Argentina court says former junta ruler to face prosecution in human rights case

[Judi Lynn]

Source: International Herald Tribune

Argentina court says former junta ruler to face prosecution in human rights case
The Associated Press
Published: March 21, 2007

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina: A federal judge on Wednesday ordered former de facto president Reynaldo Bignone to face prosecution in connection with human rights abuses during Argentina's 1976-83 military dictatorship.

Federal Judge Alberto Suarez Araujo said through a spokesman that Bignone, whose arrest he ordered this month, would be prosecuted in connection with a probe of clandestine detention centers reportedly run by the army in the junta era.

A former army chief, Santiago Omar Riveros, also was ordered to face prosecution in the investigation, according to Araujo's spokesman, who said court rules did not allow him to be identified by name.

The spokesman said the probe focuses on accusations of the illegal arrest, torture and killing of dissidents at the detention camps in northern Buenos Aires province, but he did not provide details.


Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/21/america/LA-GEN-Argentina-Dirty-War.php

[Judi Lynn]

1. Argentine military warned Brazil, Chile of 76 coup

Argentine military warned Brazil, Chile of 76 coup
Wed Mar 21, 2007 1:22PM EDT

By Guido Nejamkis

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Argentina's armed forces notified the military dictatorships of Brazil and Chile before staging the 1976 coup that toppled the government of Isabel Peron, according to recently declassified documents.

The communication was an early sign of the cooperation that would eventually become Operation Condor, in which the region's right-wing military governments worked together to hunt down and execute dissidents in hiding.

Peron was sworn in as president in 1974 after her husband, then-President Juan Domingo Peron, died in office. Peron's third wife, she had been serving as his vice president.
(snip)

The coup took place on March 24, 1976, ushering in a seven-year military dictatorship that kidnapped and killed as many as 30,000 dissidents.
(snip/...)

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSN2121969920070321