Nearly 40 years after Argentina’s return to democracy, one of Argentina’s most notorious torturers has passed away. Former police officer Miguel Etchecolatz, who was sentenced to life in the South American country for crimes against humanity, died last weekend at the age of 93 in a hospital in the province of Buenos Aires. This is reported by the newspaper “La Nación”, citing human rights organizations.
As deputy chief of police for the Buenos Aires province around the capital, Etchecolatz ran 21 secret prisons. He was also responsible for the kidnapping and torture of ten students in 1976. He was sentenced several times to life imprisonment for murder, kidnapping and torture in numerous cases, some of which were subsequently placed under house arrest. In 2006 – long after the end of the dictatorship – he was alleged to have been involved in the disappearance of a prosecutor in a trial against him. He was taken to hospital a few days ago.
Human rights groups estimate that up to 30,000 government opponents, left-wing activists, trade unionists and students disappeared during the military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983. In the fight against alleged communist activity, security forces have killed countless people in secret prisons. Others were drugged and thrown from planes into the Rio de la Plata or the sea. In many cases, the fate of the victims of the dictatorship is still unclear.
Source: Krone
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