Today marks the six year anniversary of the disappearance of Jorge Julio López. On 18th September 2006, López was due to appear in court to act as a key witness in the case against Miguel Etchecolatz, the ex-director general of police investigations for Buenos Aires province during the last military dictatorship. He never arrived and remains missing to this day, with the case still unsolved.

López personally suffered torture at the hands of Etchecoltaz during the last military dictatorship, and witnessed him commit murder. However, despite the disappearance of the 76 year old bricklayer in 2006, there was still substantial evidence to sentence Etchecolatz, who received a life sentence for the murder of six people and a further eight convictions for kidnap.

López’s son, Ruben, today admitted that he is aware that his father is unlikely to be alive after six years, but that he is still awaiting answers. In a press conference, he stressed that “the only thing we want is for him to be found, in whatever state that may be.”

“Ever since that day, we have been in hell, searching, with no information,” he added. He went on to apportion blame to President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, claiming that “she never spoke about my father,” who’s disappearance occurred during the time that her husband, Nestor Kirchner, was in power.

Various social and political groups will gather later to express their remorse for López and anger towards the government who continue to make little headway in solving the case. One such group is the Provincial Commission for Memory (CPM) which has organised to offer discussions and debates at the Museum of Art and Memory in La Plata at 7.00pm.

In Buenos Aires, the human rights organisation Encuentro Memoria, Verdad y Justicia will march at 5.30pm from Congreso to the Plaza de Mayo in order to demand “justice and punishment for those responsible”. In La Plata a march will also take place at the same time.

Today, at 6pm at the University in Bahía Blanca, sentences for those of the Fifth Military Unit who performed crimes against humanity during the military dictatorship will be announced. Torture victims and relatives of the disappeared, as well as their supporters, are planning to rally outside the facility calling for justice.

The presiding judge to pass the first round of sentences, Jorge Ferro, was joined with colleagues to evaluate evidence over the past 14 months. Evidence spanned kidnappings, torture, killings, and other heinous crimes performed by 17 members of the military group during the military dictatorship of 1976-83.

The federal prosecutor, Abel Córdoba, called for life sentences for 14 of the 17 defendants.

The day begins at 9am with a final testament from Colonel Jorge Granada, the former leader of the Secret Intelligence Unit for Psychological Activity, and his colleague, Luis Patti. During the afternoon, there will be a live and open radio program, as well there will be a demonstration of 30,000 mini-paintings of faces. At 6pm, the court will make the final announcement of the sentences for those involved in Case 982.

Today, those charged have also been given a moment for final words by Ferro.

“I am innocent. Nothing more,” said Osvaldo Páez, labelled as the main actor in accusations of torture. Walter Tejada insisted that he had prevented war with Chile, saying that his actions were against “subversive terrorists”.

Mario Méndez insisted that he was following orders, whilst his companion, Jorge Masson, agreed, saying that “you don’t think about them nor contradict them: you follow them”.

Case 982, known as ‘Bayon, Juan Manuel et al.’, began in May 2011 with the aim of addressing crimes against humanity performed by the government during a time of “State Terrorism”.

Within the document, it states that there are 807 people who have been registered and are being processed for their crimes. Of the 807, 454 of these are in the process of being brought to justice or at least are being evaluated at the judicial level.

Apart from those in Case 982, there are another 389 that have been sentenced at a higher level and 65 who have other judicial cases against them.

Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, a humanitarian organisation dedicated to finding children who were abducted from parents who ¨disappeared¨ during the 1976-1983 Argentine military dictatorship, said that they have found the true identity of a 106^th person.

As the Abuelas revealed today, Pablo Javier Gaona Miranda was delivered to a retired colonel and his wife when he was only a month old. His birth parents, Ricardo Gaona Paiva and María Rosa Miranda, were both active in la Juventud Universitaria Peronista (JUP) and were never heard from after they attended a party to celebrate the independence of Paraguay on 14^th May, 1978.

Pablo Javier said he always knew that he was not the biological child of the colonel, but was told was that he had been brought from the province of Misiones. On 29^th June, he approached the organisation with questions about his origin and was referred immediately to the National Commission for the Right to Identity (CONADI) where a DNA test confirmed his identity.

The organisation has carried out investigations in local and federal courts where rulings were made in adoption cases, and about births registered in governmental offices during the dictatorship. It has also developed informational campaigns to attract people who question their true identity to step forward.

The group estimates that 500 children of the disappeared were either kidnapped by military officials or put up for adoption after their parents were killed.

Proceedings opened this morning in the Federal Oral Tribunal against officials of the former dictatorship charged in Jujuy with the disappearance of 43 people. The tribunal marks the first public and oral trial of officials charged with Crimes Against Humanity in the northern province.

The accused are Luciano Benjamín Menéndez, Antonio Orlando Vargas, José Eduardo Bulgheroni, and Mariano Rafael Braga. The four are charged with unlawful entry, illegal deprivation of liberty and homicide in connection with the 43 disappearances.

Nearly 200 witnesses are expected to testify during the proceedings, and it is estimated that the first trial will take about four months.

Menéndez, who was the director of the Third Army Corps, is the principal accused. He has already received seven life sentences, and has been excused from appearing in court for medical reasons.

Vargas, Bulgheroni and Braga were present today in court.

Vargas, the former director of Penitentiary Service, is now 71 years old and fell ill while the judge was reading the summons. He was examined by a doctor and moved to a private clinic, where he was placed in a room with video conferencing so that he could follow the proceedings.

Bulgheroni and Barga, both former army intelligence officials and both 61, were present throughout today’s proceedings.

The trial unites five cases under Crimes Against Humanity. Four of the cases include multiple victims. According to Prosecutor Pablo Pelazzo, the five cases are related to the disappearances of: Julio Álvarez García; Luis Ramón Aredez with five other victims; Paulino Galéan with the victims of Tumbaya and San Salvador de Jujuy; Reynaldo Aragón and the victims of San Pedro held in the Villa Gorriti prison; and Avelino Bazán and the Mina El Aquilar case.

Julio Ronaldo Álvarez García, the only victim whose case will be tried individually, was a student and the leader of the Peronist University Youth (JUP). His case will be the first to be tried.

Another of the victims, Luis Ramón Aredez, was a radical leader, pediatrician and the former mayor of the city of Libertador General San Martín.

Libertador General San Martín is also the home city of Ledsema, the company accused of complying with the 1976 “Blackout Night” when electricity was cut in the city and an estimated 400 people were kidnapped. Charges are pending in San Salvador in Jujuy against Ledesma owner Carlos Pedro Blaquier in connection to these crimes. Among the 43 victims, many were employees of Ledesma.

The judges overseeing the Federal Oral Tribunal are René Vicente Casas Gamboni, Mario Juárez Almarez and Daniel Morín.

Over 150 family members of the disappeared, civil society actors and government officials filled the courtroom this morning. Outside of the courthouse, members of civil society groups and human rights organizations gathered throughout the day.

The preparations necessary to begin today’s proceedings accelerated after resignation of former Judge Carlos Olivera Pastor in March. Prominent human rights organizations had accused the judge of blocking trials of Crimes Against Humanity from moving forward. The judge’s resignation followed a demonstration by many of these civil society groups, including the Madres y Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos and H.I.J.O.S.

Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff has installed a truth commission to investigate human rights abuses. The step was taken despite the existence of a law that prevents prosecuting those responsible for violations of human rights during the Brazilian dictatorship. It is hoped the truth commission will determine who was responsible for these crimes.

The president took an oath this Wednesday to the seven members of the commission, which was created last November.

The group will have two years to investigate the crimes against humanity that occurred during the dictatorship that ruled Brazil from 1946 to 1988.

This law will prevent information concerning human rights violations to return to being declared reserved or a secret.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, considered the initiative of the Brazilian president as “a necessary and long awaited.”

After analysing documents and declarations aimed at establishing the crimes of the dictatorship, the Truth Commission will submit a final report.

However, the investigations of the Commission will not be for punitive purposes. They will not be able to prosecute the executors of these crimes.

This prevention is due to Brazil’s Amnesty Law, which was passed in 1979 by the military regime. It prevents judicial prosecution of the perpetrators of tortures, killings and disappearances and other crimes.

Translated from Pulsar.

The remains of six victims of Argentina’s military dictatorship, recovered by the Argentine Team of Forensic Anthropology (EAAF), have been identified by genetic studies.

Five of the identified victims were buried as NN in different municipal cemeteries in the province of Buenos Aires during the last dictatorship.

The remains identified correspond to Nestor Zuppa, Lidia del Carmen Soto, Patricia Dillon, Felix Escobar, Jorge Carlos Williams and Joseph Tomanelli.

It is worth noting that Tomanelli was Venezuelan and was 22 when he was abducted in March 1976. His body, which had been shot and burned, was found on April 2 that year.

Luis Abelardo Patti, who served as a policeman in the province of Buenos Aires, was held responsible for the crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Those in charge of the genetic studies have said that the results of the DNA tests on the bodies “were conclusive” and serve as evidence for future investigations into crimes against humanity.

The National Court of Appeals issued resolutions to proceed with the identification of remains on March 8. The Chamber ordered the remains to be returned to their families.

On Monday, the Uruguayan government also identified skeletal remains found last March on a military base there. They belonged to a leftist militant disappeared in January 1978.

Story courtesy of Agencia Púlsar.

Saturday 24th March, Día de la Memoria, commemorated 36 years of the start of the last military dictatorship in 1976. Various social organisations and movements came together to declare “Nunca Más” (Never again). Photographers Beatrice Murch, Patricio Guillamón, and Allendria Brunjes share images from Buenos Aires and Rosario.

'Madres' at the front of the protest along Avenida de Mayo. (Photo: Beatrice Murch)

36 years since the military coup, plunging Argentina into a military dictatorship that lasted for seven years and resulted in an estimated 30,000 people being disappeared. (Photo: Beatrice Murch)

Oduduwa Danza Afromericana troupe dances up Avenida de Mayo from Plaza de la Congreso to Plaza de Mayo. (Photo: Beatrice Murch)

A woman on stilts manipulates a mobile of significant issues with the Kirchner government: Anti-terrorism law – Projecto X – Mega Mines – Inflation adjustments. (Photo: Beatrice Murch)

The barricades along Avenida de Mayo are covered by artistic representations of people's feelings about the day and the history. (Photo: Beatrice Murch)

A drum corps bangs out the rhythms in front of the Congress building. (Photo: Beatrice Murch)

In Rosario, a baby is used as an outline in a stencil representing the disappeared. (Photo: Allendria Brunjes)

In Rosario, protestors hold up signs of loved ones who were disappeared under the military dictatorship. (Photo: Allendria Brunjes)

In Rosario, activists stencil 'Nunca Más' on the walls while others work on signs. (Photo: Allendria Brunjes)

In Rosario, marchers take over the street in the fall afternoon to commemorate the start of the military dictatorship. (Photo: Allendria Brunjes)

Drums help make the protestors presence be taken note along Av. de Mayo in Buenos Aires. (Photo: Patricio Guillamón)

Protestors hold up signs as the sun sets in Buenos Aires. (Photo: Patricio Guillamón)

Bamboo sticks with flags are piled up in Plaza de Congreso (Photo: Beatrice Murch)

In Buenso Aires, protestors makes their feelings known via their shirts and their signs. (Photo: Patricio Guillamón)

Thirty-six years after the start of the 1976-83 military dictatorship, Marc Rogers visits ESMA with Víctor Basterra, a survivor of the infamous former clandestine detention centre in Buenos Aires, which has been converted into a memorial for the 30,000 disappeared during the darkest chapter in Argentina’s history.

Camera: Daniela Plazas, Jorge Santander
Editing: Diana Ojeda Suárez

Lead image: ESMA by A. Garden

Parque de la Memoria is one of the most photographically interesting landscape sites in Buenos Aires to shoot and the contemporary sculptures are an powerful way to commemorate the estimated 30,000 desaparecidos (or “disappeared”) who were victims under the dictatorship in Argentina between 1976 and 1983. Seventeen specially commissioned sculptures dot the grassy hill which ultimately ends at the Río de la Plata, where many of the desaparecidos met their untimely death from planes flown overhead from the nearby military airport. Both national and international artists contributed to this powerful memorial. Jocelyn Mandryk shares her view of this memorial as we approach Día de la Memoria on 24th March.

A Spanish magazine is defending itself after publishing an interview with former Argentine dictator Jorge Rafael Videla, during which he shows no remorse for his crimes against humanity and says “the Republic is missing.”

Videla – imprisoned for life for crimes against humanity – told Spain’s Cambio 16 that in Argentina, there’s “no justice, only revenge.”

During the interview, which was published on Sunday, he said that while a man found guilty of abusing an order is “well judged,” other trials against military are about vengeance.

“The others, I assure you, are all political trials as part of that vengance, that revenge, as part of that collective punishment that is to punish all the Armed Forces,” he said, noting that certain institutions have been “taken hostage,” there is no justice and disappeared people are being created “that never existed.”

Videla also said the worst moment for the military was “with the arrival of Kirchner to government.”

Cambio 16 also published a piece today, noting that victims’ relatives and many politicians have emphasized that Videla was given space to speak and denounced his words.

The magazine rebutted, stating that it regretted the criticism it received from some Argentine media. They noted that they give voice to historical characters, “regardless of the ideological line of our environment.”

Videla led the military junta that ruled Argentina for the first five years of the dictatorship’s seven-year reign, from 1976 to 1981, following a military coup. Human rights organisations estimate that 30,000 people were disappeared during the dictatorship.

In 1985, Videla was found guilty of homicides, kidnapping, torture and other crimes. Although he was pardoned by presidential decree a few years later, a court struck down that pardon in 2007.

Currently serving his time in military prison, Videla has also been found guily of charges related to kidnapping babies, disappearances and other human rights violations.

Media Criticisms

While some local media took to their pages – with papers like Página 12 dedicating their cover plus four pages to content related to the interview – La Nacíon noted that other media didn’t give the story enough space.

The national newspaper noted that el Tiempo Argentino had a story on the Videla interview on their front page, but only developed it in one page.

There are two stories about the interview available on Clarín’s site, one published yesterday and one today, each about 600 words.