ARGENTINA: GOVERNMENT AND HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS SAY ARGENTINE SOLDIERS WERE TRAINED TO TORTURE AFTER DEMOCRACY RETURNED IN 1983

Record ID: 859361

  • Title: ARGENTINA: GOVERNMENT AND HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS SAY ARGENTINE SOLDIERS WERE TRAINED TO TORTURE AFTER DEMOCRACY RETURNED IN 1983
  • Date: 17th January 2004
  • Summary: (W8) BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (JANUARY 15, 2004) (REUTERS) SLV NEWS CONFERENCE WITH THE 'MOTHERS OF THE PLAZA DE MAYO' HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PRESIDENT OF THE MOTHERS OF THE PLAZA DE MAYO, HEBE DE BONAFINI, SAYING "There was no proof. What proof do you have? You tell us. Well now, there are photos, there are names and there is a lot of desire to move forward in this investigation to punish those responsible. And I say, to punish them politically, because to punish judicially is still very difficult in this country." SCU MOTHERS; SCU BONAFINI SHOWING PHOTOS OF TORTURE
  • Embargoed: 1st February 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
  • City:
  • Country: Argentina
  • Topics: Crime,War / Fighting,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAYAUQPK9ZUI0A1RKX2IVYJ0
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Government of Argentina and human rights groups say Argentine soldiers were trained to torture after democracy returned in 1983.
    Argentine soldiers gave courses in torture during training after the country returned to democracy in 1983, the Argentine government and human rights organisations announced on Thursday (January 15).
    The Defense Ministry said in a statement that it analysed a series of photographs which showed scenes of torture against prisoners during training practice in a military centre in the central province of Cordoba in 1986.
    The photographs, depicting graphic scenes of torture, were given to Defense Minister Jose Pampuro by the Secretary of Human Rights Eduardo Luis Duhalde and Pampuro ordered an internal investigation.
    Meanwhile, human rights organisations demanded "an exhaustive investigation" and consequent punishment for Argentine army commanders responsible for authorising and teaching the courses.
    "There was no proof. What proof do you have? You tell us. Well now, there are photos, there are names and there is a lot of desire to move forward in this investigation to punish those responsible. And I say, to punish them politically, because to punish judicially is still very difficult in this country," said President of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, Hebe de Bonafini.
    The head of Argentina's Centre of Legal and Social Studies, Horacio Verbitsky said that Army Commander Roberto Bendini had given further insight into the courses.
    "Roberto Bendini [current head of the Army] said that these courses with torture teaching were courses for commanders - he said that he repudiated torture - that he never was in agreement with it but that they were training commanders for conventional war so that they could resist when they were taken behind enemy lines," said Verbitsky.
    Torture was normal within the Argentine security forces during the dictatorship that governed the country from 1976 to 1983, a period in which between 9,000 and 30,000 people were kidnapped, disappeared or killed, according to human rights organisations.
    The Defense Ministry condemned the practices and assured that they were eradicated in 1994.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register