Dictatorship-era army officers and supporters rally in Argentina in latest sign of political shift
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Former military officers who served in Argentina brutal dictatorship and their families held a rare rally on Saturday to press for the release of their fellow civil servants imprisoned for human rights abuses committed during the junta’s 1976-1983 rule.
Saturday’s demonstration was seen as a provocation in the country of Nunca Más, the slogan representing Argentina’s commitment to never return to authoritarianism “never again.”
Officers gathered at Plaza de Mayo, the historic site of women’s protests, further escalating tensions We are looking for kidnapped childrenHe was detained by the junta and “disappeared”. Women who walked around the square in silent protests every Thursday for decades became known as the grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo.
For critics of army officers, including dozens of counter-protesters who flocked to the Plaza de Mayo in central Buenos Aires on Saturday, the brazen rally was a worrying sign: cracks started to appear Argentina’s national consensus on the bloody legacy of the dictatorship.
President Milei vows to end ‘demonization’ of military
In a striking change from past administrations, right wing president Javier Milei often legitimized the dictatorship’s state terrorism as a complex war against leftist guerrillas.
vice president, Victoria VillarruelShe is the daughter of an Argentinian lieutenant colonel and an ultra-conservative lawyer. For years he defended the armed forces and Argentinians killed by leftist guerrillas – people he calls “other victims” of terrorism.
The government’s push for a re-evaluation of crimes committed by the dictatorship has angered human rights groups, who see it as an effort to legitimize the military’s systematic behavior. Extrajudicial killings of civilians. It is estimated that the junta killed or disappeared up to 30,000 Argentines.
Last week, Milei made another controversial move by appointing Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Carlos Alberto Presti as Argentina’s new defense minister.
His office said this made Presti the first military official to hold a ministerial title since Argentina’s return to democracy in 1983, “beginning a tradition of political leadership that we hope will continue” and “ending the demonization of our officers.”
Those who support the army sent a message
That Argentinian society has denied the military the respect it deserves was a common complaint among protesters who gathered on Saturday to sing the national anthem and hold banners demanding the freedom of their detained colleagues.
“We demand the moral vindication of all veterans,” said rally organizer Maria Asuncion Benedit, whose late husband and captain-turned-captain helped lead a brutal campaign against guerrillas in the northern province of Tucuman in 1975.
“The Argentine people follow the official narrative. Whose narrative is this? The enemy, the terrorists, those fighting against our soldiers,” he said. leftist Peronist governments Reviving memories of the dictatorship of the early 2000s and seeking justice for the perpetrators have become hallmarks of their rule.
“This is a militant, activist judiciary,” Benedit said.
He and others waved black bandanas, a loaded response to the white handkerchiefs embroidered with the names of missing children traditionally worn by the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo.
Unlike other Latin American countries that offered amnesty to those who committed military crimes after restoring democracy, Argentina tried and punished more than a thousand army officials and officers for them participation in state terrorismmany were sentenced to life imprisonment. Hundreds of others are still awaiting trial.
Pedro Nieto, a dictatorship veteran who traveled 36 hours from the northern state of Salta to attend Saturday’s rally, said he felt he had sent a strong message by calling for the release of his detained colleagues in the symbolic Plaza de Mayo.
“We are proud to have fought and eliminated terrorists,” he said.
Counter-protest points to broader anger
Alejandro Perez, whose uncle was kidnapped by the dictatorship and disappeared, said he was horrified to see that veterans like Nieto, who participated in the deadly state repression, “could hold an event here, in front of the government building, guarded by police, guarded by fences, to demand the release of several detained genocide criminals.”
Police cordoned off the former officers’ demonstration, keeping a safe distance from angry counterprotesters who shouted insults and held signs with slogans such as “Never Again” and “30,000 people out there.”
“You feel it in your bones,” said Perez, drenched in rain as he walked among human rights activists and left-wing organizations.
The dueling demonstrations took place a day after the United Nations Committee Against Torture presented a report in Geneva that raised alarm over Milei’s government’s abolition of programs investigating the military’s actions during the dictatorship and “budget cuts.” several institutions I work on issues of memory, truth and justice.”
He also criticized the government’s lack of transparency regarding the payment of compensation to victims of the dictatorship.
Milei, a radical libertarian elected in late 2023, has made this his mission Achieving a fiscal surplus by reducing government spending One notorious country due to large deficits. But still cuts healthcare expenses and committed to increasing the army’s budget on education issues.
Milei’s top human rights official, Alberto Baños, spoke at the annual meeting of the UN torture committee earlier this month, speaking out against the report’s findings and insisting that his government was committed to “a complete, impartial and unobtrusive historical memory.”
“Whether you like it or not, defending human rights has become a business and we will not tolerate it,” he said.
