Argentina puts officials on trial over the abuses of the 'Dirty War'

Source: Washington Post

Argentina puts officials on trial over the abuses of the Dirty War'
By Juan Forero
Washington post foreign service
Monday, December 28, 2009

They are old and balding now, the 15 defendants standing trial before a three-judge panel near the Argentine capital's bustling port. But prosecutors say they were once the feared henchmen of a brutal military dictatorship.

Argentina has tried military men before. But this trial, of officers and policemen who ran clandestine torture centers known as the Athletic Club, the Bank and Olimpo, is one of a string of new proceedings that by next year will close some of the most emblematic cases of alleged state terrorism under Argentina's 1976-1983 dictatorship.

With former generals and admirals well into their 70s and the courts emboldened to hand down severe penalties, Argentina is finally close to delivering justice for the estimated 30,000 people killed by state security services during the "Dirty War," including some who were thrown from airplanes after being tortured and sedated.

"I think and I hope this is the beginning of the end of a long process that began in 1983 with the return of democracy," said Gastón Chillier, director of the Center for Legal and Social Studies, a Buenos Aires rights group. "Next year will be especially critical."

The trials in Argentina come as other South American countries grapple with delivering justice for the victims of dictatorships and government-linked death squads.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/27/AR2009122701652.html?wprss=rss_world/southamerica

Shit...even the Latin American countries seem to cry louder for justice than we do. Let's get these war criminals to justice before they croak.

frequently dying in the attempt. Bush so screwed up the Latin American war, they finally got some traction against the US corporate machine.

junta.

The more people know about what has actually happened, and Kissinger's connection to it, the better.

We shouldn't have had to learn about it so much later. Too bad the corporate media always conceals real atrocities from our "friendly" governments.

Really looking forward to reading this book. Thanks, sasquatch.

Chile confronts past with new museum
It's dedicated to victims of Pinochet's 1973-1990 dictatorship, still a raw national wound.

http://www.latimes.com.nyud.net:8090/media/photo/2009-12/51302715.jpg

The $19-million Museum of Memory and Human Rights honors the 31,000 murder, kidnapping
and torture victims of PinochetÂ’s regime. Many wonder how the events will be portrayed.
(December 27, 2009)

By Chris Kraul
December 28, 2009

Reporting from Santiago, Chile - What they'll leave in and what they'll leave out -- that question haunts Margarita Iglesias as she considers next month's opening of the Museum of Memory and Human Rights.

That Chile is recognizing victims of its military dictatorship in a striking new "monument to memories" is positive, said Iglesias, both a victim and a historian of Augusto Pinochet's bloody 17-year rule. As a high school student activist in Santiago in 1975, she was tortured before fleeing with her family to France.

"It can't be just a horror show. The political movements and conditions that led to the coup and its aftermath must be explained. If not, how can you understand how state terrorism came about?" said Iglesias, 51, now a University of Chile professor.

The $19-million museum that opens in downtown Santiago on Jan. 11 is dedicated to the 31,000 murder, torture and kidnapping victims of the 1973-90 military dictatorship of Gen. Pinochet.

More:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-chile-museum28-2009dec28,0,6134060.story

:argh: