'I Decided, This Is Not My War' : Argentine Witnesses Tell of Terrorism by Military - forced air boot dryer

Ulian wants to be a professional soldier.
He found a dirty war in which his colleagues faithfully obeyed orders.
They kidnapped thousands of people, tortured them, killed them, and threw their bodies into unmarked graves.
"For many officers, this is a jihad, a movement against communism," Ulian said in a recent interview . ".
"Torture is a recognized way of obtaining information. "But 1st Lt. Urien rebelled.
"I decided it was not my war," he said . "
"I don't want to be an accomplice.
"In 1980, he was declared incompetent by his superiors, who had previously given him high marks for his military strength.
He was removed.
Now, 34-year-old Ulian, who runs a family butcher's shop and studies economics at a University, thinks it's time for Argentina and its armed forces to accept the terrible past.
Democracy in Argentina today has a lot of people like Ulian.
In daily horror readings, about 500 witnesses recorded the equivalent of a national terrorist epidemic in front of a panel of six federal court judges.
In the trial of nine former military commanders, more than 1,000 survivors were still waiting to be summoned to the witness box, three of whom were former presidents accused of barbaric acts from 1976 to 1980.
The trial was open, but the accused, who was waiting in a comfortable cell for the results of the trial, refused to attend.
This is their right.
From the government's point of view, President Raul Alfonsin personally ordered the trial of the commander to be a propaganda of young democracy, a belated but historic victory for the rule of law.
Among the noisy defense lawyers, the trial was ridiculed as political activity in private within the armed forces.
A retired general condemned it as "the opposite Nuremberg," where the winner of the war they had never sought was punished for winning.
The debate is fierce, just like the pain and sadness that witnesses bring them --
Court panel
Last week, witness Marina Chris Kautsky recalled the night of August.
1978. when armed men in plain clothes and military boots came to catch her father Reuben, a Communist and a dentist.
She was 13 years old.
The intruder took away everyone, including the dog.
The mother, daughter and dog were released without abuse.
When the women returned home, they found the house looted.
They took the vacuum cleaner, TV, iron, hair dryer, sewing machine, clothes. . .
Even plates and silverware . "
Ruben Kriscautzky is one of the 9,000 victims known as the "dirty war" and they are still missing, according to Blue Statistics
Presidential Committee on ribbon
In a messy office in the heart of the federal court, the roof leaked and prosecutor Julio strascora did not pretend to be calm.
"The evidence is overwhelming," he said, "and" I am proving the allegations . ".
The evidence is overwhelming.
They even killed 14. year-
Elderly people who are required to reduce bus fares for school children.
We did not know such a thing at that time;
Propaganda suffocates them.
Now we all know.
"The government believes that officers have planned and directed a national crackdown campaign to bring the day-to-day tools of kidnapping, torture, murder, theft and falsification of public policies, carried out by all three armed and police forces throughout the country.
The crackdown has calmed down the terrorism of the Marxist guerrillas.
But as many as 95% of military victims have nothing to do with guerrillas, according to human rights groups.
"The war against subversion is an excuse to get rid of those who oppose military rule," Ulian said . ".
All opposition is subversive. "Three Ex-
The president charged with a life sentence is former president Jorge R.
Roberto E. Wedra
Viola and Leopoldo F. Galtieri.
Adm is also on trial. Emilio E.
Lieutenant Massera and air force. Gen. Orlando R.
Agosti, who served in the military government of Videla from 1976 to 1981; Adm.
Armando rambusini and Lt. Gen. Omar D.
Graffigna and Adm from the Wiola 1981 junta. Jorge I. Anaya and Lt. Gen.
Brazilian Leo Lamy Dozo was expelled from their military counterparts after the disastrous Falklands War in 1982.
The defense argued to varying degrees that officers acted according to the order of "eliminating" subversion, and that excessive was never a policy issue. The leader of the junta did not know any excessive, and if there was any surplus, that is the work of overzealous junior officers.
Testimony of relatives of Desaparecidos (
Missing People)
Defense lawyers insist that discounts must be offered from survivors in secret detention centres because of their left-wing political connections or desire for revenge.
711 the specific CasesStrassera case is based on 711 specific illegal detention selected in a large number of documents compiled by the presidential commission last year.
The case was raised against the background of the secret center where the kidnapped prisoner was taken.
Witnesses often testified that the people they saw in detention were still missing.
Last week, the testimony focused on a secret center called El Vesuvio, which is run by the army and is located on the outskirts of Buenos outskirts.
A guard in visuvio was nicknamed Paraguay ".
"Witness Estrella igsias saw him after being kidnapped from his home in 1978.
"He doesn't know how to reason," she said . ". ". . .
He was frightened by silence.
He solved the problem by hitting people and letting them scream.
"Earlier testimony described a secret prison and torture center, controlled by the Air Force, in an old house in an Argentine suburb known as the Sere building by prisoners.
The Navy detention center government case could culminate next month, and testimony about the Navy's horrific secret detention center will appear at a technical school in Argentina.
"At least 4,000 prisoners went in," Strassera said . ".
"There are very few people who come out alive.
We are proving that the same suppression system operates exactly the same way across the country under the above orders.
Strassera said he believes that the testimony ultimately shows that the leader of the junta not only knows what is going on, but also systematically lies and prevents internal and international investigations.
Urien mentioned a lieutenant in his testimony. -
Later, he died in a training accident. -
He was ordered to dig his body in the inland city of Cordoba in order not to be found by a human rights group visiting the Organization of American States.
The assistant secretary of state for human rights and humanitarian affairs of the Carter administration, Patricia Drian, testified as a prosecution witness when defense counsel followed up in court.
A lawyer told reporters: "Ask President Reagan what he thinks about the woman . " The reporter asked him why he was leaving.
In his outspoken testimony, Derian, along with other international witnesses, said that they had expressed their concerns directly to the Argentine leaders about human rights violations.
She said that Videla once told her that "it is difficult to control the subordinate personnel, especially those who saw their comrades die in the hands of terrorists.
She said she replied: "You have a responsibility if you are a commander.
In 1977, General Massera told her, Derian said, "The Navy has not tortured people.
The army and the air force are doing this.
"Referring to another occasion of the same year, Derian said that she met Massera at the Mechanical School and told him that she thought that even when people were talking, there was a possibility of being in the school.
She said: "Massera smiled and made a hand gesture to wash his hands and asked me, do you remember what happened to Pontius Pilate?
"The trial pleased Argentine human rights organizations, but they thought it was just the beginning.
They insist that all others guilty of human rights violations must follow the commander in court.
Strassera agreed.
"We hear the same name all the time, about 1,200," he said . ".
In the face of military hostility, the Afghan government-
Especially those junior officers who say they are only executing orders. -
There has been no commitment to a more comprehensive search of more defendants.
There was a heated debate within the government on how to impose restrictions on prosecution.
The government denies that it is considering amnesty, but there has been speculation that Alfonsin may limit further prosecution once the current trial is over, depending on the severity of the offence or the level of the person accused of committing the offence.
"What I'm looking for is not necessarily a solution, but a conclusion," Alfonsin told friends, according to reliable reports . ".
These questions are so profound and so passionate that no matter what conclusion Alfonsin ultimately seeks, he is bound to provoke some important sectors of society.
Ernesto Urien believes that the trial is the last best opportunity for the democracy of the Argentine armed forces.
Ulian was the youngest of the 33 officers, ranging from lieutenant to lieutenant colonel, who were expelled from the Army for opposing the crackdown.
The decree that ordered him to retire accused Urien of "not instilling the philosophical and institutional sense of the Army ".
"It's not his war, but Ulian insists it's his army.
Whatever the trial is still testing, he said, it shows that the Army "must belong to the state, not to the people who command the Army ".