Dirty War Generals Don't Disappear in Argentina

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Dirty War Generals Don't Disappear in Argentina

Postby Gouda » Fri Sep 29, 2006 1:45 pm

A revival of that good ole' strategy of tension preceding (desired) fascist takeovers? Put article one (never mind the anti-Kirchner <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>Economist</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> bias) together with article two. The empire strikes back. <br><br>********<br><br>(1) <!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Trouble in Argentina - Crime by day, protests at dusk</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>A burgeoning anti-crime movement poses a challenge to President Kirchner<br><br>AS DUSK descended on the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires on the unseasonably warm evening of August 31st, tens of thousands of Argentines bearing candles and blown-up photographs of murdered loved ones began to pour into the capital's central square in one of the biggest anti-crime rallies ever seen in Argentina. Law and order is a big public concern and, along with inflation, is likely to dominate next year's presidential election campaign. Yet President Néstor Kirchner remains strangely reluctant to talk about it.<br><br>With approval ratings of over 70%, Argentina's left-wing president remains the favourite in the race, though he has yet to declare formally that he will run. <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>But Argentines have become alarmed by a recent wave of much-publicised assaults in the capital, including a batch of brazen street shootings, attempted daytime rapes on the metro and armed robberies at trendy shops and restaurants in the well-heeled Palermo district. </strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->Two-thirds of residents in Buenos Aires, long regarded as one of Latin America's safest cities, now say they feel unsafe; half consider crime to be the capital's most serious problem.<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Eyes are now turning to Juan Carlos Blumberg</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->, the organiser of last week's rally, who has emerged as the leader of <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>the burgeoning law-and-order movement </strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->in the capital. A businessman with no formal political ties, Mr Blumberg first came to prominence two years ago, when he led more than 100,000 demonstrators to the steps of Congress after his 23-year-old son had been tortured and murdered in a botched kidnapping. He has now presented the government with an 18-point plan for fighting crime. Alongside familiar conservative demands for longer sentences and tougher policing, it includes ideas for tackling the causes of crime, such as measures to reduce drug-taking among young people and to clean up shanty-towns. He also wants more jury trials.<br><br>This has fuelled speculation that Mr Blumberg might accept an invitation from Mauricio Macri, leader of the centre-right PRO party in Congress, to run for governor of the province of Buenos Aires, a post now held by Mr Kirchner's ruling Peronist party. For the moment, Mr Blumberg will not give a direct answer, saying he wants to wait until the trial of his son's alleged murderers is over before deciding his future—though he has promised not to run in the unlikely event that the government agrees to implement all 18 points of his crime-fighting plan.<br><br>Law and order is a political minefield for Mr Kirchner. Memories of Argentina's brutal military dictatorship in the 1970s still haunt many people, making them fearful of anything that might undermine civil liberties. Argentina's previous president, Eduardo Duhalde, never recovered politically after police fatally shot two young men taking part in a violent attempt to block a road in 2002. <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>When Mr Kirchner came into office, he vowed never to use force against protesters.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> As well as preventing further violent incidents involving the country's security forces, this has helped to buttress the president's human-rights credentials. But public order and his own reputation for strength, which he prizes, have suffered.<br><br>Traffic around the capital is often paralysed by roadblocks set up by protesters, usually demanding welfare benefits. For the past five months, left-wing students occupying buildings have prevented the University of Buenos Aires from electing a new president. And when environmentalists blocked the main bridge connecting Argentina with neighbouring Uruguay for 45 days earlier this year, in protest against the building of two cellulose factories, Mr Kirchner refused to intervene, causing the worst diplomatic frost with Uruguay for 50 years.<br><br>The usually voluble president has been oddly silent on the law-and-order issue. He made no comment about last week's anti-crime demonstration and ordered his officials to keep mum as well, though occasional attempts were made to link Mr Blumberg with the former dictatorship. <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>A pro-government daily, PÁGINA/12, claimed to have detected some of the generals' former well-known supporters among the crowds at the rally. Although reported crime actually dropped last year by 3% in Argentina as a whole, that is not the public's impression. </strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->Crime is becoming the voters' number-one concern. <hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--> <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://economist.com/cities/displaystory.cfm?story_id=7894737">economist.com/cities/disp...id=7894737</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>****<br><br>(2) <!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Mass rally for 'dirty war' witness</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- Thousands of people led by human rights activists and leftist groups marched in a nighttime demonstration appealing for the safe return of <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>a key "Dirty War" prosecution witness missing for more than a week.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>The rally, led by activists who are still searching for loved ones missing from a 1976-83 dictatorship, made its way peacefully from Congress to the offices of President Nestor Kirchner late Wednesday.<br><br>The group lofted banners calling on the government to use all means possible to locate <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Jorge Julio Lopez, a former torture victim who testified recently at a human rights trial.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>Authorities did not provide a crowd size estimate but reporters on the scene said from 2,000 to 5,000 people participated.<br><br>Some 500 police guarded the route crossing several city blocks from Congress to the president's offices at Government House, but no incidents were reported.<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Lopez, 77, vanished on the eve of the Sept. 19 conviction of former police investigator Miguel Etchecolatz, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for the disappearances of six people during the 1976-1983 dictatorship.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>A former construction worker, Lopez testified that Etchecolatz was among those who tortured him in a clandestine center during the rule of the right-wing generals.<br><br>"Today, Julio is one again among the 'Missing'," said one human rights activist, Hilda Eloy, who herself was detained in the junta years in what prosecutors say was a systematic state crackdown on dissent.<br><br>Earlier Wednesday as they had done for days, police searched a widening area outside Lopez's home near La Plata -- 35 miles southeast of Buenos Aires -- crisscrossing fields and woodlands with trained dogs. Television broadcast appeals for clues and leaflets with his photograph were widely distributed.<br><br>Kirchner on Wednesday appealed for fellow Argentines nationwide to provide any clues to the missing man's whereabouts.<br><br>"The president has issued a call to civil society for assistance," Anibal Fernandez said on the radio. "God willing, we will find him in good condition."<br><br>The trial was the first of its kind since the high court annulled the amnesty laws. A second trial, involving former police officer Julio Simon, ended in August, also with a conviction. <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Dozens of former police and state security agents are facing probable prosecution.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>Nearly 13,000 people are officially listed as killed or missing in the dictatorship's systematic crackdown on dissent, known as the "Dirty War." Human rights groups say the toll is closer to 30,000.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--> <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/09/27/argentina.warwitness.ap/index.html">www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/am...index.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=gouda@rigorousintuition>Gouda</A> at: 9/29/06 11:53 am<br></i>
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