Torture suspect dies of poisoning in Argentina

The mysterious death, by cyanide poisoning, of a former coast guard officer who was due to be sentenced for human rights crimes on Dec. 14 has put a spotlight on Argentina's inability to sentence former military officers for the "disappearance" of up to 30,000 people during its 1976-83 dictatorship. Héctor Febres, 66, had been a member of the GT-332 death squad at a camp in Buenos Aires where some 5,000 people "disappeared," usually thrown alive from navy planes into the freezing waters of the South Atlantic. He was known by the alias Jungle, because "he was more brutal than all the other animals put together," a survivor, Ana Testa, recalled at his trial. Two coast guards at the military unit where Febres was held have been arrested in connection with his death, along with his widow, son, daughter and a son-in-law who had dinner with him the night before he died. Official sources said forensic tests had determined "the ingestion of an important amount of cyanide," to the point where his body had practically turned blue. Human rights activists said his death was a "mafiosi message" from the military against the renewal of trials. The Febres case was one of the very few to have reached trial since the country overturned two laws four years ago protecting military officers from prosecution. But progress has been slow. Of the 897 suspects protected by these amnesties, only seven have been convicted so far, and there were no former military officers among them, only policemen, civilians and one priest. Another 131 have died without sentence being passed. Relatives of the "disappeared" are angered by the failure of trials to get off the ground, and most cases have been bogged down by endless pre-trial hearings. "This is a continuation of the amnesty laws by other means," said Ana Careaga, a survivor of the Atletico death camp in Buenos Aires who is a plaintiff in the "disappearance" of her own mother, Esther Careaga, who was abducted in 1977 by the death squad Febres belonged to. "If normal judges can't do the job, they should set up special courts to try crimes against humanity in Argentina," she said. Such complaints are being taken seriously by the government of Cristina Kirchner, who in her inaugural speech promised to speed up convictions. "I hope that these trials, which have been delayed 30 years, will reach sentence before my mandate ends," she said. The government blames the delay on the lack of renewal in the courts, which it says are packed with judges and court officers from the time of the dictatorship. "The ideology of many judges and court officials is still similar to what it was 30 years ago," says a government source. Testa directed her criticism at the judges on their dais when she testified at the Febres trial last month. "These murderers are laughing at all of us..." she said. "They are dying without telling us the truth."