Nazi war criminal Erich Priebke is dead

Erich Priebke, a captain in the Waffen SS convicted of participating in the Andeatine caves massacre in Italy, has died under house arrest in Rome. He was 100.

After helping to co-ordinate the execution of 335 Italians on the outskirts of the Italian capital in 1944, Priebke fled to Argentina at the end of the war and lived for decades in Bariloche. He was "found" there in the '90s by a US film crew.* I say "found" because it doesn't seem to have been that hard. According to the Telegraph, he was listed in the phone book!

Watch this clip (above), it's truly extraordinary. Priebke (speaking quite good English; it was his language skills which got him sent to Italy in the first place) shows little surprise and openly admits his involvement in the killing of civilians. However, he claims to have been just following orders and denies anti-Semitism. He concludes by accusing the journalist, Sam Donaldson, of not being a gentleman.

Argentine journalist Uki Goñi documented the case of Priebke in his book, The Real Odessa. He tweeted yesterday that Priebke attempted unsuccessfully to sue him twice over the material. He describes the case in more detail here. Priebke was also the subject of a documentary, Pacto de silencio, which you can see here.

Foreign minister Hector Timerman apparently says that Priebke's body will not be welcome back in Argentina, to be buried next to his late wife.

For judgement on Priebke, a clear and dignified statement - cited in the Guardian - from
Riccardo Pacifici, president of Rome's Jewish community:

"Over Priebke's death there will be no tears and there will be no laughter because neither of these will bring the victims back to life.... There remains bitterness towards a person who never repented for what he did and who dirtied his hands with blood like all the Nazi troops. Now his victims are waiting for him up there in the hope that there will be divine justice."

Erich Priebke (The Telegraph)
Nazi SS captain Erich Priebke dies at 100 in Rome (The Guardian)
Argentina refuses body of Nazi war criminal Priebke (BBC)
El criminal nazi Erich Priebke murió a los 100 años (Telam)
Murió Erich Priebke, ex oficial nazi que se ocultó en Bariloche (La Nacion)
Desde Bariloche a Roma y de ahí al infierno (Pagina/12)

*Apparently an Argentine writer found him there before the US interview.

Chile/US: El Mercurio owner admits meeting with CIA

Agustín Eastman Edwards, owner of Chilean paper El Mercurio, has testified in court that he did meet with former CIA director Richard Helms and former U.S. National Security advisor Henry Kissinger shortly after the election of Salvador Allende. He is currently accused of complicity in the dictatorship. However, he denies receiving funding from the US intelligence agency to destabilise the Allende regime.

I actually wrote about this meeting back in 2008.

Owner of Chile’s El Mercurio admits pre-coup contact with CIA, denies cooperation (Journalism in the Americas)
Chilean media tycoon admits meeting with CIA ahead of coup (Santiago Times)
Agustín Edwards reconoce vínculos con la CIA en Estados Unidos pero niega haber recibido dineros de la agencia norteamericana (El Mostrador)

Chile extradites Argentine judge

Former Argentine judge Otilio Romano has been extradited from Chile to face charges of human rights abuses during the 1976-1983 military rule. He had fled there two years ago. He is accused of complicity in forced disappearances, torture and illegal raids.

It occurs to me that this is the other side of the coin from the cooperation between Latin American countries under Operation Condor, where people fleeing persecution from one country would find themselves under attack in another. Now alleged human rights abusers do not find that crossing the border gives them a place to hide. And a good thing too!


'Dirty War' judge Romano extradited to Argentina (BBC)
Extraditaron desde Chile a un ex juez federal acusado por delitos de lesa humanidad (Clarin)
Former Judge Otilio Romano arrived in Mendoza, extradited from Chile (Telam)
Ex juez Otilio Romano llega a Argentina tras cumplirse proceso de extradición desde Chile (La Tercera)

Argentina: Former Ford employees charged

An Argentine judge has ordered the trial of two former executives and the ex-head of security at Ford in Argentina on charges of illegal deprivation of liberty.

Pedro Müller, Guillermo Galárraga and Héctor Sibilla are accused of involvement in the abduction of 24 workers in 1976, during the early months of the military regime. They are said to have given the military lists of employees. They are also accused of having allowed the creation of a detention centre on the factory site in Pacheco. The former president of Ford Argentina, Nicolás Courard, was also part of the original case but he died in Chile in 1989.

According to judge Alicia Vence,

The violation of human rights was not exclusively the preserve of state agents but was realised with the collaboration of private actors, and in particular of companies which participate, assist and facilitate such acts as economic actors, as long as the violation benefits their economic interests. 

The factory, in the province of Buenos Aires, produced the Ford Falcon which became an icon of repression in the country.

This case will be interesting because of links between the Argentine junta and big business, of which Ford is not the only example (see also here). Economic complicity has not been pursued much, probably for a combination of reasons: other priorities, difficulties of proving it, continuing influence of large companies in the country. Some human rights groups may have been wary of accusations of politicisation (while others, of course, actively embrace this). The three defendants are all over 80 - Galárraga is reported to be 90 - so we'll see how far this goes.

Procesamiento para los entregadores de la Ford (Pagina/12)
Procesan a tres ex directivos de la automotriz Ford por el secuestro de 24 obreros durante la dictadura (Politicaymedios, also image source)
Por secuestros durante la dictadura, procesaron a directivos de la Ford (eldiario24.com)
Procesan a tres ejecutivos de Ford Motor Argentina de la época del “Falcon verde” (Los Andes)

Argentina: Complicity at the fore in new trial

As Argentina has recently made progress by condemning some of the key figures of its dictatorship, such as Jorge Videla (although there's still a long way to go), the focus of attention has broadened somewhat. Human rights groups including HIJOS - the children of the disappeared - have been organising this year under the slogan "los grupos económicos también fueron la dictadura" (the economic groups were the dictatorship too), i.e. focusing on complicity.

Now a new trial is bring this issue even more to the fore. Carlos Pedro Blaquier, president of sugar company Ledesma since 1970, is accused of involvement in the disappearance of 30 people.

As I understand it, the case will focus on the events of the "Noche del Apagón" (Night of the blackout) on 27 July 1976 - or more accurately, the nights in the week running up to that date. During those nights, the electricity was switched off in the town of Libertador General San Martín (also known as Ledesma), Calilegua and El Talar. Police and members of the armed forces then went through the towns and arrested and took away large numbers of people, some of whom remain disappeared. There are accusations that they used trucks belonging to the company Ledesma and also that foremen were involved in the repression.

Another of the disappeared from the town was Luis Arédez, a doctor who had at one time worked for Ledesma but was dismissed for "giving out too many medicines to the employees" (yes, that does sound like a bad joke). He was disappeared in May 1977. His wife, Olga del Valle Márquez de Arédez, became a human rights activist and testified before the CONADEP truth commission. She died in 2005 - many sources say of the consequences of bagassosis, a lung disease caused by inhaling molasses dust. 

Blaquier denies lending company vehicles to the security forces. He has also complained of aggressive behaviour by protesters who shouted threats and thumped on the car he was travelling in. Leader of the social organisation Tupuc Amaru, Milagro Sala, responded scornfully that he is attempting to turn himself into the victim, rather than the perpetrator.

Anyway, there seems to be relatively little information in English on this issue, so I hope this is helpful for someone. The trial starts tomorrow; I can't promise I'll be following it day to day but I'll try to post the big news!

News:
Blaquier negó haber participado en la represión (El Dia)
Milagro Sala: "Blaquier quiere pasar de acusado a víctima" (Telam)

Background:

El horror de “La Noche del Apagón” (Clarin)
Olga Aredez, sinónimo de memoria, verdad y justicia en Jujuy (Telam)
The case against Argentinean sugar company Ledesma (ECCHR)