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8000 âdisappearedâ in dirty war
EFL:Argentine ex-dictator General Reynaldo Bignone has admitted that 8,000 people were kidnapped and killed during the 1976-83 military regime, and said the church leadership had given its approval to torture practices. In an interview published today in Pagina 12, Bignone said French instructors had taught Argentinaâs military how to kidnap and torture suspected opponents of the regime, and how to secretly execute them. Ah, those wacky French. The interview was secretly filmed by French journalist Marie-Monique Robin, who was working on a documentary. The regimeâs brutal repression of opponents was modelled directly on the Battle of Algiers, he said. French instructors gave conferences and consultations on how to carry out the strategy. "It was a copy (of the battle): intelligence, gridding of territory divided into zones. The difference was that Algeria was a colony and ours was in our own country," he said. So I guess itâs OK to torture and kill if you are trying to keep a French colony supressed. Bignone is under arrest on charges of stealing babies from their parents during the bloody era. Bignone also said of the 8,000 who were kidnapped, then killed, some 1,500 had died during the government of Maria Estela Martinez de Peron, who was ousted by military coup in 1976. Third Army Division former commander Ramon Genaro Diaz Bessone implicitly acknowledged that the military dictatorship kidnapped 7,000 people, according to the newspaper, quoting a text obtained by the documentary. Not one of the brightest points in history. Posted by: Steve 2003-09-02 |
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