Editor's Story of the Argentine Dirty War

The Associated Press has an article today about the book Dirty Secrets, Dirty War: The Exile of Robert J. Cox by CNN web producer David Cox.

The book tells the story of Robert Cox, who was the editor of the Buenos Aires Herald during the dirty war in Argentina. The Herald was one of the early papers to report about the junta's growing repression. "They warned him and tried to keep him in bounds, but he would publish lists of those who disappeared," recalled F. Allen "Tex" Harris, a U.S. diplomat in Argentina at the time.

Cox was sent to prison for a day after writing editorials about what was going on in the country. After his release, he received several death threats. In 1979, Cox fled Argentina with his family.

"This is the book that I could not write," the elder Cox, 75, says in the foreword. "I still find it too painful to relive those malevolent times by writing about them."

Image-AP

Online sources: AP