ARGENTINA DICTATORSHIP CHILDREN SORRY FOR FATHERS' CRIMES

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Jun 7, 5:37 PM EDT


BY ALMUDENA CALATRAVA
ASSOCIATED PRESS


BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- Seven women walked timidly through the streets of Argentina's capital holding a banner that identified them as the children of human rights criminals.

"Disobedient Stories," read the banner, "Sons and Daughters of Genocide In Favor of Memory, Truth and Justice."

The women who had once discussed their fathers' role in the nation's past horrors only privately recently started a group called "Disobedient Stories" to publicly recount tales of growing up with military men who they say committed abuses during Argentina's so-called "dirty war" against leftist dissidents.

They include Laura Delgadillo, whose father, Jorge Luis Delgadillo, died without being convicted. Delgadillo accuses her dad of being part of the state-sponsored repression when he worked for the intelligence service of Buenos Aires province.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LT_ARGENTINA_DICTATORSHIP_CHILDREN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-07-17-37-53

[sandensea]

1. They're good and brave souls - but unfortunately fairly rare among relatives of Dirty War perps

Macri recently boasted that his right-wing coalition, which has fallen 10-15% behind in the mid-term polls thanks to the recession and all the corruption scandals, will do better than expected "because the military vote amounts to 1,000,000 people."

He's exaggerating of course, as he's counting all active-duty officers (75,000), retired officers, (300,000 or so), plus voting-age family members - and he's assuming they'll ALL vote for his party.

It nevertheless speaks to the shameless effort he's made to curry favor with the military vote - many of whom resent the Dirty War trials. He's even brought back military parades on city avenues - a sight not seen in Buenos Aires since 2010 (though they do take place in smaller cities).

The context is different from 40 years ago; but it was a clear message.