Argentina - Justice for Argentina's Disappeared: Reynaldo Bignone guilty again

Reynaldo Bignone, 86 -year-old former military ruler of Argentinian in the 1980s who is already serving life for crimes against humanity, has been sentenced to another 23 years.

The trial was known as 'the Workers Trial' because it concerned the torture of 28 trade unionists and the disappearance of 32 more in what is known as Argentinia's 'Dirty War.'

Three other members of the military were also found guilty, but three were acquited, and prosecutors are thinking of appealing.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-29532804

The desaparecidos.

Argentina's Disappeared are my worst nightmare come true.

wfgodot said:

The desaparecidos.

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Thank you. I was just looking that up to put it in the tags.

There is just something - the murderous brutality and torture aimed at the young (and old); the stealing of babies; the mothers and grandmothers on their endless, brave quest. It just makes me want to weep.

and so many remain missing, sometimes i feel no jail term is enough for those involved in the torture and murder of so many and is not only argentina, chile and peru have their own desaparecidos

I was in Argentina and Chile earlier this year. I didn't see the white-kerchiefed mothers do their weekly walk in Buenos Aires, however I did go to the museum of human rights and memory in Santiago. What a fabulous museum, but very sobering and upsetting. What surprised me most was that it is so 'honest' and critical of the Pinochet regime and yet there is still a sizable portion of the Chilean population that is on the side of the Pinochet regime.

Being naturally curious we asked questions of that period when we were with locals. We were shush-shushed until the person could speak to us one-on-one. Then they typically opened up.

If you ever get a chance to watch (or rewatch) the 1982 movie, with Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek, I highly recommend it. It tells the true story of a young American man who 'disappears' during the coup and his father who comes to Chile to look for him.

Having said that, I enjoyed the people of both Chile and Argentina very much. Two very different countries, but a common horrible history.