Jorge Rafael Videla (Photo: Wikipedia)

Jorge Rafael Videla, ex-military dictator and de facto president of Argentina from 1976 to 1981, died early this morning in a penitentiary in Marcos Paz, aged 87. Videla was in permanent custody serving several life sentences for crimes against humanity committed during his command of the last military government.

Videla died around 6.30am this morning of a natural death in his cell in Marcos Paz, in the province of Buenos Aires. The doctors determined a cardiac arrest as the cause of his death.

In 2010, Videla was imprisoned for life for crimes against humanity, including his role in the abduction and killing of more than 30,000 people – the so-called disappeared – between 1976 and 1983. On 5th July 2012, a tribunal gave him a further 50-year sentence for the systematic kidnapping of babies from detainees during the dictatorship.

Last Tuesday, Videla had refused to testify before the Federal Court as part of the trial for his involvement in Plan Condor, a joint South American military campaign aimed at violently repressing opposition movements.

Headed by groups such as the Abuelas and Madres de Plaza de Mayo, the investigation into his crimes, and those of the military junta, is ongoing.

Until his death, Videla had denied most charges brought against him.

Pope Francis (photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

During today’s general audience, Pope Francis briefly met with Estela de Carlotto, head of the Abuelas de la Plaza de Mayo.

Carlotto, accompanied by Juan Cabandié, legislator for the city of Buenos Aires and son of one of Argentina’s “disappeared” and Buscarita Roga, fellow member of the organisation, were sat in the privileged sagrato area. It is here that the Pope usually greets people after concluding his weekly audience.

Today he greeted Carlotto with the words: “Hello. Do you remember when we saw each other at a tribute to Chiara Lubich [founder of the Folkloric Movement] in the Cathedral?” She returned the greeting with a gift: a handkerchief, a potent symbol of the organisation.

Most significantly, she presented the Pope with a personal letter and file containing the names of 400 “disappeared”- in the hopes that he might help to find the remaining grandchildren.

She hopes to secure the assistance of the Church, both in Argentina and the Vatican itself, both of which are thought to own archives detailing the whereabouts of the missing grandchildren.

The Pope’s immediate response was promising, “you can count on me”. For Carlotto, this was more than adequate, saying after: “What we want is for him to help us to find our grandchildren. He asked us to pray for him, and we asked him to pray for our grandchildren.”

Speaking after the event from a press conference held in the Argentine embassy, Carlotto described the meeting as simple and unpretentious, “there as no protocol, rather understanding and dialogue with a neighbourhood priest”.

Despite longstanding tension between the Church and the Abuelas, who accuse the Church of complicity with the last military rule and of withholding vital information about the “stolen” children – the overriding sentiment following the meeting was positive.

Carlotto described herself as “happy and overcome with emotion” stating that “the Abuelas have stretched out their hands to other Popes, but never to an Argentine one.” Previous animosity, she claimed, has been “overcome”.

Earlier this month, a trial of monumental historic significance commenced in Argentina. A trial that will see a group of military leaders prosecuted for their involvement in the ‘Plan Cóndor’ campaign; an agreement between the right-wing dictatorships of South America which led to the disappearance and murder of up to 80,000 people during the 1970s and 1980s.

Nunca Más by blmurch, on Flickr

In what is expected to last two years, and call upon over 500 witnesses, the trial represents a significant step towards achieving justice for crimes against humanity committed at the hands of the Southern Cone’s brutal collusion.

The History

The brutal right-wing military dictatorships that raged terror and political oppression across the continent defined the 1970s and 1980s in South America. The exact number of victims is disagreed upon, but it is estimated that the era saw the ‘disappearance’ of over 60,000 people in the fight to eradicate communist influence on the continent.

The sprawling dictatorships across the continent led to the clandestine kidnapping, torture, and murder of thousands of Latin Americans, with the aim of “eliminating Marxist subversion”, from Argentina, to the Augusto Pinochet-ruled Chile.

Targets of the eradication were officially stated as members of left-wing armed groups such as the MIR (Chile), the Montoneros (Argentina), and the Tupamaros (Uruguay), although the operation targeted trade unionists, family members, and anyone remotely considered a ‘political opponent’.

The formation of ‘Plan Cóndor’ – or ‘Operation Condor’ in English– was paramount to the continuation and reach of the dictatorships. The collusion of Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Brazil (and later Ecuador and Peru) enabled leaders to obtain resources and allies, thus continuing their left-wing eradication.

Set in the context of the Cold War, there was a palpable communist fear felt across the globe; something that enabled the dictatorships to garner significant funding and assistance from the United States. Declassified CIA documents –thousands of which were released in 1999 (here, here, here, and here)- show the key role the US played in the proliferation of the dictatorships. Politicians such as former Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger have been heavily implicated as having been fundamental in the realisation of the kidnapping, torture, and murder of political enemies.

Argentina in particular saw one of the highest cases of ‘disappearances’ during the period of mass military dictatorships, with human rights’ organisations estimating the figure to stand at 30,000. Justice for the crimes against humanity committed during this period of state terrorism arguably began with the Juicio a las Juntas in 1985. The trial proved the crimes of the dictatorship for the first time, and led to the imprisonment of key figures such as Jorge Videla and Emilio Massera, both of whom received life imprisonment sentences, along with numerous others.

Madres and supporters of the trial against Operation Condor crimes (Photo courtesy of Argentine Government)

However, the work of the historic trial was largely undone, or at least heavily marred, by the amnesty laws passed during Raul Alfonsin’s government, which protected military officers from allegations and prosecution for crimes against humanity. This was followed by President Carlos Menem’s pardoning of the junta leaders in 1989. Protests and campaigning by organisations such as the Madres of Plaza de Mayo were fundamental in the repeal of the amnesty laws by the Argentine Supreme Court in 2005 under the government of Néstor Kirchner.

The Trial

For the first time, the collusion between governments and dictators under the ‘Plan Cóndor’ campaign will be investigated. Twenty five defendants are on trial in Buenos Aires in what has been described as a ‘mega-trial’, expected to last two years and scheduled to hear 500 witness statements. Lawyer Carolina Varsky described the trial as: “historic as it’s the first to deal with the repression coordinated between Latin American dictatorships.”

All suspects being tried are Argentine, with the exception of Uruguayan Manuel Cordero, who is accused of participating in death squads and torture at the Orletti clandestine detention centre in the city. Cordero was extradited by Brazil, where he was living prior to the trial. The list of defendants features 22 Argentine military intelligence officers and agents, including former de facto presidents Jorge Videla and Reynaldo Bignone, both of whom are already serving life imprisonment sentences, which they will most likely not outlive.

Argentine political scientist Ariel Raidan spoke with The Argentina Independent about the significance of the commencement of the trial, and said how it signifies the government’s focus on “building a more just society, where truth and justice come first, overcoming years of impunity.”

“The countries of the continent are beginning to revise its tragic past. Both advances and setbacks have occurred in the fight for justice over the years, but this trial has a clear conviction to expose as many facts as possible” continued Raidan.

The trial will investigate the cases of over 170 victims, including 65 who were imprisoned at the infamous Orletti torture centre in Buenos Aires. Victims were often kidnapped from their home country and transported to the facilities of a neighbouring country; a practice made possible by the collusion of governments in the Southern Cone. Much evidence to be examined in the trial, and what prosecutors are heavily basing their case upon, comes from the now declassified US documents, obtained by the non-governmental organisation National Security Archive. Released under the Freedom of Information Act, the documents detail how Henry Kissinger and many other high-ranking officials in the US not only gave full support and funding to the Argentine military junta, but also urged the country to accelerate protocol and finish their operations before the US Congress cut aid. The documents, featuring signatures of many high-ranking officials, have led to accusations that the US was a secret collaborator, partner, and sponsor of the operation.

Argentina – Bariloche 006 – white shawl protest graffiti by mckaysavage, on Flickr

Additionally, documents identified as the ‘Archives of Terror’, discovered in a police station in 1992, were significant in the uncovering of the role of Colombia, Peru, and Venezuela. These countries provided intelligence information that had been requested by ‘Plan Cóndor’ participating countries.

The victims are comprised of approximately 80 Uruguayans, 50 Argentines, 20 Chileans, and a dozen from Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador. The disappearance of two Cuban consulate officials will also form part of the proceedings. Out of the 170 victims, 42 survived the dictatorship’s brutal treatment and many of them are expected to give first hand accounts during their testimonies in court. The remaining victims were murdered or ‘disappeared’ at the hands of the Cóndor agreement.

John Dinges, author of ‘The Condor Years: How Pinochet and his Allies Brought Terrorism to Three Continents’, said that, “this is historic in the sense that we’re going to hear from 500 witnesses. And really, in the Latin American legal system, it’s unusual. It’s really only coming to the fore now that you hear witnesses, as opposed to just seeing them give their testimony to judges in a closed room, and then later on people like me might go and read those testimonies, but really it doesn’t become public. This is all public. And apparently, a lot of it is being videotaped. So this is the first time that the general public is going to hear the details of this horrible, horrible list of atrocities that killed so many people.”

Alcira Ríos, the lawyer representing a Paraguayan victim whose case is to be tried in the coming months, said “we’re delighted that after years of struggle this has finally come to trial… the ‘disappeared’ deserve justice.”

The Future

Raidan spoke of his hope that “the trial will shed light on the specific articulation and coordination of the military juntas that ruled the countries of the Southern Cone”. The hope of many is to see clandestine details released that have for so long been shrouded in secrecy and cover-ups. The culmination of new documents, evidence, and witness statements has created a strong sense of hope that further justice will be achieved over the course of the trial. “The documents are very useful in establishing a comprehensive analytical framework of what Operation Condor was,” said Pablo Enrique Ouvina, the lead prosecutor in the case.

Miguel Angel Osorio, federal prosecutor in the case, has said that he is convinced of the existence of Operation Condor and that he believes it will be clearly proved, as well as “the actions of those implicated [in the plan] which prove that there was a illicit agreement to move people from one country to another”.

Perhaps closure will not be fully achieved over the brutal repression and crimes against humanity committed during this era, but there is a palpable sense surrounding the case that some semblance of a resolution will be achieved; that justice will be reached.

Click here to find out Argentines’ opinions on the ‘Plan Cóndor’ mega-trial.

Ever since the surprising news of Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio’s appointment as Pope Francis broke yesterday, Argentina has been a whirlwind of speculation.

Pope Francis at his first public appearance after the conclave (photo by Agência Brasil)

The streets are full of rumours about his past, estimates about his future, and debates over the political significance of his papacy for the continent and the Catholic Church. There is even speculation about the future of his football team, San Lorenzo, now that it has a powerful supporter in the Vatican. It is without a doubt a historical moment that caught everyone by surprise, and everyone has something to say about it.

The Past

The issue causing the greatest controversy is Bergoglio’s alleged relationship with the last military dictatorship. In general terms, the whole Argentine catholic church has been questioned for its silence, if not outright complicity, regarding the crimes of the dictatorship. Furthermore, when priests were found out to be involved in crimes against humanity and convicted for it, the church has been too lenient with them. When former chaplain Christian Von Wernich was found guilty of kidnappings, torture, and murder, the church released a lukewarm statement, signed by Bergoglio, declaring that he had acted of his own accord, thus avoiding any kind of institutional responsibility. Meanwhile, Von Wernich is still a part of the church and has not been sanctioned.

Bergoglio himself has been accused of being directly involved in the kidnapping of four Jesuit priests and a group of catechists in 1976. In May of that year, the priests were kidnapped and tortured. Two of them, Orlando Yorio and Francisco Jalics, were released five months later, while the other ones were disappeared. Bergoglio maintains that he warned the priests to leave the neighbourhood where they were doing social work as a raid was imminent, and that he even tried to intercede before Admiral Emilio Massera to secure their freedom.

Yorio, however, contests the pope’s version. “Bergoglio didn’t warn us of the danger we were in” he told journalist Horacio Verbitsky. “I also don’t have any reason to think he did anything for our freedom, quite the opposite.” According to Angélica Sosa de Mignone, the mother of one of the catechists that were kidnapped together with priests, they “were freed thanks to the intervention of [her husband] Emilio Mignone and the Vatican and not thanks to Bergoglio, who was the one that turned them in.”

The controversy surrounding Bergoglio’s activities during the dictatorship is a long standing one. Verbitsky has written several articles about it for Página 12, and in the highly polarised reality we live in, many accuse him of waging a political war against the former Archbishop. However his sources are the testimonies of survivors such as Yorio, and the book ‘Church and dictatorship’ by Emilio Mignone (co-founder of the Centre for Social and Legal Studies, or CELS, and father of one of the disappeared catechists), where he talks about the “sinister complicity” between the church and the military, who “did the dirty work of cleaning up the inside of the Church, with the acquiesce of the priests.”

Cardinal Bergoglio holding mass in 2008 (photo courtesy of Casa Rosada)

The revival of the controversy in light of Bergoglio’s election as pope has prompted many to express their opinion for and against him. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, who received the award for his commitment to the fight for human rights during the dictatorship, told the BBC that “Bergoglio had no links to the dictatorship.” However, he later added on Twitter that “We can’t ignore that a large part of the Argentine church hierarchy was complicit with the dictatorship” and that “Bergoglio was not a direct accomplice of the dictatorship, but he lacked the courage to support our struggle for human rights.”

A Progressive Pope?

In Vatican terms, and compared to his contenders during the conclave, Francis is considered something of a reformer. Many catholics hope the new pope will be able to solve some of the pressing issues that the Holy See is facing. Widespread allegations of sexual abuse within the church, corruption scandals in the Vatican involving money laundering and fraud by the Vatican Bank, the sustained growth of secularism and increasing lack of faith in the world, the rise of alternative Christian religions, among others.

Although his social sensitivity and his work with the poor and sick are widely recognised, in Argentina, he is broadly considered as a conservative in social matters. It would not be realistic to expect a catholic leader to support progressive social causes such as the legalisation of abortion (which Bergoglio opposed even in cases of rape) or euthanasia. However, the virulent campaign the church led against gay marriage in 2010 and his homophobic declarations on the matter place him on the far right of contemporary Argentine politics.

In a letter he wrote to a congregation of nuns as the gay marriage bill was being debated in Congress, he stated that “[gay marriage] is a move by the devil”. “At stake here is the life of so many children who will be discriminated against by denying them the human development that God intended be provided by a father and a mother,” he said, adding that “this is not simply a political struggle; it’s the aspiration to destroy God’s plan.” His appointment has been strongly criticised by the LGBT community.

Less extreme, especially compared to those of his predecessor Benedict XVI, are his views regarding contraception. While he accepts the use of condoms to avoid sexually transmitted diseases, he has been criticised for opposing government plans to distribute free contraceptives.

Francis and Cristina

During his time as Archbishop of Buenos Aires and head of the Argentine Episcopal Conference, Bergoglio had a tense relationship with the governments of Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

While the confrontation perhaps reached its highest point during the debate for the gay marriage law during President Fernández’s term, the government had looked at Bergoglio with suspicion since day one. The Archbishop has been highly critical of the Kirchner and Fernández administrations, both for their leadership style and for specific issues such as the persistence of poverty. The government began to consider him as part of the political opposition, especially when he met with then-vicepresident Julio Cobos after his “no” vote during the campo crisis.

Jorge Bergoglio and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (photo courtesy of Casa Rosada)

Yesterday, after Bergoglio’s appointment, eyes quickly turned to President Fernández and her reaction to the announcement. In the afternoon, the president sent a brief letter to the new pope, which was published in her official Twitter and Facebook accounts. The very formal letter congratulated Francis on his appointment and expressed her hope that he would produce “fruitful pastoral work” towards “justice, equality, fraternity, and peace for humanity.”

Later on the same day, she again congratulated Bergoglio and celebrated the election of a Latin American pope. She added that “We hope he will carry a message to the great powers, for them to engage in dialogue. That he can convince the powerful of the world – those with arms, financial power- to take a look at the emerging countries and encourage a civilising dialogue.”

This statement was interpreted as a request for the pope to lend his influence to the Falklands/Malvinas sovereignty dispute with the UK, and more broadly, as an indication that the government might try to benefit from the Argentine papacy to boost the country’s international standing.

President Fernández’s spokesman also confirmed yesterday that she will attend the pope’s inauguration on Tuesday 19th March.

What Does It Mean For Us?

One of the biggest questions circulating since yesterday is what influence the new pope will have on Latin America, as well as the international projection the region will gain thanks to Francis’ papacy.

While Latin America holds the largest concentration of the world’s catholics (483 million), many wonder why the church decided to elect a Latin American pope now, after centuries of European primacy.

The more pessimistic theory suggests that the aim of the Catholic Church is to increase its presence in the region in order to slow down the progressive reforms sweeping across the continent. Many have compared his appointment to that of Polish pope John Paul II during the cold war, interpreting the latter as an attempt to counterbalance the influence of Soviet communism. However, some analysts point out that this end could have been better met by Brazilian hopeful Odilo Scherer, considered more conservative than Bergoglio.

Catholics celebrate Francis’ appointment outside the Buenos Aires Cathedral (photo by Beatrice Murch)

Those who support and celebrate the new pope, think that the church is simply giving the continent the long overdue representation it deserves, and hope that his papacy will bring a renewed message of hope and unity and will focus its efforts in the fight against poverty.

Whichever way it goes, Francis can expect to be met by the challenges of a church in crisis, in a world in crisis. As a pope, he will have a significant amount of power over the lives of millions of people around the world. Those people expect, and hope, that he will use that power sensibly.

‘Blackout night’, or ‘La Noche del Apagón’, is one of the many sad pages in recent Argentine history. Not widely known countrywide, this tragic night in July 1976 changed the lives of more than 400 people and their family members in the Ledesma district, province of Jujuy.

Azucar que mata (photo/descartable)

A prolonged power cut on the night of 20th July 1976 (repeated between then and 27th July) enabled the kidnapping of 400 students, factory workers, and activists, who were openly speaking against the dictatorship and fighting for better labour conditions. The case directly involved authorities of the sugar company Ledesma, whose vehicles were used for transporting victims and which received direct economic benefits from the disappearances.

With the trials against the military involved in human rights violations underway, society has recently started to look at the relationship between the last dictatorial government and civilians, especially businessmen, who were a necessary cog in the regime’s wheel. Whilst some of these connections were mainly business-related, the Ledesma case shows the full extent of civilian involvement in the kidnappings, murders, and disappearances at the time.

The Ledesma case remained unpunished for years, despite the claims for justice by the victims’ families. Finally, on 15th November this year, federal judge Fernando Poviña prosecuted businessman Carlos Blaquier, owner and president of Ledesma, and former general manager Alberto Lemos as accomplices for the kidnapping of 29 people during the ‘blackout night’.

Ledesma: A Long History of Labour Conflict

Ledesma has over 100 years of history and is currently one of the leading agricultural companies in Argentina. Starting as a sugar company, it evolved and expanded into cellulose and paper production over several decades. From 1970 onwards, Ledesma grew dramatically, adding new businesses such as the production of fruit, juice, meat, and cereals.

Ledesma’s focus on new investments and technologies turned the sugar company into a massive corporation with agricultural interests in the provinces of Jujuy, Salta, San Luis, Buenos Aires, and Entre Ríos. Despite its original location in the province of Jujuy, it has its headquarters in the city of Buenos Aires and commercial centres in Bahía Blanca, Córdoba, Mar del Plata, Mendoza, and Rosario.

The company produces over 40% of Argentine paper and approximately 20% of its sugar and alcohol, and currently employs over 7,700 people all over the country.

Much of the cost of this expansion was borne by the company’s workforce. The history of labour conflicts within Ledesma goes back to the beginning of the 20th century, when the company was formed and staffed by workers from the north-western provinces of Argentina and Bolivia.

As the north of Argentina has been historically populated by indigenous people, the workforce for the new corporations that were established in the area in the 19th and early 20th centuries, following significant industrial transformations in the country, was mainly indigenous. Ariel Ogando, member of Fundación Wayruro in the province of Jujuy and author of the investigation ‘Sugar and Politics. The emergence of capitalism in north-western Argentina’ (‘Azúcar y Política. El surgimiento del capitalismo en el noroeste argentino‘) defines a special model for the sugar companies that were established in Salta and Jujuy. Ogando points out that companies in these provinces were able to overcome their later development by creating a business model based on the monopoly by one owner of both the land the factory. Such a model permitted the company to exploit its workers and avoid competitors, often with the support of the local government.

As Ledesma was established in 1908, all workers for the new sugar company were settled in a place called Libertador General San Martín, which later took the name of the company. In 1917, José Elías Niklison, inspector of the National Labour Department, denounced the labour conditions in Ledesma: indigenous people and peasants were taken from their original locations without knowing their destination; the working day lasted between 12 and 14 hours, and salaries were paid only if there was extra money left. At the same time, the unsanitary living conditions caused a high number of illnesses and deaths among the workers.

However, the situation did not change, especially as the company’s authorities began to take on an increasingly important role in politics. For instance, Herminio Arrieta, Ledesma’s owner and Blaquier’s father-in-law, served as a national deputy for Jujuy between 1934 and 1938, and later was elected as a senator between 1938 and 1943. The local government became increasingly influenced by the big companies, whose owners were deeply connected with the ruling mechanisms and heavily influenced the province’s judicial system, while the first labour unions appeared as a counter-power to the corporate exploitation.

When Pedro Blaquier was appointed as president of Ledesma in 1970, he brought technological innovations and expanded business lines. Those changes required restructuring the general organisation of processes and personnel, which was reduced from 15,000 to 5,000 workers.

The year 1972 marked the first workers’ demonstration at Ledesma since 1949, when union activists mobilised to demand for an expansion of their work rights, pay rises, and improvements in the working and living conditions. After a series of conflicts, the unionised workers reached some of their goals and established themselves as a strong player to confront Ledesma’s authorities.

An important supporter of these demonstrations was local doctor Luis Arédez, who played a significant role in fighting against Ledesma’s labour and housing policy and demanding resources for the proper medical treatment of workers. He had been a Ledesma employee, however his active confrontation had ended with his dismissal from the company in 1959.

In 1973 Arédez was elected mayor of Libertador General San Martín with the backing of several political parties. In the eight months that he lasted as mayor, he enacted important measures against Ledesma. Among them were partial municipal control over the company’s lands and the collection of taxes on its earnings, as the company had operated tax-free until then.

When the military took power in Argentina in March 1976, the situation of unions and individual activists became even worse than before 1972, and in many cases dangerous. Whilst some workers spoke against the new regime, others either supported it or remained passive members of the unions. With Ledesma’s enormous power being eroded by industrial action and political opposition, extraordinary decisions were required.

A 'madre' marches in Jujuy in memory of the 'blackout night' (photo/Sam Verhaert)

The Disappearances

On 24th March 1976, the day of the coup, Arédez and three Ledesma union leaders -Ramón Bueno, Antonio Fillio and Omar Gainza – were taken from their homes and imprisoned in the Villa Gorritti jail, in the city of San Salvador de Jujuy, which served as a torture centre. After several months, they were sent to La Plata and later released. However, Arédez was kidnapped a few more times, until he disappeared forever in 1977. According to the judicial documents and witnesses, Ledesma vehicles were used to transfer the men.

The second – and biggest – disappearance of Ledesma workers took place between 20th and 27th July 1976, when electricity cuts between 10pm and 6am eased the arrival of military forces into the district and over 400 people were kidnapped. Official documents report that “as the arrests were massive, the provincial police lacked its own vehicles and used Ledesma’s”. The company has also been accused of controlling the district’s electricity generators and causing the blackouts.

In total, 26 transfers were made. Most of the people who were taken away did not belong to opposition movements or parties, and were kidnapped because of their personal connections with the union leaders, “just in case”. Interventions and abductions were carried out in three districts – Libertador, de Calilegua and El Talar.

Most vwere taken to torture centres and police offices all across the country, where they spent between three days and a few months. Thirty-six remain disappeared and are considered dead.

Survivors of the ‘Blackout Night’ sued Ledesma for the use of the company vehicles and for providing working spaces for the initial detentions. Blaquier and his former manager Lemos have been personally accused for 29 cases of kidnappings.

In the short term, the massive crackdown on its workers allowed Ledesma to reassert its authority over unions and local government institutions. In the long run, it caused a wave of dismissals and a dramatic rise in unemployment in the whole region.

Olga Arédez and the Long Road to Justice

Olga del Valle Márquez de Arédez was Luis Arédez’s wife and his most loyal ally. She witnessed all of her husband’s kidnappings and spoke against Ledesma in court in numerous occasions. Olga Arédez organised the resistance movement in Jujuy and together with the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, she was one of the key fighters for truth and justice. She was put forward for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005, among 1,000 other women.

In 1983 she started the first demonstrations on the main square of Libertador General San Martín, a few metres away from the general access to Ledesma grounds. As she was alone at the beginning, her demonstrations were silent but frequent: every Thursday she made circles around the square carrying a photo of her husband.

In the ’90s two Argentine directors, Pablo Milstein and Norberto Ludin, researched and filmed ‘Sol de noche’ (‘Night-time Sun’), a documentary, which took several years to film, finally being released in 2003. ‘Sol de noche’ talks about the Arédez family and the ‘Blackout Night’, featuring interviews with the witnesses and company representatives. The documentary was used as material in the judicial investigation against Ledesma and enabled many family members to join Olga Arédez in her fight.

On 29th July 2004, Arédez, together with human rights organisations like H.I.J.O.S., Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, and various local unions, organised a massive demonstration in Libertador General San Martín. The demonstration gathered over 9,000 participants who walked 10km, commemorating the victims of the ‘Blackout Night’ in 1976.

Along with action taken in relation to the disappearance of her husband, Olga Arédez has sued Ledesma for its environmental policies, accusing the company of heavily polluting air and water in the area.

Ledesma Goes to Court

The judicial proceedings against Ledesma had been stalled for years under the watch of judge Carlos Olivera Pastor, who was severely questioned by human rights organisations and who eventually resigned this year. Olivera Pastor was replaced by judge Fernando Poviña and the case finally started to move forward.

The General Secretary of the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), Wolfgang Kaleck, noted that “after years of impunity, not only the crimes of the military, but also the complicity of Ledesma and other companies in state crimes must be investigated. The truth of what happened in the ‘Noche del Apagón’ must come to light.” The ECCHR presented an amicus curiae in several cases concerning Ledesma and their corporate complicity in human rights violations.

Ledesma was raided twice in April 2012, and on 18th May Blaquier was summoned to appear before court to declare in the case of human rights’ violations committed by his company during the dictatorship period. He did not show up, as his lawyers had announced, as he was “suffering medical problems and needed special treatment abroad”. Following that announcement, judge Poviña forbade Blaquier to leave the country and also arrested four policemen who had been involved in the ‘Blackout Night’.

After another failed attempt in July, Blaquier finally declared before judge Poviña via teleconference from Jujuy on 8th August. The businessman denied all involvement in the ‘Blackout Night’, and stated that his company did not cut the power supply or provide vehicles to the kidnappers in July 1976.

On 15th November, Poviña prosecuted Blaquier and Lemos as accomplices for the kidnapping of 29 people, including Arédez. The judge presented his investigation in two documents of 200 pages each, where he emphasised the complicity between businessmen and the military in state-sponsored terrorism, and suggested a new category for corporate responsibility in crimes against humanity. In his report, Poviña goes as far back as 1955 to expose the intricate links that were developed between economic and military interests.

To explain the relevance of civilian involvement in these crimes, Poviña referred to the Nuremberg Tribunal, which judged Nazi crimes committed during World War II: “The Nuremberg jurisprudence did not distinguish between the executor and accomplice, but rather considered any form of participation in the crime as enough to consider the party responsible.” With these words, the judge interpreted corporate complicity as a form of criminal responsibility, a definition the Ledesma case illustrates vividly.

Click here to find out what Argentines think about the handling of human rights cases by the local judiciary.

Yesterday afternoon in Durango, northern Mexico,  Director of Public Security for the city of Lerdo Andrés Balderas and Chief subdirector Luis Manuel Torres went missing along with three escorts. Their disappearance has prompted a red alert in the state capital.

Balderas and Torres were attending the inauguration of the new director of the Durango Red Cross. The event took place at 10.30am at the Centro de Convenciones Bicentenario and was attended by the Director of Civil Protection and the Chief of Fire-fighters, both of whom returned from the event around 4pm.

Balderas, Torres, and their escorts left separately in a white Ford Lobo. Their whereabouts are unknown.

The three escorts have been identified as José Antonio Orozco de la Cerda, Juan Carlos Alvarado, and José Eduardo Ponce Vital.

The five men’s disappearance was announced in a press conference by Lerdo mayor Roberto Carmona. “We are waiting for news [of the disappeared], we are worried, we don’t know what’s happening or what may have happened, and we hope that it is all resolved,” he told journalists.

Balderas became director of public security in April of this year, after the then-director was detained by federal police, along with others, for alleged participation in the death of a federal agent.

The northern states of Durango, Sinaloa, and Chihuahua together form what is known as the “Golden Triangle”, an epicentre of marijuana plantations and United States-bound drug trafficking.

Enrique Alfonso Severo, the ex-railway worker and key witness in the Mariano Ferreyra murder trial who went missing on Wednesday night, was found alive yesterday in Gerli, a neighbourhood of the Avellaneda district. The discovery comes after a nationwide manhunt and dramatic protests in the capital.

Severo, a former manager for the railway company Ferrobaires, was due to testify yesterday at noon in the ongoing trial of José Pedraza, general secretary of the Railway Union (UF) and Juan Carlos Fernández, his assistant, who are accused of organizing the clash on 20th October 2010 that left Partido Obrero (PO) militant Mariano Ferreyra dead. Of the more than 300 witnesses in the trial, Severo is believed to hold the key evidence linking Pedraza and Fernández to those who carried out the murder.

Ferreyra and other PO activists were protesting on 20th October 2010 with outsourced railway workers, known as “tercerizados”, on the Roca line in the south of the city. The protesters, who were demanding equal pay and benefits as fulltime employees, were met by a gang of unionized railway workers, who followed them as the protest moved to Barracas. Violence broke out between the two groups near the Constitución train station, in a clash that left Ferreyra dead and another PO militant, Elsa Rodriguez, seriously injured.

The suspected shooters are Cristian Favale and Gabriel Fernando Sánchez, football hooligans with ties to political and union violence. Several police officers are also on trial for failing to stop the attack.

Severo left his home around 11.30pm on Wednesday night to visit his grandson but never made it to his intended destination. After failing to appear at his testimony on Thursday at noon, Minister of Security Nilda Garré called for a nationwide search. Various left-wing and social organizations, spearheaded by the PO, marched on the Plaza de Mayo last night demanding an end to the kidnapping of witnesses.

The situation echoed the disappearance of Jorge Julio López in 2006, key witness in the trial against ex-director general of police investigations for Buenos Aires province Miguel Etchecolatz. López disappeared before his scheduled appearance in court and remains missing to this day.

After an anonymous call to 911 on Thursday night, Severo was found outside of a taxi station in Gerli, his hands bound with plastic ties and showing signs of physical abuse. Earlier in the day, police had located his car, with the keys placed in a nearby street. Severo was taken to nearby Finochietto de Sarandí hospital and stated that he does not know who is responsible for the kidnapping.

His son, Gastón Severo, told Canal 9 that his father told him he was held captive in a location three blocks from a railway facility used by his former employer, Ferrobaires. He was taken from his car by two armed men on a motorcycle. After a blow to the head, he lost consciousness.

“He’s dehydrated, he’s vomiting and coughing”, Gastón said. “He couldn’t talk much.”

“The message was not for me”, Severo told the press before being taken to the hospital. “It was for the president.”

Severo would not give details of what had occurred during his kidnapping, but vowed that the experience had not deterred him from delivering his testimony. “Whatever happens, I’m going to testify in court”, he affirmed. “Somebody has to do something. I’m going to testify, I’m going to recount everything…I’m not scared.”

His family said they had begun receiving threatening phone calls in the days leading up to the court date. However, since they were never reported, according to the Ministry of Justice, Severo did not qualify for witness protection.

Today marks the six year anniversary of the disappearance of Jorge Julio López. On 18th September 2006, López was due to appear in court to act as a key witness in the case against Miguel Etchecolatz, the ex-director general of police investigations for Buenos Aires province during the last military dictatorship. He never arrived and remains missing to this day, with the case still unsolved.

López personally suffered torture at the hands of Etchecoltaz during the last military dictatorship, and witnessed him commit murder. However, despite the disappearance of the 76 year old bricklayer in 2006, there was still substantial evidence to sentence Etchecolatz, who received a life sentence for the murder of six people and a further eight convictions for kidnap.

López’s son, Ruben, today admitted that he is aware that his father is unlikely to be alive after six years, but that he is still awaiting answers.  In a press conference, he stressed that “the only thing we want is for him to be found, in whatever state that may be.”

“Ever since that day, we have been in hell, searching, with no information,” he added. He went on to apportion blame to President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, claiming that “she never spoke about my father,” who’s disappearance occurred during the time that her husband, Nestor Kirchner, was in power.

Various social and political groups will gather later to express their remorse for López and anger towards the government who continue to make little headway in solving the case. One such group is the Provincial Commission for Memory (CPM) which has organised to offer discussions and debates at the Museum of Art and Memory in La Plata at 7.00pm.

In Buenos Aires, the human rights organisation Encuentro Memoria, Verdad y Justicia will march at 5.30pm from Congreso to the Plaza de Mayo in order to demand “justice and punishment for those responsible”. In La Plata a march will also take place at the same time.

This morning at 9am, a teleconference was held with Carlos Pedro Blaquier, president of the Argentine agrobusiness company Ledesma, for a case that is being overseen by federal judge Fernando Poviña.

Blaquier is being investigated in connection to the disappearance of persons in the Jujuy province the 1970s. The president of the sugar company has not yet been formally investigated due to illness and absence from the country. His personal doctor, Pablo Gutierrez, has signed two certified documents with the date 12^th April 2012, saying that Blaquier was “suffering a heart condition.”

The teleconference was held between the judge in Jujuy, the prosecutors, and Blaquier. The judge ordered Blaquier, who is currently in Buenos Aires, to take part in the teleconference due to his refusal to attend a face-to-face meeting. Two appointments had been set up previously, but Blaquier missed one of them citing health reasons, and the second one had to be cancelled due to disturbances outside the courthouse.

Several human rights organisations and unions gathered outside the Magistrate Council, where Blaquier declared.

A human rights organisation who works on behalf of people who disappeared or were detained during the last military dictatorship in Jujuy, expressed their frustration and claimed they have “waited patiently for the court’s decision” yet feel that there has been no response “to the demands of Jujuy’s society,” in accordance with “the magnitude” of Blaquier’s charge.

The former administrator of Ledesma, Alberto Lemos, has also been accused in the case of Jujuy’s disappeared persons. He was presented in court on Thursday with charges of “knowing and repeating lies” that helped the sugar company in the last dictatorship.

Both Blaquier and Lemos have been inferred for “La Noche de Apagón”, which occurred the 20^th July, 1976, when 400 workers of the company were kidnapped and over 30 of them were disappeared.

Estela de Carlotto has launched a new campaign to find missing children, disappeared during the last dictatorship who, she believes, may be living in Italy without knowing their true identity.

“The story is not closed,” she says. “Although we have found 105 grandchildren, 400 are still missing. And we do not know if some of these 400 – among which could be my grandson, Guido – could be in Italy.”

De Carlotto, the president of the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, travelled to Italy for the launch, together with the Argentine ambassador and a number of NGOs, including Amnesty International.

“Once again we return to Italy to solicit their help and we have just been with Italian ministers who assure us that, as always, they will give us their support,” stated Carlotto in a press conference in the House of Deputies in Italy where former prime minister Massimo D’Alema acted as host.

Carlotto was received by the Human Rights Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, together with Buscarita Roa and her reunited grandson, Horacio Pietragalla.

“I owe everything to the Abuelas,” said Pietragalla. “Thanks to them I learnt the story of my real parents, Liliana Corti and Horacio Pietragalla, 26 and 27 respectively, two militants who were fighting for a more just and equal country.”

“Recovering your identity is not only to reclaim history; it is also to set ourselves free, to see the light, understand history and oneself,” he added.

It is believed that among the thousands of Argentines who emigrated to Italy in the wake of the 2001 default, and among the Argentines currently studying or working on the continent, there may be children of the disappeared.

“We have received reports and for now they are all possibilities, not only here in Italy, but also in France and Spain,” stated de Carlotto.

“We are looking for people around 30 years old, already adults, that have to make a decision: to be free”, said minister Carlos Chernia, responsible for Human Rights at the Argentine embassy in Italy.

A new campaign will be broadcast through radio and television networks. Each consulate will also be equipped with a kit to examine DNA that will be compared agains the Abuelas’ database, as well as a team of psychologists at hand.