Showing posts with label Reynaldo Bignone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reynaldo Bignone. Show all posts
Monday, May 30, 2016
Daily Headlines: May 30, 2016 (Multiple Updates)
* Argentina: An Argentine court last week sentenced ex-dictator Reynaldo Bignone to twenty years in prison for his role in the infamous Operation Condor secret program to monitor and murder dissidents across South America.
* Mexico: Kidnapped Mexican soccer striker Alan Pulido is said to be in good health following his rescue by federal and state security forces in the early morning hours today.
Update: Questions have been raised over the nature of Pulido's liberation with conflicting accounts claiming that he allegedly fought off his captors and may not have been rescued by security agents.
* Puerto Rico: Several thousand protesters marched in San Juan yesterday to call for the release of independence activist Oscar Lopez Rivera on the 35th anniversary of his imprisonment.
* Brazil: The administration of acting President Michel Temer has once more come under fire after a recording leaked of anti-corruption chief Fabiano Silveira giving legal advice to embattled Senate leader Renan Calheiros.
Update: Silveira resigned from his post on Monday and, thus, becomes the second member of Temer's cabinet to quit in the span of a week.
YouTube Source – CCTV America
Online Sources including Update – Fox News Latino, Reuters, ABC News, The Atlantic, BBC News, Vice News
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Daily Headlines: March 13, 2013
* Chile: The world’s biggest radio telescope, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array, will be officially inaugurated on Wednesday though it has been in use for the past two years.
* Bolivia: Should the next Pope accept Bolivian President Evo Morales’ suggestion and try wine made from the coca leaf?
* Venezuela: According to the International Energy Agency, Venezuelan oil spending will likely decline if interim leader Nicolás Maduro wins next month’s presidential election.
* Argentina: Former military strongman Reynaldo Bignone was sentenced to life in prison for crimes against humanity committed under his rule during the 1980s.
Video Source – YouTube via Al Jazeera English
Online Sources- Huffington Post, Sky News Australia, Bloomberg, TVNZ
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Ex-Argentine Dictators Sentenced Over Illegal Adoptions
In a historic decision an Argentine court sentenced former dictators Jorge Videla and Reynaldo Bignone for the kidnapping and illegal adoptions of thirty-five children during the “Dirty War” era.
Videla, who has already been sentenced to life in prison for crimes against humanity, received the punishment of an additional fifty years behind bars. Bignone, who is also serving a lengthy prison sentences for human rights crimes in the early 1980s, was sentenced to fifteen years in prison.
Videla claimed during testimony last week that the accusations against him were “erroneous” and that the mothers kidnapped by security forces were “active militants in the machinery of terrorism”. Nevertheless, the court agreed with prosecutor Martín Niklison’s arguments alleging that Videla and Bignone knowingly executed a “systematic plan” to rob babies between 1976 and 1983.
Videla, who has already been sentenced to life in prison for crimes against humanity, received the punishment of an additional fifty years behind bars. Bignone, who is also serving a lengthy prison sentences for human rights crimes in the early 1980s, was sentenced to fifteen years in prison.
Videla claimed during testimony last week that the accusations against him were “erroneous” and that the mothers kidnapped by security forces were “active militants in the machinery of terrorism”. Nevertheless, the court agreed with prosecutor Martín Niklison’s arguments alleging that Videla and Bignone knowingly executed a “systematic plan” to rob babies between 1976 and 1983.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Today’s Video: 2,211,900 Days Behind Bars
Sometimes it can take a little longer than expected in order for justice to be served. But there are occasions when fugitives will eventually be caught and made to pay for their crimes.
Take the case of Pedro Pimentel Rios, a former instructor for an Guatemalan elite military unit that took part in the infamous Dos Erres massacre. After the Central American country's 36-year civil war ended he resided in impunity for several years in California. In 2010 he was detained by U.S. immigration authorities and the following year he was deported back to his country of birth.
This week a Guatemalan court found Pimentel Rios guilty for his role in the Dos Erres massacre that occurred thirty years ago and sentenced him to 6060 years in prison:
The sentence against Pimentel Rios may have been largely symbolic since the maximum time in prison under Guatemalan law is fifty years. Yet the three-judge panel decreed that he receive thirty year sentences for each of the 201 civilians killed in one of the worst atrocities of the Guatemalan civil war.
Pimentel Rios became the fifth ex-special forces soldier to be convicted for participating in the Dos Erres massacre where troops "systematically killed hundreds of men, women and children, shooting or bludgeoning them to death and throwing bodies down a well".
"We are pleased with the decision beacuse it is a step forward in the fight against impunity in Guatemala," said the president of a local victims' rights group to the AFP.
Earlier this month a judge ruled that former military ruler Gen Efrain Rios Montt cannot receive amnesty and would be tried for genocide and crimes against humanity. (Efrain Rios Montt was briefly in power but it was under his regime that the Dos Erres massacre took place).
In recent years several other Latin American countries have seen former officials who were in power in the 20th century tried and convicted for various crimes. Ex-Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori is currently in prison after being convicted in four trials on charges of corruption and human rights abuses. Former Argentine strongman Reynaldo Bignone has been sentenced to prison for numerous crimes against humanity including for helping set up a "secret torture center" inside a hospital in 1976.
Video Source - Al Jazeera English
Online Sources - BBC News, CNN, Huffington Post, enlatino.com
Take the case of Pedro Pimentel Rios, a former instructor for an Guatemalan elite military unit that took part in the infamous Dos Erres massacre. After the Central American country's 36-year civil war ended he resided in impunity for several years in California. In 2010 he was detained by U.S. immigration authorities and the following year he was deported back to his country of birth.
This week a Guatemalan court found Pimentel Rios guilty for his role in the Dos Erres massacre that occurred thirty years ago and sentenced him to 6060 years in prison:
The sentence against Pimentel Rios may have been largely symbolic since the maximum time in prison under Guatemalan law is fifty years. Yet the three-judge panel decreed that he receive thirty year sentences for each of the 201 civilians killed in one of the worst atrocities of the Guatemalan civil war.
Pimentel Rios became the fifth ex-special forces soldier to be convicted for participating in the Dos Erres massacre where troops "systematically killed hundreds of men, women and children, shooting or bludgeoning them to death and throwing bodies down a well".
"We are pleased with the decision beacuse it is a step forward in the fight against impunity in Guatemala," said the president of a local victims' rights group to the AFP.
Earlier this month a judge ruled that former military ruler Gen Efrain Rios Montt cannot receive amnesty and would be tried for genocide and crimes against humanity. (Efrain Rios Montt was briefly in power but it was under his regime that the Dos Erres massacre took place).
In recent years several other Latin American countries have seen former officials who were in power in the 20th century tried and convicted for various crimes. Ex-Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori is currently in prison after being convicted in four trials on charges of corruption and human rights abuses. Former Argentine strongman Reynaldo Bignone has been sentenced to prison for numerous crimes against humanity including for helping set up a "secret torture center" inside a hospital in 1976.
Video Source - Al Jazeera English
Online Sources - BBC News, CNN, Huffington Post, enlatino.com
Friday, December 30, 2011
Daily Headlines: December 30, 2011
* Mexico: A court ordered that five Mexico City policemen stand trial after amateur video footage caught them torturing a suspect last month.
* Argentina: Former Dirty War-era dictator Reynaldo Bignone was sentenced to another fifteen years in prison for rights abuses committed under his repressive rule.
* Puerto Rico: Gov. Luis Fortuño gave his approval to a nonbinding referendum that will be held next year on Puerto Rico’s political status.
* Chile: Universidad de Chile’s annus mirabilis included capturing the Copa Sudamericana last month and winning the Chilean soccer championship yesterday.
Video Source – YouTube user MYUH10 (The alleged abuse occurred after a shootout between police and suspects last November 19th).
Online Sources- MSNBC, Monsters and Critics, New America Media, Yahoo! Eurosport
Friday, April 15, 2011
Today’s Video: The long arm of the law
There are occasions when it takes far too long for justice to be served but when it does it may be worth the wait.
Take the case of Reynaldo Bignone, Argentina’s de facto president during the final seventeen months of the infamous “Dirty War” regime. Bignone was part of a repressive government where tens of thousands of Argentines where killed and “disappeared” between 1976 and 1983. He enjoyed impunity for over two decades until the Argentine Supreme Court in 2005 overturned the amnesty that protected Bignone and other “Ditty War” figures.
For many years the families of victims targeted by Bignone and his cohorts have had to swallow the bitter pill of his impunity. Yet they received a measure of justice last year when he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for his involvement in the kidnapping, torture and murder of 56 people at a military complex. A more severe and deserved punishment was handed down yesterday when a judge sentenced him to life in prison for the to torture and murders of political opponents in 1976.
Bignone claimed that the civil court was not "competent" to judge him and his attorneys sought house arrest for the 83-year-old. Yet he will have to spend the rest of his life behind bars along with three other former military or police officers were also given life sentences.
The court’s decision was praised by local human rights organizations and groups representing victims’ families including one that recently received a high honor from UNESCO. According to BBC News:
Video Source – ntnnews24 via YouTube
Online Sources- BBC News, Buenos Aires Herald, The Latin Americanist
Take the case of Reynaldo Bignone, Argentina’s de facto president during the final seventeen months of the infamous “Dirty War” regime. Bignone was part of a repressive government where tens of thousands of Argentines where killed and “disappeared” between 1976 and 1983. He enjoyed impunity for over two decades until the Argentine Supreme Court in 2005 overturned the amnesty that protected Bignone and other “Ditty War” figures.
For many years the families of victims targeted by Bignone and his cohorts have had to swallow the bitter pill of his impunity. Yet they received a measure of justice last year when he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for his involvement in the kidnapping, torture and murder of 56 people at a military complex. A more severe and deserved punishment was handed down yesterday when a judge sentenced him to life in prison for the to torture and murders of political opponents in 1976.
Bignone claimed that the civil court was not "competent" to judge him and his attorneys sought house arrest for the 83-year-old. Yet he will have to spend the rest of his life behind bars along with three other former military or police officers were also given life sentences.
The court’s decision was praised by local human rights organizations and groups representing victims’ families including one that recently received a high honor from UNESCO. According to BBC News:
"This is a historic day for all Argentines of goodwill," said Estela de Carlotto, leader of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo human rights group.Bignone still faces trial over the alleged the illegal adoptions of hundreds of babies from parents who were kidnapped and tortured. In the meantime, he will have plenty of time to reflect over his crimes while in prison:
"Many countries are viewing Argentina with growing respect because we are carrying the banners of truth and justice on behalf of the 30,000," she added.
Video Source – ntnnews24 via YouTube
Online Sources- BBC News, Buenos Aires Herald, The Latin Americanist
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Nuestro Cine: Innocence lost
Trial proceedings commenced this week in the “baby theft” trial against ex-Argentine strongmen Jorge Videla and Reynaldo Bignone. Both of the former Dirty War-era leaders stand accused of masterminding a “systematic plan” where at least 34 babies were removed from mothers of dissidents detained by authorities at the infamous ESMA military base. Some of these mothers would be tortured and either killed or disappeared while the children were placed under illegal adoption. It is estimated that hundreds of Argentine children grew up not knowing the identities of their biological parents.
The trial against Videla and Bignone comes in the wake of several recent court decisions against former officials behind the horrors of the Dirty War period. (Videla, for instance, was sentenced to life imprisonment last year for the deaths of 31 dissidents).
In the twenty-seven years since the end of the Dirty War ended Argentina’s film industry has tackled the abuses of the era. 1985 Best Foreign Film Oscar winner “The Official Story” (“La historia oficial”) was an emotional drama that focused on the illegal adoptions during the Dirty War. Another movie, “The Prize” (“El Premio”), reflects on childhood during the military junta’s rule yet does so mainly from the perspective of a seven-year-old girl, Cecilia. This film, which won the Silver Bear at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, is set during the Dirty War and shows how the innocence of a small child clashes with the harsh authoritarianism of the era. In one scene, for instance:
Online Sources- Al Jazeera English, Clarin.com, BBC News, The Latin Americanist, The Hollywood Reporter
Video Source – YouTube
The trial against Videla and Bignone comes in the wake of several recent court decisions against former officials behind the horrors of the Dirty War period. (Videla, for instance, was sentenced to life imprisonment last year for the deaths of 31 dissidents).
In the twenty-seven years since the end of the Dirty War ended Argentina’s film industry has tackled the abuses of the era. 1985 Best Foreign Film Oscar winner “The Official Story” (“La historia oficial”) was an emotional drama that focused on the illegal adoptions during the Dirty War. Another movie, “The Prize” (“El Premio”), reflects on childhood during the military junta’s rule yet does so mainly from the perspective of a seven-year-old girl, Cecilia. This film, which won the Silver Bear at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, is set during the Dirty War and shows how the innocence of a small child clashes with the harsh authoritarianism of the era. In one scene, for instance:
The teacher’s sense of how to get along in a state-controlled society is tested when the class has to write essays in praise of the army but Cecilia writes things such as “the army is bad”, “soldiers are crazy”, “they killed my cousin”. (Her mother) Lucia is mortified when Cecilia shows her a copy and she knows she must try to get the essay back before the army sees it.In the clip below from Argentine television, “El Premio” director Paula Markovitch reflected on how the attacks against intellectuals and artists during the Dirty War served as “an own-goal” against Argentine society:
Online Sources- Al Jazeera English, Clarin.com, BBC News, The Latin Americanist, The Hollywood Reporter
Video Source – YouTube
Monday, April 30, 2007
“Dirty War” leaders face justice
Last night’s march by The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo (image) was a fitting end to the week where three former leaders during On Wednesday a federal court overturned the pardons to ex-president Jorge Rafael Videla and naval chief Eduardo Massera, which would force them to serve previous life sentences for human rights violations. Though the decision was largely symbolic since Videla and Massera are currently under house arrest for other crimes, human rights activists and families of “Dirty War” victims were pleased with the court’s ruling:
“‘This restores the route to justice and democracy,’ said Andrea Pochak of the Centre for Legal and Social Studies, a human rights group that has followed dirty war cases. ‘It is a gesture of vital importance for the future.’”
In addition, former president Reynaldo Bignone will go on trial with six others after being accused of kidnapping babies of people killed and “disappeared” in the early 1980s. Thousands of Argentines grew up with foster parents after being forcefully separated from their parents who were politically persecuted. The issue remains a sensible one and has even been portrayed in a popular Argentine telenovela.
Links- Reuters, Sydney Morning Herald, BBC News, The Latin Americanist
Image- BBC News
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