Argentina opens dirty war torture garage trial

[Judi Lynn]

Jun 3, 4:42 PM EDT
Argentina opens dirty war torture garage trial
By BRIDGET HUBER
Associated Press Writer

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- From the street, it was an unremarkable auto-body shop in a busy middle-class neighborhood.

Behind its metal garage door, Automotores Orletti was a tactical operations center for Operation Condor, a coordinated effort by South America's dictatorships to eliminate dissidents who sought refuge in neighboring countries.

Bound, blindfolded prisoners were scattered on the oil-stained concrete floor among disabled cars and machinery. Engines ran to mask the screams as prisoners were given electrical shocks and hoisted on pulleys, then submerged headfirst in water - torture they called "the submarine."

Sandro Soba was just 8 years old when he and his family - who sought refuge in Argentina from the Uruguayan dictatorship - were detained and taken to Orletti. Soba saw his father suffering from bruises and burns, barely able to speak or see, his eyes crusted with pus.

Soba and his mother and siblings were returned to their native Uruguay. They never saw Adalberto Soba alive again. For years, the son resisted sleep.

"I was afraid to close my eyes and forget the details of what I had seen," he told The Associated Press. "I knew I would need to tell someone one day, so I could understand where they had taken us and where I had seen my father for the last time. And so there could be justice."

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[Judi Lynn]

1. New 'Operation Condor' trial starts in Argentina

Page last updated at 0:59 GMT, Friday, 4 June 2010 1:59 UK
New 'Operation Condor' trial starts in Argentina

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk.nyud.net:8090/media/images/47990000/jpg/_47990941_guglielminettiafp.jpg

The trial of Raul Guglielminetti
and his co-accused will take months

Five former intelligence and military officials in Argentina have gone on trial on charges of murdering 65 people.

They are accused of kidnapping, torturing, and killing left-wing activists under the country's military rule between 1976 and 1983.

Human rights groups hope the trial will shed light on Operation Condor, a joint effort among South American military rulers aimed at suppressing opposition.

The five have denied the charges.

They include two former intelligence officers, Honorio Martinez Ruiz and Eduardo Ruffo, former Gen Eduardo Cabanillas, former Col Ruben Visuara, and former military intelligence agent Raul Guglielminetti.

A sixth man, former Vice Cmdr Nestor Guillamondegui, was excused from the trial on health grounds, court officials said.

They said his health would be monitored to determine if he could face trial at a later date.

Clandestine prison

The men are accused of having run a notorious detention centre in Buenos Aires.

More than 200 people are believed to have been kidnapped and taken to the secret prison, known as Automotores Orletti.

Most of the detained were from Uruguay, but survivors say it also housed prisoners from Chile, Paraguay, Boivia and Cuba.

Condor was devised in 1975 by military officials from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Its aim was to silence the opposition by sending teams into other countries to track, monitor and kill dissidents.

A prosecutor said what happened at Automotores Orletti was "calculated and planned and amounted to a death sentence" for the prisoners.

Marcelo German, the son of Argentine poet Juan Gelman, was one of those detained in the clandestine prison in 1976. His body was later found in a cement-filled drum dumped in a river.

More:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/latin_america/10233877.stm