Argentina - human rights abuses

General jailed for torture, abduction and murder

Article published on the 2009-08-13 Latest update 2009-08-13 10:26 TU

The dictatorship of the 1970s saw the disappearance of 30,000 people
(Photo : Wikipedia)

An Argentine general has been sentenced to life in prison for multiple human rights abuses during the military dictatorship of 1976-83. General Santiago Omar Riveros commanded the Campo de Mayo barracks near Buenos Aires, a notorious base where around 5,000 prisoners were held.

Riveros was found guilty of torturing and beating to death teenager Floreal Avellaneda as well as abducting and torturing his mother.

The 15-year-old’s corpse was found washed up on the Uruguayan coast in 1976 covered in bruises and with a deep wound in one leg. Floreal’s mother claimed they were tortured so that they would give away the location of the boy’s father, who had escaped a police raid on their house.

She was released after three years in detention.

Riveros was found guilty of the crimes in 1985 but was pardoned in 1989. He was later charged with kidnapping babies, children and others of the 30,000 people who remain missing.

Five other defendants were sentenced, including former Buenos Aires police chief Fernando Verplaetsen, who received 25 years in prison in connection with the crimes. The other four received sentences ranging from eight to 18 years in prison.

Riveros was a member of the Inter-American Defense Board (IADB) in the 1970s. The IADB was an organisation linked to Operation Condor, a plan devised by South American military rulers to get rid of their political opponents.