Argentine Judge Declares Pardon of Former Army Officials Unconstitutional

[UpInArms]

http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=F8A57703-73BC-49E2-9F65884EDA6BA9E1

An federal judge in Argentina has ruled against a presidential decree pardoning six former army officials accused of human rights abuses.

Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral declared the decree unconstitutional Friday in Buenos Aires. The ruling could allow prosecutors to try the men for atrocities they allegedly committed from 1976 to 1983. Argentina was ruled by a military junta during that period.

The group includes General Jorge Olivera Rovere, General Juan Batista Sasiain, and General Guillermo Suarez Mason. All of the men had been pardoned by former Argentine President Carlos Menem.

...more...

for background see:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/SIM202A.html

"In 1988, a few months before Carlos Menem was elected for his first term, George W. Bush, the then oilman son of a sitting U.S. President, had tried to pressure the administration of outgoing President Raúl Alfonsín to favor Enron, the Houston-based company, over other, more qualified bidders to build a gas pipeline in Argentina. He was unsuccessful, but the Bushes hit it off with the high-rolling, big-spending Menem from the start. One of Menem's first acts as President was to give Enron a $300-million sweetheart deal on the pipeline project.

The Enron deal triggered a public outcry in Argentina. A congressional inquiry was demanded, and a special prosecutor launched a probe. But after Menem fired him, the probe fizzled. Enron and its founder and CEO, Kenneth Lay, another close friend of the elder Bush, were among the biggest contributors to George W. Bush's presidential campaign, as well as to his two gubernatorial campaigns".

http://www.nisat.org/blackmarket/latin_america_&_caribbean/south_america/ecuador/2001.06.07-Former%20Argentine%20President%20Carlos%20Menem%20in%20the%20hot%20seat.html

JUNE 7, 2001. A long-time friend of former U.S. President George H. Bush
was arrested today on charges of illegal arms trafficking. If found
guilty, he could face a jail term of up to ten years. Only a phone call
from the new Bush White House might spare him the indignity, he thinks.
But the phones aren't ringing.

The friend in trouble is the former President of Argentina, Carlos Menem,
a golfing partner and business benefactor of the elder Bush. He is
suspected of having illegally sold 6,500 tons of arms to Croatia and
Ecuador between 1991 and 1995, in violation of international arms
embargoes. Menem, who was put under house arrest today by a Buenos Aires
federal judge, said in his defense last weekend that the U.S. knew all
about the arms sales.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher gave Menem the cold shoulder on
Monday. He was unaware, he said, of any action by the U.S. government
entailing approval or encouragement of Argentinean arms sales to Croatia.
Given how profitable the Menem connection has been for the Bushes, one
might imagine Boucher was frostily putting interests of state ahead of the
Bush family, until you realize that, with a Bush in the White House, they
are essentially one and the same.

http://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/moon1.html

Given the controversy, Argentina's elected president, Carlos Menem, did decide to reject Moon's invitation. But Moon had a trump card to play in his bid for South American respectability: the endorsement of an ex-president of the United States, George Bush. Agreeing to speak at the newspaper's launch, Bush flew aboard a private plane, arriving in Buenos Aires on Nov. 22. Bush stayed at Menem's official residence, the Olivos. But Bush failed to change the Argentine president's mind.

Still, Moon's followers gushed that Bush had saved the day, as he stepped before about 900 Moon guests at the Sheraton Hotel. "Mr. Bush's presence as keynote speaker gave the event invaluable prestige," wrote the Unification News. "Father and Mother sat with several of the True Children just a few feet from the podium."

Bush lavished praise on Moon and his journalistic enterprises. "I want to salute Reverend Moon, who is the founder of The Washington Times and also of Tiempos del Mundo," Bush declared. "A lot of my friends in South America don't know about The Washington Times, but it is an independent voice. The editors of The Washington Times tell me that never once has the man with the vision interfered with the running of the paper, a paper that in my view brings sanity to Washington, D.C. I am convinced that Tiempos del Mundo is going to do the same thing" in Latin America.

Bush then held up the colorful new newspaper and complimented several articles, including one flattering piece about Barbara Bush. Bush's speech was so effusive that it surprised even Moon's followers.

and

http://www.yendor.com/vanished/

Desaparecidos is the Spanish word for "The Disappeared." For thousands of Argentine families, this word has become a symbol of a long harrowing nightmare.

In a coup on March 24, 1976, a military junta seized power in Argentina and went on a campaign to wipe out left-wing terrorism with terror far worse than the one they were combating. Between 1976 and 1983 - under military rule - thousands of people, most of them dissidents and innocent civilians unconnected with terrorism, were arrested and then vanished without a trace.

In 1983, after democracy was restored, a national commission was appointed to investigate the fate of the disappeared. Its report revealed the systematic abductions of men women and children, the existence of about 340 well organized secret detention centers, and the methodic use of torture and murder. According to former president, Carlos Menem, records of the atrocities were destroyed by the military, following the 1982 Falklands War. The disappeared have not been heard of to this day.

[Zynx]

1. Good. Those guys have to stand trial for what they did.

Speaking of which, have the Argentines ever gotten their hands on Jorge Videla?

[UpInArms]

2. here's all I know on

arrest in 1998

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/110016.stm

[HuckleB]

3. Finally! A chance for Argentina to deal with this period of time.

Argentina needs the ability to go after these men, desperately. The pardon left history unanswered, unclaimed. It left Argentina in a limbo that has clearly affected every aspect of life in the nation.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Have you heard about the children of the "disappeared" people

who were simply given to favored Argentinians? I only found out about this around 2000, so I'm really late finding out, myself.

Here's the basic situation, discussed in a documentary film:

This documentary depicts the fight of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo to identify children kidnapped in the 1970s by Argentina\'s armed guard. After the military dictatorship kidnapped, tortured and killed their parents, these children were adopted by military families. Includes archival footage and interviews with grandmothers and some of the children they found.

http://129.170.90.100/site/argentinadocumentary.php

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, are a group of women with "disappeared" children and grandchildren in Argentina. Since its foundation in 1977, it has been searching for over 200 "disappeared" children, some born in clandestine detention centers during the captivity of their mothers or "disappeared" with their parents after being taken into custody by members of the police or security forces.

The Grandmothers of Plaza de mayo have been instrumental in locating 56 of the missing children. Some of the children located have been returned to their natural families, while others remained with their adoptive parents. A number of located children, whose identities are disputed, are at present before Argentine Courts. On November 1989, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In Article 8, the Convention states the right of the child "to preserve his or her identity, including nationality, name, and family relations". The article establishes the obligation of governments to provide, for any child who has been deprived of his or her identity, "assistance and protection with a view to speedily re-establishing his or her identity."

The Grandmothers now have their own web site, with Spanish-language information about their activities.
http://www.derechos.org/human-rights/grandmothers.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This news will be welcomed with deep gratitude by a LOT of people all over the world. They shouldn't be allowed to avoid justice.

Hope it sends a message to OTHER right-wing murdering, plundering, torturing, high-handed monsters.

[HuckleB]

8. Check out the great movie: "The Official Story."

It's absolutely haunting, as an upper-middle class woman discovers that the child her husband adopted was a child of one of the desaparecidos.

Miranda France's "Bad Times In Buenos Aires" has an incredible bit where the author relates a bizarrre interview with a military officer who has no remorse whatsoever about "The Dirty War." It has to be read to be believed.

Must reads in regard "The Dirty War" include:

Lawrence Thornton's "Imagining Argentina"

Ricardo PIglia's "Artificial Respiration"

and

Jacobo Timerman's "Prisoner Without A Name, Cell Without A Number"

[Judi Lynn]

11. Thanks for the guide to some relative books, and the movie.

How this unfathomable horror continued SOOOOO long, with complete approval from our own government, while "left-wing" people, as in teachers, students, union leaders, clergy, peace workers, or people suspected of being "left-wingers" were tortured, and some even thrown from airplanes and helicopters, and, according to witnesses, the blood in one river ran red at one point, is more than a simple mystery.

If there's any justice, people will be ambitious enough to find out about these events, and make every effort to keep them from happening again, EVER.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Bad news for George H. W. Bush's friend, the former President Carlos Menem

Argentina needs more help to track alleged Menem corruption stash: minister


2004/3/19
GENEVA, AP



Argentina needs more help to track alleged Menem corruption stash: minister

Cash-strapped Argentina needs more help from rich nations to track tens of millions of dollars allegedly stashed abroad by former President Carlos Menem and his associates, the country's justice minister said Thursday.

Noting Switzerland's cooperation in two cases related to Menem's 1989-1999 rule, Gustavo Beliz said he hoped neighboring France would likewise act soon to investigate claims of accounting irregularities and bribes involving an Argentine subsidiary of the French defense firm Thales.

"It's not just a question of getting the money back," Beliz said. "Tracing the route taken by the money will enable us to get to the heart of corruption in our country. We expect developed countries to help us."
(snip/...)

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/detail.asp?onNews=1&GRP=A&id=23287

[mobuto]

6. You don't mean George H. W. Bush friend Carlos Saul Menem,

you mean Hizbollah friend Carlos Saul Menem.

Actually, I believe the two are one and the same.

[Calico Jack Rackham]

7. Too Bad

Pinochet still gets to live out his twilight years outside of prison.

[UpInArms]

9. Welcome to DU Campanero!

:hi:

Glad to have you here with us :)

[HuckleB]

10. MORE ON THIS STORY...

http://www.buenosairesherald.com/argentina/notes_by_category.jsp?idCategory=2


"Cabinet Chief says Menem should testify
Cabinet Chief Alberto Fernández yesterday said that former president Carlos Menem should give explanations in the court cases he is facing and bear the consequences and also rejected charges by Menem’s brother, Senator Eduardo Menem, that there was a “man hunt” against the former president. “In any case, there is court action and if court action links him (to crimes) what Carlos Menem must do is what anyone of us should do when summoned by courts: give explanations and bear the consequences.” Menem has refused to testify before Federal Judge Norberto Oyarbide in a probe on whether he failed to declare a 600,000 dollar bank account in Switzerland. Eduardo Menem said that Justice Minister Gustavo Beliz is spearheading a campaign against his brother, who is now living in Chile.

Gen. Olivera Rovere arrested
One day after overturning decrees that in 1989 and 1990 pardoned six human rights abusers during the past military dictatorship, Federal Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral said that the only one of them that remained free — retired general Jorge Olivera Rovere — was arrested yesterday. “He has been detained at my request so he will testify as a suspect,” the judge said. Canicoba Corral defended his decision of ruling unconstitutional the decrees signed by then president Carlos Menem, by saying: “It seems to me that those who question it (the ruling) incur in a sophism.” Some critics have said that those decrees were beyond the reach of courts. Of the six former or current military men benefited by Menem’s decrees, three have died while the other two, cashiered general Guillermo Suárez Mason and retired general Juan Bautista Sasiaiñ, were already under arrest on charges of stealing babies born in captivity to parents who were later killed or “disappeared.” Baby theft was not covered by the decrees and is a crime excluded from the statute of limitations. First Lady Cristina Fernández de Kirchner yesterday ruled out the possibility that Congress — which has annulled pardon laws — may consider the constitutionality of Menem’s decrees. “Their constitutionality or not must be decided by courts,” she said. The Supreme Court has yet to give its say on whether Canicoba Corral’s decision is right."

[Judi Lynn]

12. Great links concerning Menem, Menem's pardon of true villains

and by extension, the Argentinian Dirty Wars.

Found another item on the strange case of the children of government-murdered Argentinians:

Argentina Pursues its Past: Ex-Junta Members Arrested for Baby-Kidnapping
By: Karen Austin


On January 6, 2000, Argentinian judge María Servini de Cubría ordered the arrest of six retired Argentinian naval officers for their alleged involvement in the kidnapping and illegal adoption of children born to political prisoners during Argentina's recent period of military dictatorship (1976-1983). The officers were arrested the following day as a result of a police raid on a naval base in Mar del Plata, 400 kilometres south of Buenos Aires. Six days later, Servini issued formal charges against them.

The arrests were applauded by human rights groups in Argentina, particularly the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, who have been searching for justice, as well as for their kidnapped grandchildren, since 1977. In fact, the raid and subsequent arrests were spurred by a report written by the Grandmothers that identified 60 children who had been born to political prisoners in captivity.

Baby Kidnapping

The practice of kidnapping pregnant women who were suspected of being left- wing sympathizers, keeping them in captivity until their babies were born, then taking the babies and killing the mothers, was not uncommon during Argentina's Dirty War. The alleged goal was to ensure that the next generation of Argentinian children would be raised by "good conservative families". Many of the kidnapped babies were "adopted" by the military men who had killed their mothers. The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo have documented the disappearance of 250 babies, although they estimate the actual number of missing children to be between four and five hundred. Through years of hard work and new methodologies in genetic testing, the Grandmothers have managed to identify 60 of the missing children. The Grandmothers assert that the practice of baby kidnapping was part of a systematic government plan. Federal judges were investigating these claims at the time of the arrests.
(snip/...)

http://www.hri.ca/tribune/viewArticle.asp?ID=2538

[bobthedrummer]

13. Sounds like a replay of a "final solution" to dissent in Argentina.

A lot of Nazis found homes there, and in other Latin-American countries-they always are hooked-up to local RW via CIA--which had Nazis put into it from it's inception The 1947 National Security Act.
And Nazis in America found a political home in the RW of The Republican Party. Don't believe me? Check out the hidden history available today.
CIA and the Nazis
http://www.spiritone.com/~gdy52150/ratlines.htm

How the Bush Family Wealth is Linked to the Jewish Holocaust
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/ROG309A.html

The Straussians/neo-conservatives adapted and adopted a lot of Nazi ideology into their worldviews.:puke:

There are fascists in Argentina, too. Glad to see they are being pursued by their opposition!

[Judi Lynn]

14. Outstanding links, bobthedrummer.

I'm still reading the first, and it's excellent. Have learned things which were missing from my awareness of the subjects covered. Simply amazing.

Anyone who gets well into the first one will feel OBLIGATED to finish it. It would do a disservice to try to describe it and its contents. It's worth the time for any serious Democrat, or the rare rational, serious Republican.

Thanks for the opportunity to learn something important.

[bobthedrummer]

15. That's the good thing about the Internet-it's teaching capacity

IMHO.

[TopesJunkie]

16. I am truly shocked to see this... Happy, but shocked --

I never thought Argentina would get the opportunity to prosecute these people. The various governments there have worked so hard to ignore what happened in the late 1970s that it just never seemed probable or even possible. I hope this plays out, allowing justice to finally see the light of day in Buenos Aires and in all of Argentina.

[TopesJunkie]

17. In searching for more news on this, I found an interesting piece --

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=4493303

Argentina's Navy Admits Aberrant 'Dirty War' Acts --

"Two decades after the fact, Argentina's Navy admitted for the first time on Wednesday the notorious Navy School of Mechanics was a torture center during the bloody 1976-83 military dictatorship.
In a rare admission of guilt by Argentina's armed forces for atrocities during the junta's "Dirty War," Navy Chief Admiral Jorge Godoy said President Nestor Kirchner had ordered the infamous building dubbed "Argentina's Auschwitz" be handed over to be turned into a museum."

[Judi Lynn]

20. Isn't it good to see news getting out, all these years later?

From the article:

"(ESMA) was used to commit acts aberrant and offensive to human dignity, and ended up becoming a symbol of barbarism and irrationality," Godoy said during a ceremonial speech in Buenos Aires.

Argentines detained in the ESMA have described being electrocuted, beaten and left in squalid basement cells.

Kirchner, himself briefly detained under the dictatorship, has campaigned to lift amnesties protecting officials involved in rights abuses since he came to power last year.
(snip)

Don't forget, Argentina was A-OK with our own gubmint, absolutely couldn't have been a better ally during that time, just like Pinochet's Chile.

[Joanne98]

18. Justice for the disappeared

Unless they move to Florida of course.

[TopesJunkie]

19. We can only hope --

:)

Here's more on this story --

Argentina releases secret files --
http://www.guardian.co.uk/argentina/story/0,11439,1057463,00.html

[Judi Lynn]

21. Great info.

Isn't it interesting that the secret records kept by the police on unions and political parties, etc. were actually hidden behind a WALL, and they STILL were found, finally?

Better g'dammned late than never!

In August, the new president Nestor Kirchner backed congress in repealing amnesty laws granting immunity to those suspected of atrocities during the dictatorship. Since then, many former military officials and police have been detained. As many as 1,300 could eventually face trial, human rights groups say.

Don't forget, George H. W. Bush's golfing friend, Carlos Menem was the President who pardoned these demon toturers before Kirchner, himself a former prisoner at one of the horror houses, was elected, and started opening up the records.

[TopesJunkie]

22. Yup.

It's a sordid story. I suppose the same old sordid story of human history, but still friggin incredible to see things coming to the fore finally.