Argentine ex-military chief arrested in torture, kidnap case

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Updated 1:28 pm, Friday, February 17, 2017





BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) Former Argentine army chief Cesar Milani was arrested Friday for his alleged role in the kidnapping and torture of two men and a woman during the country's military dictatorship.

A court office confirmed that Milan was transferred to a jail after testifying Friday before Judge Daniel Herrera Piedrabuena about the case of Pedro Olivera, his son Ramon and Veronica Matta in the late 1970s.

Milani was a lower-ranking officer during the 1976-1983 dictatorship and later rose to head the armed forces during the 2007-2015 term of former President Cristina Fernandez.

The court statement did not specify what role Milani played in the case of the Oliveras in 1977 or that of Matta a year earlier. He was charged with aggravated torture, illegal search and kidnapping.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Argentine-ex-military-chief-arrested-in-torture-10940944.php

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Americas Role in Argentinas Dirty War
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD MARCH 17, 2016




Daniel Garcia/Agence France-Presse Getty Images


A few months after a military junta overthrew President Isabel Pern of Argentina in 1976, the countrys new foreign minister, Adm. Cesar Guzzetti, told Henry Kissinger, Americas secretary of state, that the military was aggressively cracking down on the terrorists.

Mr. Kissinger responded, If there are things that have to be done, you should do them quickly, an apparent warning that a new American Congress might cut off aid if it thought the Argentine government was engaging in systemic human rights abuses.

The American ambassador in Buenos Aires soon reported to Washington that the Argentine government had interpreted Mr. Kissingers words as a green light to continue its brutal tactics against leftist guerrillas, political dissidents and suspected socialists.

Just how much the American government knew about Argentinas repressive Dirty War, which lasted from 1976 to 1983 and the extent to which it condoned the abuses has remained shrouded in secrecy.

More:
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/17/opinion/americas-role-in-argentinas-dirty-war.html?_r0

[MrScorpio]

1. He's just one "i" away from this guy:

And it would be really disappointing if it were so.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Wouldn't it? Good eye, it hadn't occurred to me, yet. Great photo. n/t

[tenorly]

3. Sure - although Milani is Italian,

whereas Millán is Spanish.

That said, the two do have this much in common: they were able to hide their respective skeletons for years, and (allegedly) play it pretty fast and loose with their finances as well.