Friday 30 March 2012

Argentina: Death squad cars discovered

Among numerous stories from Argentina this week, one of the most intriguing for me was the discovery of 43 Ford Falcons in a warehouse at the Puerto Belgrano naval base. The cars, which turned up as part of judicial investigations, may have been used by the "task forces" which abducted suspected dissidents during the "dirty war". They are to be searched for evidence that might link them to human rights abuses as part of a federal court investigation of crimes against humanity.

The Ford Falcon is an icon of the dictatorship in Argentina. I always thought that black ones, in particular, were used, but some of the reports on this recent find include a photo of the dusty vehicles and you can clearly see that they are various colours. How amazing that so many cars have been found after so long. Survivor Miriam Lewin, who was herself abducted in such a model, said, "If the Navy has these 43 cars stashed in a dark warehouse on a military base, that means they could be a clue to something. Otherwise they would have sold them". She's probably right, but I'm surprised they weren't simply destroyed if that was the case.

Suspected death squad cars found at Argentine base (Reuters)
Secuestran 43 Ford Falcon en una cause por crimenes de Lesa Humanidad (Chaco Dia por Dia, with photo)

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