Argentina ex-leader faces kidnapping charges

[Judi Lynn]

Source: L.A.Times/Reuters

Argentina ex-leader faces kidnapping charges
Reynaldo Bignone allegedly took children of 'dirty war' victims.
From Reuters
April 24, 2007

BUENOS AIRES — The last de facto president of Argentina's 1976-83 military dictatorship must stand trial on charges that he kidnapped children of those killed in the country's "dirty war," a judge ruled Monday.

Reynaldo Bignone and six other high-ranking officers will face prosecution in a case investigating allegations that some children of slain dissidents were handed over to members of the military, federal Judge Guillermo Montenegro ruled.

The charges include "taking, retaining and hiding minors and changing their identities," according to the ruling. No formal court date was set.
(snip)

Last year, Bignone told a radio station that the child kidnapping charges are "an invention."

The human rights group Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo says it has traced about 90 children of missing political prisoners and reunited them with their biological families.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-argentina24apr24,1,4147532.story?coll=la-news-a_section

[Judi Lynn]

1. Search for children kidnapped during Argentina’s Dirty War continues 30 years later

Search for children kidnapped during Argentina’s Dirty War continues 30 years later

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) – Clara Petrakos knows this much: the baby was born on the floor of a clandestine detention center during Argentina’s Dirty War. Now, 29 years later,

Petrakos is searching for the sister she never knew.
Her mother disappeared soon after the baby was taken away. She named her Victoria.
Petrakos has seized upon these sparse details in her search for her little sister – one of the hundreds of babies taken from dissenters who vanished during Argentina’s dictatorship.

As the nation marks Friday’s 30th anniversary of the military coup that ushered a crackdown on political opponents, relatives are doggedly searching for the missing children, trying to repair families torn apart long ago.
(snip)

In many cases, the infants’ names were changed, and they were distributed like “war booty” to be raised by other families, according to the 1984 government report “Never Again.” Some were abducted along with their parents, others were born in captivity to political prisoners.

Some were reportedly abandoned unidentified in orphanages. Others were handed over through illegal adoptions to parents with varying degrees of knowledge of where the baby came from. Many were taken in by families of the same military and police officers involved in the repression.
(snip/...)

http://www.thedailyjournalonline.com/article.asp?CategoryId=14093&ArticleId=232365

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This right-wing military regime was heavily supported by Henry Kissinger.

Over 30,000 political prisoners were murdered, many after being tortured, and many thrown from airplanes.

[Judi Lynn]

2. U.S. ambassador vows to work with Argentina to return dirty war suspect nabbed in Virginia

U.S. ambassador vows to work with Argentina to return dirty war suspect nabbed in Virginia
By Bill Cormier
ASSOCIATED PRESS

7:21 p.m. April 24, 2007

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – U.S. Ambassador Earl Anthony Wayne said Tuesday his government will work with Argentina to return a dirty war suspect arrested in the United States and wanted for trial in the South American nation.

Ernesto Guillermo Barreiro, a retired Argentine army major accused of being the chief interrogator at a dictatorship-era torture center, was arrested this month in Virginia and charged with criminal violations of U.S. visa laws, U.S. officials said.

Argentine prosecutors say Barreiro was responsible for the torture and death of several individuals during Argentina's 1976-83 dictatorship and its dirty war crackdown on dissent.

In a meeting on a range of topics with Justice Minister Alberto Iribarne, Wayne said the United States will work with Argentina's government to ensure Barreiro's return, a U.S. Embassy statement said. Wayne did not say whether Barreiro would be deported or extradited.

More:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20070424-1921-argentina-dirtywar.html

[Judi Lynn]

3. Life for leaders of Argentina's brutal dirty war

Life for leaders of Argentina's brutal dirty war
Patrick McDonnell in Buenos Aires | April 27, 2007

TWO ageing leaders of Argentina's former military junta must serve life terms in prison for "grave violations of human rights," a court ruled after throwing out pardons that had shielded the pair for years.

The former president, Jorge Rafael Videla, and the naval chief, Eduardo Massera, were pivotal members of the military junta that oversaw a reign of terror during the "dirty war" between 1976 and 1983 against left-wing "subversives." Both now 81, they were the best-known faces of the dictatorship.

But Wednesday's ruling against them may be largely symbolic, since Videla is already under house arrest on charges related to the theft of hundreds of babies from murdered prisoners. Massera has been declared mentally incompetent after suffering a brain hemorrhage and is said to be in a near-vegetative state.

Even so, human rights activists applauded the ruling as the latest step in finally punishing the abusers. "This restores the route to justice and democracy," said Andrea Pochak of the Centre for Legal and Social Studies, a human rights group that has followed dirty war cases. "It is a gesture of vital importance for the future."

More:
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/world/life-for-leaders-of-argentinas-brutal-dirty-war/2007/04/26/1177459878876.html