Son of former Peruvian President Morales says father opposed Plan Condor after Italian court charges him with murder.

Record ID: 164808

  • Title: Son of former Peruvian President Morales says father opposed Plan Condor after Italian court charges him with murder.
  • Date: 18th January 2017
  • Summary: LIMA, PERU (FILE - 2012) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** FORMER PRESIDENT FRANCISCO MORALES BERMUDES DURING NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FORMER PRESIDENT FRANCISCO MORALES BERMUDES, SAYING: "Why can they detain me? (Reporter: Because there is a request from Argentina). It needs to be processed through the Peruvian justice system."
  • Embargoed: 1st February 2017 02:17
  • Keywords: Operation Condor Peru Italy murder Francisco Morales
  • Location: LIMA, PERU
  • City: LIMA, PERU
  • Country: Peru
  • Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Crime
  • Reuters ID: LVA0025ZLW1GJ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
    The son of Peru's former president Francisco Morales hit out at an Italian court that convicted in absentia his father for alleged involvement in Operation Condor, in which South American dictatorships hunted down and killed thousands of dissidents in the 1970s and 1980s.
    A Rome court on Tuesday (January 17) handed down eight life sentences for the murder of 23 Italian citizens as part of Operation Condor.
    It is the first time an Italian court has ruled a conspiracy existed between the governments of Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil and Bolivia to help find and assassinate each other's political opponents.
    After a trial that lasted more than two years, lead judge Evelina Canale said eight men were convicted in absentia, including former Peruvian President Francisco Morales, now 95, former Bolivian President Luis Garcia, now 87 and serving a 30-year prison sentence in Bolivia for crimes committed during his government.
    But speaking to Reuters in Lima on Tuesday (January 17), Morales' son, Remigio Morales, said his father was against Operation Condor.
    "As declared by this specific court in Italy, Peru was part of Plan Condor. This is the same Plan Condor that was radically opposed by my father, by us as a family, as Peruvians and as human beings we denigrate, we are against it. Because this genocidal Plan Condor, which was put forth by (former Chilean dictator Augusto) Pinochet, by (former Argentine dictator Jorge Rafael) Videla, by (former Bolivian dictator Hugo) Banzer at the time, a time when I was at university; it was a criminal act," said Remigio Morales.
    Under Italian law, Italian magistrates can investigate the killings of Italian citizens overseas.
    Should the sentences become definitive, Italy can ask for extradition, but due to their age it may be more likely that they would serve their sentences in their own countries.
    "My father is calm. It is an injustice, my family is outraged. My father is 95 and to be the subject of indignation is not good. Hopefully rights and justice in the world get better because this is an injustice," added Remigio Morales.
    Operation Condor, named after the broad-winged birds that inhabit the Andes, was a Cold War era campaign by U.S.-backed right-wing dictatorships in South America that killed scores of left-leaning opponents.
    Morales' life sentence marks the second time a former Peruvian leader has been found guilty of human rights abuses, following ex-president Alberto Fujimori's 2009 conviction for leading death squads that killed civilians in the 1990s.
    Remigio Morales touted the possibility of an appeal at the International Criminal Court.
    "This is ridiculous, I think that it should go to the International Court to bring justice to those who should bring justice but who have done an injustice that goes against the human rights of my father to due process and the traditional institution of our country Peru. Here there is an institutionalism that my father sought within this process and which has continued. So where are we? This is outrageous," he added.
    Last year an Argentine court found 15 ex-military officials guilty of conspiring to kidnap and assassinate dissidents in Operation Condor, including former dictator Reynaldo Bignone, who was given a 20-year sentence.
    Italy's investigation into the murder of its citizens began in 1999. Cugini sought 27 life sentences in October, but the court acquitted 19 of them.
    The other six convictions were of former military and government officials from Uruguay, Chile and Peru. Some 140 witnesses testified during the trial, Cugini said.
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register