Wednesday, April 21, 2010

"Justice was delivered late, but it was delivered"

This man will die in jail. Good.

You may not care up there, because.....
....it was a long time ago
....who gives a crap about a few dead Latino lefties anyway?
.....your governments at that time supported the Argentine dictatorship and therefore you're not going to hear much about it from your lapdog media.
...etc
BUT WE CARE A LOT DOWN HERE.

Reynaldo Bignone was sent down for 25 years yesterday (to be served in a "common prison" too, according to the ruling). This post's title line was spoken by the head of the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo yesterday and IKN agrees. An excellent day for the whole of Latin America. Here's AFP with an EngLang write-up:

BUENOS AIRES — Argentina's last dictator, Reynaldo Bignone, 82, was Tuesday sentenced to 25 years in prison after being found guilty of ordering torture and illegal detentions during his 1982-1983 rule.

Six other officials from that era were also given prison terms of 17 to 25 years at the end of the five-month trial during which relatives of those killed or disappeared brandished photos of their loved ones.

Bignone took power after Argentina's disastrous 1982 war against Britain over the Falkland Islands, and handed the reins over to his elected successor Raul Alfonsin at the end of 1983.

His departure marked the end of decades of repression, turmoil and coups d'etat that characterized Argentina for much of the 20th century.

The court judging the case found Bignone responsible for horrors perpetrated at Campo de Mayo, an army base on the outskirts of the capital that served as an execution and torture center. CONTINUES HERE


UPDATE: More good news. With thanks for the link to reader OS, we note that Uruguay has just slapped down one of its dictator-era scum today. Ex Chancellor in the dictator era Juan Carlos Blanco was this morning sentenced to 20 years behind bars. The guilty verdict was for his involvement in the disappearance of schoolteacher Elena Quinteros in 1976 and was determined to be a "very specially aggravated murder".