South American ex-military leaders faced judgment Friday for their alleged role in the torture and assassination of leftist dissidents during a US-backed crackdown by the region's dictatorships during the 1970s and 1980s.
Argentine judges were considering their verdict in the trial of 18 former army officers accused of taking part in "Operation Condor."
In that scheme, the military regimes of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay helped each other track down and kill leftist dissidents.
On Friday, the court convened to deliver its verdict after a three-year trial -- the first to try the crimes committed under the Condor plan.
After a brief five-minute hearing in which the defendants declined to make any final statements, the judges retired to discuss their verdict, which they said they would deliver around 2000 GMT.
The operation began in the 1970s at the height of the Cold War. It is blamed for scores of executions and kidnapping -- 89 in Argentina alone.
Among those waiting at the court for the verdict were former abductees and victims' relatives who testified in the trial.
"Justice is coming late, if it is coming at all. But at least it will set a precedent. People should know what happened," said one of them, Lidia Cabrera de Franco, 67, a Paraguayan who was held by the Argentine military in 1977-1978.
"Giving testimony is important for the victims -- it is a debt owed to them," she told AFP.
Prosecutors based their case partly on declassified US intelligence documents showing how the South American regimes worked together to identify political exiles in neighboring countries and kill them or send them back to their home countries.
The various regimes communicated with each other using a telex system dubbed "Condortel." Officers were trained to use it at the infamous School of the Americas in Panama, a US training center that drilled repressive Latin American regimes in counter-insurgency tactics.
"The trial has allowed us to better understand Operation Condor," victims' lawyer Luz Palmas said. "Until now, historians and journalists were the only ones who had carried out investigations."
- Stolen baby -
The cases include harrowing stories such as that of Maria Garcia and Marcelo Gelman. The militant anti-regime couple were arrested in Argentina on August 24, 1976 and taken to an auto workshop that regime agents had transformed into a torture chamber.
Gelman was killed. Garcia, who was seven months pregnant at the time, was transferred to her native Uruguay. Her family still does not know exactly what happened to her.
Garcia's daughter was born in captivity and given to a family of regime sympathizers to raise. She learned her real identity only through blood testing in 2000, when she was 23 years old.
- Military dictators accused -
Hundreds of army officers and police have been tried in Argentina for atrocities carried out under the country's 1976 to 1983 dictatorship.
Operation Condor itself had never been the subject of a trial until the current case opened in February 2013.
"It's the first verdict on Operation Condor as a coordinated structure for repression," said Gaston Chillier, head of Argentine rights group CELS.
There are 17 Argentine officers on trial and one Uruguayan: former colonel Manuel Cordero, 77.
Prosecutors sought numerous suspects in other countries, but their extradition requests were refused. Some are protected by amnesties.
Among the accused is Argentina's last military dictator, Reynaldo Bignone. Now aged 88, he faces 20 years in prison, on top of the 15 he is already serving for the theft of babies born to political prisoners.
Jorge Videla, who ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1981, also faced charges, but he died in prison in 2013 at age 87.
Videla was serving sentences for the abduction of babies and killings of dissidents.
The court examined evidence relating to 105 victims from Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina.
"Many countries, particularly neighboring ones in Latin America, are awaiting this as one of the most important judgments a court has made," the CELS said in its plea statement.
South American ex-military leaders faced judgment Friday for their alleged role in the torture and assassination of leftist dissidents during a US-backed crackdown by the region’s dictatorships during the 1970s and 1980s.
Argentine judges were considering their verdict in the trial of 18 former army officers accused of taking part in “Operation Condor.”
In that scheme, the military regimes of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay helped each other track down and kill leftist dissidents.
On Friday, the court convened to deliver its verdict after a three-year trial — the first to try the crimes committed under the Condor plan.
After a brief five-minute hearing in which the defendants declined to make any final statements, the judges retired to discuss their verdict, which they said they would deliver around 2000 GMT.
The operation began in the 1970s at the height of the Cold War. It is blamed for scores of executions and kidnapping — 89 in Argentina alone.
Among those waiting at the court for the verdict were former abductees and victims’ relatives who testified in the trial.
“Justice is coming late, if it is coming at all. But at least it will set a precedent. People should know what happened,” said one of them, Lidia Cabrera de Franco, 67, a Paraguayan who was held by the Argentine military in 1977-1978.
“Giving testimony is important for the victims — it is a debt owed to them,” she told AFP.
Prosecutors based their case partly on declassified US intelligence documents showing how the South American regimes worked together to identify political exiles in neighboring countries and kill them or send them back to their home countries.
The various regimes communicated with each other using a telex system dubbed “Condortel.” Officers were trained to use it at the infamous School of the Americas in Panama, a US training center that drilled repressive Latin American regimes in counter-insurgency tactics.
“The trial has allowed us to better understand Operation Condor,” victims’ lawyer Luz Palmas said. “Until now, historians and journalists were the only ones who had carried out investigations.”
– Stolen baby –
The cases include harrowing stories such as that of Maria Garcia and Marcelo Gelman. The militant anti-regime couple were arrested in Argentina on August 24, 1976 and taken to an auto workshop that regime agents had transformed into a torture chamber.
Gelman was killed. Garcia, who was seven months pregnant at the time, was transferred to her native Uruguay. Her family still does not know exactly what happened to her.
Garcia’s daughter was born in captivity and given to a family of regime sympathizers to raise. She learned her real identity only through blood testing in 2000, when she was 23 years old.
– Military dictators accused –
Hundreds of army officers and police have been tried in Argentina for atrocities carried out under the country’s 1976 to 1983 dictatorship.
Operation Condor itself had never been the subject of a trial until the current case opened in February 2013.
“It’s the first verdict on Operation Condor as a coordinated structure for repression,” said Gaston Chillier, head of Argentine rights group CELS.
There are 17 Argentine officers on trial and one Uruguayan: former colonel Manuel Cordero, 77.
Prosecutors sought numerous suspects in other countries, but their extradition requests were refused. Some are protected by amnesties.
Among the accused is Argentina’s last military dictator, Reynaldo Bignone. Now aged 88, he faces 20 years in prison, on top of the 15 he is already serving for the theft of babies born to political prisoners.
Jorge Videla, who ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1981, also faced charges, but he died in prison in 2013 at age 87.
Videla was serving sentences for the abduction of babies and killings of dissidents.
The court examined evidence relating to 105 victims from Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina.
“Many countries, particularly neighboring ones in Latin America, are awaiting this as one of the most important judgments a court has made,” the CELS said in its plea statement.
