‘Dirty War’ editorial shocks Argentines, including paper’s own reporters
‘Dirty War’ editorial shocks Argentines, including paper’s own reporters
By Joshua Partlow November 24 at 1:14 PM
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Mauricio Macri celebrates at the Buenos Aires headquarters of the Let's Change alliance on Sunday after getting early results of the presidential runoff election. (Let's Change Media Office via AFP/Getty Images)
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BUENOS AIRES — The first news cycle after the election of Mauricio Macri as president of Argentina included an unusual contribution from La Nacion, one of the country's top newspapers: an editorial headlined "No More Vengeance."
The gist of the instantly controversial piece was that the time had come to forget about the crimes committed during Argentina's 1976-1983 military dictatorship. The editorial argued that the old regime's leftist opponents were "ideologically committed to terrorist groups" and acted in a way "no different" from the militants who attacked Paris earlier this month. It also bemoaned the "shameful" treatment of regime officials imprisoned for human rights crimes despite their "old age."
"One day after citizens voted for a new government, the desire for revenge should be buried once and for all," the editorial read.
The piece provoked swift condemnation by many Argentines, including many of the newspaper's own reporters. They took to social media to disavow the unsigned opinion piece, and the newspaper published a photo of dozens in the newsroom holding up signs that said, "I condemn the editorial."
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The editorial waded into especially sensitive territory — the legacy of the "Dirty War," in which tens of thousands of people were killed or made to "disappear" by government forces, and ongoing human rights trials against the perpetrators.
More:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/11/24/dirty-war-editorial-shocks-argentines-including-papers-own-reporters/
Good reads:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016137948
= new reply since forum marked as read
Here he is with his closest ally, Clarín CEO Héctor Magnetto:
The op-ed itself was published anonymously - but in all likelihood the author was Carlos Pagni, a longtime La Nación contributor who has openly vindicated the Dirty War numerous times in the past, called for the military ouster of President Cristina Kirchner, was convicted of buying and selling information from hacked government computers, and was filmed receiving bribes from a Repsol operative (the "Spanish" oil company partly owned by narcos) in return for writing attack pieces against the Argentine state oil firm YPF.
Pagni has been convicted for most of these felonies; but is protected from jail time by Mitre's many friends and relatives in the courts.
