Argentina: 20 years since the AMIA attack

I missed the actual anniversary, which was 20 July, but just wanted to share this Youtube video from Memoria Activa on 20 years of impunity for the terrorist attack on the AMIA in Buenos Aires (Spanish only).

Argentina: Remembering the AMIA in images

The 19th anniversary of the AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires has just passed, so I thought I'd mark it with an image post.

 (Credit: Nbelohlavek)

This banner makes a deliberate link between the Holocaust (approx. 6 million victims) and the victims of the Israeli embassy bombing (22) and AMIA attack (85).

(Credit: Pablo D. Flores)

The monument in Plaza Lavalle, Buenos Aires, uses the names of the victims.

(Credit: Roblespepe)

(Credit: wallyg)

Argentina/Iran round-up

There have been plenty of developments on the agreement between Argentina and Iran over the AMIA bombing, but unfortunately I was too snowed under with work to blog on it again. Here are some articles on the subject (since if I just tweet them they'll disappear soon enough).

Argentina Strikes Deal with Iran to Probe AMIA Bombing Suspects (IPS, 22/02)
Argentina passes deal with Iran to probe Amia bombing (BBC, 28/02)

Quorum fight in Argentina's Congress (Blogging by Boz, 28/02)

Argentine Congress Approves Iran Bombing Probe (NY Times, 28/02)
Jewish organization pledges to take Argentina/Iran accord to the Supreme Court (Mercopress)
Argentina’s Deal with Iran Could Carry Political Price (IPS, 01/03)

Argentina and Iran to investigate AMIA bombing

This is a significant move in Argentina: the government has reached an agreement with Iran to set up a truth commission to investigate the 1994 AMIA bombing. The commission will be made up of five independent judges, none of whom will be from either Argentina or Iran. Iran will now permit prosecutors to interrogate suspects in Tehran.

Amia bombing: Argentina and Iran agree truth commission (BBC)
Deal Reached for Inquiry on Bombing in Argentina (New York Times)
Argentina/Iran ‘Truth Commission’ to resolve 1994 bombing of Jewish centre in Buenos Aires (Mercopress)

Israel has condemned the decision. An Israeli spokesman said the move was tantamount to "inviting a murderer to investigate his own killings".

Amia bombing: Israel condemns Argentina-Iran probe (BBC)
Israel Rebukes Argentina for Deal With Iran to Investigate ’94 Attack (New York Times)

Argentine foreign minister Héctor Timerman has met with members of Jewish organizations and families of victims to discuss the plans.

Timerman meets with DAIA, AMIA and relatives of victims, rejects criticism (Buenos Aires Herald)

The Economist suggests that Argentina has "burnt bridges" with Israel over the agreement, which it sees as a further step in Christina Fernandez's "increasingly combative" foreign policy. Meanwhile, Jennifer Rubin in the Washington Post says that the move is "disturbing" and predicts a "Mickey Mouse commission". La Nación also expresses scepticism in its editorial.

Here's Monday's cover of Pagina/12:

A dar respuestas ante la Justicia argentina (Pagina/12)


So that's a fair amount of criticism of the commission before it has even been formed. I agree with Boz that it's rash to prejudge. It would also be unwise to get one's hopes up too soon, but essentially, I think that barring all possibility of talking to Iran about anything gets you nowhere. We'll see how this develops.

News round-up

Argentina
The head of the Argentine-Jewish Community Centre (AMIA), Guillermo Borger, warned the government of President Cristina Fernandez that the organization’s members are concerned by the lack of information regarding ongoing negotiations with Iran over the 1994 terrorist attack on the AMIA headquarters, which killed 85 people.
Jewish community protests for being kept on the dark on Argentina/Iran negotiations (Mercopress)

Colombia
A US court has sentenced General Mauricio Santoyo, who was President Alvaro Uribe's security chief, to 13 years in jail for links with paramilitaries.
Colombia general sentenced in US for paramilitary links (BBC)
Colombia will be removed from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights “blacklist” next year, but “the fact that a country report is being drawn up, rather than a country being included or not in Chapter IV, does not imply an improvement in human rights,” IACHR commissioner Felipe González said.
Off the Blacklist Doesn’t Imply Improvement in Human Rights in Colombia (IPS)
On Colombian refugees in Ecuador:
Cocaine's Forgotten Victims (COHA)


El Salvador 
On the 31st anniversary of the El Mozote massacre, the Inter-American Court for Human Rights ruled against El Salvador and ruled that the country's amnesty law, enacted after the close of the civil war, should not impede investigations of the responsible parties.
International court condemns El Salvador for El Mozote Massacre (Tim's El Salvador Blog)
El Salvador: Court Orders Investigation of 1981 Massacre (NY Times)

Guatemala

World Bank must pay for Guatemala ‘terror loans’ (Guatemala Solidarity Network)

Round-up

Argentina
Contrasting views of the talks between Argentina and Iran:
Iran/Argentina dialogue ‘positive’ and will continue end of November, says Timerman (Mercopress)
Argentine-Iran dialogue is ‘over’, says Jewish community rejecting Teheran’s denial of any involvement (Mercopress)

Chile
Chile secret agents charged over 1976 diplomat murder (BBC)

Mexico 
This is an interesting virtual memorial site for Day of the Dead:
Press group creates digital Day of the Dead altar to remember killed journalists in Mexico (Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas)
The particular agony of disappearance on Day of the Dead:
Mexico's Day of Dead brings memories of missing (AP)
Searching for Mexico's drug war 'disappeared' (BBC)

Peru
Prosecutors Formally Charge Shining Path Leader Artemio (Peruvian Times)

Argentina and Iran talk about AMIA

Argentine president Cristina Fernandez announced at the UN plans to open bilateral talks with Iran over the terrorist attacks that took place in Buenos Aires (on the Israeli embassy in 1992 and on the AMIA Jewish community centre in 1994).

Argentine foreign minister Hector Timerman and his Iranian counterpart Ali Akhar Salehi met in New York and there are plans for continued meeting in Geneva over the next month. Fernandez said she "expects results", although it is not completely clear what these might be. The stated aim, according to the two countries, is "to explore a legal mechanism that does not go against the systems of either Argentina or Iran."

Israel and the US have both expressed disapproval of the talks.  This is not surprising since the US wants to isolate Iran. However, no matter how repellent the Ahmadinejad regime may be, I don't see how any progress can ever be made without engaging in dialogue with Iran.

Argentina and Iran to discuss bombings in Buenos Aires in the nineties (Mercopress)
Argentina and Iran begin talks on the bombings of 1992, 1994; next round Geneva (Mercopress)
Argentina, Iran say to talk until 1990s bombings resolved (Reuters)
Con un “mecanismo legal” como objetivo (Pagina/12)
Meeting of Argentina and Iran ministers rankles Israel, U.S. (JTA)

Argentina: AMIA/Mauricio Rosencof

"Memory is a barricade"

Pagina/12 today carries an interview with Mauricio Rosenhof, a former political prisoner, writer, playwright, poet and ex-minister of culture for Uruguay. He is an invited speaker at the commemorations of the AMIA attack on Tuesday. I was interested by what he says because he draws explicit parallels between the persecution of Jews during the Holocaust, the Southern Cone military dictatorships, and the memory of the terrorist attacks. This is often implicit in memory discussions but here it it spelled out.

"I think we owe a lot to the old Left, which had a very important presence in the Jewish collective. There were a thousand young people disappeared during our dictatorships who were of Jewish origin. In the international brigades which fought fascism [in Spain], 25% were Jewish. I grew up among tailors, shoemakers, carpenters who spoke in Yiddish. Workers with a clear conscience. In their honour, I'm going to talk at the event organised by Memoria Activa in memory of the victims of the AMIA."

"My presence at the event for the victims of the AMIA is emotional for me. It's remembering and putting things in their place. The voices of the Jews of the Left do not have the presence which they had and which they have to have."

"As a moral reference and example of resistence, I have Mordechai Anielewicz in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and Primo Levi, who struggled against the Nazis together with his students and then gave that example of resistence in Auschwitz. Rosa, my father's sister, was the only survivor in her family. They all died in the concentration camps. Raúl Sendic, my friend and the leader of the Tupamaros, said that he took the Kibbutzim in Palastine as a model. Shimon Peres was secretary-general of the Socialist International*. This is why it is necessary to remember the Jewish militants, those who were disappeared and the victims of the two attacks in Buenos Aires. This is what made me accept the invitation. I'm Uruguayan to my toes, Gardel-ian, tango-lover. And I'm Jewish."

*Actually, vice-president, according to my research.

The whole thing is here:

“La memoria es una barricada” (Pagina/12)

Argentina: Menem to stand trial over AMIA cover-up

An Argentine judge has ordered former president Carlos Menem to stand trial for perverting the course of justice in the investigation of the 1994 AMIA bombing. Former judge Juan Jose Galeano is also accused.

Menem was initially charged with concealing and tampering with evidence in 2009. According to news agency AFP,

Prosecutors now say there is evidence that Argentine state intelligence services and security forces covered up and erased tracks for local accomplices of the attackers during the Menem administration.

In particularly, he's said to have been involved in concealing the role of a Syrian businessman and family friend, Kanoore Edul (now deceased). Menem is currently a senator; he can stand trial, but if sentenced his fellow senators will have to impeach him before he can serve a sentence.

Argentina's Menem to be tried for obstruction (AFP)
AMIA inquiry: Judge announces Menem, Galeano to go on trial (Buenos Aires Herald)
Argentina's Carlos Menem faces bombing trial (BBC)
Menem, Anzorreguy y Galeano a juicio oral por encubrimiento en la causa AMIA (Clarin)

Argentina: 20 years since the Israeli embassy attack

It's 20 years today since the terrorist attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, when 29 people died, two years before the even more deadly AMIA attack (the official commemorations took place yesterday so as not to clash with the Jewish Sabbath). Iran has long been linked to the attack but the perpetrators remain at large and the government acknowledged yesterday that justice has not been done.

Justice minister Julio Alak summed up the state of events by saying "I'd like to talk about memory, truth and justice, but unfortunately, I can only talk about memory. Not about truth. Or about justice." He characterised the attack as "a wound which will never heal". He's quite right that focusing on memory without justice is completely unsatisfactory.

It's a disappointing situation and this is reflected in the media coverage of the anniversary events:

Dos décadas sin justicia (Pagina/12)
El Gobierno admite que no hubo justicia por el ataque a la Embajada (Clarin)
Call for justice marks 20th anniversary of Israeli embassy attack (Buenos Aires Herald)

(Image of the trees planted in memory of the victims from Wikipedia)

Argentina: AMIA anniversary

It's a big memory anniversary in Argentina, that of the AMIA bombing.

Even as recently as when I started looking at memory issues, this site would not have been imaginable. "Tweet de luto" (tweet of mourning) is a use of social networking for commemorative purposes, simple yet highly effective.

Argentina: Menem Charged in AMIA Cover-up

Former Argentine President Carlos Menem has been charged with covering up and destroying evidence related to the so-called 'Syrian connection' in the 1994 AMIA bombing. Specifically, he is said to have ordered the destruction of 54 cassettes containing evidence regarding the terrorist attack.

Also charged are his brother, Munir Menem, who was presidential chief of staff at the time, former federal judge Juan José Galeano, two intelligence chiefs and two police officers. Yes, one of the latter is Jorge "Fino" Palacios, who recently almost became head of the Buenos Aires police, until forced to withdraw due to this very controversy.

Procesan a Menem y otros ex funcionarios por irregularidades en la causa AMIA (Clarin)
Menem charged over bomb inquiry (BBC)
Former Argentine president Menem indicted for alleged "terrorist cover-up" (Mercopress)

News Round-Up 03/09/2009

Argentina

The Iranian parliament has confirmed the appointment of Ahmad Vahidi, wanted in conjunction with the AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires, to the post of Defence Minister. As is often the case, the international disapproval seems to have strengthened Iran's resolve and the authorities are now presenting this as defiance in the face of a US/Zionist plot.
Iran appoints bombing suspect as defence minister (Guardian)

Brazil

The newspaper O Globo published information from a dossier that had been sealed for four decades in which the Brazilian army takes responsibility for the death of the guerrilla Virgílio Gomes da Silva (known as Jonas), considered the first “disappeared” political prisoner of the military dictatorship.
Brazilian newspaper details killing of guerrilla leader by military regime (Journalism in the Americas)

Chile

Pinochet's foreign fortune has been calculated - and the magic number is apparently $25,978,602.79, of which over $20 million have "no justifiable origin".
Chilean judge calculates Pinochet's secret fortune (AP)

Peru

Imprisoned Shining Path leader Abimael Guzman is appealing to the Peruvian jail authorities to allow conjugal visits with his partner Elena Iparraguirre, who is in a different prison. The two have not seen each other since 2006. I was under the impression that they had married, but while a search reveals plenty of references which assume the same, I can't locate a definitive document stating this, just that he proposed marriage in 2007.

Shining Path founder Abimael Guzman seeks "family visit" with lover Elena Iparraguirre (Peruvian Times)

Argentina: Palacios Withdraws

I wrote last month of the controversy surrounding Jorge “Fino” Palacios taking up the role of chief of the Buenos Aires police. He is suspected of involvement in the AMIA case. Amid a constant stream of critical news reports and pressure from human rights groups, he has finally given in and stepped aside.

Well, as Argentina is kicking up a fuss about Iran's potential new defence minister, it's only fair that they don't appoint terror suspects to their own posts!

Triumphal offering from leftie paper Pagina/12: Ahora va a estar bueno Buenos Aires (Pagina/12)

News Round-Up 21/08/2009

Argentina
Argentina will be perturbed by Iranian President Ahmadinejad's proposal of Ahmad Vahidi as his new Minister of Defense; there is a warrant out from Interpol for his arrest. He's wanted for involvement in the 1994 AMIA bombing.
Uno de los acusados por el atentado a la AMIA podria ser ministro de Defensa en Iran (Pagina/12)

Meanwhile, some Argentines are irritated by their own President. Christina Kirchner was triumphant about a deal resolving a funding crisis that had delayed the start of the football season - a calamity in the football-mad nation. Unfortunately, she chose to draw parallels between the missing goals and the disappeared from the last dictatorship. Human rights leaders are dismayed, with Adriana Calvo, president of the Association of the Ex-Detained Disappeared, recalling that the World Cup took place in Argentina in 1978, at the height of the violence.
Todos contra CFK por comparar el secuestro de goles con desaparecidos (Critica Digital)

Colombia
A new film deals with a priest's struggle for justice in a war-torn area of Colombia (warning: article contains spoilers)
A Priest's Passion for Justice (IPS)

Peru
86.3% of residents of Lima believe that Shining Path poses "a threat" to the country, with almost half of those questioned believing that the armed group is still "very dangerous", and another third "dangerous".
Para el 86.3% de limeños, Sendero Luminoso en una amenaza para el pais (Peru21)

Argentina: AMIA, Fifteen Years On

On July 18, 1994, a terrorist attack on the AMIA Jewish community centre left 85 dead and hundreds more injured. Fifteen years on, no one has been convicted of the crime and the circumstances surrounding it are still unclear. Argentina blames Iran for the bombing, but in a mess of bodged investigations and corruption, no individuals have been put behind bars. The Supreme Court has recently declared that the investigation may be reopened, so that is a small reason for hope, but the process drags on, and with every year the possibility of tracking down the perpetrators recedes still further.

As always, the anniversary brings with it a flurry of commemorative gestures and protests against impunity - even if, this year, public gatherings are reduced because of swine flu. The main demonstration has been postponed until the epidemic abates, but many people still arrived at the site shortly before 9.53, the time of the bombing, to observe a minute's silence.

Under the circumstances, the AMIA association has been making use of the media in lieu of mass events:



and has constructed a special website.

There are also exhibitions in the Centro Cultural Recoleta and Centro Cultural Ricardo Rojas.

Quince años de la AMIA (Pagina/12)
Por la memoria de la AMIA (Pagina/12)
Una causa que no puede salir de los escombros (Pagina/12)
Recuerdan a las victimas del atentado frente a la sede de la AMIA (Pagina/12)

News Round-Up 18/07/2009

Central America: Shades of Coups Past - And Yet to Come? (IPS)

Journalist Death Threat Stirs Chile (Prensa Latina)

Inquiry on 1994 Blast at Argentina Jewish Center Gets New Life (NYT)

Argentina: New Bs As Police Chief with AMIA Link

The families of those who died in the AMIA bombing are outraged over the naming of police commissioner Jorge "Fino" Palacios as new chief of the Buenos Aires police. According to the lawyer of the families' organisation, Palacios is suspected of covering up the so-called 'local connection' in the bombings. That is, the general accusation is that the bombing was carried out by Iranian elements, but with support within Argentina. The investigation has encountered countless delays and stumbling blocks which have prevented victims from achieving justice in the past 15 years.

Familiares de victimas del atentado a la AMIA repudiaron la designacion de Palacios (Pagina/12)

Fiscal del caso AMIA dice que hay elementos para procesar a Palacios (Telam)

Argentina: AMIA Investigation Reopened

The New York Times' brief note gives the bare bones of this case pretty succinctly, so for once, here it is in full:

Argentina's Supreme Court ordered the reopening of the investigation into a deadly 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, saying a man previously acquitted in the attack should be retried. The court ruled 4 to 2 that the man, Carlos Telledín, a former car mechanic, should be tried again for his supposed role in providing the van that was loaded with explosives that were detonated in front of the community center, the government news service Telam reported.

Argentina: Inquiry into Bombing to Reopen

More:

Courts Reopens AMIA Bombing Probe (JTA)

AMIA: reactivaron la causa y la comunidad festejo (Critica Digital)