Argentina: "Dirty war" suspect arrested - full text
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On Sept. 22, at Manises airport in Valencia, Spain, members of the Spanish police fugitive squad arrested commercial pilot Julio Alberto Poch on suspicion of involvement in the so-called "death flights" of Argentina's 1976-1983 "dirty war". According to the Argentinean government, around a thousand opponents of the right-wing dictatorship had died on death flights, on which passengers were drugged and thrown to their deaths from aircraft above the Atlantic Ocean or Rio de la Plata.
Immediate Context
Dutch/Argentinean dual national Poch was arrested during a stopover before a scheduled passenger flight to Amsterdam. Poch was wanted in Argentina for his alleged involvement in the murders of hundreds of "death flight" passengers, dating to his tenure as a lieutenant-ranked naval pilot attached to the Buenos Aires Naval Mechanics College. The college became notorious as a torture centre during the "dirty war". Poch had served in the navy from 1976 to late 1980, before emigrating to Holland on the collapse of the junta.
Argentinean judge Sergio Gabriel Torres had reportedly secured the arrest following a year-long investigation, involving interviews in Europe and Bali during which Poch's colleagues reported that he had boasted of throwing "terrorists" from aeroplanes. An international warrant for Poch's arrest had been issued in March 2009, but Argentina said that Poch's Dutch citizenship had prevented his extradition from the Netherlands. Dutch police reported that they had on the day of Poch's arrest searched and removed papers from his Amsterdam residence.
Reaction and Outlook
Spanish judge Eloy Velasco on Oct. 6 declined a bail request, ordering that Poch remain in detention in Madrid awaiting an extradition order. Argentina had one month to file such an order; a Dutch lawyer working for Poch expressed hopes that the Dutch justice ministry would instead file for his extradition to the Netherlands, where his family resided. Poch's defense lawyer, Ignacio Peláez Marqués, told reporters that Poch denied the charges and had never been attached to the Naval Mechanics College. The Argentinean official press agency Télam on Oct. 17 reported claims by Peláez that Poch had not been involved in the death flights, opposed "terrorism and state terrorism", and believed that judge Torres had "misinterpreted" his colleagues' comments.
Air France-KLM, the owners of budget airline Transavia for which Poch had flown, reported that they would enhance pilot background checks in the wake of the case.
The case was considered likely to prompt renewed debate in Argentina over the prosecution of those suspected of "dirty war" era human rights abuses. The Times on Sept. 24 reported that only one former naval officer, Adolfo Scilingo, had been convicted of involvement in the death flights: a Spanish court had in 2005 sentenced Scilingo Manzorro to 640 years' imprisonment over the deaths of 30 political prisoners .
Poch's arrest was followed a week later by that of Capt. Emir Sisul Hess, another former naval officer accused of piloting death flights. Sisul Hess was intercepted in Bariloche, on Argentina's border with Chile. Hebe de Bonafini, president of Madres de Plaza de Mayo, which represents women whose children had disappeared during the "dirty war", commented that though Poch and Sisul Hess's arrests did not reduce the pain of the bereaved, the pursuit of "death flight" pilots should continue.
Historical Context
Argentina was first explored by Europeans in 1516; Spanish colonists founded Buenos Aires in 1580. Argentina remained part of the Spanish colonial empire until a successful war of independence led to a formal split with Spain in 1816. Democracy with universal male suffrage was introduced in 1912.
In 1946 General Juan Perón was elected president. He strengthened trade unions and promoted economic development but imposed strict censorship and presided over high inflation. A military coup removed him from power in 1955, after which he lived in exile in Paraguay and Spain. Perón returned to Argentina in 1973 to successfully contest presidential elections but died the following year. He was succeeded by his wife Isabel Martinez de Perón, who instigated increasingly violent repression of opposition groups.
The use of state sponsored death squads under Isabel Martinez de Perón could be considered the beginning of the "dirty war", but the greatest excesses took place under the military government brought to power in the coup of 1976. Opponents of the military regime "disappeared" and many were tortured. A program of dropping political prisoners from aircraft over the Atlantic Ocean or Rio de la Plata came to be known as the "death flights". Babies belonging to dissidents were secretly adopted by government loyalists after their parents had been killed.
Military rule was brought to an end after a failed invasion of the Falkland Islands led to a fatal loss of support and prestige for the junta. Raul Alfonsín Foulkes was elected president in democratic elections held in October 1983, bringing to an end the "dirty war" era. Wide ranging immunity laws prevented the prosecution of military personnel responsible for human rights violations, though in May 1995 the Army Chief of Staff, Lt.-Gen. Martín AntonioBalza admitted that the military had committed abuses.
In Dec. 1995 naval captain Alfredo Astiz resigned his commission under apparent government pressure, following his conviction in France for the murder of two nuns during the "dirty war". Ricardo Miguel Cavallo, another "dirty war" era naval officer, was deported from Mexico to Spain to face genocide and terrorism charges in June 2003.
In June 2005 the Supreme Court ruled that laws granting immunity to military personnel for crimes committed during the "dirty war" were unconstitutional. . The first successful Argentinean prosecution following the repeal led in September 2006 to life imprisonment for a former policeman. The following year an Argentinean judge ruled that former President Reynaldo Bignone should stand trial for his role in the "dirty war".
