MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Operation Condor condemns Argentine ex dictator and 14 top military officers
Former Argentine dictator Reynaldo Bignone and 14 other ex-military officials were found guilty by an Argentine court on Friday of conspiring to kidnap and assassinate leftist dissidents as part of the Operation Condor program. Bignone, 88, the highest ranking figure on trial, was sentenced to 20 years in jail. Fourteen of the remaining 16 defendants got eight to 25 years behind bars. Two were found not guilty. Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesSo, they're punishing the old commie cold war warriors?
May 28th, 2016 - 01:01 pm - Link - Report abuse 0New flash latam: Look at the damage that communism has inflicted on you.
Your countries are in economic and political ruin.
Medals would be a more appropriate reward than sentences.
@1 chronic
May 28th, 2016 - 04:11 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Are you in your right mind? I have read a lot of nonsense in Mercopress over the years BUT never anything as crass as your above comments.
Commie.
May 28th, 2016 - 04:18 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Uruguay had a military dictatorship as a result of the seditious actions of the so called 'Tupas' against a properly elected government who failed to treat the matter with the gravitas it required.
May 28th, 2016 - 07:41 pm - Link - Report abuse 0They and the subsequent MD should have executed all the know Tupas on the spot.
Their failure to deal with this scum has resulted in the formation of The Broad Fraud and the subsequent incompetence in government and graft on a huge scale.
Due to the absolute blind loyalty implicit in communist structure it is hard to design a more effective instrument of graft and corruption.
May 28th, 2016 - 08:01 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The dinosaurs in this forum rear their ugly heads to once more condone the illegal kidnapping, horrendous torture and subsequent execution of thousands of human beings who apparently did not deserve better because of the suspicion they might be “commies.”
May 29th, 2016 - 05:38 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Very sad and degrading of the human condition.
^^^^^^^^^
May 29th, 2016 - 09:12 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Quite descriptive of standard communist policy implementation.
Good work by the courts.
May 30th, 2016 - 01:04 am - Link - Report abuse 0Latam: Reap your commie prosperity.
May 30th, 2016 - 01:07 am - Link - Report abuse 0Sad to see people supporting these criminals. Apparently murder, torture and terrorism if fine if it's done to people you don't like.
May 30th, 2016 - 10:59 am - Link - Report abuse 0Communism is a disease.
May 30th, 2016 - 12:59 pm - Link - Report abuse 0If you want to try to save the tree obviously the infected branches are going to have to be excised.
Latams: Look at what communism has cost you - your region is in economic and moral ruin.
@11
May 30th, 2016 - 03:37 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Having a continent full of fuck-witted military dictatorships isn't quite the pathway to prosperity either. The most successful societies are those which have evolved effective mechanisms for stopping the perverts getting out of their box.
#11 chronic
May 30th, 2016 - 04:33 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“Communism has cost you...economic and moral ruin.”
Like a broken record, this chronically bitter hate monger keeps repeating the mantra of his two-dimensional world: commies are bad (suggesting perhaps capitalists are good).
Well: newsflash to you, chronic. In Latin America, we actually had little, if any, experiences with Communism. (If you knew some history you would know that Peronism has nothing to do with Communism--it rather contains many elements from the other side of the political spectrum).
As a result, most of what Latin American countries have experienced since independence is Capitalism, or at least some deformed, dependent Capitalism.
And the experience hasn't really convinced anyone, beside interested parties, that Capitalism, as practiced in our region, is going to save us.
In any event-and unfortunately-the coming months and years are going to demonstrate what Latin American-style capitalism can do to countries such as Argentina and Brazil, where different processes existed until recently.
Not a fan of fascists either but how often can a commie make the trains run on time or fill the rice bowl or make the lights work or . . . . . . .
May 30th, 2016 - 04:40 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@ 10 DemonTree
May 30th, 2016 - 06:45 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You live in a country where the government has been elected by it's citizens BUT a very few who didn't vote for that government want to change it.
They are not going to use the ballot box THEY know better and are going to kidnap officials and force the government into submission. BUT the new government knows it is not going to give in so the seditious element start to murder people and still the government cannot face the reality of it's own citizens rising up against it so it does NOTHING, but it still clings to power.
What to do now, the seditionists have had enough and start murdering more people. Still the government does not tackle the real problem.
Any idea what the real problem is? Have YOU figured out what to do in their place, I bet you haven't, have you?
The problem is simple in reality: the seditionists (the so called Tupamaros) led by a character who spent five years at university studying law but never took the exam (but still lauded as a lawyer by the Tupas: TMBOA wasn't the first you see) didn't play by the rule of law and the government did. At that time there were very few Tupas and the murders they committed had cost them dear with the 'man in the street' and the government could easily have passed laws to outlaw them and raise a counter-terrorist force to 'take care' of them, but still they did nothing.
And then the army was brought in and they KNEW what was needed but by then the Tupas were spread all over and very difficult to detect so normal citizens got caught up in the crack downs. Eventually the 'brave' Tupas RAN AWAY to other countries who saw them not as terrorist scum but, like the IRA murdering bastards were seen in the Irish US community, as freedom fighters and gave them shelter in their lands.
The mistake the government made was not to take firm action and kill them when they were few and bawling their heads off and easy to spot. THAT is why this country is in the shit it is in.
Got it now?
As a matter of principle I don't agree with Kris on anything but in this case he seems to be quite credible in addition to being well informed.
May 30th, 2016 - 07:24 pm - Link - Report abuse 0#15 Chris
May 30th, 2016 - 08:10 pm - Link - Report abuse 0”...the Tupas were spread all over and (it was) very difficult to detect so normal citizens got caught up in the crack downs.“
Oh yeah, some people died, some other got real damaged during torture because being innocents did not have anything to say and those using electricity and water went a bit too far...just peanuts, the cost of doing business!
Your casual disregard for human life and your sick justification of ”excesses“ or ”errors” during crack downs can only come from utter ignorance--or from someone who benefited from such actions.
In any event, you are 30 years late. The Latin American dictatorships of the 1970s have been already analysed, their actions dissected, and most civilized people agree their despicable methods were unacceptable.
The sentences now passed against those who implemented the Plan Condor--long after the crimes, by judges who took extra care and a lot of time to ensure the rights of the accused were respected shows clearly--for those who want to see--the criminal plan executed in South America during the 1970s.
I know you won't get it.
Their blood is ultimately on their own hands for fighting a war out of uniform.
May 30th, 2016 - 08:59 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@15 ChrisR
May 30th, 2016 - 11:07 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I don't know much about it so you may be right that the government should have dealt with the problem earlier. But it doesn't justify torturing and murdering people, even the guilty ones, let alone the innocent. If the Tupamaros were killing people or committing other crimes they should have been dealt with officially, according to the law.
And I hate those bastards in the IRA as much as anyone but I would NOT support the British government torturing them.
1 chronic
May 30th, 2016 - 11:24 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“Look at the damage that communism has inflicted on you” I wasn't aware that they had inflicted any damage. The only thing I can discern is these gentlemen were apparently traitors, who breached international law in order to satisfy the aims of US foreign policy.
lol.
May 30th, 2016 - 11:32 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Latam is a veritable Disneyland.
lol.
Cuba?
Chauvistan?
Brazzr?
Rg?
Communism has sucked the lifeblood out of the entire region.
Even Russia and china have rejected it.
Get a clue, comrade Teri.
21 chronic
May 31st, 2016 - 03:00 am - Link - Report abuse 0I missed your expansive LatAm, as this article is exclusive to Argentina. ”Operation Condor was coordinated by dictatorships in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil and Bolivia to hunt down and kill exiled opponents in the 1970s and '80s….Friday's court decision cited the disappearance of 105 people during Argentina's 1976-1983 dictatorship.
“It determines not only that state terrorism in Argentina was an criminal conspiracy but that it was coordinated with other dictatorships,” While I would agree that communism doesn't work, its on a par with dictatorships. Its influence in SA with the exception of Venezuela and Cuba has been largely imaginary. By far the greatest malignancy was the misguided interference by the US in the continents affairs, since they can't point to one success.
#22 Terence Hill @ #21 chronic
May 31st, 2016 - 04:36 am - Link - Report abuse 0Very well put, Terence. Could have not said it better.
Here you go, chronically misguided, McCarthy disciple.
@ 19 DemonTree
May 31st, 2016 - 11:34 am - Link - Report abuse 0You and people like you are the reason that Islamists will eventual infest and destroy every bit of western culture. They don't care that your child is killed because it is an unbeliever and every such unbeliever has to die ACCORDING TO THEIR 'RELIGION'.
You only have to look at the Paris atrocities to see how difficult it is to do anything when the authorities obey the law. The law was designed for reasonable people who strayed from the social norm, NOT bat-shit mad Islamists or seditious, murdering Tupas. They put themselves outside of what is reasonable and need to be dealt with in whatever manner works to preserve the rest of society.
24 ChrisR
May 31st, 2016 - 12:32 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“or seditious, murdering Tupas” Is just another bit of your “bat-shit mad” porkies. “At the beginning, it abstained from armed actions and violence, acting not as a guerrilla group but a political movement. In June 1968, President Jorge Pacheco, trying to suppress labour unrest, enforced a state of emergency and repealed all constitutional safeguards. The government imprisoned political dissidents, used torture during interrogations, and brutally repressed demonstrations. The Tupamaro movement engaged then in political kidnappings, ”armed propaganda“ and assassinations” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupamaros
So far as equating them with Islamic extremists is apparently false, as they only migrated from bank robberies to actual violence in response to government initiated violence.
@24 ChrisR
May 31st, 2016 - 02:21 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The French authorities could have done more than they did without breaking the law. Here in Britain I have seen plenty of stories in the paper about would- be terrorists arrested while planning their acts, so apparently the police are not so helpless.
And one where they were not so on the ball, the family of the tube attacker called the police 3 weeks before the attack because they were worried about his behaviour. Do you think they would have done that if they thought he might be tortured by the state?
How much luck do you think the police would have recruiting informers from that community if they were 'disappearing' people?
What specifically do you think the government should be doing about Daesh that they aren't?
ISIS - Islamic State In Syria
May 31st, 2016 - 02:29 pm - Link - Report abuse 0#25 Terence Hill
May 31st, 2016 - 05:52 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Absolutely. The insurgents' violence in Latin America only started after years or decades of violence committed against citizens.
Additionally, the real reason for the extremely violent and indiscriminate offensive against opponents that took place in many Latin American countries in the 1970s was deliberate and carefully planned; the executors wanted to quash opposition and at the same time send a strong message to any potential opponents.
In Argentina, the 1976 coup came after three years of daily murderous attacks by the Argentina Anticommunist Alliance death squads against the well known activists--which failed to stop civil unrest.
The disappearance strategy, in which the final destiny of the kidnapped (death flights) was hidden for years, was conceived as a much more perverse--and pervasive--form of terror, in which no one feels safe and the fate of the missing is unknown, causing lingering suffering and increased fear.
@ 26 DemonTree
May 31st, 2016 - 06:03 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I remember when the government claimed there were only 276 active IRA member left AND they claimed they knew who they were but clearly had difficulty in proving it.
The IRA went on to murder more than 3,700 and tens of thousands were injured in more than 30 years of violence in Northern Ireland.
You remember the twin towers of 9/11? Some 3,000 people were killed in those attacks of 2001 but nobody cares about the IRA, the US actually sat on the fence all those years and the Irish twats in Chicago, many second or third generation Americans sent money 'home' to fund the 'war'.
What a pity the UK government didn't just set the SAS on those 276 murdering Irish pigs, two of my friends died because of them.
@29 ChrisR
May 31st, 2016 - 09:37 pm - Link - Report abuse 0We're not just fighting for ourselves but for our values and our rights, which include not being tortured or killed without a trial. If we become as bad as those we are fighting then what is the point?
I also don't trust this or any other government not to abuse those powers if it had them, or to always correctly identify the guilty. That is what a trial is for. What are the chances they were right about those 276 people?
About the IRA: “British Home Secretary Reginald Maudling declared that he would settle for an ”acceptable level of violence” at the start of 1971, but within a year the introduction of internment (imprisonment without trial) and the events of Bloody Sunday served to recruit large numbers of young nationalists into republican paramilitary groups.”
I don't believe it excuses the terrorists at all, but as a practical matter governments should avoid these kind of actions.
There were 3,700 people killed, but not all by the IRA. Some were killed by Loyalist paramilitaries, some by the police and army.
And about America, yes they should have done something, I get the impression that before 9/11 they were in their cosy world and bombs and attacks were things that happened to other people in distant countries. But there are options to deal with these people without breaking the law, I'm sure funding terrorism must have been an offence back then.
It certainly sounds like the dictators involved in Operation Condor were going after anyone who opposed them, violent or not. They were basically terrorists themselves, ruling through fear. And they clearly didn't left those countries in a good state either, most of them still have major problems today.
I am sorry about your friends though, were they in the army?
@ 30 DemonTree
Jun 01st, 2016 - 12:44 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Both in the same bomb.
“I'm sure funding terrorism must have been an offence back then.”
But that's the problem, the dead-headed micks of Chicago didn't think it was terrorism and neither did the successive US governments but 9/11 changed that.
The situation in Uruguay was different to the other countries but mishandled due to naivety of the then government. Yes, there used to be 'violent' protests about this, that or the other but short lived, however the seditious Tupas moved that up an order of magnitude when they murdered people.
31 ChrisR
Jun 01st, 2016 - 05:29 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“seditious Tupas moved that up an order of magnitude when they murdered people.” Only in response by a government that had initiated violence and had suspended all civil liberties and was under the direction of a murdering American. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Mitrione Is just another bit of your “bat-shit mad” porkies. “At the beginning, it abstained from armed actions and violence, acting not as a guerrilla group but a political movement. In June 1968, President Jorge Pacheco, trying to suppress labour unrest, enforced a state of emergency and repealed all constitutional safeguards. The government imprisoned political dissidents, used torture during interrogations, and brutally repressed demonstrations. The Tupamaro movement engaged then in political kidnappings, ”armed propaganda“ and assassinations” en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupamaros
@30 ChrisR
Jun 02nd, 2016 - 11:31 am - Link - Report abuse 0It's a shame America had to suffer it's own terrorist attack before those people really understood what they were doing. And I suppose for the US government it was difficult to prove where the money was going.
@32 Terence Hill
That confirms what I thought. When the government started using excessive violence, so the dissidents did too.
There are a lot of sensible responses to protests available between doing nothing and engaging in state terrorism.
@ 32 Terry Hillock
Jun 02nd, 2016 - 07:35 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Guess who wrote the Wiki article, go on have a guess, it begins with 'T' AND they are STILL 'correcting' the FACTUAL amendments done by the people who really know what went on like my Uruguayo friends one of whose father was interred for some time by the military.
You ought to change you tag to something like 'sponge' because you believe (suck up) everything you read.
34 Tweedledee
Jun 02nd, 2016 - 07:55 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I thought your fascist inclinations would drive you to refuse to accept the truth, so were they also controlling the New York Times and The Guardian?, idiot.
“The Tupamoros normally avoid bloodshed when possible. They try instead to create embarrassment for the Government and general disorder.” New York Times, 8/1/70 [E.g., publishing raided files of big private corporations to expose corruption and deceit, or publishing transcripts of trials in “People's Court” of temporarily kidnapped corrupt public officials.]
The US-armed and US-trained military crush the Tupamoros in 1972, institute 11 years of repressive dictatorship, with “the largest number of political prisoners per capita in the world [about 60,000 people, roughly 2 percent of the population], each one of them was tortured.” The Guardian (London) 10/19/84, Human Rights Quarterly, 5/82. http://www-personal.umich.edu/~lormand/poli/soa/uruguay.htm
@ 35 Terry Tiny Hillock
Jun 03rd, 2016 - 10:41 am - Link - Report abuse 0The Gruniad!
Now you are really showing your gullibility quoting this leftist rag.
Whilst the US forces did have significant numbers of ground troops in the other countries which comprised 'Condor' that was not the case in Uruguay.
Yes, US Military advisers did help the UY government in training and directing the police and the army to, for the first time, successfully deal with the seditious scum.
Had the population not shown ambivalence to the Tupas in the beginning AND the government had the resolve to do what was needed then the whole thing could have been contained. Arresting the majority of the UY University faculty of law and the senior classes would have destroyed the core of the movement from the get go.
This will be my last attempt at trying to present the facts to somebody who would rather believe the Gruniad, do you believe in fairies as well?
35 Tweedledum
Jun 03rd, 2016 - 11:28 am - Link - Report abuse 0'The only thing I've shown is that you are a proven liar. I“The violent methods [of ”routine torture“] which were beginning to be employed [by ”US advisers, and in particular Mitrione“] caused an escalation in Tupamaro activity. Before then their attitude showed that they would use violence only as a last resort.” Alejandro Otero, Uruguayan Chief of Police Intelligence, CIA agent, demoted for his testimony'
'Torture becomes a “normal, frequent and habitual occurrence” including “electric shocks to the genitals, electric needles under the fingernails, burning with cigarettes, the slow compression of the testicles, daily use of psychological torture”, “pregnant women were imprisoned with their very young infants and subjected to the same treatment” unamimous conclusion of [Uruguayan] Senate Commission of Inquiry into Torture/
“As subjects for the first testing they took beggars from the outskirts of Montevideo, as well as a woman apparently from the frontier area with Brazil. There was no interrogation, only a demonstration of the effects of different voltages on the different parts of the human body. The four of them died.” Manuel Hevia Cosculluela, former CIA agent and associate of Mitrione
You've shown your worth as a human being in blaming the populous of Uruguay for their abuse at the hands of a foreign nation.
“US Military advisers did help the UY government ...deal with the seditious scum.”
”The Tupamoros … try …to create embarrassment for the Government and general disorder.“ New York Times, 8/1/70
”my last attempt at trying to present the facts” You haven't presented any so far, just a tissue of lies.
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