Secret US memo now key evidence in baby thefts

Dec. 22, 2011 Associated Press By MICHAEL WARREN

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — A long-classified memo describing a secret
meeting between diplomats in a clubby Washington restaurant has become key
evidence in the trial of two former Argentine dictators charged with
stealing babies from political prisoners.

The 1982 memo was fully declassified by the U.S. State Department this
week at the request of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo. The human
rights group has spent decades gathering evidence against the 1976-1983
military junta.

"Its content is key to proving that, far from treating them as isolated
incidents, there existed a defined policy at the highest levels of the
armed forces to make sure that the babies were appropriated," the group
said in a statement.

At the time, the junta officially denied any knowledge of systematic baby
thefts, let alone responsibility for the disappearances of political
prisoners. In public, the U.S. government also was circumspect, even as
the junta's death squads kidnapped and killed its opponents, eventually
eliminating more than 13,000 "subversives."

But the memo by former senior State Department official Elliot Abrams
suggests close communication between the governments.

He wrote it after meeting with Argentina's ambassador to the U.S. at the
Jockey Club in Washington's Ritz-Carlton hotel. At the time, Abrams
oversaw human rights at the State Department, and the junta was eager for
certification that its rights record was improving.

"I raised with the Ambassador the question of children," Abrams wrote.

"Children born to prisoners or children taken from their families during
the dirty war. While the disappeared were dead, these children were alive
and this was in a sense the gravest humanitarian problem. The Ambassador
agreed completely and had already made this point to his foreign minister
and president," Abrams wrote.

The Abrams memo suggests the junta spurned his appeals to come clean on
its rights record by "telling everything it could about the fate of
individuals," or by inviting the Catholic Church to reunite the children
with their birth families.

"The military is absolutely united and determined to avoid widespread and
vengeful punishment for its acts," Abrams noted.

But Abrams also reported that he told the ambassador certification would
not be a problem, based on the junta's public record.

Asked about the memo by The Associated Press on Thursday, Abrams said
through a spokeswoman that "he will not comment on the substance of this
memo or any other questions due to the fact that he may have to testify in
the coming future."

The document was found among nearly 5,000 records on Argentina
declassified by President Bill Clinton after a Freedom of Information
campaign by the nonprofit National Security Archive.

"This is a prime example of the power of declassification to advance the
cause of human rights in Argentina," the archive's senior analyst, Peter
Kornbluh, said Thursday. "As a humanitarian act of archival diplomacy," he
said, President Barack Obama "should release all U.S. military and
intelligence records that shed light on these particularly heinous acts of
repression."

Until this week, several paragraphs had been censored. The complete file
shows they merely describe speculation about Argentine politics, and are
irrelevant to the case. But there was no way to know that until the memo
was fully declassified.

"The newly released parts don't deal with the grandchildren issue at all.
They never should have been redacted in the first place," Kornbluh said.
"But having the whole document dispels any suspicions that the U.S. is
hiding information relevant to the missing grandchildren cases. So it is
important to release it."

The Grandmothers group thanked U.S. Ambassador Vilma Martinez in Buenos
Aires for her help.

"We hope that this will be the start of the declassification of all the
documents that the United States has, in particular those of agencies like
the CIA and FBI, to contribute to clearing up the crimes of humanity that
occurred in our country."

Abrams wants it known that he also is "in favor of having relevant U.S.
documents declassified" as well, said Rachel Steyer, his research
associate at the Council for Foreign Relations in Washington.

Argentina: Communiqué from the Buenos Aires Support Network for Freddy, Marcelo, and Juan

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Gabriella Segata Antolini War on Society Blog

from the Freddy, Marcelo and Juan Support Network site

We never forget our imprisoned comrades. We don’t mystify our respect for them but neither are we indifferent to their everyday experience. Solidarity is not, as has been demonstrated on several occasions, just a beautiful word or a slogan, but a practice inseparable from our struggle. This can be expressed in many diverse ways, and there are moments when an idea takes shape with forcefulness and continuity. Given the delicate situation (in court and in prison) that faces our comrades Juan Aliste Vega, Marcelo Villarroel Sepúlveda, and Freddy Fuentevilla Saa, who are currently held captive in prisons of the Chilean state, several individuals from Buenos Aires have decided to form a new support network in order to provide updates and disseminate information about their situation, as well as hopefully assisting in their return to the streets.

As mentioned earlier in a communiqué published during the campaign to stop their deportation from Argentina, the discourse of the law (guilty/innocent) holds no validity for us because it refers to a language that isn’t ours. We have never intended, and don’t intend now, to empty out the meaning of ideas and practices that threaten the State. We will always understand that while misery exists there will be rebellion, and because of this, our brothers are those who, one way or another, question and confront the system of authority we live in. We offer our solidarity to them, to be understood as an extension and intensification of their own struggle, which is ours as well.

We encourage other comrades to form new support networks or show solidarity in the way they see fit, to strengthen the struggle for Marcelo, Freddy and Juan’s freedom.

A brief summary

In October of 2007, a Santiago branch of Banco Security was robbed, during which a servant of the bourgeosie (a cop) was killed. From that moment, a political, juridical, media and police campaign was launched, aiming to use this well-known incident in the anti-capitalist struggle to criminalize specific people: just like during the Pinochet dictatorship and the so-called democratic transition. Shortly afterwards, more precisely, on December 13th of that year, comrade Axel Osorio was arrested and sentenced to 3 years and 1 day in prison. Fortunately, he is now back in the streets.

Clearly, the search didn’t stop at that, and so on March 15th, 2008, in Neuquén Province, several police forces arrested comrades Freddy Fuentevilla and Marcelo Villarroel, as well as a third person who was soon deported to Chile and accused of “aiding”.

Freddy (an ex-militant of the MIR [Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria/Revolutionary Left Movement]) and Marcelo (an ex-militant of the Mapu Lautaro and currently an anarchist comrade) were subjected to severe beatings and interrogations by the Chilean and Argentinean police, until at last they were transferred to Unit No. 11, a maximum security prison with a long history of torture by officers and jailers, and both charged with the possession of a weapon of war.

From that moment on the Chilean State began a frantic race to ensure the speedy extradition of the two rebels and bring them before a military tribunal. At the same time, support networks were formed in Buenos Aires, Neuquén, La Plata, Valparaíso, Santiago, etc, spreading news of the case to comrades and offering political asylum in Argentina.

Moreover, despite their constant subjugation by jailers and judges, Freddy and Marcelo have been able to get their voices and thoughts communicated through letters and telephone calls, which builds support from the other side of the walls. This has resulted in numerous activities such as: days of action, blockades of roads and train tracks, demonstrations and public events, concerts, lectures, debates, and direct actions of all kinds. These increased even more after November 17, 2008, when the comrades decided to begin a hunger strike, which finished on January 9, 2009, winning basic improvements in the conditions of their confinement. Before then, Freddy and Marcelo were isolated 23 hours a day without sunlight or contact with other prisoners.
We can’t fail to mention the solidarity that has developed around the expected repression unleashed by the state. One example is the imprisonment of comrade Andrea Urzua Cid on September 18, 2008, accused of trying to sneak explosives into Neuquén prison following an alleged escape attempt. She was released 48 days later, but was imprisoned again as a target in what the media calls the “bombs case” and is now on house arrest in Chile.

Nor do we forget the constant threats, and in some cases, beatings, which comrades from many regions were subjected to while in prison.

Finally, on December 15, 2009, the Argentinean state, by the hand of Interior Minister Florencio Randazzo and with the complicity of President Cristina Kirchner and Michelle Bachelet, signed the treaty for the extradition of Marcelo and Freddy from Argentina to Chile…

Another comrade arrested

On July 9, 2010, comrade Juan Aliste Vega (a fugitive since October 2007) was arrested at the bus station in Retiro. He was also accused of participating in the robbery of the Banco Security. The arrest was replayed for days in the mass media, as an exemplary achievement of the joint operation between Argentinean and Chilean police forces, making us wonder if there will be a repeat of Operation Condor [The counterinsurgency campaign operated by various South American states in the 1970's, with cooperation from the CIA]. Juan is locked up in Prison No. 1 of Ezeiza.

Immediate responses were organized, such as graffiti, leaflets, road blockades and communication of various forms, but this time the Argentinean government didn’t want trouble and decided to get rid of Juan quickly. He was expelled on July 22, but not before having been tortured by the federal prison service (prison guards), the anti-terrorist squad of the Argentinean Federal Police, as well as members of the Chilean investigative police, who have long been used in Argentina to find comrades who refuse to surrender themselves to the enemy’s courts…

The comrades’ current situation

Today, Marcelo, Freddy and Juan are in the High Security Prison of Santiago in Chile, awaiting the trial, which is expected to begin in November with several hearings. While the media incessantly reprints the pictures of the dead policeman’s widow, clamoring for revenge for their “loss” and President Piñera and his inferiors all spread the social condemnation of these three warriors, we know they are strong and in high spirits, proud of their decisions and of having followed through with them to the end.

We recently learned that, like Marcelo, Freddy and Juan were subjected to searches and punishments. Such is the behavior of wretches who are scared of what they don’t understand—they attack it.
We proceed attentively, and once again urge comrades to express their solidarity with Freddy, Marcelo and Juan.

WHILE MISERY EXISTS, THERE WILL BE REVOLT!
ONLY STRUGGLE MAKES US FREE!
FREDDY FUENTEVILLA, MARCELO VILLARROEL, JUAN ALISTE, TO THE STREETS!
FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF ALL PRISONS, FOR FREEDOM!

Support Network, Buenos Aires

Argentine dictators go on trial for baby thefts

By MICHAEL WARREN, Associated Press Feb. 28, 2011

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – A long-awaited trial began Monday for two former
Argentine dictators who allegedly oversaw a systematic plan to steal
babies born to political prisoners three decades ago.

Jorge Videla and Reynaldo Bignone are accused in 34 cases of infants who
were taken from mothers held in Argentina's largest clandestine torture
and detention centers, the Navy Mechanics School in Buenos Aires and the
Campo de Mayo army base northwest of the city.

Also on trial are five military figures and a doctor who attended to the
detainees.

The case was opened 14 years ago at the request of the Grandmothers of the
Plaza de Mayo, a leading human rights group. It may take up to a year to
hear testimony from about 370 witnesses.

Videla, 85, has been sentenced to life in prison, and 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.

The stolen grandchildren of Estela de Carlotto, co-founder of the
Grandmothers, and poet Juan Gelman are among the cases cited in this
trial.

Rights activists are hoping for long sentences for Videla, who led the
first military junta after the 1976 coup, and Bignone, who ran the Campo
de Mayo center and then served as Argentina's last military president
before the return of democracy in 1983.

Also on trial are Jorge Luis Magnacco, a doctor who worked in the navy
detention center, and five prominent dictatorship figures: Antonio Vanek,
the junta's former navy attache in Washington; Jorge "Tigre" Acosta, who
allegedly ran the navy center's torture sessions; former army Gen.
Santiago Riveros, responsible for gathering intelligence from detainees at
Campo de Mayo; former admiral Ruben Franco; and former prefect Juan
Antonio Azic, who allegedly tortured detainees under Acosta's direction.

The defendants, all now old and gray-haired, were led in handcuffs into
the courtroom as a three-judge panel opened the trial. Photographers and
cameramen were briefly allowed in. After a short time, Videla began to nod
off as the clerk read aloud several lengthy indictments.

Ending impunity for human rights violations committed by the dictatorship
is a top priority for President Cristina Fernandez, whose center-left
government includes many people who fought the military regime in one way
or another.

After years of preparation following the reversal of amnesties by
Argentina's congress and Supreme Court, more than 20 cases have reached
trial.

The defendants did not speak Monday, but they and their supporters have
dismissed the entire process as an act of revenge by the leftist
ideologues they defeated decades ago, and they deny there was any plan to
steal babies.

Leonardo Fossati's mother was three months pregnant when she was kidnapped
in 1977 and she gave birth to him in police custody before vanishing.

Fossati rediscovered his birth family in 2005 with help from the
Grandmothers, and he is a plaintiff in the case.

"This trial is necessary to set things straight," he said. "For a long
time now, they have denied there was a systematic plan to steal babies."

___

Associated Press writer Almudena Calatrava contributed to this report.