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LATIN AMERICA |
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The
“Blond Angel Of Death” On Trial In Buenos
Aires
A former Argentine navy captain has gone on
trial in Buenos Aires for his alleged
involvement in the disappearance and torture
of dissidents during the country’s 1976 to
1983 military dictatorship.
Alfredo Astiz, known as the "Blond Angel of
Death," is accused of multiple crimes that
include the killings of two French nuns and
the disappearance of an Argentine
journalist.
Eighteen other former military officers are
also on trial with Astiz in the Argentine
capital. Astiz was tried and convicted in
absentia by a Paris court in 1990 for the
nuns' murders. They were apparently
kidnapped and killed for helping
anti-government activists in Argentina.
Official estimates say some 13,000 people
died or disappeared during the military
crackdown on leftist activists known as the
"dirty war." Human rights groups put the
toll at 30,000.
Astiz was also involved in the Falklands war
of 1982 and signed the surrender of South
Georgia to the British Task Force sent by
then British PM Margaret Thatcher to recover
the South Atlantic islands.
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