Neither forgotten nor pardoned!
International Viewpoint #200 • February 18, 1991
ARGENTINA
T HE pardon is the logical outcome
of the policy followed by the first constitutional president, the Radical Raul Alfonsin, of giving way to the armed forces' threats. In 1983, after the defeat in the Malvinas War, the Argentine army surrendered government and elections took place.
As soon as he had been elected, Alfonsin disposed of all the means necessary to take vigorous measures against the military culprits — in this he could count on considerable popular support. But he chose to take another path, protecting the armed forces, in the knowledge that he might need them to keep order. He set up a commission of inquiry into the dictatorship's crimes, which had no judicial power.
With the publication in 1985 of the Commission's report, Never Again, which revealed the extent of the murders and methods employed by the generals, the Argentine judges sentenced some of those responsible for these crimes. The army began to react, through rebellions and uprisings. There was a sharp and immediate popular reaction to the horrible revelations. This made it necessary to punish the Junta's members.
Argentines discovered not only how many had disappeared but the methods used; absence of trials; use of atrocious tortures; the seizure and adoption by military and police families of the children of those disappeared; the destruction of property belonging to imprisoned persons; ransom demands; financial blackmail and so on. These were all part of a conscious plan, implemented by the Junta itself, using the infrastructure of the army and police.
### Few criminals punished
Despite the ample evidence, the Argentine courts only dealt with a tiny proportion of the crimes and the people who were involved. The head of the Junta, General Jorge Videla, sentenced to life imprisonment, was found guilty of 66 premeditated murders, 306 violent arbitrary detentions, and 93 cases of torture of which four resulted in death. Admiral Massera, commander-in-chief of the Navy, was also sentenced to life imprisonment for 69 arbitrary detentions, 12 cases of torture and seven robberies.
General Camps (police chief in Buenos Aires province) and General Richieri got 25 and 143 years in prison respectively. Brigadier Agosti, commander-in-chief of the air force, was sentenced to four years 18 of torture and three robberies. and seven months in prison for eight cases
ON DECEMBER 30, 1990, - not long after a new attempted military coup-
Argentine president Carlos
Saul Menem pardoned the heads of the military junta who had been found guilty of responsibility for the repression which resulted in the "disappearance" of 30,000 people between 1976 and 1982.
### LUIS ALONSO
General Viola, who replaced Videla as head of the junta in 1980 was sentenced to 17 years in prison accused of 86 illicit detentions, and 11 cases of torture and robbery. Admiral Lambruschini, chief of police, got eight years in jail for illegally imprisoning 35 people and torturing 10 others. Finally, General Suarez Mason, the military official for Cordoba region, was tried for 39 murders, but he fled to the US, from whence he was not extradited until 1987, when he benefited from a presidential pardon.
At the end of 1986, on the initiative of the Radical government, parliament adopted a "full stop law", which meant that any police or military officer not yet put on trial by then would not be. A short while after, the law on "obeying orders" stated that no military officer could be found guilty if he carried out torture or murder on the orders of superiors. A number of officers awaiting trial were thus released. In 1989, a little after assuming office, Menem decreed an amnesty for all the military who had been found guilty with the exception of the generals and high-ranking officers — who have themselves now been set free. Over past months, the forthcoming pardon has been prepared for on the grounds that this meastowards "national reconciliation Progress ure is inevitable ensure
Cynicism of Menem
Menem's cynicism is shown by the fact that included in this pardon is the former leader of the montoneros [left-Peronist] guerillas, Mario Roberto Firmenich, establishing a parallel between this popular militant — whatever his political mistakes -and the torturers who led the country. According to polls, some 70% of the population were hostile to Menem's decision. On December 31, 1990, 100,000 people demonstrated their anger on the Plazo de Mayo where, each Thursday since 1976, the mothers of the disappeared have assembled.
Argentines are worn out by the economic crisis. Added to this is the disillusionment provoked by the ultra-liberal policies pursued by a Peronist government, elected with the votes of the working class.
The pressure from the generals will aggravate the situation. When he left his gilded prison, Videla immediately called for the moral rehabilitation of the army and the recognition of its struggle against "subversion". The pardon for the generals is a new victory for the military over Argentine civil society. *
RAUL