Uruguay government repeals military immunity measures

[Judi Lynn]

Uruguay government repeals military immunity measures

www.chinaview.cn 2008-02-27 09:35:20

MONTEVIDEO, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Uruguay's President Tabare Vazquez has signed a document repealing the so-called "secret of state" measure that granted military officials the right to withhold information, local media reported Tuesday.

A dozen police and military officers charged with human rights abuses during Uruguay's 1973-1985 dictatorship had resorted to the immunity measures under the "secret of state" mechanism, which allowed them to withhold information to superior officers and courts during cases in 2006 and in 2007.

Human rights organizations have long called for the repeal and have been demanding that soldiers should reveal how nearly 200 opposition figures disappeared during the dictatorship.

The document signed Monday also says that soldiers should not carry out orders that are "manifestly illegal," including torturing captives. Should they do so, they will be held equally responsible.

In the 1980s, Uruguay took part in Plan Condor, in which South American nations with military governments kidnapped and then swapped opposition figures who were often tortured and killed thousands of kilometers away from their home nations.

More:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-02/27/content_7676248.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wikipedia on Operation Condor:

Operation Condor (Spanish: Operación Cóndor, Portuguese: Operação Condor) was a campaign of political repressions involving assassination and intelligence operations officially implemented in 1975 by the right-wing dictatorships of the Southern Cone of South America. The program aimed to deter left-wing influence and ideas and to control active or potential opposition movements against the usually conservative governments. Due to its clandestine nature, the precise number of deaths directly attributable to Operation Condor will likely never be known, but it is reported to have caused thousands of victims, possibly even more.<1><2><3>

Condor's key members were the right-wing military governments in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and Brazil, with Ecuador and Peru joining later in more peripheral roles.<4> These nations were ruled by dictators such as Jorge Rafael Videla, Augusto Pinochet, Ernesto Geisel, Hugo Banzer, and Alfredo Stroessner. The operation was jointly conducted by the intelligence and security services of these nations during the mid-1970s with the knowledge of and some support provided by the United States of America.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Condor