"What did you do with them?"

In Argentina, the trial of 15 military personnel accused of crimes in the Dirty War dictatorship is now underway. As expected, Lillie over at the excellent 'Memory in Latin America' is following the case closely and will keep us informed as the case progresses. Make sure she's on your RSS.

But a story from the trial today broke my heart. Here's the report at Critica and here's the first part of the report translated. Imagine having this question burning up inside you for 30 years and then finally getting the chance to look the perps in the eye and ask it.

María Esther Tello, mother of two sons that were disappeared during the dictatorship, asked face to face those accused of the deeds on Monday that they tell her "what did you do with them?"

"Just as my children had rights that were not given to them, I also have the constitutional right and I demand to know the whereabouts of my children, because you know what you did with them", said the mother.

With a trembling voice, the mother in her 80s made her heart-rending plea concerning her sons Daniel, 29, and Rafael, 25, at the start of the testimonial stage of the trial against 15 repressors who operated in the clandestine detention centre "Club Atlético-Banco-Olimpo", where the two young men were seen by witnesses.

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Ni olvido, ni perdon.

Julio Alberto Poch

Julio Alberto Poch, then and now

A pilot running a regular, scheduled flight between Amsterdam and Valencia, Julio Alberto Poch was arrested by Interpol yesterday as his plane sat on the tarmac in Spain. This because he was one of the pilots that used to run the so-called "death flights" during the Argentina Dirty War of the 1970s and 1980's and has charges against his name that include the responsibility for the deaths of 1,000 people.

Lillie over at the excellent Memory in Latin America site is on the case with this post that gives details and plenty of links for further perusal. She also put up another post from which I'm going to sample, just to give you an idea of the things Poch did 30 years ago. Congrats to the Spanish authorities for their sharp work and may Poch rot in jail. Here's the extract from Lillie's post that tells how a death flight worked:

They [the prisoners] were informed that they were going to be transferred to the south and would be given a vaccination for that reason. They were given a vaccination - I mean a dose of something to knock them out, a sedative. It made them drowsy.[...] Then they were put on a truck, a green truck with a canopy. We went to the military airport [...] Then the subversives were carried out like zombies and loaded onto the airplane. (21-22)

In their unconscious state, the prisoners were stripped, and when the commander of the airplane gave the order, which happened according to where the plane was, the hatch was opened and they were thrown out, naked, one by one. That's the story. A gruesome story, but true, and no one can deny it.

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Silvio Berlusconi, freemasonary, death flights and Argentina's Dirty War

Berlusconi pays his 1978 membership fee to the banned P-2 freemasonary lodge.

Last night a large gap in my knowledge of Argentina was filled. It seems that while Silvio Berlusconi was cracking extremely offensive jokes about Argentines killed in the Dirty War, his knowledge of the subject could hardly be called scant. This because the outlawed Freemasonary lodge of which he is a member also counts numerous high ranking 1970's Argentine military people on its roster.

The contents of this report in Argentina's Critica daily opened my eyes to this connection (an excellent read for those versed in Spanish and recommended). It turns out that Berlusconi is a member of the so-called "black lodge" of Italian freemasons known as P-2 that has been connected to lots of shenanigans over the years. So much so, in fact, that the official Italian freemasonary society has banned and disassociates itself from P-2. Plenty of P-2 members have direct connections to Benito Mussolini (for example, his chief of police is a member), but it's remarkable to see just how many of the Argentine military directly responsible for the atrocities of the Dirty War also figure as members (links to some of the more interesting characters provided).

Emilio Massera, joint head of the coup d'etat that ruled from 1976. Chief architect of the government clampdown on dissidents and directly responsible for hundreds if not thousands of the Dirty War disappeared.

Guillermo Suárez Mason, intelligence chief in the Dirty War period.

Alberto Vignes, Argentine chancellor.

José Lopez Rega, founder of the AAA anti-communist death squad.

Carlos Federico Barttfeld, naval officer, organizer of clandestine operations in the Dirty War period. In a later period in the diplomatic corps he was directly involved with the illegal arms shipments to Croatia in the 1990's and was relieved of all duties in 2003.

Horacio Estrada, "suicided" naval captain of the period who was at the time suspected of being a high-level whistleblower against the military government.

Orlando Ramón Agosti, head of the Argentine Air Force at the time of the coup and joint ruler of Argentina in the triumvirate from 1976. Knew without a shadow of a doubt about the "Flights of Death" that took people over the Rio de la Plata and dumped them, either dead or drugged, out the back.

Carlos Alberto Conti, admiral in the Argentine Navy

So all these people who were directly responsible for the Argentine Dirty War, being high ranking officers in the military dictatorship at the time, were/are also members of the P2 black lodge of freemasons. And Silvio Berlusconi, a man who denied for many years that he was a member, was also proven to be a part of the lodge by an Italian court. This is the background to the Silvio Berlusconi that enjoys cracking jokes about the Argentine disappeared.

Nice Prime Minister you got yourselves there, Italy. And while we're at it, let's not forget this pearl from 2003:

Berlusconi: Mussolini 'never killed anyone'
ROME (AP) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said in a newspaper report Thursday that Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini never killed anyone and only sent people away on vacations in internal exile......

By the way and to wrap up, I'm neither pro nor contra freemasonary in general terms but this P-2 lodge is a real piece of work. Check out the Wiki page to see what they've been up to and you'll sympathize with the law-abiding lodges that banned the group.

Berlusconi doesn't just offend IKN, by the way...---

By Antonio Berni (Argentine artist, 1905-1981)

......his words have now caused a diplomatic spat.

Argentina's chancellory has today summoned the Italian ambassador to express its "profound concern and ill-feeling" (precise Spanish "profunda preocupación y malestar") about the "joke" (a word that can be used only in the loosest possible terms) cracked by the Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi featured in this post found just down the page. It's so crass that it's not being repeated here.

Hey, I got an GREAT idea! Anyone know a few pathetic, offensive, racist Italian jokes that will offend even a quarter the amount that Silvio offended Argentina today? Which reminds me, thanks for the "Oh I'm so terribly offended by Silvio's weiner" mails this morning.

Related Post:
Silvio Berlusconi, freemasonary, death flights and Argentina's Dirty War

Silvio Berlusconi is an offensive turd

Berlusconi: Now you know why he owns a Ferrari

Berlusconi is one of the few people on this planet I'd happily punch in the mouth to teach a few lessons in manners. There's little point trying to converse or debate with this so-called Prime Minister and representative of the Italian people.

Forget all the "tanned" jokes aimed at Obama, because his level of depravity goes much deeper. Silvio's idea of a joke this week is to talk about the Argentine Death Flights. By way of a quick outline, during the 1970's 'dirty war' when tens of thousands of people were murdered by the state one of the ways in which dissidents both alive (usually drugged) and dead were disposed of was to fly military planes over the Rio de la Plata and dump the bodies out the back. These people are not called the disappeared for nothing, you know.

So, Berlusconi's words this week? Talking specifically about the Dirty War and the body dumping he said, "The days were beautiful (back then), it made them descend from the skies", an ironic use of "them" to refer to angels, it seems, all delivered with that smarmy grin of his.

This is his idea of a joke? For crying out loud, this man should come over to this side of the Atlantic, stand up in front of all the families torn apart by the fascist dictatorship of the period and try telling that cracker. Have a wild guess about the reception he'd get.

Silvio Berlusconi: Prize Shit.

UPDATE: For those tuning in from Facebook in Italy and wringing their hands in mock horror, here's what Argentina thinks of your pathetic PM


Related Post:
Silvio Berlusconi, freemasonary, death flights and Argentina's Dirty War