eaaf annual reportservini de cubria. massera, formerly the head of the navy, had been a member of...

ANTHROPOLOGY TEAM 9

RECENT EVENTS: NEW TRIALS OF FORMER OFFICIALS

In 1998, ongoing judicial investigations intohuman rights violations committed duringthe former military dictatorship (1976-83)took a dramatic turn. In June, Federal judgescarrying out the investigations began

ordering the arrests of several former junta leadersand high-ranking military officers, including GeneralJorge Videla and Admiral Emilio Massera, who arenow being tired. These officers had been convicted ofhuman rights violations in the mid-1980s, but theirsentences had been commuted by subsequentpardons and amnesty laws. The new charges againstthe officers, however, involved the abduction andillegal adoption of children – crimes not covered inthe former amnesty laws.

The detention of General Videla

On June 9, 1998, nine years after after apresidential pardon from Carlos Menem released himfrom jail, former General Jorge Videla was arrestedand detained in connection with the abduction andfalse adoption of children of disappeared persons.Videla was the president of the first of three militaryjuntas that ruled Argentine between 1976 and 1983. In1985 the Federal Court (Camera Federal) of the FederalCapital had convicted Videla of illegitimatedetentions, torture, and homicide, and sentenced himto life in prison. In 1990, however, Videla had beenpardoned by President Menem.

During the period of the dictatorship, statesecurity forces “disappeared” at least 10,000 persons.Among these disappeared persons were manychildren. Some children had been kidnapped togetherwith their parents. Others were delivered in captivityin illegal detention centers – most notably the NavySchool of Mechanics (Escuela de Mecanica de la Armada,or ESMA), one of the Navy’s main facilities, and theCampo de Mayo Hospital, one of the Army’s mainheadquarters – by women who were pregnant at thetime they were disappeared.

The creationof a “bloodbank,” the

investigationof severalcases of

disappearedpersons, and

academicactivities.

Mothers and grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo standing outside the entrance to the Mechanical School of the Navy(ESMA) during a 1998 demonstration. ESMA functioned as one of the military’s main detention and torture centers during

the 1976-83 dictatorship.

ARGENTINA

ARGENTINE FORENSIC 10

1996-97 BIANNUAL REPORT

In most cases, these children were given throughfalse adoption procedures to the families of police ormilitary officers who were unable to have children oftheir own. The Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, ahuman rights organization dedicated to finding thesec h i l d ren, estimates that approximately 400, nowteenagers or young adults, were “adopted” in thismanner. The organization has been able to find andidentify approximately 60 of those stolen children.

The person who ord e red General Vi d e l a ’ sdetention was Roberto Marquevich, federal judge forSan Isidro. Marquevich charged Videla with the

crimes of stealing children, denial of their civil rights,and falsification of their identification papers, basingthe suit on the legal doctrine of “mediatedauthorship” – the same doctrine that had been used inVidela’s prior 1985 conviction. Marquevich arguedthat the arrest could take place despite the amnestylaws passed by the democratically electedgovernments that followed the dictatorship – the“Law of Obedience” and the so-called “full stop” or“Final Point “ law (Punto Final) passed under formerP resident Alfonsín and the special pre s i d e n t i a lp a rdon granted by current President Menem –because these laws did not cover crimes againstchildren.

The issue of kidnapping had been raisedpreviously during the 1985 trial of the junta leaders.At that time, however, the Federal Court (Camara

Federal) determined that it did not have sufficientp roof to consider allegations that the state hadundertaken a systematic campaign to abduct minors.Since then many more cases have been investigatedand much more evidence has been made available. Inlight of this information, Marquevich reconsideredthe Court’s earlier decision, and decided that therewas sufficient evidence to try former officials forcarrying out a deliberate, state-sanctioned plan toabduct children and give them up for adoption.

Marquevich’s suit against Videla centered on fourcases of false adoptions which fall under the

jurisdiction of the San Isidrocourt. Much of theinformation was assembledby six members of theGrandmothers of Plaza deMayo group who have beens e a rching for theirg r a n d c h i l d ren. The casesinvolve five children whohad been violently takenfrom their parents, given toofficers of the military andstate security forces, andfalsely re g i s t e red as theo fficers’ biological childre n .In each of these cases thepersons who carried out theactions were tried andsentenced. Their testimonies,h o w e v e r, also pro v i d e devidence against the higherauthorities who had giventhem orders.

The cases involved are thefollowing:

1) Mariana Zaffaroni Islas, a Uruguayan, is thedaughter of Jorge Zaffaroni and María Islas Gatti,who were both taken to an illegal detention centerthat belonged to the Army Corps and subsequentlydisappeared. Mariana was “appropriated” by MiguelAngel Furci and Adriana María González. Furci wasan agent of the Secretary of State Intelligence. He andhis wife re g i s t e red Mariana as their biologicaldaughter. In 1994 Marquevich sentenced Furci and hiswife to prison terms of five and three years,respectively.

2) Carlos Rodolfo D’Elía was registered as the sonof former Navy intelligence officer Carlos FedericoDe Luccia and his wife Marta Elvira Leiro. Carlos is in

Junta leaders General Jorge Videla, Admiral Emilio Massera, and Air Force head Agosti in a publicappearance during the 1976-83 dictatorship.

ANTHROPOLOGY TEAM 11


fact the son of Julio César D’Elia Pallares and YolandaIris Casco Ghelfi. Casco Ghelfi give birth in an illegaldetention centre that the Army had opened. DeLuccia died before the case was over, but Marquevichsentenced his wife to three years in prison.

3) María Sol Teztlaff was adopted by former ArmyLiuetenant Colonel Hernán Te z t l a ff and his wifeMaría del Carmen Eduartes. Genetic analyses revealthat she is not the biological daughter of the Teztlaffs.The investigators recognize that she is the daughter ofdisappeared persons, but at present the identities ofher parents are not known. Teztlaff was chief ofsecurity of San Isidro while heworked for the Army’s Schoolof Communications, and forthis reason the investigatorshypothesize that María Solwas born in the Hospital deCampo de Mayo, locatednearby.

4) Pablo and Caro l i n aBianco are in a situationsimilar to María Sol’s. Theyw e re adopted by the headdoctor at the army’s Campode Mayo hospital, NorbertoBianco, and his wife, NildaWherli. Bianco played a role inmany of the disappearancesthat occurred in the Hospitalde Campo de Mayo. Wantedby the law, Bianco and hisfamily fled to Paraguay in1986. Paraguay’s Supreme Courtagreed to extradite the Biancosten years ago, but the order has been suspended eversince. The Biancos are currently under house arrest inAsuncion del Paraguay.

The identities of the true parents of Pablo andCarolina are still unknown, though it is generalybelieved that they were disappeared persons. Bothhave decided not to take part in genetic tests thatmight help determine their real identities.

The judicial investigation accelerated during 1997and 1998 as the authorities received new testimoniesfrom patients and midwives who worked at thehospital in the army’s Campo de Mayo garrison.These witnesses described to Judge Marquevich howthe hospital’s clandestine maternity ward functioned.Disappeared persons were taken from clandestinedetention centers to give birth at this ward.

As of this writing Videla’s trial is still underway. Ifconvicted, he will face a prison term with a minimumof three and a maximum of 15 to 20 years.

This case may be incorporated into a larger onethat involves the kidnapping of 230 other childrenduring the dictatorship. This latter case is currentlyunder investigation by another federal judge, AdolfoBagnasco.

The Detention of Admiral Massera

In the following months seven other high-ranking

military figures, including former Admiral EmilioMassera, were arrested on similar charges.Massera’sarrest was ordered by federal judge María RomildaServini de Cubria. Massera, formerly the head of theNavy, had been a member of the first of the threemiltary juntas, which ruled Argentina at the peak ofthe repression. He was detained on November 25,1998 and charged with the kidnapping of thre echildren born in captivity. Like Videla, Massera is alsocharged with the “mediated authorship” of crimesincluding falsification of national identity documentsand the denial of civil rights.

One of these children Massera is accused ofstealing is the son of Cecilia Viñas and HugoReynaldo Penino, born at the ESMA in September1977. Viñas and Penino were kidnapped together bysecurity forces in mid-1977 in the city of Buenos Aires.

Members of the group the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo contributed information that led to General Videla’s arrest in 1998.



Viñas, who was seven months pregnant when shewas kidnapped, was seen at the ESMA, where shegave birth to a baby boy. There is no informationabout where Penino was taken. Viñas and Peninoremain disappeared.

Twenty two years later, Viñas and Penino’s son,who was given the name of Javier Gonzalo Vildoza bythe family who registered him as their own, initiatedthe legal investigation, because he suspected that hewas the son of a disappeared person. DNA testing

confirmed that he was the son of Viñas and Penino,and the young man subsequently met his originalgrandmother.

The second case involves the son of PatriciaRosenblit and Jose Manuel Perez Rojo. Rosenblit andPerez Rojo were kidnapped by security forces onOctober 6th, 1978; one in the province of Buenos Airesand the other in the city of Buenos Aires. Rosenblitwas pregnant at the time of her capture; shesubsequently delivered a baby boy at the ESMA onNovember 15, 1978. The baby’s whereabouts areunknown. Both Rosenblit and Perez Rojo remaindisappeared.

Servini de Cubria is also investigating the locationof a third child, the son of María Vásquez Ocampo yCésar Amadeo Lugones. Both Vásquez Ocampo andAmadeo Lugones were seen at the ESMA. VásquezOcampo was two months pregnant when she waskidnapped, and gave birth to a baby boy in December1976, according to the testimony of former navycaptain Alfredo Scilingo.

Other trials

In addition, six other lower-ranked militarypersonnel linked directely with these alleged crimesare also currently being held under house arrest.Former Army head Cristino Nicolaides is currentlybeing tried by Judge Bagnasco for systematicabduction of minors during the dictatorship. Also ontrial for similar acts are former Admiral Ruben

Franco, Rear Admiral JoséSuppicich, Vice-Admiral A n t o n i oVañek, Navy Prefect Héctor Febres,and Navy Captain Jorge ‘Ti g re ’Acosta.

Trials are also occurring in otherareas of Argentina. On Wednesday,the 10th of June 1998 fivemagistrates of the Federal Court ofAppeals (Camara Federal deApelaciones) of the city of Cordobasigned a resolution instru c t i n gfederal Judge Cristina Garzon deLascano to investigate the fates ofdisappeared persons and incidentsinvolving the abduction andconcealment of minors thatoccurred between 1976 and 1983 inan area under the jurisdiction ofthe Third Army Corps. This areaincludes ten provinces in thecenter of the country.

One of the cases taken up by Judge Garzon deLascano involved crimes of “re p ression andsubversion” allegedly committed by former GeneralLuciano Benjamin Menendez. A similar suit had beenbrought against the general previously, but had beendropped in 1989 following the partial amnesties andpresidential pardons. The case involved illegal acts ofre p ression committed by the Third Army Corps,which had been under Benjamin Menendez’scommand. The crimes under investigation includedthe death in 1976 of the Catholic bishop of La Rioja,Monsignor Enrique Angelelli, which occurred insuspicious circumstances and was widely believed tohave been an assassination.

During the same week, in the city of San Miguel deTucuman, Federal Judge Ricardo Maturana sent toJudge Garzon de Lascano a case involving thepresumed kidnapping of a young girl, Monica SilviaAlarcon. Judge Maturana had excused himself fromthe case on learning that the repressive operationsundertaken in the province of Tucuman, where the

U.S. forensic expert Dr. Clyde Snow testifying before judges in 1985 during the trials of the military commanders



child disappeared, had been committed by the ThirdArmy Corps.

This case, which was initiated in March 1998,involves the governor of Tucuman, retired generalAntonio Domingo Bussi. Bussi is accused of“abducting, detaining, and concealing” Monica SilviaAlarcon. Alarcon was last seen on February 26th, 1977with her parents, two grandparents, and three uncles,all of whom were disappeared. Bussi, who waselected governor in 1995 by the provincial RepublicanF o rce (Fuerza Republicana) party, was militarycommander in the province during 1976 and 1977.

So far, President Menem and General Balza, thechief of the Armed Forces, have stated that nothingshould interfere with the due process of justice.However there seems to be an increase in discontentamong members of the armed forces, who haveexpressed concerns – off the record – that activeofficers may be arrested.

The Scilingo revelations and the International Trials

The 1998 arrests are a particularly dramaticillustration of the way that public discussion of pasthuman rights violations has intensified in Argentinaduring recent years. This discussion had subsidedduring the early 1990s, but was revived in March 1995

by the public confessions ofre t i red navy captain A l f re d oScilingo. In a series ofinterviews with journalistHoracio Ve r b i t s k y, Scilingoadmitted to having thro w nkidnapped people into the seaf rom government airc r a f t .Allegations of such crimes hadbeen made previously, but thiswas the first time that a high-ranking officer had confessed tocommitting them. Scilingo’stestimony thus had a dramaticimpact on A rgentine society,reviving public discussions ofthe fates of “the disappeared”and the role of the armed forcesduring the dictatorship.

In response to these events,almost every day the mass

media have been giving substantial coverage andcommentary about new investigations, there b ycontributing to the renewal of a public debate overthe recent past. The media attention resulted in new

revelations continued about the disappearancesbetween 1976 and 1983.

The discussion about past human rights violationshas also intensifed as a response to internationalevents. In September 1997, Judge Dr. Baltazar Garzonof the Spanish National Court began a criminalinvestigation into the kidnapping, torture, andmurder of 266 Spanish citizens during the Argentinemilitary regime. The magistrate accused 97 Argentineofficials, both retired and active, and requested thatthe Argentine courts summon them for testimony.The A rgentine government did not agree toextradition on the grounds that Argentine tribunalshad already judged the crimes. During 1998 JudgeBaltazar issued a dozen other international arrestwarrants.

One of the cases Garzon initiated involves therecently reinstated governor of Tucuman, formergeneral Antonio Domingo Bussi, who is accused ofideological persecution, kidnapping, torture andhomicide. General Bussi was in charge of ac o u n t e r i n t e r s u rgency campaign during the yearb e f o re the military coup, and was subsequentlymilitary commander ofTucuman. In this case“ t h e re is more thans u fficient proof torequest a trial of Bussi,and to issue a searc hand capture ord e r, ”stated EnriqueSantiago, a lawyer forthe public prosector. Itis thought that in thenear future JudgeGarzon will issueinternational orders forthe seizure of 60officials who worked atthe clandestinedetention center at theNavy’s MechanicalSchool (ESMA).

In November 1998Judge Garzon gainedinternational notoriety by requesting extradition offormer Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochetfrom England.

Similar trials are taking place in a number of othercountries. In France, former captain Alfredo Astiz wassentenced in absentia to a life sentence for the murderof two nuns, Alice Domon and Leonie Duquet, who

Spanish Federal Judge Dr. BaltasarGarzon, which as issued arrests for

many high-ranking leaders of the formerArgentine dictatorship

Former Navy captain, AdolfoScilingo publicly admited in 1995to atrocities during the militaryGovernment was slashed in theface in 1997 by attackers who

warned him to stop speaking to



were kidnapped in December 1977 by a Navy “taskforce.” As a result Astiz can no longer travel abroadwithout risking detention.

In Italy several A rgentine military officers –including former generals Videla, Guillermo SuarezMason, Albano Harg u i n d e g u y, Antonio Bussi,Leopoldo Galtieri, Luciano Benjamin Menendez,Santiago Riveros, and Admiral A r m a n d oLambruschini – are being tried in absentia for thedisappearance of 600 Italian citizens.

In Germany the Pro s e c u t o r ’s Office in Bonninitiated a case against Argentine military officersinvolving the disappearance of 75 German citizens.

In the United States it has become clear that casesinvolving the disappearance of three U.S. citizens –Billy Lee Hunt and Jon Pirmin Arozena, kidnapped in1977, and Toni Agatina Motta, who disappeared in1980 – could result in similar trials.

EAAF’S WORK: 1996 AND 1997

This new situation has had importantrepercussions on EAAF’s work. Three changes havebeen particularly significant: 1) a larger number ofvictim’s families have come to our offices in search ofinformation about their loved ones; 2) we have gainedbetter access to sources of information that until nowhave not been systematically explored; and 3) thenumber and scope of our activities in Argentina haveincreased.

EAAF has also changed its investigative strategyin Argentina. Since the end of 1996, EAAF has putm o re emphasis on working with sources ofinformation that have not been studied systematicallyuntil now. This investigative strategy, described inmore detail below, has given us a much clearer andmore precise understanding of how repression wascarried out in Argentina between 1976 and 1983, andhas created new opportunities for us to identifydisappeared persons.

ACCESS TO NEW GOVERNMENT SOURCES

EAAF has been investigating the phenomenon ofdisappearance in Argentina since 1984. Only in thelast few years has it been possible to learn more aboutthe repressive process involving not only the securityforces, but also other parts of the state apparatus,sometimes in immediate ways, but in other cases in aroutine and bureaucratic fashion.

During the last military government, the bodies ofd i s a p p e a red persons were taken to one of thre edestinations: they were thrown from military aircraftinto rivers, lakes, and the Argentine Sea; they werecremated; or they were buried as “NN” (no name, orJohn Doe) in public cemeteries across the country.With respect to the bodies that met the latter fate, wecomment below on the procedures that resulted in theappearance of bodies in the streets, which was theway that bodies destined to be buried in cemeteries“re-appeared.”

Contrary to what was long believed, some of thestate officials’ actions that have been most importantin enabling investigators to find the remains of the“ d i s a p p e a red” persons were undertaken after aperson was kidnapped, taken to a clandestinedetention center, tortured, and in most cases, killed.

Shortly after these killings, some bodies weredeposited in public spaces. At this point a series ofbureaucratic-administrative procedures were usuallytaken and a written account of certain of these stepswas made in official records. These documents arenow enabling us to locate the remains of disappearedpersons.

Such indirect sources of information were first

U.S. forensic expert Dr. Clyde Snow, one of the first to use government recordsin investigations of disappearances in Argentina

1. C.C. Snow and M.J. Bihurriet, 1992. “An Epidemiography of Homicide: Ningun Nombre Burials in the Province of Buenos Aires from 1970 to1984,” in Human Rights and Statistics: Getting the Record Straight , eds. T.B. Jabine and R.P. Claude, Philadelphia, PA: University of Philadelphia.



studied by Dr. Clyde Snow, who subsequently wrotean article on the investigation of cemetery records inthe province of Buenos Aires.1 In the past EAAF hascollected death certificates and cemetery records ofspecific locations during investigations of specificcases, but thus is the first time it has conducted asystematic regional survey.

During the dictatorship, when a cadaver or groupof cadavers was discovered, the police carried out

almost all the routine procedures, as established bylegal protocols. These procedures include writing adescription of the find, taking photographs,fingerprinting the corpse, conducting an autopsy orexternal examination of the body, writing deathcertificate, making an entry in the local civil register,and issuing a certificate of burial, among otherprocedures.

The fact that these procedures had been followedsuggested a strategy for approaching offices underthe jurisdiction of the Judicial Power and of theMinistry of the Interior about information concerningthe discovery of cadavers in public places between1976 and 1980.2

The Provincial Register of Persons

In 1997, with the object of gaining access to theaforementioned data, EAAF negotiated permission toenter the Provincial Register of Persons, located in thecity of La Plata, where death certificates for those whodied in Buenos Aires Province are concentrated.3

The choice of this registry was not random.Buenos Aires was one of the provinces most affected

by the repression, particularly between 1976 and1978.

Two EAAF members began work there in April1997, using a portable computer to enter the datafrom death certificates referring to the discovery ofbodies in the 38 jurisdictions comprising “GreaterBuenos A i res,” where there was a high rate ofkidnappings. The investigators prioritized as “highlyprobably corresponding to ‘disappeared’ persons”those certificates marked “NN” and which indicatedviolent or suspicious cause of death and/or death at ayoung age. The recovered data was incorporated intothe EAAF database to further the project of matchingdisappearances with discoveries of bodies.

The following table provides the main results for

2. Although the military government ruled until 1983, the period between 1976 and 1980 is considered to be when the highest number ofdisappeareances occurred.3. The capital of Buenos Aires Province, La Plata is situated about 60 km south of the city of Buenos Aires.

Death certificates taken from the archives from the Register of Persons from the Province of Buenos Aires. Working with suchrecords, EAAF succeeded in identified 15 additional disappeared persons during 1997.



the 24 jurisdictions surveyed in 1997.

Table I: N.N. Death certificates

T h e re is an important possibility that a larg eproportion of these 1,869 individuals – who died inviolent or suspicious ways at the peak of therepression between 1976 and 1978, and were buriedas John Does – correspond to ‘disappeared’ people.

This project continued during 1998.

BUENOS AIRES PROVINCIAL POLICE

At the same time, a similar task was undertakenwith the Buenos Aires Provincial Police, now call theP rovincial Ministry of Security and Justice. Thisusually hermetic office was approached in two ways:a) judicially, and b) institutionally, through an accord

with the “Intervention” in the Buenos A i re sProvincial Police.4

The EAAF also established protocols ofcooperation with the Ministry of Security and Justiceof the province of Buenos Aires, under the charge ofDr. Leon Arslanian, one of the Federal Chamberjudges who sentenced ex-commanders of the lastmilitary government in 1985.

Judicial Action.

With the assistance of a penal and correctionaljudge from La Plata, a penal action was initiated withthe goal of establishing the fate of Pablo HipólitoSchmucler, who disappeared in that city on January29, 1977. Measures solicited before the judge, and theevaluation of the responses helped us infer whichsites within the Provincial Police Headquarters mightpossess information. In June 1997, the judge threwopen the microfilm section of the computer divisionand revealed rolls of microfilm entitled “notebookson cadavers.” These microfilms containedinformation supplied by the Division of Personal andPenal Backgrounds (Divisón de Antecedents Personales

y Penales) of this police force. The originals had beend e s t royed, but the photograms re c o v e red hadfingerprints and information about non-identifiedcadavers found in the street during the dictatorship.The judge designated EAAF members as experts onthe topic, and released 22,400 photograms forduplication that might later pertain to cases ofdisappearance.

Fingerprints of disappeared persons collected by state bureaucratsfollowing “regular” procedures and deposited in the Provincial Register

of persons of Buenos Aires Province.

4. During an investigation of two violent events in which the Buenos Aires provincial police appeared to be involved - the death ofphotographer Jose Luis Cabezas in January 1997, and the attack on the headquarters of the Jewish organization AMIAin July 1994 - GovernorEduardo Duhalde intervened in the force’s affairs for a period of four months. This intervention resulted in a departmental restructuring, aswell as the retirement of hundreds of police officers suspected of corruption and human rights violations.



Fifteen New Identifications

Toward the end of 1997, it was possible to confirmthat some 15 “disappeared” persons had beenregistered as “deceased” by the Personal Antecedents

Division. In these cases, the EAAF informed not onlythe judge, but also the families of the deceased, whoin turn initiated suits to learn the fate of the remains.In 1998, we attempted to locate the bodies of these 15people, exhume them and return them to theirfamilies. For various reasons, several of the familiesdo not want the findings to be published at this time.When the investigation is finished, completeinformation will be made public. (For more details,see EAAF’s 1998 Annual Report.)

The fingerprints recovered from the microfilmswere not of sufficient quality for the dactyloscopyexpert witness to establish identifying correlations. Atthe present EAAF is attempting to improve theseimages. New identifications are anticipated as theanalysis of the photograms continues.

Institutional Action

In December 1997, the government of BuenosAires Province intervened in the functioning of theProvincial Police department and put a civilian incharge of the force. The intervention, a temporarym e a s u re to permit re s t ructuring, was taken inresponse to multiple accusations of corruption andinvolvement of personnel in recent crimes. Earlier, aLaw of Prescindibility was passed, which allowed theprovincial government to quickly dismiss hundredsof officers suspected of corruption.

In the context, EAAF signed an agreement of

mutual cooperation with the Intervention, whichallowed the team to seek information in certainsections of the Police Headquarters. The teamreviewed the documents at the Division of Judicialand Penal Precedents, which coincidentally has aDactyloscopy unit, which is essential to our work.EAAF then searched the Legal Medicine Divisionwith the objective of finding information on the fourpolice morgues that functioned in the pro v i n c ebetween 1976 and 1983. A large part of both themorgue records as well as the fingerprints from thedactyloscopy unit had been destroyed, apparentlymostly for administrative reasons. The investigationis continuing.

SERVICES TO RELATIVES OF THEDISAPPEARED

The increase in the flow of relatives of disappearedpersons to our offices, noted in 1996, continued in1997. In particular, there was a marked increase of thechildren of the disappeared, some of whom haveformed an association (HIJOS, an acronym standingfor ‘Sons and Daughters of “Disappeared” Persons’)and engage in various activities to learn of the fates oftheir parents. Working with these relatives consumesan important amount of EAAF’s time, since an EAAFmember typically spends no less than two hours witheach visitor, not including repeat visits. At the sametime, the quantity and quality of working informationin EAAF’s database often allows us to give someinformation to relatives who for twenty years havenot heard anything of their loved ones.

THE BLOOD BANK

A n o t h e rproject begun atthe end of 1997was theestablishment ofa “blood bank,”or bank ofgenetic data forrelatives ofd i s a p p e a re dpersons. Tocreate the bank,EAAF memberstake thre esamples from each relative who visits our offices.Therelatives fill out a form author- izing EAAF to use theblood sample for the exclusive end of identifying the

Protest against police brutality in Buenos Aires.

EAAF member taking samples for its blood bank.



disappeared relative. The genetic information obtained from these

samples will eventually be compared with DNAfromthe skeletal remains of disappeared persons. EAAFhas in its laboratory approximately 300 unidentifiedskeletons from diff e rent cemeteries across thecountry, the majority of which probably belong todisappeared persons.

This pioneering project still lacks financialsupport, but the EAAF began it because we considerit to be of the highest importance. Recent advances ingenetics are an increasingly fundamental part offorensic work in human rights, as they allow morerapid sequencing of cases involving large numbers ofsamples. The blood bank will create a permanentsource of information and expand the possibilities foridentifying skeletal remains which are yet to befound.

The financing of this project would permit twoteam members to attend to it part time, acceleratingthe collection of blood samples.

Thank to the help volunteered by geneticlaboratories in the USA, UK, and Argentina, EAAFhas already made identifications using DNAsamplesin individual cases of disappearance in Argentina,Haiti, and Ethiopia. The same laboratories willprocess the samples for the new blood bank.

In relation to this project, in March 1997, Argentinebiologist Ana Topf, began a fellowship in Genetics atthe University of Durham, UK. As part of her work,she began processing skeletal DNA samples for casesunder investigation by the EAAF, both to recovergenetic material and to perfect her technique.

FORENSIC INVESTIGATION: THE LA TABLADA CASE

On December 15 and 16, 1997, at the request of Dr.Norberto Oyarbide, head of the 5th Federal Court inthe National Capital, EAAF exhumed five bodiesburied as “NN” (no names) in the Chacarita cemetery,Buenos Aires. These bodies belonged to unidentifiedpersons killed during a battle between an armedgroup and the 3rd Regiment of La Tablada on January23, 1989.

Background

On January 23, 1989, under the democraticgovernment of Dr. Alfonsin, 42 armed personsinitiated an attack on the barracks of MechanizedInfantry Regiment #3, “General Belgrano” (RIM3),located in La Tablada, Buenos Aires Province. A 30-

odd hour battle ensued between the attackers and theArgentine security forces. The RIM3 barracks had anarsenal from which the attackers took variousweapons to defend their positions after havingentered.

Thirty one of the attackers and severalgovernment agents died. The bodies of the latter werereturned to their families, but of the attackers’ bodies,only 23 were returned. According to the testimony ofseveral witnesses, after the battle at the barracks,government agents tortured all of the survivingassailants, carried out summary executions of 4 to 9 ofthem, of which five were inhumed in unidentifiedgraves, and 4 were “disappeared”. These allegedabuses took place both within the barracks and atpolice stations.

Many of the attackers belonged to a legal,unarmed organization called “Movimiento Todos por

la Patria” (MTP). The MTP has operated legally in Argentina since

May 1986, including participation in election fornational and provincial authorities. Its activities werenot prohibited before or after January 1989, when theattack took place.

After the combat, five members were captured onthe premises of the barracks, and two moresurrendered to the authorities and were placed underarrest.

A tank in action during the battle at La Tablada, 1989



The detained persons were tried and sentencedunder law #23.077, entitled “Defense of Democracy”in case #231/89, “Abella, Juan Carlos et als/rebellion,” (referred to from here on “the Abellacase). They received prison sentences varying from 10years to life. In accordance with the provision of thelaw, the judgment took place before a tribunal of thesecond instance in the Federal Court of San Martín.The tribunal’s condemnatory sentence of October 5th,1989, was subject to an extraordinary appealpresented by the defense lawyers and rejected by thecourt. The defense then appealed before the SupremeCourt of Justice, which rejected the appeal on March17, 1992.

On September 14, 1992, Martha FranciscaFernandez de Burgos and Eduardo Salerno presenteda petition to the Interamerican Commission onHuman Rights against the A rgentine Republic,denouncing the alleged crimes described above andothers allegedly committed by Government Agents inconnection with the events at La Tablada. A f t e rconsidering the case, in December 1997 theCommission made its report public. The finalparagraph includes the following:

The Interamerican Commission on Human Rightsrecommends to the Argentine State:

I. That it provide the means and guaranteesnecessary for an independent, complete, and

impartial investigation of events that took place onJanuary 23, 1989 as outlined in this report, with theend of identifying and sanctioning all persons

described as responsible for the human rightsviolations mentioned in the conclusions.

II. That, in fulfillment of the obligationsstipulated in articles 2 and 8.2h of the AmericanConvention, it adopt the necessary measures, withre f e rence toc o n s t i t u t i o n a lp ro c e d u res, tothe end ofmaking plainlye ffective, fro mnow on, thej u d i c i a lguarantee of theright of appealto personsprocessed underLaw 23.077.

III. That, invirtue of theviolations of theA m e r i c a nC o n v e n t i o noutlines above,it adopt them o s ta p p ro p r i a t emeasures for making reparations to the victims ortheir families for the damages suffered by the personsindicated in paragraph 436(A) and 436(B).5

Finally, in December 1997 Dr. Douglas, the FederalJudge of Morón, authorized the exhumation of fivebodies that were buried without identification in thecemetery of La Chacarita. EAAF conducted theexhumations on December 15 and 16, 1997. Thelaboratory analysis was done during 1998. (Forfurther information see report on current and futureactivities 1998-1999.)

FORENSIC INVESTIGATION: IDENTIFICATION OF GASTON ROBERTO

JOSE GONCALVEZ

Gaston Roberto José Goncalvez was kidnapped byArgentine security forces on March 24th, 1976, theday of the military coup, in the neighborhood ofZarate, in the Province of Buenos Aires. Gaston was a

After the battle: a body and the remains of abuildings in the La Tablada barracks.

5. Report of the Interamerican Commission on Human Rights, OAS.

The army recapturing La Tablada and body lying on the ground



neighborhood activist with the Peronist Youth. Heand his companion, Ana María del Carmen Granada,worked for the National Department of A d u l tEducation. Gaston was last seen by other prisoners atthe end of March 1976, in a police vehicle parked atthe Escobar police precinct, on the outskirts of the cityof Buenos A i res. He had been tortured andinterrogated about his activities within the PeronistYouth.

On March 29th, Gaston’s mother, Matilde Perez deGoncalvez, was kidnapped. She was tortured forinformation about her daughter-in-law Ana María delCarmen, and subsequently released.

Ana María was six months pregnant at the time ofthe coup, and she gave birth to a son in June 1976. OnNovember 19th of that year Ana María died during ashootout with the police at the house where she wasstaying. (EAAF worked on the case involving AnaMaría and her son in 1995. For further information,see EAAF’s 1994-1995 Biannual Report.)

In 1991, Gaston’s mother visited EAAF’s office inBuenos A i res in anattempt to find moreinformation about herson. She brought withher pre - m o r t e mphysical informationabout Gaston. At thetime, EAAF did nothave informationabout this case but, asalways, teamm e m b e r sincorporated theinformation into ourpre-mortem data baseso that in the future itcould be compare dwith non-identifiedremains that mightbelong to disappearedpersons. One of Gaston’s most noticeable physicalfeatures resulted from a car crash he was in during1974-75. The accident fractured one of his femurs, anda steel pin was surgically inserted into the bone.

During June 1996, a municipal employee revealedthat “irregular” inhumations of unidentified persons(known as N.N.s) had occurred in the Escobarc e m e t e r y, in Buenos A i res province, during thedictatorship. Dr. Osvaldo Lorenzo, a Federal judgefrom the nearby Campana district of the province ofBuenos Aires, began an investigation. He requestedthat EAAF members participate in the case as expert

witnesses.During the investigations, Oscar A n t o n i o

Tomanelli testified before Judge Lorenzo that hisdisappeared brother, José Enrique Tomanelli, mightbe buried in one of these “irregular” graves. JoséEnrique had been kidnapped by state security forceson March 26, 1976.

At dawn on April 2nd, 1976, four burned bodieshad been found beside a road bordering the LujanRiver. All were buried as unidentified persons in thenearby Escobar cemetery. As was typical in thoseyears, no investigation was conducted. However, thebureaucratic papers concerning the disposal of thebodies were filled out. Death certificates were issuedfor the four corpses and recorded in the 1976 book atthe Escobar branch of the Registration Office ofBuenos Aires Province. The certificates identified thecause of death as: “Destruction of skull due to firearms. Carbonization. “ They were signed by doctorCarlos Antonio Quetglas.

Oscar Tomanellis declared that a fireman who hadhelped to gather thebodies told him thatone of the dead was hisb ro t h e r, and anotherwas Gaston Goncalves.

Maria JuliaBihurriet of the InteriorM i n i s t r y ’ sS u b s e c retariat forHuman and SocialRights hadinvestigated theEscobar cemeteryre c o rds, and herre s e a rch pro v e dhelpful in determiningthe possible locationsof the graves where thebodies had beenburied. On the basis of

her re s e a rch, Judge Lorenzo ord e red EAAF toexhume four sepultures, numbered 4189, 4190, 4191and 4192, from the Escobar cemetary. Theexhumations were carried out on June 20th and 21st,1996.

Human remains, bullets, and personal belongingssuch as a keyholder and shoes were exhumed fromthe graves.

The Identification of Gaston Roberto JoseGoncalves:

Maria Mercedes Faggioneto, Gaston’s mother, with Gaston and Claudio Goncalves



At the laboratory, EAAF observed that the remainsof all four individuals had been burnt, whichcomplicated and limited the possibilities for analysis.

S e p u l t u re number 4191, however, contained ahuman remains including a femur with a pre-mortemfracture and a surgical steel pin embedded in it. Thewords “Kunstcher,” “Germany,” and “IOA” wereengraved on the nail.

The relative of the Goncalves family whopurchased the steel pin for Gaston confirmed that hebought it at the Argentine orthopedic store “IOA.”The nail was dated 1974-1975, which correspond tothe date of Gaston’s accident.

The general features of the remains, includingancestry, sex, stature, age at the time of death, andlaterality were consistent with Gaston’s pre-morteminformation.

A data base search was conducted for any otherdisappeared person with similar general physicalfeatures who had suffered a similar type of fractureand had it repaired with a steel pin. No such caseswere found which matched the appropriate dates.EAAF’s data base does not contain pre - m o r t e minformation about all the people who disappeared,but it is the most complete one in existence.

Considering the testimonial, documentary andphysical evidence, Judge Lorenzo confirmed thepositive identification of Gaston Roberto JoséGoncalvez and ordered the restitution of the remainsto his family.

On August 16, 1996, Gaston was reburied by hisrelatives at the cemetery of Flores, in Buenos Airesprovince. Approximately 1,000 people took part in theceremony, which included a 10 block march to thecemetery organized by H.I.J.O.S., a local non-governmental organization that unites the sons anddaughters of disappeared persons. The event waswidely covered by the local press.

EAAF is continuing its investigation into theidentity of the remaining three individuals whoseremains were exhumed from the Escobar cemetery.

FORENSIC INVESTIGATION: THE NOVILLO CORVALÁN CASE

Rosa Eugenia Novillo Corvalán disappeared inOctober 1976. She was 26 years old and a militant ofthe armed organization Ejercito Revolucionario delPueblo (ERP). She was never heard from again. Herfamily made the denunciation before the CONADEP(National Commission of the Disappearance ofPersons, a truth commission that was created in 1984after the end of the dictatorship), and searched for her

without results.

History of Events

On December 6, 1976 in the locality of Punta Indio,Province of Buenos Aires, a body washed ashore, ashappened periodically at that time. This body wasthat of a woman. The discovery was stalledbureaucratically, listed on paper as a homicide. Apolice physician performed the autopsy, describingthe cause of death as three gunshot wounds, and thenamputated the woman’s hands, which wereforwarded to the necropapilloscopy laboratory of theBuenos A i res Provincial Police for fingerprintanalysis. The autopsy report adds that after them u rd e r, the cadaver had been “thrown into thewaters of the Rio Plata,” where it remained for aperiod of 10 to 12 days, implying that the date ofdeath was approximately November 25, 1976.

At that time, the public was unaware of the“vuelos” – military flights during which disappearedpersons were thrown into the Argentine Sea – leavingseveral times a week from the “Campo de Mayo”military base.

On December 12, 1976, the body was buried in theMagdalena cemetery (about 110 km from the capital)as an “NN” (no name), in Section G, block I, tomb#14.

Rosa Eugenia Norvillo Corvalan



According to the cemetery’s records, a femalecadaver had been buried in grave #14, with nomention of any subsequent transfer of the remains.6

Death certificate #39 in the Provincial Register,Regional Delegation of Veronica, which correspondedto this body, gave as cause of death “destruction ofthe cephalic mass and gunshot wounds.”

Prints, but no trail

Days after the body appeared in Punta Indio, thenecropapilloscopy lab received the hands and wentthrough its usual routine: it took the fingerprints, andsent images to different sites where they might beidentified. On February 8, theyreceived a positive response fromthe National Registry of Persons,which matched them to RosaEugenia Novillo Corvalán. Thisstatement was sent to the policedetachment along with thec o r responding report andphotographs. The text isunambiguous: “It has beenscientifically demonstrated thatthe digital impressions submittedfor study correspond to theArgentine citizen, class 1950, RosaEugenia Novillo Corvalán.”

This document should havebeen incorporated in theindictment of the discovery of thecadaver, but never was. Likewise,death certificate #39 should havebeen updated to indicateidentification had been made.Instead, the initial status wasmaintained: “NN-female.” Nor did any judicialre c o rd exist for the subsequent proceedings. Thefederal judge did not appear to have been informed ofany of the advances in the case. Thus the same judgewas to complain, 21 years later, that standardprocedures had not been followed consistently.

EAAF’s Role

In the final months of 1997, the Argentine ForensicAnthropology Team (EAAF) gained access to the

information held in the necropapilloscopy laboratory,located in the city of La Plata. File #93/76 wasdiscovered among the many other files. Subsequently,antecedents were sought for the name thatcorresponded to the prints, and EAAF found that itf i g u red in the CONADEP’s list of disappeare dpersons.

Moreover, the EAAF discovered in the Magdalenacemetery records that at about the same time that the“NN-female” was buried, three more youngindividual were taken into the Magdalena cemeteryas NN’s. Internal Hemorrhage” was listed as cause ofdeath. This profile, too, corresponds to that of a‘disappeared’ person.

The next step was then to searchthe Provincial Registry of Persons for agroup of four “NNs,” including onefemale, from among the many youngcitizens killed violently near the end of1976. The EAAF contacted the NovilloCorvalán family and obtained ahearing to solicit the exhumation andidentification of the skeletal remains.The lawsuit, initiated by one ofNovillo’s brothers, was presented byDr. Manuel Blanco at Court #1 of LaPlata, ironically the same court thatought to have produced Rosa’sdocuments earlier.

In December 1997, the Novillo’sfamily requested EAAF’s assistance inthe tasks of exhuming and making anidentification. The formal re q u e s t ,#95.814 entitled “NOVILLOC O RVALAN, Rodolfo, solicitsexhumation and identification”, wasdrawn up by the acting judge, and

scheduled to be completed by the end of December.The work of exhumation began on Monday,

December 26, but the bad weather caused delays.F i n a l l y, on January 13, 1998 the remains wereretrieved. The bones were transferred to the JudicialB u reau Expert Witnesses (Dirección de AsesoríasPericiales del Poder Judicial de la provincia de BuenosAires) of Buenos Aires Province, where the laboratoryanalysis was conducted. There it was concluded thatthe remains were those of a caucasian individual,female, about 152.72 cm in stature, who at the time of

Rosa Eugenia Norvillo Corvalan and her husband, taken shortly

before she was disappeared

6. In Argentina, according to municipal ordinance, the cadavers of unidentified or indigent persons may only remain in a tomb for five years.When this time has expired, if no one has paid for the tomb's maintenance, the remains are exhumed and deposited in the general ossuary. Thisis the case of the disappeared buried as "NN." In this case, the families did not know their whereabouts, and therefore could not prevent thembeing transferred to the ossuary. Fortunately, many cemeteries do not comply strictly with this ordinance; their actions depending largely uponavailability of space in a given cemetery.



death was between 22 and 32 years of age, which wasconsistent with the general pre-mortem data for RosaNorvillo Corvalan.

With respect to the cause of death, the personreceived at least one bullet wound to the skull, andpossibly a second shot, based on the destruction ofthe facial mass. Also, a complete pre-mortem fracturewas observed in the right tibia, consistent with thepassage of a bullet. The left scapula was found to bebroken into five fragments, probably due to a gunshotwound. It was not possible to prove that these latterfractures were gunshot lesions because most of thescapula consists of flat, thin bone. The usual signs leftby of the passage of a bullet – defect and beveling –are often not clear enough to be conclusive.

With respect to the identification, the coincidenceof the general traits (sex, age, stature, and laterality),and the strong comparison between the X-rays of theskull and premortem X-rays supplied by the NovilloCorvalán family, constitute a perfect match and apositive identification.

At the end of February 1998, the skeletal remainswere transported by the family to Córdoba Provinceand reburied in the local cemetery.

ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES

Participation as presenters at the Fifth ArgentineSocial Anthropology Congress, which took place at LaPlata National University.

Lecture at a postgraduate conference in for theDepartment of Legal Medicine and Thanatology,Buenos Aires University Medical School.

L e c t u re for an introductory course inAnthropology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, La PlataNational University.

L e c t u re at the 3rd International Congress of“Youth and Identity” organized by the Grandmothersof the Plaza de Mayo, September 25-27 at the GeneralSan Martin Cultural Center in Buenos Aires. The teamp resented on the topic “Identity and Fore n s i cAnthropology.”

Lecture in the 3rd National “Jornada” in BiologicalAnthropology organized by the Argentine BiologicalAnthropology Association, Rosario.

Lecture at a conference organized by AmnestyInternational “Guatemala: Human Rights andImpunity.” Buenos Aires.

L e c t u re at the Third Congress of the LatinAmerican Federation of Students in Anthropologyand Sociology. Buenos Aires.

Lecture at a conference on the discovery of theremains of Ernesto “Che” “Guevara, for the “Che”Guevara chair at La Plata National University.


1996-97 BIANNUAL REPORT ARGENTINAPRESS - CLIPS



FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES , SEPTEMBER 1997

eaaf annual reportservini de cubria. massera, formerly the head of the navy, had been a member of...

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