ARGENTINA: Thousands march through Buenos Aires to demand the return of a witness who disappeared after testifying against a former police commissioner

Tens of thousands of Argentines rallied on Wednesday (September 27), demanding the safe return of an elderly man who vanished after his testimony of torture helped convict a former police officer in a "Dirty War" trial. Jorge Julio Lopez went missing on September 18, a day before Miguel Etchecolatz, a former police commissioner, was sentenced to life in prison for the murder, torture and kidnapping of six people during Argentina's 1976-83 dictatorship. The disappearance of Lopez, a former construction worker, has revived memories among many Argentines of one of the country's darkest chapters that saw as many as 30,000 people killed. Human rights activists, some holding aloft pictures of Lopez, joined ordinary Argentines to march on the Plaza de Mayo in downtown Buenos Aires. Authorities have launched a nationwide search for Lopez, posting "wanted" pictures across the country and offering a 200,000 peso (67,000 US dollar) reward for news of his whereabouts. Police officers with dogs are searching areas where people were tortured under military rule and around Lopez's hometown of La Plata, 35 miles (57 kms) south of Buenos Aires. "The method of forced disappearances of people was a method that was though out," Adriana Calvo, a former detained victim and witness against Etchecolats, said. "The discovery of a body provokes a lot of pain but it provokes a reaction of fury and justice. The disappearance of a person provokes uncertainty, fear, doubts and above all else, it provokes terror that if someone reacts, if the family reacts, if it demands or comes out and says that they think the police has them, they kill them. This worked to perfection during the dictatorship," she added. The sentencing of Etchecolatz, a former Buenos Aires provincial police commissioner who headed clandestine detention centres, was one of the first since a Supreme Court ruling last year overturned amnesty laws shielding Dirty War-era military and police officers from rights prosecutions. More than 11,000 people are officially listed as missing during the military's seven-year systematic crackdown on dissidents. But human rights groups say the number is closer to 30,000. President Nestor Kirchner said Lopez's disappearance has left Argentines "anguished" and urged the courts to proceed with their investigations and for Argentines to remain vigilant. "The past is neither defeated nor over, on the contrary, every opportunity that we have, we should make it feel like the present. And let's all be aware, superintendents, friends who are at home, let's be aware. Argentines cannot allow a repeat, not even in appearances, of the circumstances of the shameful past," he said. Kirchner, a centre-left leader who was held briefly by the military when he was a student, has injected new political will into human rights issues since coming to power in 2003. Lopez was reported missing after his son went to his house to take him to the last day of the trial. Family members have said he may have gone into hiding. The head of the court where Lopez testified said on Wednesday he received a letter with a death threat, the state news agency Telam reported. At least three other judges who made up the panel that ruled on the case also complained of receiving threatening calls, Telam said.

ITN Source | September 27, 2006

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