ARGENTINA: KIDNAPPED SENIOR AIR FORCE OFFICER FOUND DEAD AFTER GUN BATTLE BETWEEN SECURITY FORCES AND LEFT-WING GUERRILLAS.

Record ID: 230489

  • Title: ARGENTINA: KIDNAPPED SENIOR AIR FORCE OFFICER FOUND DEAD AFTER GUN BATTLE BETWEEN SECURITY FORCES AND LEFT-WING GUERRILLAS.
  • Date: 13th July 1976
  • Summary: 1. SV: coffin carried from cathedral as Funeral March is played. Following coffin Jorge Videla (Argentine President) with moustache and Brigadier Orlando Agosti 0.21 2. CU PAN FROM: Agosti TO Videla as they follow coffin in procession 0.38 3. TV: armed guards with procession 0.58 4. SV: Air Force jets fly overhead 1.05 5. CU: Echegoyen's name on side of coffin PAN TO mourners following hearse 1.22 6. CU: Agosti standing during service 1.25 7. SV: coffin carried into cemetery 1.42 More than 700 people died as a result of political violence in Argentina during 1975. The former government of Maria Estela Peron was overthrown by a military coup in March of this year, against a background of rising inflation and increasing violence. But political deaths have continued to rise and nearly 500 people have been killed since the March coup. Initials RH/JB/AW/1555 Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 28th July 1976 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
  • Country: Argentina
  • Reuters ID: LVA1HMOROVDKCRDXNFJ8BLXVFMSH
  • Story Text: A senior Argentine Air Force officer, kidnapped more than two months ago, was found dead on Saturday, (10 July) after security forces fought a gun battle with left-wing guerrillas near Buenos Aires.

    SYNOPSIS: The murdered officer was Vice Commodore Roberto Echegoyen who was kidnapped on the 29th of April. An army communique said one guerrilla was killed and another captured after the gun battle, which began when security forces surrounded a house in San Andres, 11 miles (18 kilometres) from Buenos Aires.

    Brigadier Orlando Agosti has replaced Vice Commodore Echegoyen as an operations chief with the Joint General Staff. He attended the Vice Commodore's funeral with the Argentine President, Jorge Videla.

    Vice Commodore Echegoyen was kidnapped as he left a meeting of the Joint General Staff. His abductors were believed by police to be members of the Marxist People's Revolutionary Army (ERP) and it was one of their hideouts that the security forces said they surrounded. The army communique said that Echegoyen' arms were bound with chains and his kidnappers shot him before police and troops could enter the house. His death has added to the growing number of people killed in recent months as a result of political violence in Argentina.

    Brigadier Agosti, as a senior military officer, will receive tight personal security, but will still face great danger from guerrilla groups. General Cesareo Cardozo, Argentina's police chief, was killed last month by a bomb planted in his bed by a close friend of his daughter.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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