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This article especially refers to the Argentine dirty war; however, the term has been used in other contexts, for example in Morocco; see also The Dirty War (in and 1983 by Jorge Rafael Videla 's Military Government in Argentina (during what was called by the Dictatorship the " National Reorganization Process "), which has been termed " Genocide " by an Argentine court during the trial of Miguel Etchecolatz , former police officer of the Bonaerense provincial police and condemned for Crimes Against Humanity . La Nación , 19 September 2006. Condenaron a Etchecolatz a reclusión perpetua . In 1973, as former leader Juan Perón returned to Argentina from exile in Spain, the Ezeiza Massacre marked the end of the alliance between left- and right-wing factions of Peronism . Several guerilla groups emerged, the largest and most active of which was the People's Revolutionary Army (ERP). After Perón's death in 1974, government was left in the hands of his widow, Isabel Martínez De Perón , who signed a number of decrees empowering the military and the police to "annihilate" left-wing subversion. Martínez de Perón was ousted in 1976. Starting that year, the Junta s led by Videla until 1981, and then by Roberto Viola and Leopoldo Galtieri , were responsible for the illegal arrest, torture, killing or Forced Disappearance of thousands of people (mostly trade-unionists, students and other activists). According to the ''Nunca Más'' report issued by the '', January 13, 2007 Argenpress, 10 April 2006. ''Represión en Argentina y memoria larga'' . Besides the actions on Argentine territory, the Argentine security forces and death squads worked hand in hand with other South American dictatorships in the frame of Electronic Briefing Book No. 73 - Part II, CIA classified documents released in 2002. There has been a long-running debate in Argentina over the issue of 1986 , under Alfonsín's presidency, and extinguished any charges for human rights violations for all acts preceding 12 December 1983 .BBC News, 15 June 2005. Argentine amnesty laws scrapped . ORIGIN OF THE TERM The term "Dirty War" itself comes from the military ''junta'' itself, which claimed that a war, albeit with "different" methods (including the massive use of (''Juicio a las Juntas Militares'') . Although the ''junta'' claimed its objective to be the eradication of guerrilla activity, the repression struck mostly the general population, and specifically all political opposition, trade unionists (half of the victims), students, etc. Many others were forced to go into exile, and many remain in exile today (despite the return of democracy in 1983). It was made clear during the Trial of the Juntas that the guerrillas, despite the use of the term "war", were not in a position to pose a real threat, and could not be considered a (''jus in bello''), which first effect is protecting soldiers and inferior ranks of the hierarchy from being accused of acts committed under the orders of military or state superiors. The program of extermination of dissidents was termed " Genocide " by a court of law, for the first time in the official treatment of illegal crimes of the dictatorship, during the 2006 trial of Miguel Etchecolatz , a former senior official of the Buenos Aires Provincial Police . THE RETURN OF PERONISM Ever since former army officer Juan Perón was ousted from the Presidency by a coup in 1955 ('' Revolución Libertadora ''), military hostility to Peronism had dominated Argentine politics. The 1963 Aramburu Decree had gone as far as proscribing the use of Perón's name, and when General Lanusse , who had seized power in 1971, called for elections in 1973 and authorized the return of Political Parties , Perón — who had been invited back from exile— was disbarred from seeking office. This led to the May 1973 election of Peronist Héctor José Cámpora , a rather moderate and left-wing Peronist elected as Perón's "personal delegate" to circumvent the veto on Perón's participation in the election. Peronism has been difficult to define according to traditional political classifications, and probably different periods must be distinguished. A Populist and Nationalist movement, it has sometimes been accused of Fascist tendencies, and Perón's admiration for Mussolini is well known. Furthermore, Argentina became a popular country of exile for Ex-Nazis who entered clandestinity after World War II and fled using various Ratlines . However, this has been strongly disputed by others, inside and outside the Peronist movement, and it might as well be compared with Gaullism in France, which at first succeeded in creating in the immediate post-war period a large coalition from the left-wing (excluding only Communist s) to the right-wing, before turning itself into a more Conservative movement in the 1960s-70s. Furthermore, the absence of Perón himself, who spent 20 years in exile in Franquist Spain , is also an important key to understand Peronism, as he could be invoked by all kind of Argentine sectors opposed to the current state of affairs. The memory of Eva Perón , First Lady of Argentina from 1946 to her death in 1952, in particular, was fondly conserved in workers' hearts, while in contrast she was strongly despised by the "national Bourgeoisie ". Thus, the left-wing and Catholic Montoneros supported Perón as well as, at its end, the Fascist-leaning and strongly anti-Semitic '' Movimiento Nacionalista Tacuara '', one of Argentine's first Guerrilla movements. Henceforth, following nearly two decades of weak civilian governments, economic decline and military interventionism, Perón returned from exile on 20 June 1973 by which time the country was becoming engulfed in financial, social and political disorder of staggering dimensions. The months preceding his return were marked by important Social Movement s, as in the rest of South America, and in particular of the Southern Cone before the repression of the 1970s. Thus, during Héctor Cámpora 's first months of government (May-July 1973), approximatively 600 social conflicts, strikes and Factory Occupations had taken place. Hugo Moreno, ''Le désastre argentin. Péronisme, politique et violence sociale (1930-2001)'', Editions Syllepses , Paris, 2005, p.109 Upon Perón's arrival at Buenos Aires Airport, snipers (including members of the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance , or Triple A) opened fire on the crowds of left-wing Peronist sympathizers. Known as the Ezeiza Massacre , this event marked the split between left-wing and right-wing factions of Peronism. Perón was re-elected in 1973, backed by a broad coalition that ranged from trade unionists in the center to Fascist s on the right (including members of the neofascist '' Movimiento Nacionalista Tacuara '') and Socialist s like the Montoneros led by Mario Firmenich on the left. Following the Ezeiza massacre, and Perón's denouncing of "bearded immature idealists", Perón sided with the Peronist right-wing, the trade-unionist bureaucracy and Radicals lead by Ricardo Balbín , Héctor José Cámpora's unsuccessful rival at the May 1973 elections. The Montoneros were finally expelled from the Justicialist Party by Perón in May 1974. However, the Montoneros waited until after the death of Perón in July 1974 to react, with the exception of the assassination of José Ignacio Rucci , the right-wing Peronist Secretary General of the General Confederation Of Labour (CGT) on 25 September 1973 , and some other military actions. They would then claim the "social revolutionary vision of authentic Peronism" and start guerrilla operations against Isabel Perón's government, who represented the Peronist right-wing. A main aim of the Montoneros was to push authorities into repression, even severe repression, in the belief that in the end it would prove self defeating. Isabel Martínez de Perón's government Perón died on 1 July 1974 , and was replaced by his vice-president and third wife, Isabel Martínez De Perón , ruled Argentina until her March 1976 overthrow by the militaries. The 1985 's Triple A Death Squad (according to ''Argenpress'', at least 25 trade-unionists were assassinated in 1974). The Triple A had been created by José López Rega and Rodolfo Almirón (arrested in Spain in 2006). López Rega was successively Minister of Héctor José Cámpora , Raúl Alberto Lastiri , Perón and Isabel Perón and private secretary of the last two. Furthermore, after the 1980 police arrest of Licio Gelli , head of Propaganda Due (aka P2), a masonesque lodge involved in Italy's Strategy Of Tension , in a villa in the French Côte D'Azur , it was discovered that Isabel Perón's Minister for Social Affairs, López Rega, had also been a member of this lodge. One of the first terror attack of the Triple A targeted Hipólito Solari Yrigoyen with a Car Bomb on 21 November 1973 , which seriously injured him. A few days earlier, Solari Yrigoyen had criticized in the Senate the reform of laws concerning workers' trade-unions, which aimed at tightening the control of the trade-union Bureaucracy on the Workers' Movement . A few days before the bombing, a leading representative of the trade-unionist bureaucracy, Lorenzo Miguel , had qualified Solari Yrigoyen as "public enemy number one." The Triple A also assassinated Silvio Frondizi , brother of former president Arturo Frondizi , in September 1974, etc. However, the repression of the social movements had already started before the attempt on Yrigoyen's life: on 17 July 1973 , the CGT section in Salta was closed, while the CGT, SMATA and Luz Y Fuerza in Córdoba were victims of armed attacks. Agustín Tosco, Secretary General of Luz y Fuerza, successfully dissimulated him avoiding his arrestation, and entered Clandestinity until his death on 5 November 1975 . Argenpress, 10 April 2006. ''Represión en Argentina y memoria larga'' . Trade-unionists were also targeted by the repression in 1973: Carlos Bache was assassinated on 21 August 1973 ; Enrique Damiano, of the Taxis Trade-Union of Córdoba, on 3 October ; Juan Avila, also of Córdoba, the following day; Pablo Fredes, on 30 October in Buenos Aires; Adrián Sánchez, on 8 November 1973 in the Province Of Jujuy . Assassinations of trade-unionists, lawyers, etc. continued and increased in 1974 and 1975, while the most combative trade-unions were closed and their leaders arrested. In August 1974, Isabel Peron's government took out the right of trade-unionist representation of the ''Federación Gráfica Bonaerense'', and its Secretary General Raimundo Ongaro arrested in October 1974. During the same month of August 1974, the SMATA Córdoba trade-union, in conflict with the company Ika Renault, was closed by the national direction of trade-unions , and the majority of its leaders and activists arrested. Most of them, including its Secretary General René Salamanca , were assassinated during the 1976-83 dictatorship. Atilio López, General Secretary of the CGT of Córdoba and former Vice-Governor of the Province, was assassinated in Buenos Aires on 16 September 1974 . The guerrillas continued to attack and in August 1974 the government suffered another major blow when the ERP struck the 17th Airborne Infantry Regiment at Catamarca. The attack involved some 70 to 80 members of the "Compañía Ramón Rosa Jiménez" who on 10 August, dressed in Army fatigues raided the garrison at Catamarca in an apparent attempt to kidnap the Commanding Officer. "Annihilation decrees" See Also: Operativo Independencia Meanwhile, the received the order to move to Famailla in the foothills of the Monteros mountains on 8 February 1975. While fighting the guerrilla in the jungle, Vilas concentrated on uprooting the ERP support network in the towns, using State Terror tactics later adopted nation-wide, as well as a civic action campaign. The Argentinean security forces used techniques no different from their US and French counterparts. By July 1975, anti-guerrilla commandos were mounting Search-and-destroy missions in the snow-capped mountains. Army forces discovered Santucho's base camp in August, then raided the ERP urban headquarters in September. Most of the Compania del Monte's general staff was killed in October and was dispersed by the end of the year. While the leadership of the movement was mostly eradicated, many of the ERP soldiers and sympathizers were taken into custody as political prisoners. The Argentineans have admitted to 43 troops killed in action in Tucuman although this figure does not take into account police and Gendarmerie troops. By December 1975 the Argentinean military could, with some justification claim that it was winning the 'Dirty War', but it was dismayed to find no evidence of overall victory. On 23 December 1975 several hundred ERP fighters staged an all-out battle with the 601st Arsenal Battalion nine miles from Buenos Aires. 85 guerrillas, seven army troops and three policemen were killed. In addition 20 civilians were killed in the crossfire. On 30 December a bomb exploded at the headquarters of the Argentinean Army in Buenos Aires, injuring at least six officers of senior-rank. The credibility of the government was now destroyed and the strategy of attrition was bankrupt. The Montoneros had even successfully utilized divers in underwater infiltrations and sunk an Argentine destroyer, the ARA Santisima Trinidad in 1975. By mid-1975, the country was a stage for widespread violence. Extreme right-wing death squads used their hunt for far-left 1975 military directive of "Struggle Against Subversion". As had been done during the 1957 Battle Of Algiers (''quadrillage''), each zone was divided in subzones and areas, with its corresponding military responsibles. General Antonio Domingo Bussi replaced in December 1975 Acdel Vidas as responsible of the military operations. 20 March 1975 raid in Santa Fe Isabel Perón's government ordered a raid on 20 March 1975 , which involved 4,000 military and police officers, in Villa Constitución, Santa Fe , in response to various trade-unionist conflicts. Many citizens and 150 activists and trade-unionists leaders were arrested, while the Unión Obrera Metalúrgica 's subsidiary in Villa Constitución was closed down with the agreement of the trade-unions' national direction, headed by Lorenzo Miguel. Repression affected trade-unionists of large firms, such as Ford , Fiat , Renault , Mercedes Benz , Peugeot , etc., and was sometimes carried on with support from the firm's executives and from the trade-unionist bureaucracy. José Rodríguez, for example, has been accused of being involved in the "disappearance" of Mercedes Benz workers during the dictatorship. He was the same trade-unionist leader who in 1974 closed down SMATA's section in Córdoba — and who is today General Secretary of SMATA. THE MILITARY'S RISE TO POWER See Also: 1976 Argentine coup Conservatives , including some among the wealthy elite, encouraged the army, which prepared to take control by making lists of people who should be "dealt with" after the planned coup. In 1975, President Isabel Perón , under pressure from the military establishment, appointed Jorge Rafael Videla commander-in-chief of the Argentine Army. ''"As many people as necessary must die in Argentina so that the country will again be secure"'', Videla declared in 1975 in support of the death squads. He was one of the military heads of the coup d'état that overthrew Isabel Perón on 24 March 1976 . In her place, a military junta was installed, which was headed by Admiral Emilio Eduardo Massera (also a member of the P2 freemasonry lodge), who stepped out in September 1978, General Orlando Agosti and Videla himself. During 1976, Videla narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in which a time bomb planted in the reviewing stand at the vast Campo de Mayo barracks blew out a yard-wide hole at the exact spot where he had been standing. The ''junta'', which dubbed itself "'', 3 January 2006 (mirrored on '' El Correo.eu.org '' / This generalization of . ISBN 950072684X As pressure mounted on the Montoneros, the urban guerrillas struck back. On 2 July 1976 a Claymore shrapnel mine exploded at the headquarters of the Federal Police in west Buenos Aires during a secret meeting of the police leadership, killing 21 and mutilating a further 60. On 12 September 1976 a car bomb destroyed a bus filled with police officers in Rosario, killing 11 policemen and injuring at least 12. Furthermore, by 1976 's website, here FALSE FLAG ACTIONS BY SIDE AGENTS During a 1981 interview which contents were revealed by documents declassified by the website HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS FROM 1976 TO 1983 , in Rosario , now a memorial.]] In 1976, one of the generals predicted, "We are going to have to kill 50,000 people: 25,000 Subversive s, 20,000 sympathizers, and we will make 5,000 mistakes." The National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons ( CONADEP ) researched and recorded, case by case, the " Disappearance " of about 9,000 persons, though it was made clear that many more could exist; today, the most commonly accepted estimate by human rights organizations places the number at 30,000. Human Rights groups such as Amnesty International were gravely concerned by the state's use of 'disappearances' and periodical use of Extrajudicial Killings against the supposed 'subversives'. Most victims were not armed guerrilla fighters, whose organizations were virtually liquidated, but anyone believed to be associated with activist groups, including trade-union members, students (including very young students, for example in September 1976 during the or the Atlantic Ocean to drown. This form of Disappearance , theorized by Luis Maria Mendia , former chief of naval operations in 1976-77 who is today before the court for his role in the ESMA case, was termed ''vuelos de la muerte'' (" Death Flight s"). These individuals which suddenly vanished are called ''los desaparecidos'' meaning "the missing ones" or "vanishing ones." Tomás Di Toffino, Deputy Secretary General of Luz y Fuerza de Córdoba, was kidnapped on 28 November 1976 and executed in a military camp in Córdoba on 28 February 1977 , in a "military ceremony" presided by General Luciano Benjamín Menéndez . In December 1976, 22 political prisoners were tortured and executed during the Massacre Of Margarita Belén , in the military Chaco Province , for which Videla would be found guilty of homicide during the 1985 Trial of the Juntas, as well as Cristino Nicolaides, junta leader Leopoldo Galtieri and Santa Fe Provincial Police chief Wenceslao Ceniquel . The same year, fifty anonymous persons were illegally executed by a firing-squad in Cordoba The Victims: Abducted, Tortured, Vanished (list of victims) / Organizations closely associated with State Terrorism included the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance (Triple A), the '' Batallón De Inteligencia 601 '' of the Military Unit , the Naval Mechanics School ( ESMA ), and the '' Secretaría De Inteligencia '' (SIDE). SIDE cooperated with DINA , its Chilean counter-part, and other South American intelligence units in Operation Condor . Relatives of the victims uncovered evidence that some children taken from their mothers soon after birth were being raised as the adopted children of military men, as in the case of Silvia Quintela . For three decades, the Grand-Mothers Of The Plaza De Mayo , a group founded in 1977, has been demanding the return of these kidnapped children, estimated to number as many as five hundred. 77 of the kidnapped children have been located so far. Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo 's website In 1977, Videla told British journalists: "I emphatically deny that there are Concentration Camp s in Argentina, or military establishments in which people are held longer than is absolutely necessary in this ... fight against subversion". Yet, there are people such as Alicia Partnoy , who was tortured and has written her story in " The Little School ", who claim otherwise. In 1980, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel , a Catholic Human Rights activist who had organized the ''Servicio de Paz y Justicia'' (Peace and Justice Service) and suffered torture while held without trial for 14 months in a Buenos Aires concentration camp, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in the defense of human rights in Argentina. In 1981 Videla retired and General Roberto Eduardo Viola replaced him, but nine months later, Viola stepped down for health reasons, and General Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri took the post. Democracy returned with Raúl Alfonsín , who created the National Commission On The Disappearance Of Persons (CONADEP) on 15 December 1983 . Under Alfonsín, Congress would then pass the ''Ley de Punto Final'' and ''Ley de Obediencia Debida'' as amnesty laws, overturned in June 2005 by the Supreme Court . INVASION OF THE FALKLAND ISLANDS See Also: Falklands War In 1982, the Argentine military invaded the British-controlled Falkland Islands , in a desperate attempt to gather the population around this war, lifting patriotic spirit. The junta was quickly defeated by the British, led by Margaret Thatcher , who retook the islands. It seems that the junta, so sure of the US support, thought that Great Britain would not attack for so little. The loss of the war led to the resignation of Galtieri on June 17 of the same year and a third (and last) junta was placed in power under a new president, Reynaldo Bignone . The defeat accelerated the end of the junta rule. ANTI-COMMUNISM The junta's mission was allegedly to defend against international communism. Indeed, the "ideological war" doctrine of the on 22 July 1997 before the Italian Parliamentary Commission on Terrorism headed by senator Giovanni Pellegrino which was managed in particular by the 601st Intelligence Batallion headed by General Guillermo Suárez Mason . After having been trained by the French military, the Argentine Armed Forces would train their counterparts, in Nicaragua, but also '', March 24, 2006 Since the end of the dictatorship, some former military, politicians and journalists have tried to justify these crimes as either regrettable or simply inevitable "excesses" brought about by the nature of the enemy (that is, the insurgency), which employed the same tactics. Critics have coined the phrase " Theory Of The Two Demons " to qualify the alleged thesis that views the forces of law of the national state and the radical subversive groups as morally comparable entities. Opponents of this theory talk of a deliberate Strategy Of Tension . USA INVOLVEMENT , which gathered members from all parts of the Argentine Armed Forces . Subject: "Nuts and Bolts of the Government's Repression of Terrorism-Subversion." Original document on the National Security Archive s' website.]] According to the Electronic Briefing Book No. 73 - Part II, CIA classified documents released in 2002 But President Jimmy Carter 's emphasis on human rights led to strained relations between the USA and the military regime in Argentina during the height of the Dirty War in the late 1970s. The Reagan Administration that was elected to office in 1981, however, asserted that Carter had weakened USA diplomatic relationships with Cold War allies, and reversed the previous administration's official condemnation of the junta's human rights practices. The re-establishment of diplomatic ties allowed for CIA collaboration with the Argentine intelligence service in training and arming the Nicaraguan Contra s against the Sandinista government. The 601 Intelligence Battalion , for example, trained Contras at Lepaterique base, in Honduras. THE "FRENCH CONNECTION" and Alice Domon. Alfredo Astiz has been convicted for their "disappearance," while Luis Maria Mendia has been indicted of them.]] French journalist '', September 2005 The French military would transmit to their Argentine counterparts the notion of " Internal Enemy " and the use of torture, death squads and "quadrillages". Green deputies When Minister of Foreign Affairs '', February 5, 2003 Reporter Marie-Monique Robin thus declared to '' in '' L'Humanité '', 30 August 2003 . The methods employed during the 1957 Battle Of Algiers were systematized and exported to the War School in Buenos Aires. Roger Trinquier 's famous book on Counter-insurgency had a very strong influence in South America. She declared being shocked to learn that the DST French intelligence agency communicated to the DINA the name of the refugees who returned to Chile (Operation Retorno). All of these Chileans have been killed. "Of course, this puts in cause the French government, and Giscard D'Estaing , then President of the Republic. I was very shocked by the duplicity of the French diplomatic position which, on one hand, received with open arms the political refugees, and, on the other hand, collaborated with the dictatorships." Marie-Monique Robin also demonstrated ties between the French far right and Argentina since the 1930s, in particular through the , former Under Secretary of Cult under Carlos Menem , President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999, who was presented by Dominique Lagneau , the priest in charge of the monastery, as "Mr. Cité catholique in Argentina". Bruno Genta and Juan Carlos Goyeneche represent this ideology. Antonio Caggiano , archbishop of Buenos Aires from 1959 to 1975 wrote in 1961 a prologue to Jean Ousset's Spanish version of ''Le Marxisme-léninisme''. Caggiano explained that "Marxism is the negation of Christ and his Church" and spoke of a Marxist conspiracy to take over the world, for which it was necessary to "prepare for the decisive battle". Together with President Arturo Frondizi ( Radical Civic Union , UCR), he inaugurated the first course on counter-revolutionary warfare in the Higher Military College (Frondizi was eventually overthrown for being "tolerant of Communism"). By 1963, cadets at the (then infamously well-known) Navy Mechanics School started receiving counter-insurgency classes aided by the film '' The Battle Of Algiers '', which showed the methods used by the French Army in Algeria. Caggiano, the military chaplain at the time, introduced the film approvingly and added a religiously oriented commentary to it. On 2 July 1966 , four days after President Arturo Umberto Illia was removed from office and replaced by the dictator Juan Carlos Onganía , Caggiano declared: "We are at a sort of dawn, in which, thanks to God, we all sense that the country is again headed for greatness." Argentine Admiral '', January 25, 2007 When Minister of Foreign Affairs '', February 5, 2003 TRUTH COMMISSION AND TRIALS The junta relinquished power in 1983. After democratic elections, president elect Raúl Alfonsín created the National Commission On The Disappearance Of Persons (CONADEP) in December 1983, led by writer Ernesto Sábato , to collect evidence about the Dirty War crimes. The gruesome details, including documentation of the disappearance of nearly 9,000 people, shocked the world. Jorge Rafael Videla , head of the junta, was among the generals convicted of human rights crimes, including forced disappearances, torture, murders and kidnappings. President Alfonsín ordered that the nine members of the military junta be judicially charged, during the 1983 Trial Of The Juntas , together with guerrilla leaders Mario Firmenich , Fernando Vaca Narvaja , Rodolfo Galimberti , Roberto Perdía , and Enrique Gorriarán Merlo . Some claimed that Alfonsín's government was positing the " Theory Of The Two Demons ," morally equating violent political subversion with State Terrorism . In the Prologue to the ''Nunca Más'' report (" Never Again "), Ernesto Sábato wrote: "''From the moment of their abduction, the victims lost all rights. Deprived of all communication with the outside world, held in unknown places, subjected to barbaric tortures, kept ignorant of their immediate or ultimate fate, they risked being either thrown into a river or the sea, weighted down with blocks of cement, or burned to ashes. They were not mere objects, however, and still possessed all the human attributes: they could feel pain, could remember a mother, child or spouse, could feel infinite shame at being raped in public. ..''" The Victims: Abducted, Tortured, Vanished / In 1985, Videla was sentenced to life imprisonment at the military prison of Magdalena. However, on 29 December 1990 , President Carlos Menem Pardon ed Videla and other convicted generals. In 1998, Videla received a prison sentence for his role in the kidnapping of eleven children during the regime and for the forgery of the children's identity documents (the " Stolen Babies ", kidnapped from the parents arrested, and raised by military families). Some viewed the pardons as a pragmatic decision of national reconciliation that sought to please the military and thus prevent further uprisings. Others condemned it as unconstitutional, noting that the constitutionally acknowledged right of the president to pardon does not extend to those who have not yet been convicted — which was the situation in the case of some military officials. Others yet consider that this presidential privilege is inappropriate for modern times, a relic of monarchic rule that should be abolished. Ironically, dictator Videla was ''de facto'' incapable of leaving his house, since every time he went out in public he risked insults or assault. At one time, the street was painted with enormous arrows pointing to his house, and the words: ''30,000 disappeared, assassin on the loose''. Foreign governments whose citizens were victims of the Dirty War are pressing individual cases against the former military regime. France has sought the extradition of Captain Alfredo Astiz for the kidnapping and murder of its nationals, among them nun Leonie Duquet . Adolfo Scilingo , a former Argentine naval officer, was convicted in Spain, on 19 April 2005 , to 640 years on charges of Crimes Against Humanity . At the end of 2005, during the presidency of Néstor Kirchner , the '' Ley De Punto Final '' and '' Ley De Obediencia Debida '' were declared void by congress, but those already pardoned cannot be prosecuted again for the same crimes. Since 2006, 24 March is a Public Holiday In Argentina , the Day Of Memory For Truth And Justice ; that year, on the 30th anniversary of the coup, a multitude filled the streets calling to remember what happened during the military government, and pray it never to happen again. In 2006, the first trials since the repeal of the "Pardon Laws" began. Miguel Etchecolatz , a police officer in the 1970s, was the first to face trial for illegal detention, torture and homicide. Furthermore, several former '', 6 November 2002 CONTINUING CONTROVERSIES In 2001, Jorge Zorreguieta , a civilian who was former Undersecretary of Agriculture in the Videla regime, became the focus of attention when his daughter Máxima became engaged to the Crown Prince of the Netherlands . The significance of his potential connection to the Dutch Royal Family , and his possible presence at a royal wedding was hotly debated for several months. Zorreguieta claimed that, as a civilian, he was unaware of the Dirty War while he was a cabinet minister; however, that would have been unlikely for a person in such a powerful position in the government. Formal charges have never been brought against him, but he was banned from attending the royal wedding which was held in Amsterdam on 2 February 2002 . ALLEGATIONS AGAINST CARDINAL BERGOGLIO On 15 April 2005 , a human rights lawyer filed a criminal complaint against Argentine Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio , accusing him of conspiring with the junta in 1976 to kidnap two Jesuit priests. So far, no hard evidence has been presented linking the cardinal to this crime. It is known that the cardinal was the superior figure in the Society of Jesus of Argentina during 1976 and had asked the two priests to leave their pastoral work following conflict within the Society over how to respond to the new military dictatorship, with some priests advocating a violent overthrow. Bergoglio's spokesman has flatly denied the allegations. {Link without Title} It should be noted that Bergoglio was a key figure in securing the priests' release following their abduction by an Argentine navy squad, as he pressured Navy Chief of Staff Emilio Eduardo Massera. The complaint was filed as the Roman Catholic Conclave prepared to convene to select a new pope, likely as a means of protesting Bergoglio's candidacy. The papacy went to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger . NOTES SEE ALSO
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