ARGENTINA: Spanish Embassy in Argentina discloses files related to Spanish victims of Argentinas dirty war

Record ID: 447436

  • Title: ARGENTINA: Spanish Embassy in Argentina discloses files related to Spanish victims of Argentinas dirty war
  • Date: 12th June 2013
  • Summary: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (FILE) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF THEN ARGENTINE PRESIDENT NESTOR KIRCHNER THEN SPANISH PRIME MINISTER JOSE LUIS RODRIGUEZ ZAPATERO AND BOTH SIGNING BILATERAL AGREEMENTS
  • Embargoed: 27th June 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Argentina
  • Country: Argentina
  • Topics: Crime,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAC1QL2A124K30S4TACYGFCT67G
  • Story Text: Spain handed over digital copies of 607 files regarding complaints from Spanish citizens or Spanish descendants filed in diplomatic offices in Argentina during the South American country's military dictatorship which was in power from 1976 to 1983.
    The files were delivered to the human rights group the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo at their Buenos Aires headquarters on Wednesday (June 12) at a ceremony that was also attended by former Spanish judge and human rights jurist Baltasar Garzon.

    "Approximately 600 folders referring to as many victims of different acts. Not all were disappeared, but they represent the victims who, as Spaniards or Spanish descendants during the military dictatorship, came to consulates and the Spanish Embassy in Argentina with their claims," Garzon said.
    Rights groups continue to campaign for the "disappeared" - a euphemism for kidnapped and murdered - during the country's 'dirty war' years under the dictatorship, which began in March 1976. It began when Argentine dictator Jorge Rafael Videla and two other military leaders staged a coup against President Maria Estela Martinez de Peron, the widow of former leader Juan Domingo Peron.
    The files had been slated to be released since a 2005 human rights agreement between the governments of late Argentine President Nestor Kirchner and former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
    The Grandmothers group, headed by President Estela de Carlotto, is dedicated to recovering the children of disappeared victims who were stolen from their parents and illegally adopted, often by military families.
    The president of the Institute of Political Studies for Latin America and Africa, Enrique Santiago Romero, said it was important the files saw the light of day for the historical significance and for the clues they could provide to piecing together a murky past.

    "It was of utmost importance for us, for the accusations, to be able to reach this information. Not just for the historical value, but because we have no doubts that these first moments, when the family members, the relatives of the disappeared, of the detainees, came to the Spanish diplomatic offices to present their complaints they could provide significant data at these first moments, which would allow, more than anything, a view from years past. To make clearer what happened to these people, and not just what happened to them, but who their victimizers were. Which in many cases still remains to be known, right?" Rodriguez Romero said.
    Carlotto said the files could help the group uncover and identify children of disappeared mothers and fathers.

    "Surely some bit of information on the children or pregnant women - we reiterate that sometimes the family members don't know and aren't looking, of which there are children - now adult men and women - who doubt their identity. We've included them in the genetic data bank, but there is nobody looking for them. And maybe someone will turn up here who before leaving the country, seeking refuge, say a friend but who remains excluded in this wall of silence for so many years and maybe can come out into the light now," Carlotto said.

    "So, yes, there are big expectations just to find one grandchild," she added.
    The documents had been kept in 20 boxes in the Spanish Embassy in Buenos Aires since the files were created more than 30 years ago.
    Copies will also be sent to the Argentine government via the Secretary of Human Rights.
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