Earlier this week, I wrote that three people were standing trial for the "appropriation", as it is known, of a baby born during the dictatorship in Argentina.
The baby in question is Elena Gallinari Abinet, now in her mid-30s, and the defendants were the couple who brought her up, former police officer Domingo Madrid and his wife, María Mercedes Elichalt, and the doctor who signed their false birth certificate, Silvia Marta Kirilosky.
The sentences have been handed down, with the "appropriators" getting ten years each in jail, and the doctor five and a half.
Elena's maternal grandmother, Leonor Alonso, approached the Mothers and Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo in her search for her daughter and grandchild. The child being brought up by the Madrid family had been on the radar of the Grandmothers since 1981. In 1986, Argentina set up its national genetic database to help identify the disappeared children, and the following year Elena's true identity was confirmed and, at the age of ten, she met her biological family.
Elena was hoping that the trial would reveal more details about where she was born, but it seems that this wish was not fulfilled; Madrid insisted that the baby was given to him by a colleague and it is still unclear where the mother was held or where she gave birth.
The ten-year sentences were the maximum possible. It's a decent result, although of course late (since the crime has been evident since at least 1987) and unfortunately does not clarify everything which happened to Maria Leonor Abinet.
Tres condenas por apropiación (Pagina/12)
Condenan a 10 años a una pareja de apropiadores de una menor durante la dictadura (Telam)
Saturday, 13 July 2013
Thursday, 11 July 2013
Brazil: Former president to be exhumed
The remains of João Goulart, who was president of Brazil from 1961 to 1964 when he was ousted in a coup, are to be exhumed.
"Jango" died in Argentina in 1976, officially of heart problems, but there is a suggestion he could have been poisoned. He was apparently under surveillance in exile and his relatives have long called for more investigation into his death.
His remains will be transferred to the headquarters of the federal police in Brasilia where an examination will be carried out "probably by the end of the year," said an official at the National Truth Commission.
Goulart joins several other prominent figures in Latin America who have been exhumed in recent years, including Salvador Allende and Pablo Neruda.
Restos mortais do ex-presidente João Goulart serão exumados (Exame)
"Jango" died in Argentina in 1976, officially of heart problems, but there is a suggestion he could have been poisoned. He was apparently under surveillance in exile and his relatives have long called for more investigation into his death.
His remains will be transferred to the headquarters of the federal police in Brasilia where an examination will be carried out "probably by the end of the year," said an official at the National Truth Commission.
Goulart joins several other prominent figures in Latin America who have been exhumed in recent years, including Salvador Allende and Pablo Neruda.
Brazil to exhume ex-president Goulart (France24)
Brazil decides exhumation of ex-president Goulart, believed to have been poisoned by the military regime (Mercopress)Restos mortais do ex-presidente João Goulart serão exumados (Exame)
Sunday, 7 July 2013
Argentina: Appropriation case reaches court
The case of the very first grandchild found by the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo comes to court tomorrow.
Elena Gallinari Abinet was born in a clandestine detention centre in 1976. Her mother, Maria Leonor Abinet, was seven months pregnant when she was abducted in September 1976. Her father, Miguel Angel Gallinari, was also disappeared and killed in the same year.
Elena was registered as the biological child of Domingo Luis Madrid and María Mercedes Elichalt, who are now both charged with her appropriation, as is the doctor who signed the birth certificate. She was identified by the Abuelas in 1987.
The case is expected to last a week.
Just look at Elena and the likeness to the mother she never had a chance to get to know:
A new case of ‘Dirty War’ appropriation reaches court (Buenos Aires Herald)
Comienza el juicio por la apropiación de Elena Gallinari Abinet (Infojus Noticias)
http://juicioapropiaciongallinariabinet.blogspot.de/
Elena Gallinari Abinet was born in a clandestine detention centre in 1976. Her mother, Maria Leonor Abinet, was seven months pregnant when she was abducted in September 1976. Her father, Miguel Angel Gallinari, was also disappeared and killed in the same year.
Elena was registered as the biological child of Domingo Luis Madrid and María Mercedes Elichalt, who are now both charged with her appropriation, as is the doctor who signed the birth certificate. She was identified by the Abuelas in 1987.
The case is expected to last a week.
Just look at Elena and the likeness to the mother she never had a chance to get to know:
A new case of ‘Dirty War’ appropriation reaches court (Buenos Aires Herald)
Comienza el juicio por la apropiación de Elena Gallinari Abinet (Infojus Noticias)
http://juicioapropiaciongallinariabinet.blogspot.de/
Saturday, 6 July 2013
"Staging" a coup
There was an outcry on Twitter yesterday over comments by the Wall Street Journal that "Egyptians would be lucky if their new ruling generals turn out to be in the mold of Chile's Augusto Pinochet". I'm not going to go on and on about my reaction to this. It should be obvious from the tone of this blog what I think about it, and it's been done well elsewhere.
Anyway, the BBC News Magazine ran an article this morning comparing the Egyptian coup with that of Pinochet in a rather different way, from the perspective of its staging/theatricality. A coup is, I would suggest, always a carefully-staged public event, often with a fairly long preparation period.
The BBC writes,
Argentina's junta leaders tended to present a show of cooperation:
The military representatives in South America were generally serious, clean-shaven - aside from the neat moustashes sometimes worn - pale-skinned and - so obviously it almost goes unmentioned - always male. They talked about order, security, the eradication of terrorism, Christianity, upholding the family and the (Catholic) Church. Their paternal tenderness was backed up by tanks lining the streets of the capital and the immediate banning of public gatherings.
You can see how General Abdul Fattah al-Sisi's television statement fits into this expected show, this tidying up of the messiness of public display. I hope the Egyptian people are not "lucky" enough to end up with a Pinochet on their hands.
Anyway, the BBC News Magazine ran an article this morning comparing the Egyptian coup with that of Pinochet in a rather different way, from the perspective of its staging/theatricality. A coup is, I would suggest, always a carefully-staged public event, often with a fairly long preparation period.
The BBC writes,
It's true. The "sunglasses" element is of course most iconically represented by general Pinochet:There are certain customs, established over many decades, to uphold when declaring a coup.A rough-hewn general in a crisp uniform reads out a statement on state TV in which he declares that, reluctantly, the armed forces have decided to step in to save the country.[...]
First of all, the general has to get his image right. He needs a well pressed uniform, decked with medals. He needs a podium, or, at the very least, a solid table.
Sunglasses are optional. The general's look as he reads his declaration may become the defining image of his country to the outside world (it will certainly be the image for which he is most remembered by his own people).
The coup statement must follow a certain format. The general should stress that the military is responding to its patriotic duty. Above all, the coup leader must avoid calling his actions a coup - a word which may make him look like a gangster. More often, he will prefer to used the word "intervention".
Argentina's junta leaders tended to present a show of cooperation:
The military representatives in South America were generally serious, clean-shaven - aside from the neat moustashes sometimes worn - pale-skinned and - so obviously it almost goes unmentioned - always male. They talked about order, security, the eradication of terrorism, Christianity, upholding the family and the (Catholic) Church. Their paternal tenderness was backed up by tanks lining the streets of the capital and the immediate banning of public gatherings.
You can see how General Abdul Fattah al-Sisi's television statement fits into this expected show, this tidying up of the messiness of public display. I hope the Egyptian people are not "lucky" enough to end up with a Pinochet on their hands.
Friday, 5 July 2013
Chile: Plaque for cameraman who filmed own death
Leonardo Henrichsen, the Argentine cameraman who was killed while filming in Chile in 1973, has been honoured with a plaque in Santiago on the 40th anniversary of his death on 29 June.
Journalism can be a hazardous profession for various reasons, but I blogged about Henrichsen nearly four years ago because of the highly unusual circumstances of him filming his own death. The final footage he shot is in the Youtube clip above.
Representatives of the city and human rights organizations were present at the plaque-unveiling, as was documentary filmmaker Patricio Guzmán and Henrichsen's daughter.
Here is the man killed just doing his job:
Alcaldesa Tohá instala placa en homenaje a camarógrafo asesinado durante “Tanquetazo" (Municipalidad de Santiago)
Homenajean a camarógrafo argentino Leonardo Henrichsen, muerto el 29 de junio de 1973 (elciudadano.cl)
El cámara que grabó su asesinato (El País)
Wednesday, 3 July 2013
Chile: Street name update
This pretty much reflects what I wrote before,
The name was never meant to represent the victims’ memory but rather to celebrate the coup, Francisco Estévez, historian and coordinator of the group “Desmonumentar la Dictatura” told The Santiago Times.
“Memorials, if they are built to remember the victims and not the perpetrators, are a different thing altogether,“ he said. “Symbols are not neutral, and the Avenida 11 de Septiembre is a survivor of the dictatorship.“
The vote was four to one, with the one being Manuel José Monckeberg as discussed previously. The name change is to go through "within the year" apparently.
Good decision.
Concejo municipal aprueba cambio de nombre de Av. 11 de septiembre a Nueva Providencia (La Tercera)
Chile Changes Name of Avenue Marking Military Coup (NY Times)
Street name celebrating Chilean Sep. 11 coup to be changed (Santiago Times)
Image credit: RiveraNotario / Flickr
Sunday, 30 June 2013
Germany: Intelligence services do not have to release Eichmann info
This is a slight departure from my usual focus, but there is an Argentine connection.
German daily Bild, which is not exactly the first publication to spring to mind when you think of investigative journalism, has just lost a court case in which it attempted to force the German intelligence service (Bundesnachrichtendienst, BND) to release information pertaining to Adolf Eichmann. The paper wants to prove that Germany knew Eichmann was in hiding in Argentina in the early '50s. It had already reported this on the basis of a partial release of the documentation.
The federal administrative court in Leipzig ruled that the BND does not have to released the unredacted documents. The paper is considering taking the case to Germany's highest court (the Bundesverfassungsgericht) in Karlsruhe.
The BND stressed that the majority of the documentation is available and said that the redaction was to protect personal data and sensitive security information. Bild lawyer Christoph Partsch said that the paper believes that Germany is harmed by the withholding of the information, not by its publication.
Andreas Nachama, director of the "Topographie des Terrors" foundation, criticised the ruling and suggested that the redacted information could be embarrassing for Germany, since Hans Globke, the head of the federal chancellery (Bundeskanzleramt) after WWII and thus ultimate head of the BND, was a known Nazi supporter. Dieter Graumann, Germany's leading Jewish representative, also expressed his incomprehension at the decision.
This is disappointing. It's hard to believe that there can be 60-year-old information in these documents which could harm Germany's interests. Germany usually, and for obvious reasons, strives to be open about this kind of thing, so this feels like a step backwards. Good on Bild for pursuing the issue and I hope we will see inside the full files at some point.
Germany can keep Eichmann records secret, court rules (Guardian)
Die geheimen Akten des Adolf Eichmann (N24)
BILD verklagt Bundesnachrichtendienst (Bild)
BND muss Eichmann-Akten nicht freigeben (Bild)
Alemania: la justicia rechazó abrir los archivos sobre la fuga de Eichmann a la Argentina (TN.com.ar)
German daily Bild, which is not exactly the first publication to spring to mind when you think of investigative journalism, has just lost a court case in which it attempted to force the German intelligence service (Bundesnachrichtendienst, BND) to release information pertaining to Adolf Eichmann. The paper wants to prove that Germany knew Eichmann was in hiding in Argentina in the early '50s. It had already reported this on the basis of a partial release of the documentation.
The federal administrative court in Leipzig ruled that the BND does not have to released the unredacted documents. The paper is considering taking the case to Germany's highest court (the Bundesverfassungsgericht) in Karlsruhe.
The BND stressed that the majority of the documentation is available and said that the redaction was to protect personal data and sensitive security information. Bild lawyer Christoph Partsch said that the paper believes that Germany is harmed by the withholding of the information, not by its publication.
Andreas Nachama, director of the "Topographie des Terrors" foundation, criticised the ruling and suggested that the redacted information could be embarrassing for Germany, since Hans Globke, the head of the federal chancellery (Bundeskanzleramt) after WWII and thus ultimate head of the BND, was a known Nazi supporter. Dieter Graumann, Germany's leading Jewish representative, also expressed his incomprehension at the decision.
This is disappointing. It's hard to believe that there can be 60-year-old information in these documents which could harm Germany's interests. Germany usually, and for obvious reasons, strives to be open about this kind of thing, so this feels like a step backwards. Good on Bild for pursuing the issue and I hope we will see inside the full files at some point.
Germany can keep Eichmann records secret, court rules (Guardian)
Die geheimen Akten des Adolf Eichmann (N24)
BILD verklagt Bundesnachrichtendienst (Bild)
BND muss Eichmann-Akten nicht freigeben (Bild)
Alemania: la justicia rechazó abrir los archivos sobre la fuga de Eichmann a la Argentina (TN.com.ar)
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