legalized torture in the developing world, George W. Bush. So what was George Bush doing in Uruguay?

First, Uruguay’s President Tabare Vazquez invited him. Vazquez has been heralded as a center-left president forming part of the ‘pink-tide’ bloc along with Argentina’s Nestor Kirchner, Brazil’s Silvio Lula, and Chile’s Michel Bachelet. Vazquez, Uruguay’s first left-wing president ran on the Frente Amplio (Broad Front) coalition party ticket and won by a 50 percent margin. Since taking office, Vazquez, like his pink counterparts has been eager to shut up the popular masses and get down to neoliberal business. Bush and Vázquez appeared together in a press briefing March 10 in Anchorena Park, Uruguay, to discuss education, trade exchanges, economic investments and immigration.

One of the things Bush and Vazquez talked about was the exchange of technology, medicine and education. Bush mentioned plans to fund a health clinic, but did not give any details. The US plans to open a military base medical with United States Army Special Operations Command South funds. The Santa Catalina military base has functioned for more than 15 years, providing a space for army and marine training. Now, with 350,000 dollars in South Command funds, Uruguay’s military has built a policlinic. Local residents and human rights groups say that the policlinic is the US’s first step in getting its foot in the door to establish a military base similar to Paraguay’s military bases. Under the guise of humanitarian assistance, the US plans to train Uruguayan troops and hold exercises for “stability operations.” Strategically, Uruguay could be key in US led operations to control natural resources and resistance in the region.

Uruguay is home to the world’s largest aquifer, the Guaraní aquifer. The Guaraní aquifer is the largest freshwater aquifer in South America, covering more than 1.2 million square kilometers and spanning four countries—Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina. The US has already set up military bases in Paraguay and Brazil. Uruguay’s military base in Santa Catalina is preparing for US visitors. Writers like Ben Dangl and Raul Zibechi believe U.S. operations in Paraguay are part of a preventative war to control these natural resources and suppress social uprisings in the region. In Argentina’s northern region of Misiones local residents have reported of military operations in the area.

Trade was another big issue talked about during Bush’s visit. Uruguay has been cool to the MERCOSUR, a regional trade bloc composed of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Venezuela and Uruguay. Vazquez has said that Uruguay will stay in MERCOSUR but defends the right to look for new markets outside of the regional trade blocs. During Bush’s visit, Vazquez speculated a trade agreement with the US, but was left short. Bush complimented Uruguay for its beef, software and blueberries but left without signing any trade agreement or aid agreements. Beef was certainly on the menu, Bush was eager to try Uruguay’s famous beef. As a gift, US president gave Vazquez a barbeque set.

Uruguay’s President Tabaré Vazquez and President Bush got married, well at least at massive protests during Bush’s visit to Uruguay. Over 25,000 people went to the streets to repudiate Bush’s presence in Latin America. The numbers of protestors is no small feat for the nation which inhabits only three million. Giant dolls representing Bush and Vazquez led the march, Bush wearing a tuxedo and Vazquez a wedding dress. Uruguay’s president was pregnant with hunger, misery and war.

“The people didn’t invite Bush,” said Hernan Gutierezz, a protestor at the march. What was most surprising was the mobilizing factor the US president’s visit had in Latin America. In Uruguay Vazquez chumming around with Bush created an uproar from the ruling coalition's progressive support base. Many from the center-left Frente Amplio coalition joined the protests against Bush’s arrival. Uruguay’s largest housing cooperative coalition, FUCVAM, held a 200 kilometer march to Anchorena estate where Bush and his Uruguayan counterpart met. The marchers were forced to make a 40 kilometer detour, prohibited from entering Colonia, a local coastal town and only allowed within 30 kilometers from the Anchorena estate.

Since Frente Amplio won the ballot in 2004, social movements have become stagnated with the crucial question of ‘what next?’ Now, three years after Vazquez’s victory many of his supporters realize that a lot is left to be desired. Salaries fail to meet basic needs, social programs have been cut and public transport costs are still high. Many of Frente Amplio’s supporters saw Bush’s visit as the last straw. Social movements outside of the Frente Amplio have gathered momentum in the past year: trade unions, landless farmers taking over land and the country’s broad housing cooperative movement.

What is clear is from Bush’s stay in Uruguay is that the nation’s social movements haven’t forgiven the United States for supporting the brutal dictatorship that doomed the country to a decade of terror, fear and looting. Irma Leites, a former political prisoner during Uruguay’s dictatorship sent a special message to Bush and Vazquez outside the Anchorena estate. “The blood of our comrades wasn’t shed to give up our natural resources and invite the U.S. to loot our country. Out with the Yankees who want the freedom to torture.” The masses on the streets of Montevideo sent a clear message to the U.S.--no more torture, no more military bases, no to the exploitation of natural resources in the region. This message dogged Bush throughout his 5-nation tour.

Marie Trigona is an independent journalist, radio producer and translator based in Argentina. She can be reached at mtrigona@msn.com

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Argentina Marks 31st Anniversary of Military Coup


By Marie Trigona - March 23, 2007

Argentina marks the 31st anniversary of the nation's 1976 military coup on Saturday March 24, with a series of marches to commemorate 30,000 disappeared during the so called dirty war. As the perpetrators face trial 31 years on, key witnesses are disappearing and terror is back on the streets.

In the face of threats and attacks, human rights groups hit the streets to demand an end to impunity for military personnel who served in the 1976-1983 dictatorship. The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo held their weekly Thursday vigil in the plaza where they have met for 30 years to demand information on the whereabouts of their children who were kidnapped and later murdered, but whose bodies have never been found.

Mercedes Meroño, whose daughter was disappeared in 1978 said that the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo have gathered the strength to fight from their children. “After 30 years of struggle in the plaza and 31 after the dictatorship, we defeated the dictators with a struggle that we never abandoned. Because we support the revolutionary struggle of our children. We continue to say that we were born out of our children’s fight, because before we didn’t know anything about this. For love we went out into the streets.”

Meroño, now 82 years old, says that the Mothers will continue to fight until ex-military leaders are convicted and put behind bars for human rights crimes "At 31 years since Argentina's worst military coup, what we want is peace, love and solidarity. And those of us who fight for those words are triumphant. The evil people, the murderers, those who threw young people alive into the sea, tortured and raped: all of them are hidden in their homes like cowards. We want for them to be put in jail just like any other murderer and to be placed in common jails."

Right across from the Plaza de Mayo yesterday, a delegation from the group: Space for Memory, Truth and Justice presented a report of over 200 cases of recent attacks and threats against human rights activists. Police barricades blocked the delegation two blocks from the Interior Ministry.

Carlos Leiva is an activist from an unemployed workers organization Frente Dario Santillan. Speaking at the Interior Ministry, Leiva describes his kidnapping that occurred earlier this month. “On Friday, March 2, I was on my way to a movement meeting. A car stopped in front of me and two people who came from behind forced me into the car. They took me to an abandoned warehouse. I was held there for 6 or 7 hours while they threatened me a lot and asked questions about our movement. The moment came when they had orders from a superior and they simulated shooting me.”

Leiva has identified his perpetrators as civil police who harassed him at a previous protest and says that authorities haven’t carried out an investigation since his kidnapping. "Every year the point is to go out and say we don't forget. During the dictatorship they disappeared an entire generation that thought, that could speak out. Today we are trying to fight for a better future in our organizations and the police are trying to fill organizations with fear. The clearest case is they disappeared Julio Lopez and he hasn’t turned up.

Julio Lopez went missing September 18, the eve of the landmark conviction of Miguel Etchecolatz, the first military officer to be tried for crimes against humanity and genocide.

Testifying before a court in La Plata, Lopez described the prolonged bouts of interrogation under Etchecolatz’s supervision. “I even thought that one day I find Etchecolatz I am going to kill him. And then I thought well, if I kill him I’ll just be killing a piece of garbage. A serial killer. He didn’t have compassion.”

Rights representatives have expressed immediate concerns over Lopez, a new name that has been inscribed on the roll call of Argentina's disappeared. On Saturday groups will hold two separate marches to the Plaza de Mayo.

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