italiano
The Argentine political scene has for long been marred by instabilities and violence. Ever since 1930, when the first military coup, headed by General Jose Uriburu, took place against the democratically elected government of Hipólito Yrigoyen, non democratic dictatorships ruled the country for long periods.
After the dirty war has ended, and the
As the legal proceedings were taking place, enormous
military pressure was building upon the democratic government.
Real politíc brought the Alfonsín government to
weight the benefits of just process vs. the clear and present danger
of the country spiraling once again into a vicious circle
of violence and a potential civil war.
In December 1986, after the highest officers of the military
have been convicted and sentenced to various terms in prison,
a new law, "El Punto Final" (The Final Point), was enacted and approved
by congress. This law stated that all those in the military or the police
that were not yet charged on crimes committed during the 1976-1983 era,
would be left out of the judiciary process. It should be noted
that the "Punto Final" has overridden an existing law stating that
military power "excesses" (including torture and murder without trial)
were not only illegal but considered to be crimes against humanity.
As it was soon to be realized by the Alfonsín government,
the "Punto Final", was anything but final.
Reacting to the trials and imprisonment of the top military officers,
severely hurt by the deterioration of army prestige as a result
of its abysmal performance during the Falklands war,
and encouraged by the enactment of the Punto Final, extremists
in army circles started a series of uprisings against the
Alfonsín government and their own superiors
who cooperated with the newly elected democratic institutes.
They barricaded themselves in military bases demanding to stop the
trials of their colleagues who were not included under the
Punto Final law. They came to be known as the "Carapintadas"
(The Painted Faces) since they had their faces smeared black with bitumen.
The first uprising led by Lieutenant Colonel
Aldo Rico, took place during the
"Semana Santa" on April 15, 1987, in the school of Infantry in Campo de Mayo.
Major Ernesto Barreiro refused to appear in court and was backed
by the Carapintadas who barricaded in that base.
Despite a very wide rally of Argentine civilians with the democratic
government, the Carapintadas paid a minor price (Rico and Barreiro were
put under arrest) while managing to bring about the retirement
of the then Army chief-of-staff, Hector Luis Rios Ereñú,
and to press the Alfonsín government and its congress into
dropping all charges against lower ranked military officers.
The clause came to be known as "La ley de la obediencia debida"
(The law of due obedience of orders by any military man ranked
lower than Colonel.)
The Carapintadas weren't appeased. More likely, the capitulation
of the government to their demands encouraged them to go even further.
Led again by Lieutenant Colonel Aldo Rico
who was under lenient house arrest, they revolted again.
This revolt started in mid January of 1988, in the city of Monte Caseros,
in Corrientes county. Rico's forces were defeated after a few days of fighting.
They surrendered on January 17, 1988 and 300 of them were arrested,
and were sentenced to jail.
The handling of the convicted military persons in jail was
strikingly lenient. They were allowed free phone calls, and were
kept in comfortable hotel like conditions. A third uprising of the
more extreme faction of the Carapintadas, code named
Virgen de la Valle (virgin of the valley), took place
in December of 1988.
It started with the defection of 54 members of the Albatross unit
(a coast guard elite squadron), and continued in the military barrack
of Villa Martelli where they reappeared.
This time the uprising was led by a most extreme and charismatic
figure: Colonel
Mohammed Alí Seineldín
and was supported by an impressive number (about 1000)
of troops from several Army, Naval, and Air-force units.
This third uprising, like the first, proved successful: only 2 arrests
were made as a result (Seineldin himself, and Major Hugo Abete who refused
to surrender until several days later). Several of the extensive
demands of Seineldin and his troops were met:
the Army chief-of-staff, José S. Dante Caridi was
forced to retire and replaced by General Gassino who was more respected
by the extremists, military salaries were increased, and none of the
other rebels was prosecuted.
Less than a year later, on October 5, 1989 as part of an even
more sweeping military appeasement policy, the newly elected
president, Carlos Menem, signed 4 amnesty decrees
(no. 1002, 1003, 1004, and 1005) which set free 39 of the convicted
of the 1976-1983 repression era, those convicted for negligence
in the Falklands War, and 164 members of the Carapintadas,
the Air force, the special Albatross unit, and the military
intelligence who took part in the uprisings. Among the released
were: ex generals
Juan Sasiaiñ,
Albano Harguindeguy,
Santiago Riveros
Acdel Edgardo Vilas,
Luciano Benjamin Menendez, and
Reynaldo Bignone.
A little over a year later, notwithstanding Menem's amnesties,
a fourth uprising erupted, being led again by Seineldin, this time
from his prison cell, and helped on the outside by Navy commodore
Luis Fernando Estrella.
The Carapintadas were clearly distancing themselves from the Army
which they were a part of. They opposed both the democratic
regime and the heads of the Army that became too politicized
in their view. This uprising occurred on December 3rd, 1990 and
came to be known as Operació Virgen de Luján,
(or simply the December 3rd rebellion.) The rebellion failed with
over 600 arrests, many of them convicted. More significantly,
the violence resulted in several deaths among opposing democratic
army forces which diminished the Carapintadas appeal
and popularity tremendously among less extreme army circles.
On December 29, 1990, Menem completed the appeasement policy
towards the repression era army members by giving amnesty to all
the top responsible for the dirty war, (including those sentenced
by the democratic judiciary to life in prison):
Jorge Rafael Videla,
Emilio Massera,
Roberto Viola,
Ramon Camps,
the ex-commander of the police Ovidio Ricchieri,
the ex-commander of the 1st army corps. Guillermo Suarez Mason,
and the ex economy minister
Jose Alfredo Martinez de Hoz.
With only Seineldin remaining in prison, the military pressure
has paid off once again.
The story, it seems, refuses to die. In March 1992 a bomb
exploded in the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires killing 29 people
and injuring 252. About two years later, on July 18, 1994,
at 9:57 am, 660 pounds of explosives, carried in a van, destroyed
a seven story building in Buenos Aires, that housed AMIA
(Asociacion Mutual Israelita Argentina) and DAIA (Delegación de
Asociaciones Israelitas Argentinas). The brick building collapsed
and severe damage affected adjacent buildings. 86 people died
and 120 were injured.
The investigation of the bombings led back to members of the
Carapintadas and the police who are known to be strongly antisemitic.
A few of the suspects, Notably a captain named Emilio Morello,
were among those pardoned six years earlier by president Carlos Menem.
The lead suspect, Carlos Telleldin, is the son of a sadistic torturer
close to the Junta, who served as a high ranking security official
in Cordoba in the repression era. Telleldin espouses neo-Nazi views
and is being held for involvement in the falsifying of documents
of the vehicle used in the bombing.
The Buenos Aires Police notorious for its participation
in the repression era, has been involved in numerous
persecutions of human right activists and journalists.
just as one example, on March 1998, the office of Familiares de
Desaparecidos y Detenidos por Razones Politicas, the Argentine human
rights group that joins the Families of the disappeared, was broken
into for the eighth time (and this is not a typo). Their two
new computers were stolen, as well as their fax machine, and a lot of
documentation (this includes the testimonies from ex-disappeared and about
what happened to the disappeared). The office is located in front of
Congress, in Buenos Aires, a heavily guarded part of the city, and
the police never seems to be able to help.
March 26, 1998 update: The Argentine Chamber of Deputies
unanimously passed a measure to cancel the Law of Due Obedience
and the Final Point (Punto Final) and the Senate approved the measure
just 24 hours later. Seems like Argentine politicians are coming
back to their senses. Although a presidential veto is expected, and
although these measures have only symbolic significance (prosecutions
of the responsible are extremely unlikely to be renewed) this is,
nevertheless, exciting news for democracy and common-sense.
For more details see the following Argentine newspaper articles
(in Spanish):
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