[NYTr] Argentina: Accused Dirty War Torture Suspect Killed by Cyanide; Family, Jailers Arrested
 
Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2007 14:31:27 -0600 (CST)


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Prensa Latina, Havana
http://www.plenglish.com

Relatives of Poisoned Argentine Junta Torturer Arrested

Buenos Aires, Dec 17 (Prensa Latina) The widow and two children of
Argentine repressor Hector Febres, who was accused of crimes against
humankind and died of cyanide poisoning, were arrested as suspects.

According to the website of the newspaper La Nacion, Febres's relatives
will continue under investigation although they tried to distance
themselves from his death and accused other detainees.

Attorney Martin Orozco said Febres's widow, Stella Maris Guevara, and
his two children, Hector Daniel and Sonia Marcela (who were arrested on
Friday), denied any involvement in poisoning Febres and accused an
alleged friend who had dinner with the deputy prefect the night before
he died.

Febres's relatives particularly accused one of the detainees: the
official responsible for his custody, whose name was not released.

So far, Judge Sandra Arroyo has arrested five people for their possible
involvement in poisoning Febres: his widow and two children, the chief
of the Prefecture of Zona Delta, Mayor Prefect Ruben Amado Iglesias,
and an agent.

According to the relatives of the deceased, they visited Febres in his
cell the day before his death, but his guardian was the last person who
shared food with him.

The ex navy officer had been in prison since 1998 and awaiting the
judge's ruling in a trial for abduction and torture of four political
prisoners at the Mechanics School of the Army (ESMA), one of
Argentina's largest clandestine detention centers during the
dictatorship (1976-83).

Humanitarian organizations claim Febres was murdered, while other
sources said he was going to accuse other people when testifying in
court.

hr jg ocs PL-27

                               ***

The Guardian - Dec 15, 2007
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2227938,00.html

Torture suspect dies of poisoning in Argentina

* Wife, children and jailers arrested after cyanide find
* Ex-coastguard accused of kidnap during 'dirty war'

by Uki Goni in Buenos Aires

The mysterious death, by cyanide poisoning, of a former coast guard
officer who was due to be sentenced for human rights crimes yesterday
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.

HC)ctor 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.

Article continues
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 on Monday 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."

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