Former Argentine governor ordered detained on human rights charges

[Judi Lynn]

Source: International Herald Tribune/Associated Press

Former Argentine governor ordered detained on human rights charges

The Associated Press
Saturday, January 5, 2008

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina: A former governor faces charges of complicity in the detention and torture of political opponents in the run-up to Argentina's 1976-83 dictatorship, the government news agency said Saturday.

Judge Guillermo Molinari ordered the detention of Carlos Juarez, the 91-year-old former governor of Santiago del Estero province, in connection with his investigation of the torture and disappearance of some 30 people between 1973 and 1975, the Telam news agency said.

The judge's offices were closed Saturday and Molinari could not be reached to confirm the account. Telam said Juarez and his wife remained in their home in Santiago del Estero, and it was not clear whether he had been placed under house arrest as is common for suspects over 70 years old.

Human rights groups claim political opponents of the former governor were detained illegally, tortured and many never seen again. Juarez could not be reached for comment, but in the past his aides have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.


Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/01/05/america/LA-GEN-Argentina-Ex-Governor-Prosecuted.php

[Judi Lynn]

1. Killings in Argentina Focus on Political Boss

Wednesday, May 5, 2004; Page A25
Killings in Argentina Focus on Political Boss
Murder Probe Leads to Center of Province's Power
By Jon Jeter Washington Post Staff Writer

SANTIAGO DEL ESTERO, Argentina -- The bones gave up nothing. Scattered in a wheat field, what remained of Leyla Bshier's butchered body revealed little about how she died,investigators told local reporters.It was the second corpse that told the tale, according to newsreports based on the police investigation. The crumpled body of Patricia Villalba was discovered 20 days later, in a patch ofgrass 15 feet from where Bshier was found. Marks on her wrists indicated she had been bound, police told reporters, and the methodical series of cuts, bruises and burns running the length of her body indicated she had been tortured.The anger that followed the gruesome deaths of the two strikingly pretty young women 16 months ago has focusedattention on one of Argentina's last provincial political bosses,Carlos Juarez, who along with Antonio Musa Azar, the feared,former provincial intelligence chief, and a coterie of judges,police officers and businessmen have controlled thishardscrabble province like feudal lords for more than half a century, according to activists and political analysts.Investigators said that Bshier was murdered during a cocaine fueled orgy attended by Azar's son and others close to Juarez,who they said then chopped up her body and fed the pieces tothe big cats and wild birds in a private zoo owned by Azar.

Page 2

After Villalba's boyfriend told her days later about whathappened, prosecutors said she was kidnapped from the fruitstand where she worked, tortured with a cattle prod and other instruments, and ultimately killed.For more than a year, the families and friends of the two women have organized weekly protests that have triggered a widening criminal investigation and federal takeover of the province. Some of the best-known people in Santiago DelEstero province have been arrested, including Azar, Juarez, 87,and his wife, Mercedes Aragones, the current provincial governor.The judge investigating the women's killings alleges thatAragones, Juarez, Azar, judges and some law enforcementofficials were involved in the efforts to cover up the killings."They are all corrupt," said Olga Villalba, Patricia's mother.A trustee appointed by President Nestor Kirchner to administerthe province has purged judges, police officers and politicians.The criminal probe has widened into a far-reaching investigation into corruption, theft from the provincial pension fund, human rights abuses that occurred during the 1976-1983 period of repression known as the dirty war, in which as manyas 30,000 people were killed by a military dictatorship, and the government's compilation of nearly 40,000 dossiers oncitizens of Santiago Del Estero."Fear and repression has ruled Santiago Del Estero for morethan 50 years," said Cristina Torres, head of the Catholic Church's human rights agency. "But the murders of these two women was the breaking point for a lot of people here."
(snip/...)

http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:kPftaIHfm5QJ:www.brianbyrnes.com/articulos/archivos/washingtonpost_040505.pdf+%22Carlos+Juarez%22+%2B+Argentina+%2B+dirty+war&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=11&gl=us

~~~~ photo of Patricia Villaba's mother holding photo ~~~~~

[Judi Lynn]

2. Here's one good reason news about this clown wasn't broadcast earlier!

World Press Freedom Review
2000
Argentina

~snip~
On 1 July, Eduardo Gómez, a distributor of the Córdoba daily newspaper La Voz del Interior in Santiago del Estero, had his car forced off the road minutes after delivering the daily edition of the paper. A man stepped out of the car and warned him, "You are getting involved in something you should avoid. Tata doesn't like that", making reference to Governor Carlos Juárez. As the man displayed his firearm, he told Gómez, "if you continue this pestering, the newspaper will disappear. Or it will burn down." In the previous two editions, Córdoba's morning paper had reported on the "favouritism" and "authoritarianism" with which Juárez and his wife govern the province.

A further assault on a journalist took place on 5 July when Germán Dellamónica, a reporter for the LT 9 Brigadier López de Santa Fe radio station, was punched and kicked while covering an event led by the leader of the General Labour Confederation's, Hugo Moyano. Prior to the attack, various individuals attending the event had been hostile towards the press. At one point, a group of individuals climbed onto the platform set up for the press. One of the assailants punched Dellamónica, knocking him to the ground and began kicking him. The journalist, a member of the Santa Fe Press Association's board of directors, was taken to hospital, where he remained for observation. A man was later arrested for the assault.

Intimidation of the beleaguered daily newspaper El Liberal was highlighted by IAPA in July. According to reports, El Liberal received anonymous threats and pamphlets defaming three of its journalists. In addition, the newspaper’s telephone lines were intercepted. The acts of intimidation coincided with the newspaper’s publication of articles criticising the provincial government's administration. In a series of investigative reports, the newspaper reported numerous irregularities in the awarding of public-housing contracts.

At the beginning of August, the local press reported that an unidentified man called on the main offices of La Voz del Interior, in Córdoba Province and asked to speak with a newsroom editor.

"You take note," the caller said. "We know your journalist is here, at a hotel. He may suffer an accident if you keep bothering Juárez." Later that afternoon, another anonymous caller threatened to "crush" the newspaper.

The latest threats coincided with a two-part series titled, "El reino de los Juárez" ("The Reign of the Juárezes") that ran in the 30 and 31 July issues of La Voz del Interior. The series of articles criticized the ruling couple's authoritarian style of government. In addition, the paper denounced alleged corruption in the local judiciary.

A further press freedom violation occurred in August when an attempt was made to silence press criticism of local officials in the province of Santiago del Estero. On the basis of local reports, unidentified individuals threatened and harassed two local newspapers. The newspapers subject to the threats, received anonymous phone calls in response to their investigations of Carlos Juárez and his wife, Mercedes Aragonés, who is also the provincial vice-governor.

http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:Aj_CYeYBnrIJ:www.freemedia.at/cms/ipi/freedom_detail.html%3Fcountry%3D/KW0001/KW0002/KW0010/%26year%3D2000+Argentina+%2B+Carlos+Ju%C3%A1rez+%2B+abuse&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us