By Roque Antonio Grillo
On December 29, Argentinian president Fernando de la Rua signed a decree reducing the sentences the "La Tablada" political prisoners after a 116-day hunger strike. In commuting the sentences of most prisoners, the government sought to put an end to the growing international pressure in support of the hunger strikers. The campaign had implications beyond the case of the La Tablada prisoners themselves as it had highlighted the fact that whilst they were singled out for imprisonment, thousands of kidnappers, torturers and murderers from the security forces enjoy the amnesty granted by the two major parties, the Peronists and the Radicals.
Towards the end of 1988, a group of men and women belonging to the Everyone for the Homeland Movement (MTP), had information which they believed proved that a new military coup was imminent. They decided to attempt the takeover of the infantry regiment of La Tablada, in the province of Buenos Aires, to highlight the fact and mobilise popular opposition to the armed forces' plans.
End of military rule
Five years earlier, a civilian government had taken over from Argentina's genocidal military dictatorship. The military had by then been successful in massacring a generation which had seriously challenged the country's ruling class. Some 30,000 militants were "disappeared", 15,000 were executed in the streets, 10,000 had languished in the general's jails, and over 2 million people were thrown into exile.
The new government's coming to power was marked by a huge wave of popular hope and expectation. Human rights organisations such as the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, which had struggled courageously and often alone during the 8-year reign of terror, were now at the forefront of masses of people who sought justice for the victims of state terrorism.
However, the new government, while rich in rhetoric, limited itself to setting up a toothless commission of "notables" to investigate, leaving the military to deal with those found guilty of "excesses" internally. The report issued by the commission, though limited, so horrified Argentinians and world public opinion that pressure mounted to have civilian courts deal with the thousands of documented cases of human rights violations.
This momentum would eventually result in the jailing of a few military ringleaders, among them former Junta members General Rafael Videla and Admiral Emilio Massera. In response, the government quickly began to implement a series of amnesty laws to stem the tide. The process was completed by the following administration of Carlos Menem, who decreed a presidential pardon for the very few who had been jailed.
In spite of the limited justice meted out by the government, the armed forces were anything but happy at treatment which fell short of the hero status they believed they were entitled to.
By the time a group of 42 MTP militants entered the La Tablada barracks on the morning of January 23, 1989, the increasingly weak Radical Party government had had to deal with major military uprisings. The government's response was to tell the nation that the house "was in order" while succumbing to several of the soldiers' demands, including allowing the armed forces to once again be formally permitted to play a role in internal security, something that had been taken away from them following the end of armed rule.
Whether the information the MTP members had at the time was factual, or whether it had been purposely handed to them in order to provoke a response that would prove military claims that "subversives" were still active and planning major actions, the armed forces history of intervention in the country's politics and recent events were signs that for many did not auger well.
Minutes after the MTP members entered the military barracks, the regiment was surrounded by 3000 police. These forces were then joined by around 600 heavily armed army personnel. The barracks were attacked from the ground and from the air and phosphorous bombs and napalm rained on both the MTP militants and the soldiers inside the regiment.
Human rights abuses
Although the group surrendered after three hours, the army continued the attack for 48 hours. TV images showed the horrendous aftermath of the charred and dismembered bodies of young people. They also showed the surrender of survivors, all of whom would subsequently be viciously tortured, and some of whom the armed forces would later claim died in battle or simply disappeared.
In the end, 28 MTP members were killed and three were disappeared. Among the police and army, 11 were killed, mostly as a result of the bombing carried out by their own forces. Twenty people were officially detained, twelve of whom were given life sentences.
When, in December 1997, the Inter-American Human Rights Commission (IHRC) of the Organisation of American States issued its report on the events of La Tablada, while condemning the MTP's actions, it denounced that in the aftermath of this unequal battle, flagrant human rights violations were committed. It reported that nine people had been assassinated following their detention and that all those arrested were tortured. One such case is that of Ivan Ruiz Sanchez, an MTP detainee seen escorted by an army officer who pointed at him with his weapon at all times. His body was never found.
The IHRC report further denounced major irregularities in the court case that sentenced the La Tablada prisoners. The court had also ordered the capture of other individuals, such as Father Antonio Puigjane who was not involved in the La Tablada events but was sentenced to 20 years in jail, in spite of a total lack of evidence against him. Father Puigjane, a prisoner of conscience according to Amnesty International, is currently subjected to home-arrest because he is over 70 years of age.
The prisoners of La Tablada, reported the IHRC, were denied a proper defence. The IHRC called for a new and proper investigation into the events and "reparation for the families and the detained", clearly a call for the release of the prisoners and an end to the forced clandestine existence of six people with arrest orders still in place against them. The IHRC decision is legally binding but by the end of President Carlos Menem's term in late 1999, it had still not been implemented.
The prisoners issued a letter to the incoming administration, that of de la Rua's Radical Party/Solidarity Front Alliance, demanding that it fulfill its legal duty. The new government continued to play dumb to the prisoners' requests.
Hunger strike
In response, a hunger strike was called by 13 of the prisoners. It began on May 23, 2000 and lasted 46 days. It was suspended when the government promised to act according to the law and provide the prisoners with a just revision to their sentences. But official promises went once again unfulfilled and the prisoners began a second hunger strike on August 3.
For the following 116 days, while the prisoners risked irreparable physical damage and death, the president and the opposition played a game of political football with the lives of the prisoners. De la Rua refused to decree the commuting of the sentences.
A huge international campaign, with the support of a number of Nobel laureates, among others, failed to persuade de la Rua to act. The government cynically said that there was no popular support within the country for the prisoners' release and that they were taking a stand in support of democracy. This from members of the party which engineered the infamous amnesty laws for the military and who refused to prosecute the hundreds of soldiers who rose against it during its previous stint in government.
The eventual announcement of the decree reducing the prisoners' sentences does not actually imply the immediate release of the prisoners, but led the hunger strikers to end their action. This partial victory means that most of the prisoners would have immediate access to things such as day work-leave, and would be released in May 2002. Two other prisoners would be freed in 2002 and 2005.
The decree, however, does not affect the sentences of two prisoners: Ana Maria Sivori and Enrique Gorriaran Merlo. The latter was controversially kidnapped with the assistance of the Mexican government by Argentina's security forces in 1995 while in Mexico. Also, it does not mention those who still have arrest warrants issued against them or those who, like Father Puigjane, are under house-arrest.