By Heba Girgis
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina—Jorge Videla and Reynaldo Bignone, Argentina’s former dictators were sentenced on Thursday, August 6, to fifty years (Videla) and fifteen years (Bignone) in jail for masterminding a plan to steal the children of political opponents, kill their mothers, and send them to live and be raised by “good” military families.

The verdict last week was the conclusion of a trial that began in February 2011, during which hundreds of hours of testimony were heard proving that these kidnappings were a deliberate policy action carried out by the top leaders of Videla and Bignone’s regimes. British journalist and one of the main witnesses in the trial, Robert Cox, noted that “the kidnapping of newly born babies is the last crime that former members of the military regime are willing to admit. It’s like the Nazis, what they did was so terrible they could never admit it.”

Shortly after Videla’s regime came to an end and Argentina’s democracy was restored in 1983, a “Never Again” commission was created documenting thousands of crimes against humanity throughout the military regime. However, hardly any of these crimes were brought to court and prosecuted until the late Nestor Kirchner was elected to the presidency 20 years later.

While an estimated 30,000 people were killed under Videla and Bignone’s regimes, this trial was brought in order to establish the true identities of about 500 babies that were alleged to be stolen by the dictators. At the conclusion of the trial, the prosecution could prove that over 100 babies were stolen—some were born in captivity, while others were kidnapped with their families, and raised by other families linked to the dictatorship.

Spectators watched in anticipation and celebration as the verdicts were announced on large television screens outside the federal courthouse of Buenos Aires. Human rights activist Tati Almeida exclaimed, “This is an historic day. Today legal justice has been made real — never again the justice of one’s own hands.”

Today, 105 of these kidnapped children, now in their 30s, have undergone DNA tests and have been reunited with their families through the efforts of an organization called Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo that was created by the mothers of missing women whose infants were stolen.

As the effort to restore Argentina’s democracy continues, Juan Garcia, who was left at an orphanage after his father was murdered by a military guerrilla group, said, “We’ll continue this fight for justice.”

 

For further information, please see:

Belle News – Jorge Videla and Reynaldo Bignone Found Guilty of Babies Theft in Argentina – 9 July 2012

The Guardian – Jorge Rafael Videla Convicted of Baby Thefts – 6 July 2012

The Telegraph – Former Argentine Dictators Found Guilty of Baby Thefts – 6 July 2012

Winnepeg Free Press – Argentina’s Dictators Guilty of Stealing Babies From Prisoners – 5 July 2012