A court sentenced one of Argentina’s most feared former military leaders to life in prison on Thursday for the 1977 kidnapping, torture and killing of four leftist activists.
Luciano Benjamin Menendez, 81, was commander of the regional Third Army Corps in Cordoba for five years during Argentina’s 1976-1983 military dictatorship and controlled one of the regime’s most notorious torture centers.
Hours before the sentencing, an unrepentant Menendez read a statement in front of television cameras in the courtroom saying the regime’s repression had been justified in the face of a leftist militant threat.
“We had to take appropriate measures,” he said, enraging activists, one of whom screamed “genocide” and had to be removed from the courtroom.
Menendez, who was already under house arrest for previous “dirty war” convictions, will be transferred to a prison following Thursday’s conviction and sentencing.
Hundreds of people gathered outside the courtroom — many holding placards and pictures of the alleged victims — erupted into cheers upon hearing the verdict, which was read on local television stations.
The verdict was considered important, both because of Menendez’s gruesome reputation and because he was ordered to serve the rest of his sentence in prison.
Many convicted former military officers are serving their sentences under house arrest, as allowed by an Argentine law that applies to those over 70 years old or of poor health. A court can choose to send them to prison anyway, however, as was the case with Menendez.
Six other former military officers and one civilian were also convicted on Thursday in connection with the killings of the activists and given sentences ranging from life in prison to 18 years. The trial lasted less than two months.
The four victims — Hilda Palacios, Humberto Brandalisis, Carlos Lajas and Raul Cardozo — were kidnapped in 1977. They were members of the Revolutionary Workers Party.
Prosecutors said the four were taken to the prison and torture center known as “La Perla,” which was run by the Third Army Corps, and killed within a month. Their bodies were then dropped in the street to make it seem as if they had been killed in a shootout, before they were picked up by the authorities.
Palacios’ body was found in 2004 in a local cemetery. The bodies of the others have not been found.
Menendez’s is the latest conviction of a “dirty war” suspect.
Seven ex-military officers and a former police official were convicted of human rights abuses in December. Also, a top ex-navy chief was charged earlier this month in the 1977 kidnapping and murder of a prominent journalist.
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez has made advancing human rights trials a priority since taking office. In 2005, the Supreme Court struck down amnesty laws from the 1980s that had protected suspects from the dictatorship.
About 13,000 people were killed during the dictatorship, official numbers showed, but human rights groups claim the number is closer to 30,000.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
‘BODIES EVERYWHERE’: The incident occurred at a Filipino festival celebrating an anti-colonial leader, with the driver described as a ‘lone suspect’ known to police Canadian police arrested a man on Saturday after a car plowed into a street party in the western Canadian city of Vancouver, killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8pm in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighborhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canada’s election. A 30-year-old local man was arrested at the scene, Vancouver police wrote on X. The driver was a “lone suspect” known to police, a police spokesperson told journalists at the
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition
RSS