http://english.pravda.ru/world/americas/28-09-2006/84738-Argentina-0
28.09.2006
Argentina faces bitter revival of dirty war disappearing drama
The whole South American country is searching for a missing witness of
tortures and assassinations under the bloody military dictatorship of the
1970's.
Julio Lopez identified former police officer Miguel
Etchecolatz as one of his torturers and is now missed
A 77-year-old witness whose testimony of torture was decisive to convict
a former police officer for his crimes during Argentina's dirty war of the
seventies, is missed since last week as authorities fear it could be the first
"disappeared" since the country recuperated democracy in 1983. According to
official reports, federal police units across the country are seeking tips into
the week-old disappearance of Jorge Julio Lopez, who went missing on the eve of
the Sept. 19 conviction of a former police investigator in a landmark human
rights case.
Human rights organizations, as the worldwide known "Madres de Plaza de
Mayo", are demanding as they did in the seventies "the return alive" of Mr.
Lopez, who was reported missing after his son went to pick him up to attend the
final trial statements and found that his father was not home. Despite family
members say it wasn't normal for Lopez to vanish, police had no immediate
explanation for his disappearance.
Human Rights groups believe that former collaborators of the military
juntas that ruled Argentina between 1976 and 1983, could be behind the
disappearance of Lopez to intimidate new witnesses in the forthcoming trials.
These organizations along with leftist parties are calling to street protests
and rallies to demand the return of Lopez "alive and in perfect health
conditions".
"The return of Lopez is fundamental for democracy," said Buenos Aires
provincial Gov. Felipe Sola, who added investigators were trying to determine
whether Lopez "could have been kidnapped to intimidate future witnesses or
prevent future testimony" in other cases.
The day after Lopez's disappearance, ex-police officer Miguel Osvaldo
Etchecolatz was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in the disappearance
of six people during the so-called "Dirty War" waged against dissenters by
former junta rulers and their police allies in 1976-83.
The trial, held in Lopez' hometown of La Plata, 50 kilometers southeast
of Buenos Aires, was the second one of its kind since the Supreme Court in June
2005 annulled a pair of 1980s amnesty laws blocking prosecution of Dirty War
crimes. Earlier this year, former navy officer Julio Simon, was also convicted
for crimes against humanity thanks to the overturn of these laws.
Amnesty International urged authorities to spare no effort to find Lopez.
"Since the return of civilian government in 1983, lawyers and relatives of
those who 'disappeared' while the country was under military rule and members
of non-governmental organizations investigating those 'disappearances,' have
been threatened, harassed and attacked," Amnesty said. National authorities
have launched a campaign to obtain information leading Lopez, which includes a
$ 64,000 reward.
About 30,000 people are killed or disappeared as a result of the
dictatorship's crackdown on dissident in Argentina. Mr. Lopez was one of the
men who was tortured and illegally arrested at that time. He was a
"desaparecido" in 1976 and no one wants him to be a "desaparecido" 30 years
later.
Hernan Etchaleco
Pravda.ru
Discuss this article on Pravda.ru English forum
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