Wednesday, February 27, 2008



The ghost of the "Dirty War"

Between 1976 and 1983, Argentina's military junta waged a campaign of violence against dissidents, students, and unionists known as the "Dirty War". Thousands were disappeared, tortured and murdered by government death squads, their bodies flung from the backs of planes over the Atlantic Ocean to prevent any evidence from coming to light. Argentina is now confronting its past, and prosecuting those responsible for these atrocities, but it is still haunted by the ghost of past terror. In two recent cases against former torturers, key witnesses have disappeared. One has still not been found. And now it has happened again. Lt Colonel Paul Navone, a former army officer, was scheduled to testify about the fate of two babies kidnapped by the regime and given up for adoption. He has just been found dead. While the circumstances suggest suicide, there's a strong suspicion that he was murdered.

Far from being over, it seems that Argentina's "Dirty War" will not end until the last of those responsible is behind bars...