ARGENTINA: No Peace in The Dirty War

President Carlos Saul Menem wanted to “close a black chapter” in Argentina’s history. But his decision last week to pardon ex-President Jorge Videla and half a dozen other leaders who had been jailed in 1986 for their role in Argentina’s “dirty war” in the late 1970s only rekindled popular outrage. Nearly 50,000 citizens took to the streets of Buenos Aires to protest, and Bishop Jorge Novak called the measure a “humiliating defeat for the democratic system.”

Menem intended the pardons to cool the simmering resentment within the armed forces that has led to four military uprisings since democracy was restored in 1983. The demonstrations signaled, however, that Argentine civilians are far from ready to forgive the military for having killed 9,000 of their countrymen and tortured thousands more in a campaign against leftists. But Videla remained unrepentant, calling for the “full vindication” of the army.