Former Argentine dictators tried for baby thefts

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Feb 27, 3:47 PM EST
Former Argentine dictators tried for baby thefts
By DEBORA REY
Associated Press

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- Francisco Madariaga doesn't know when he was born, but he's told his umbilical cord was still attached when he was pulled from his mother in a clandestine detention center and illegally adopted during Argentina's military dictatorship.

Madariaga, now 33, hopes to learn clues to his past when a long-awaited trial begins Monday, the first in which former Argentine leaders are charged with implementing a systematic plan to steal the babies of political prisoners. In all, about 400 infants are believed to have been stolen - a small fraction of the crimes against humanity that characterized the 1976-1983 dictatorship.

Former dictators Jorge Rafael Videla and Reynaldo Bignone face life sentences if convicted in the kidnapping of 34 children. Also charged are several former lower-ranking military men, including Madariaga's adoptive father."It's going to be good to confront them so they see that they couldn't get away with it with everyone, that sometimes the truth comes out," said Madariaga, now 33 and a plaintiff in the case.

The military junta's so-called Process of National Reorganization resulted in the kidnapping, torture and murder of as many as 30,000 political dissidents. But they generally drew a line against killing unborn children - so they kept pregnant detainees alive until they gave birth, before killing the mothers. Their babies were later given to military couples or their allies, who adopted them with falsified paperwork.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LT_ARGENTINA_STOLEN_BABIES?SECTION=HOME&SITE=AP&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[BobTheSubgenius]

2. Unbelievable....

...almost. Sadly, there is almost no depravity that surprises me any more.

I can now see why some people of advancing age say they have become tired of the world, and tired of life. Fortunately, there are also good things that enable us to go on.

[bluesmail]

3. I know what you mean...nothing NOTHING shocks me anymore. eom

[lonestarnot]

5. What are they?

Only thing I can think of is my son.

[Capitalocracy]

4. I wouldn't call it drawing a line against killing babies...

They were handed out like prizes. They were handed out like favors. Anyone who was part of the military junta or friends with them who wanted to adopt a baby didn't have to go through the normal process. Although I would like to know, did they find someone to adopt them all? If not, what happened to the ones who weren't adopted by military junta members or their friends and family? Sold off, maybe?

I would be willing to bet, without knowing, so don't take this as truth, that they would sell them. Hell, people, including in Europe and the U.S., are illegally buying essentially farmed Argentine babies today. And with the military junta, everything was for sale. During the war in the Falklands/Malvinas, people bought and donated candy to the troops. Some of them inserted notes of support in the candy wrappers. But then people started finding these thank-you notes for soldiers in the candy they bought at their local stores. They were literally taking the candy donated for the freezing and starving troops in the Malvinas/Falklands, and giving them back to the manufacturers to sell again.

[rabs]

6. The Official Story

Judi, we have previously discussed this powerful, powerful film on the subject of the missing children. Bringing it up again for those who may not have seen it and would like to watch it.

Not posting summary to avoid spoiler. Film won an Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1985. Highly recommended for those interested in what happened to children of leftist mothers in Argentina during the dictatorship.

[RainDog]

7. that was an excellent film

it opened my eyes to so much... the people of South America have endured so much b/c the U.S. supported horrific regimes.

it makes me happy to see so many of them coming into their own - now that the U.S. has shifted focus to the middle east... sadly for people there... but it appears those people are coming into their own as well.

in the meantime, the U.S. declines in status because it cannot shift its policies to ones that give a fuck about the working people in its own nation.

[backtomn]

9. The U.S. didn't support them in the Faulklands

.......and they did not fully support the military government. A couple of years ago, in Argentina, I read an article in La Nacion discussing American negotiations with Argentina prior to the Faulklands war. I believe that it was Caspar Weinberger that told the leaders of Argentina that the US would not support them over the UK. However, the Argentine leaders felt that they needed to fight, even though they knew they would lose, in order to keep support for the government.

This had a lot to do with the military government holding on to power, by whipping up support during a war. They chose power, over safety of it people.

[rabs]

13. That would have been Alexander Haig

Reagan's secretary of state who tried and failed with shuttle diplomacy to ward off the Malvinas/Falklands conflict. In the end, Reagan went with his good buddy, Iron Lady Thatcher.

I recall the events clearly, and that was when, as far as I was concerned, the

The Monroe Doctrine (1823)
The Treaty of Rio (1947)
The Organization of American States (1951 -- in its current form)

were flushed down the toilet by the Reagan administration, because all three stipulated that an attack on a country in the Western Hemisphere by a European (or any other not in the hemisphere) would be an attack on all.


British troops in the Falklands/Malvinas

---------------------

A little known fact; Peru turned over to Argentina's air force some French Exocet missiles that caused heavy damage to British ships.

[Capitalocracy]

16. They supported them while they were torturing and murdering their own people

but when they attacked the British, they crossed the line.

[Judi Lynn]

8. The film is a window into a complete reality of which we NEVER heard until so much later.

It would be an important revelation to anyone who has never heard what has happened in this hemisphere with complete U.S. endorsement, while we were kept totally unaware.

I'm so glad to find the film online after our discussion in the Latin American forum. I would recommend it to ANY sane person, as a useful, practical, deepening way to learn a lot about what has happened in the Americas in recent history. It is unforgettable.

[rabs]

11. You will recall the children of the owner of Clarin

Argentina's largest circulation newspaper is Clarin, owned by Ernestina Herrera de Noble. She raised two children since infancy, Marcela and Felipe. DNA tests have been performed on Marcela and Felipe, in an attempt to establish who their real mothers were.

Clarin was a staunch supporter of the dictatorship that came into power in 1976 with the military coup against of Isabel Peron.

As far as I know, the case is still working its way through the courts, trying to determine how Ernestina Herrera de Noble and her late husband got the children.

[Capitalocracy]

15. Everyone knows how they got them.

The only people who are still in denial are the children themselves. Unless they just don't care.

It's interesting, a lot of people, when they found out their parents stole them from their tortured and murdered parents, separated themselves from their adopted families completely. But a few made the decision to stay with them.

[Judi Lynn]

18. Haven't heard one word about this case since last summer, when the kids were fighting it.

Apparently maintaining their position as heirs of an enormous newspaper company is more important to them than acknowledging the fact their real parents were tortured and murdered before they were handed off to the owners of the official mouthpiece of the military dictatorship, which carried its tailored message to the population day by day.

One would like to think the dawning awareness they came from people who were violent, grieviously abused by the dictatorship would make them want to walk away from it now, but maybe they've simply been seduced beyond their ability to be otherwise.s

Interesting photo of the 3, rabs. Their smiles look a little forced, don't they?

[Capitalocracy]

19. Wouldn't it be funny if they're just waiting for them to die?

Wouldn't it be funny if they were just waiting to inherit the money, and then they were like yeah, they were fascist bastards who stole us from our parents, and now we're going to keep half their money and give the other half to the Madres de Plaza de Mayo

[Judi Lynn]

20. It couldn't hurt, could it? Those Madres who struggled so hard, became targets themselves,

just like their tortured and murdered children. The Fascist government infiltrated them with people like the Blond Angel of Death, Alfredo Astiz, who wormed his way into the organization of mothers and grandmothers and friends and supporters and found a way to kidnap some of them, torture them, and throw them from airplanes, like the two French nuns.

Your idea would make a fantastic movie, two children who finally came into a vast inheritance and tried to help the women who had been looking for them and others like them all these long years.

http://www.elpais.com.nyud.net:8090/recorte/20060324elpepuint_8/XLCO/Ies/Madres_Plaza_Mayo.jpg

Madres de Plaza de Mayo, protesting in the rain in 1977.

[backtomn]

10. I recommend "El Secreto de sus Ojos".....

....(The Secret in their Eyes), which was a wonderful movie (and Academy Award winner in 2009). It showed the brutality coming from the Peronistas (pre-military gov't......and of which Kirshner was a member) which led to the military government. This is not the basis of the movie, but shows what that time was like. There were very few saints in Argentina from about 1950 through 1983.....something most Argentines understand, but is not apparent from what you here in the U.S.

[rabs]

12. Thanks for reminding me of El Secreto de sus Ojos

Making a note to try to find the film.

I'm not clear about what the Peronistas had to do with the case that at first glance seems to be more of a cold-case murder mystery with a secondary love story subplot.

But like I say, have not seen the movie.

[Capitalocracy]

14. They really don't...

but it's a little more complicated than that. The ending is extremely fascinating.

From my understanding of the situation, the peronistas (the ones that were in power, specifically) were a little like how some of us see Obama... a little too willing to give in to the fascists. But I think the real problem is that politics were too centered around one figure... there was Peron, who the vast majority supported but who was often excluded from elections by the various military dictatorships, and there was everyone else who wasn't Peron. And when Peron died, it was too easy for the fascists to take over.

[rabs]

21. Thanks for your input

Had not realized you are in Buenos Aires (your profile).

I worked in Baires right out of a U.S. university long ago. So have had a keen interest in all things Argentina since.

Agree that peronismo was, and still is, complicated. Not one of those ideologies that fits neatly into a traditional niche. After all, it's why it has a name of its own, "peronismo."

Looking forward for contributions from you regarding contempory events in Argentina. Especially with the elections coming up. Nice to have a DUer on the scene down there.

[Judi Lynn]

17. Argentina's ex-military leaders tried over baby thefts

28 February 2011 Last updated at 10:32 ET
Argentina's ex-military leaders tried over baby thefts

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk.nyud.net:8090/media/images/51459000/jpg/_51459222_videlabignone.jpg

Videla (left) was military leader from 1976-81,
Reynaldo Bignone from 1982-83

Two former military leaders have gone on trial in Argentina, accused of overseeing the systematic theft of babies from political prisoners.

Jorge Videla and Reynaldo Bignone are accused of kidnapping some 30 children whose parents died or disappeared during the 1976-83 military rule.

Six others, including ex-officers and a doctor, are also on trial.

More than 100 children are known to have been given for adoption to military or police couples.

The long-awaited trial, which is being televised, is the first time Argentina's military leaders have faced charges of operating a systematic plan to steal babies from pregnant prisoners.

The parents were then killed or "disappeared".

More:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12597738

[nalnn]

22. Is there anything

Is there anything people will not do to one another?

[Judi Lynn]

23. Trial begins for former Argentine dictators accused of stealing 34 babies

Trial begins for former Argentine dictators accused of stealing 34 babies
Michael Warren
Bueons Aires, Argentina— The Associated Press
Published Monday, Feb. 28, 2011 3:15PM EST
Last updated Monday, Feb. 28, 2011 3:18PM EST

~snip~
Mr. Videla, 85, has been sentenced to life in prison, and Mr. Bignone, 83, is serving a 25-year term for other crimes committed during the 1976-1983 dictatorship, but this is the first trial focused on the alleged plan to steal as many as 400 infants from leftists who were kidnapped, tortured and made to disappear during the junta's crackdown on political dissent.

There are 13,000 people on the official list of those killed, although rights groups estimate as many as 30,000 died.

The dictatorship generally drew the line at killing children, but the existence of babies belonging to people who officially no longer existed created a problem for the junta leaders. The indictment alleges they solved it by falsifying paperwork and arranging illegal adoptions by people sympathetic to the military regime.

Some 500 women were known to be pregnant before they disappeared, according to formal complaints from their families or other official witness accounts. To date, 102 people born to vanished dissidents have since recovered their true identities with the aid of the Grandmothers, which helped create a national database of DNA evidence to match children with their birth families.

More:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/americas/trial-begins-for-former-argentine-dictators-accused-of-stealing-34-babies/article1923900/

[Judi Lynn]

24. Two former Presidents on trial over baby theft case in Argentina

Two former Presidents on trial over baby theft case in Argentina

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA : A tribunal on Monday began the trial against two former presidents and six former military leaders over a baby theft case during the last military dictatorship in Argentina, the state-run Telam news agency reported.

~snip~
Former president Bignone is currently in custody at the Marcos Paz penitentiary after he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. He was found guilty of participating in 56 cases of aggravated theft, torture, and other human rights abuses.

On the other hand, Videla was sentenced to life imprisonment over crimes committed against political prisoners in 1976. He was convicted along former general Luciano Benjamin Menendez for kidnapping, torturing and shooting 31 prisoners.

The 85-year-old former dictator was also found partially responsible of directing torture, murder, and torture that led to death crimes which were perpetrated during his presidential mandate. Videla was previously prosecuted on other charges related to human rights violations.

More:
http://www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-157828.html

[Judi Lynn]

25. Argentina's Dirty War Still Haunts Youngest Victims

Argentina's Dirty War Still Haunts Youngest Victims
by Juan Forero

February 27, 2010 Alejandro Rei's life was one of middle-class comforts in a leafy suburb of Buenos Aires. There were cookouts, rugby games, a job running a gas station and what seemed like a normal family life shared with his doting parents, Victor Rei and Alicia Arteach.

The truth, though, came barreling through the door, thanks to a group of determined grandmothers in Argentina. They have searched for the babies their children delivered while held as political prisoners of the country's 1970s-era military dictatorship.

In the depravity that marked the period, the young mothers were killed after giving birth and the babies were handed over to military families to raise.

The man Alejandro believed to be his biological father, Victor Rei, had been a cog in the ferocious military machine that ran Argentina back then, an intelligence officer whose job had been to root out subversives in Argentine society.

More:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124125440