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Reconocimiento Optico de Caracteres (OCR)
lun
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t^y ﾃつｦ- -
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ﾃつ｣3 CHANGE TO
12065:
E.O. >*>ﾃつｫﾃつｫﾃつｻ*
TAGS:
SUBJECT:
ACTION:
INFO:
FROM
AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
CLASSIFICATION
XDS-1 8/16/99 (CHAPLIN, Maxwell! OR-M ~|
SHUM AR
CLANDESTINE PRISONS DECAPTIONED
ARGENTINA PROJECT (S200000044)
SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE VS. DEPT. OF STATE, A/RPS/IPS
Margaret P. Grafeld, Director
USMISSION GENEVA ^Release ( ) Excise C )Deny
USMISSION USUN NEW YORK Tﾃつｱxemption(s):-------__,---------------
USCINCSO QUARRY HTS CZ Declassify: ( ) In Pan (?ﾃつｧ& FuU
AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM ( ) Classify as _ () Extend as _ C ) Downgrade to _
Date________Declassify on________Reason-----
AMB
DCM
POL
CHRON
BUENOS AIRES
6707
REF: STATE .204564; STOCKHOLM 3279
1 . A- Entire Text.)
2. SUMMARY RESPONSE TO REFTEL. First to address the
concern expressed in the State Reftel, we do not
believe that extraordinary measures are being taken
to prepare for the IACHR visit. The repression is
continuing along recognized and previously reported
lines, but with a sharp reduction in intake of
victims. END SUMMARY RESPONSE.
3. INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY OF FINDINGS. Argentina
has had many places for clandestine interrogation --
there may have been hundreds during the thickest
DRAFTED BY:
POLCOUNS:
WHHallman/DCM:M
DRAFTING DATE
8/16/79
278
Chaplin
DA0:ARMacDonald
X>Cf\?X MLGRP:Capt. WRBeck
CONTENTS AND CLASSIFICATION APPROVED BY:
DCM-.MChaplin^-H.,,
Stefano -*
one (,
tt
CLEARANCES:
P0L/R:JDi
SY:JBlyst
EC0M:JAmo
ICA:jCorr
CONS/REF:KSackett
50153-1C I
r&U^&~.
CLASSIFICATION
IIIWJ
OPTIONAL FORM 163
(Formerly FS-413)
January 1975
DoPt. of state
BUHB
Classification
1A
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part of the repression of subversion/terrorism.
We have insufficient data even to guess at who
ran which ones, how they were staffed etc. We
believe that the delegation of authority and
diffusion of power that marked the repression
worked to induce each unit of the security
services to want its own holding facility,
although these numbers were reduced and consolid
tions
L
Classification
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(CONTINUATION SHEET)
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^ere made as the repression wore. on.
3. We cannot establish that holding prisoners
for the sake of having them, or through reluctance
summarily to execute them, ever"played a role to
create large "holding centers." Prisoners passed
. through interrogation experiences that varied
considerably in length, then "save* themselves" by
cooperation with security officials (which could
be followed by emergence in jail and, when at
bcran to be
last they&sxae published, a PEN list, transfer to
a "rehabilitation site," freedom or exfiltration
it appears
from Argentina) or were executed --a fate that /
also awaited prisoners "with bloody hands,"
whether or not they cooperated. After several
weeks the possibility of a person's being
"surfaced" appear to have declined sharply.
Stories of anomalies abound, but the pattern
described above nevertheless emerges.
5. This reasonably well known, well documented
process, combined with very sharp reductions in
"intake" during 1978 and 1979 lead to the fre sump -
should "^
tion that few clandestine prisoners/remain in
far fewer centers than once existed. The razing
or abandonment of several centers is known.
j__ Closures have been reported by a variety of" |
Classification
T-ts** FS.4l3(H)o
(CONTINUATION SHEET)
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r sources and top members of government, for what ~l
this is worth, have given assurances that there are
no clandestine centers and prisoners.
6, It is possible that ordinary [i.e. those
covered by recognized government doctrine established
at the beginning of the repression)
1 /clandestine procedures were speeded up to accom-
modate "housecleaning" before the visit of the
Inter-American Commission for Human Rights -- a
process ox housecleaning facilitated by the
Commission visit's postponement from May of 1979
until September. We doubt however that criteria
or procedures were changed with the visit in
mind, except in the sense that about November or
December of last year new guidelines were given
which vastly reduced disappearances in 1979 --
already down considerably in 1978 compared with
previous years. This action, we believe, was
motivated not by the imminence of the Commission's
visit but by the spirit or exigencies that motivated
the government's invitation to the Commission in
the first place.
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7. While we/speculate/they/exist (even if ﾃつ｣ﾃつ｣*
.as
only/small holding facilities for the most
recently disappeared) we have no information about
specific clandestine centers still existing. We
had one report speculating about the existence
of such centers and killing possible prisoners.
No confirmation of this report could be obtained.
8. As for a recommended course of action, our
concern for the fate of prisoners who might not
be acknowledged by the government has been
expressed to the GOA repeatedly (See below) and
we will continue to do so. If we were to make
more forceful representations, there is a real
risk that we would elicit a demand for hard
evidence of clandestine prisoners, which our
information base could not supply. Consequently
we believe our efforts should continue to be to
support an effective visit of the IAHRC. END
INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY TO FINDINGS.
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9. Background of the Problem. The Embassy
officer who has interviewed about 170 Right of
Option candidates, basing this on what prisoners
have told him, speculates that at one time every
population center of any size in Argentina had
an interrogation-detention center. These centers
were "clandestine" in the sense that however well
they might be known locally they were not officially
acknowledged. Usually they were military establish-
ments of one kind or another, or military bases.
Sometimes they belonged to the police. Thousands
of people were processed through these. Based
upon actual interviews with prisoners who claim
to have been tortured during interrogation (about
90S of persons intervi-p^.e.d.^ .^e,nters were located
in the ^oijfcnspriKgxplaces/. No notations of the
numerous reports of interrogations/within central
Buenos Aires are recorded, since prisoners ordinarily
had no idea
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it was "just a few minutes from where I was
picked up." The dates cited refer to the period
of interrogation of the person interviewed;
A military base near La Plata - Aug. 1976
"Somewhere near Quilmes" - one prisoner for
7 months, beginning in October of 1977;
another prisoner for one month, January
1976
"Near Berazategui" for 12 days, January 1976
Headquarters near Banfield" - this
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"A Bri<
according to several prisoners, relating
to various times (also "discovered" by
human rights activists)
"Near Moron, Buenos Aires Province" - September
1976
"In San Miguel" (B.A. Province) - May 1976 (for
2 months)
"La Perla" near.Cordoba - November 1976 (this
is another location that is often described
by others)
"In Bahia Blanca" - January 1977 (for four months)
Juan
Corner of Paseo Colon and San/JSK, Buenos Aires -
May 1977 (This facility has also been
described by several former prisoners and
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(CONTINUATION SHEET)
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admitted to have existed by a member
of a security force. It has definitely
been razed as part of a highway construc-
tion project.)
10. Other people interviewed have spoken of interro-
gation under torture at recognized prisons and
police facilities: Catamarca Prison (June 1976),
La Plata Prison (September 1976, and by another
prisoner in 1977); police headquarters at Mendoza
(March 1976), Zarate (April 1975), Mar del Plata
(July 1976), Rio Cuarto (April 1976), Salta (1975),
and San Miguel de Tucuman (1975).
11. More Recent Data from Secondary Sources. The
government's strategy for clearing out PEN prisoners
by releasing them or giving them option is to take
oldest cases first, explaining why no interrogation
experience in the columns above was originated later
than late 1977. Worth noting too is that interroga-
tion experiences before early 1976 were generally
by police -- it was about then that the armed forces
moved into large scale repression effort. More
recent experiences at clandestine centers come
from secondary sources. The reliability of these
sources can be doubted in individual cases, but
the histories given conform to a credible pattern.
Classification
4.68 " FS.413(H><.
(CONTINUATION SHEET)
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The reports concern
The Naval Mechanics School - The most
detailed report of activities there
came from Horacio Maggio (B.A. A-3,
1978 B.A. 3244). Repeatedly Embassy
officers have been told that activities
there ceased a year ago.
Campo de Mayo - An enormous Army base outside
Buenos Aires.
"Puente Doce" - on the road to Ezeiza, now
razed (a former prisoner described being
taken away with a number of other prisoners).
The "La Armonia Ranch" near Arana, a short
Abandoned
distance from La Plata./ E2Sﾃつ｣a, some
buildings dynamited about January 1979.
"Las Malvinas" - a jocular reference to an
Air Force warehouse between Quilmes and
Avellaneda. Like "Banfield" it was
apparently used (in part at least) to
received prisoners from Arana.
A facility near General Paz at Ricchieri.
(General Paz is the circumferential
road around the Federal Capital and
Ricchieri is the road leading to Ezeiza.)
10. Fragmentary reports have been received, of .
ﾃつ｣fﾃつ｣M FS-413(H)o
(CONTINUATION SHEET)
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clandestine centers located at La Tablada
Barracks (near Buenos Aires Province's border
with the Federal Capital), a building in the
capital located at Rivadavia 8000, the Army
Arsenal of "Viejo Bueno" near Monte Chingolo,
a military base near the Buenos Aires suburb
of San Justo and^ in La Plata (a particularly
severely hit city, both in terms of terroism
and its repression) the following locations:
The Federal Police's "RobberVies Investigations
Unit" at 55th Street number 12-13, the Marine
Barracks and the Pereyra railroad station. Police
stations in La Plata may have been used for interro-
gations of political prisoners, though these cannot
of course be considered "clandestine" except in
the sense that prisoners' identities were, apparently,
maintained a secret.
,12, No verification is imﾃつｻKiiﾃつｫxKix possible at this,
or that any of these centers still may exist^J
time of any of the information given above/ (COMMENT:
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xiaﾃつｱxxﾃつｱﾃつｻjixx Swedish Embassy colleagues here tell
us frankly that they have no independent informa-
1? tion about detention centers, clandestine prisoners ?
Classification
H?iM
(CONTINUATION SHEET)
T-68 " FS.<13ﾃつｰ
Classification
Ww-.wvs* Imv
I? gossip and speculation that ?i
I etc. We regret that/xkxx was traded here freely '
along the diplomatic grapevine was reported in
Stockholm ?see Amembassy Stockholm 3279 -- v-
as an ex cathedra Amembassy assessment.)
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The remains of
13. Chances that Camps Exist Today, /clandestine
centers that have been razed have been visited by
human rights activists. Once the Naval Mechanics
School was deactivated as an interrogation center
its former purpose was fairly openly mentioned.
14. We have no resources for verifying whether
any of the other activities listed above exist
today, or of certifying that new ones might not
have come into being. This is true despite the
fact that this is a "target" area for information
and/or rumors (reported in B.A. 3056 and 6150,
for example).
15. We have however the statements of General
and FonMin Pastor to the Ambassador
Viola/that detention centers do not exist (see
and 6614)
B.A. 2490,mmi. 2828/ and an assurance to this
effect given to the Defense Attache by Army. ,
Classification
ﾃつ｣ﾃつ｣*M FS-iH3(H)o
(CONTINUATION SHEHT)
9 10 ﾃつｦ
r*ogﾃつｫ_______of _
&'?07
MRN
I Deputy Secretary General Bayon on August 10, and I
to an Emboff by Col. San Roman of the Interior
Ministry on July 30. The source of the reports
that clandestine camps had not been entirely
eliminated and the conjecture that some prisoners
were being killed (B.A. 6150) was an official of
a GOA security service who was not in a position \ ,
to have full information regarding possible centers. ; \
We considered his speculation was informed, though
it was unsupported by any confirming reports. The
reliability of this source is questionable, since
he has been authorized to talk with us by his
superiors, and is used on occasion to convey informa-
tion the GOA wants to get before us. As a government agent
it seems improbable that he would invent information
detrimental to his own employers, yet he 'gave
detrimental testimony and there exists the possi-
bility there is truth to his reports.
16. The reasoning behind these assertions is more
of interest. Our contact commented that "the
truth of the matter is that centers are no longer
L
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1 1
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6?Q'7
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needed." Sharply diminished pickups, he led
us to reason (perhaps 600 in 1978, as opposed
to considerably more in the years preceding)
simply closed the detention centers by attrition
-- for those who were brought into the system of
interrogation either "saved themselves" (quoting
Col. San Roman) or did not. No one tells us
precisely that those who did not save themselves
were executed, but the implication is inescapable
and would not be denied under the informal, even
friendly circumstances in which out conversations
take place. (Ita* It was General Viola himself
who used the phrase "the forever absent" -- "los
ausentes
^$S9Sra para siempre" in his May 29 Army day
speech, a term we assume was well calculated to
to describe the disappeared.)
17. What, then, is the likelihood that prisoners
taken into the system during 1978 may still be
alive? How long can the interrogation process
last? Here there is no answer given, no hint
even. "How long is a piece of string?" The
clearest discernible answer is "until a person's
intelligence usefulness is at an end, which may
include a period of a person's bargaining for
j his life. If a person has not been killed ^and
MRN
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J
Classification
ﾃつ｣ﾃつｰJM FS-4!3(M)o
(CONTINUATION SHEET1
UNCLASSIFIED
r
i_
has been cooperative he may be able to save himse
through bargaining -- via PEN, exfiltration from
Argentina, outright release. This source opined
that so long as the security forces had prisoners
which they wished to question there would be
clandestine facilities for doing so. He suspected
that the Army had some and assumed that the other
services did as well. If some prisoners entering
such interrogation centers in the past had never
emerged alive, he assumed the same would happen
now- Based on our questioning of him, this source's
views are based on the logic that since the system
operated in a way to eliminate some prisoners in
the past, it is probably still doing so, though on
a scale reflecting the far smaller intake. We have
no reliable reports or information to support the
statements of this one source.
18. Conclusions. We continue to believe that
the likelihood of there being significant numbers
of clandestine prisoners is small. If there are
such prisoners they probably number in the few
hundreds at the most. Others taken into the system
of interrogation are dead or released or under PEN.
We continue to fail to imagine why the GOA would
keep significant numbers of prisoners beyond some
if "I
_J
Classification
ﾃつ｣fﾃつ｣M FH13(H)o
[CONTINUATION SHEET)
r kind of perceived intelligence usefulness, a
usefulness which is quickly demonstrated or not.
The system of "processing" prisoners has probably
ﾃつｦy ' not been altered, even considering the imminence
j of the Inter-American Commission's visit. What
was altered dramatically, most recently by new
orders given in November of last year, were the
criteria for entering the system -- with the
effect of practically cutting out new entrants
to the system beginning about January of 1979.
The 1978 number showed a significant decrease
from 1977.
19. Recommendation: On the basis of the specu-
lation that some unacknowledged prisoners still
remain in the system, there is a strong urge to
make representation to the GOA for their welfare.
This was what prompted the Ambassador's raising
the topic with General Viola and the Foreign
Minister, and the questions of Army and Interior
Ministry officials and our security service
source. We have no doubts that the GOA is aware
of our concern for any such prisoners. We will
continue to express this concern. In part because
of that, special representations would have to
be very forceful. That kind of representation
Classification
ﾃつ｣fﾃつ｣M Ft413(H)o
(CONTINUATION SHEET) 111101 4CJ0iL!LFl
Ul
I would, at this point, probably elicit from General ~l
Viola the reaction that he has ordered that prisoners
be delivered to judicial authorities, and he would
take action on any case in which we could, .give him
specific information. Our information is not adequate
to respond to such a request. It seems highly likely
that this is the reason that the Nuncio is unprepared
to make a demarche on this subject. (Stockholm 3279)
In this situation it seems best to continue to support
an effective visit of the IAHRC.
CASTRO
L ' " J
Classification
4-f!|M FS-4l3(H)o
(CONTINUATION SHEET)
IEUSSHD
UGHGEGMffl
6707 p ; i
161531Z AbG 79
t^y ﾃつｦ- -
\ ICOLLECT
ﾃつ｣3 CHANGE TO
12065:
E.O. >*>ﾃつｫﾃつｫﾃつｻ*
TAGS:
SUBJECT:
ACTION:
INFO:
FROM
AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
CLASSIFICATION
XDS-1 8/16/99 (CHAPLIN, Maxwell! OR-M ~|
SHUM AR
CLANDESTINE PRISONS DECAPTIONED
ARGENTINA PROJECT (S200000044)
SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE VS. DEPT. OF STATE, A/RPS/IPS
Margaret P. Grafeld, Director
USMISSION GENEVA ^Release ( ) Excise C )Deny
USMISSION USUN NEW YORK Tﾃつｱxemption(s):-------__,---------------
USCINCSO QUARRY HTS CZ Declassify: ( ) In Pan (?ﾃつｧ& FuU
AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM ( ) Classify as _ () Extend as _ C ) Downgrade to _
Date________Declassify on________Reason-----
AMB
DCM
POL
CHRON
BUENOS AIRES
6707
REF: STATE .204564; STOCKHOLM 3279
1 . A- Entire Text.)
2. SUMMARY RESPONSE TO REFTEL. First to address the
concern expressed in the State Reftel, we do not
believe that extraordinary measures are being taken
to prepare for the IACHR visit. The repression is
continuing along recognized and previously reported
lines, but with a sharp reduction in intake of
victims. END SUMMARY RESPONSE.
3. INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY OF FINDINGS. Argentina
has had many places for clandestine interrogation --
there may have been hundreds during the thickest
DRAFTED BY:
POLCOUNS:
WHHallman/DCM:M
DRAFTING DATE
8/16/79
278
Chaplin
DA0:ARMacDonald
X>Cf\?X MLGRP:Capt. WRBeck
CONTENTS AND CLASSIFICATION APPROVED BY:
DCM-.MChaplin^-H.,,
Stefano -*
one (,
tt
CLEARANCES:
P0L/R:JDi
SY:JBlyst
EC0M:JAmo
ICA:jCorr
CONS/REF:KSackett
50153-1C I
r&U^&~.
CLASSIFICATION
IIIWJ
OPTIONAL FORM 163
(Formerly FS-413)
January 1975
DoPt. of state
BUHB
Classification
1A
P qg*______of
r
part of the repression of subversion/terrorism.
We have insufficient data even to guess at who
ran which ones, how they were staffed etc. We
believe that the delegation of authority and
diffusion of power that marked the repression
worked to induce each unit of the security
services to want its own holding facility,
although these numbers were reduced and consolid
tions
L
Classification
ﾃつ｣^|M FS-4l3(H)o
(CONTINUATION SHEET)
lIMfi
ICW
mmhm
MB
Classification
Pag*.
.of.
&7Q-7
MRN
n
^ere made as the repression wore. on.
3. We cannot establish that holding prisoners
for the sake of having them, or through reluctance
summarily to execute them, ever"played a role to
create large "holding centers." Prisoners passed
. through interrogation experiences that varied
considerably in length, then "save* themselves" by
cooperation with security officials (which could
be followed by emergence in jail and, when at
bcran to be
last they&sxae published, a PEN list, transfer to
a "rehabilitation site," freedom or exfiltration
it appears
from Argentina) or were executed --a fate that /
also awaited prisoners "with bloody hands,"
whether or not they cooperated. After several
weeks the possibility of a person's being
"surfaced" appear to have declined sharply.
Stories of anomalies abound, but the pattern
described above nevertheless emerges.
5. This reasonably well known, well documented
process, combined with very sharp reductions in
"intake" during 1978 and 1979 lead to the fre sump -
should "^
tion that few clandestine prisoners/remain in
far fewer centers than once existed. The razing
or abandonment of several centers is known.
j__ Closures have been reported by a variety of" |
Classification
T-ts** FS.4l3(H)o
(CONTINUATION SHEET)
m$wm
9 Uv'w^'^MI
tsi
i
IIMﾃつｻ
Classification
Pojﾃつｻ__3_
&707
MRN
r sources and top members of government, for what ~l
this is worth, have given assurances that there are
no clandestine centers and prisoners.
6, It is possible that ordinary [i.e. those
covered by recognized government doctrine established
at the beginning of the repression)
1 /clandestine procedures were speeded up to accom-
modate "housecleaning" before the visit of the
Inter-American Commission for Human Rights -- a
process ox housecleaning facilitated by the
Commission visit's postponement from May of 1979
until September. We doubt however that criteria
or procedures were changed with the visit in
mind, except in the sense that about November or
December of last year new guidelines were given
which vastly reduced disappearances in 1979 --
already down considerably in 1978 compared with
previous years. This action, we believe, was
motivated not by the imminence of the Commission's
visit but by the spirit or exigencies that motivated
the government's invitation to the Commission in
the first place.
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7. While we/speculate/they/exist (even if ﾃつ｣ﾃつ｣*
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only/small holding facilities for the most
recently disappeared) we have no information about
specific clandestine centers still existing. We
had one report speculating about the existence
of such centers and killing possible prisoners.
No confirmation of this report could be obtained.
8. As for a recommended course of action, our
concern for the fate of prisoners who might not
be acknowledged by the government has been
expressed to the GOA repeatedly (See below) and
we will continue to do so. If we were to make
more forceful representations, there is a real
risk that we would elicit a demand for hard
evidence of clandestine prisoners, which our
information base could not supply. Consequently
we believe our efforts should continue to be to
support an effective visit of the IAHRC. END
INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY TO FINDINGS.
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9. Background of the Problem. The Embassy
officer who has interviewed about 170 Right of
Option candidates, basing this on what prisoners
have told him, speculates that at one time every
population center of any size in Argentina had
an interrogation-detention center. These centers
were "clandestine" in the sense that however well
they might be known locally they were not officially
acknowledged. Usually they were military establish-
ments of one kind or another, or military bases.
Sometimes they belonged to the police. Thousands
of people were processed through these. Based
upon actual interviews with prisoners who claim
to have been tortured during interrogation (about
90S of persons intervi-p^.e.d.^ .^e,nters were located
in the ^oijfcnspriKgxplaces/. No notations of the
numerous reports of interrogations/within central
Buenos Aires are recorded, since prisoners ordinarily
had no idea
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it was "just a few minutes from where I was
picked up." The dates cited refer to the period
of interrogation of the person interviewed;
A military base near La Plata - Aug. 1976
"Somewhere near Quilmes" - one prisoner for
7 months, beginning in October of 1977;
another prisoner for one month, January
1976
"Near Berazategui" for 12 days, January 1976
Headquarters near Banfield" - this
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according to several prisoners, relating
to various times (also "discovered" by
human rights activists)
"Near Moron, Buenos Aires Province" - September
1976
"In San Miguel" (B.A. Province) - May 1976 (for
2 months)
"La Perla" near.Cordoba - November 1976 (this
is another location that is often described
by others)
"In Bahia Blanca" - January 1977 (for four months)
Juan
Corner of Paseo Colon and San/JSK, Buenos Aires -
May 1977 (This facility has also been
described by several former prisoners and
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admitted to have existed by a member
of a security force. It has definitely
been razed as part of a highway construc-
tion project.)
10. Other people interviewed have spoken of interro-
gation under torture at recognized prisons and
police facilities: Catamarca Prison (June 1976),
La Plata Prison (September 1976, and by another
prisoner in 1977); police headquarters at Mendoza
(March 1976), Zarate (April 1975), Mar del Plata
(July 1976), Rio Cuarto (April 1976), Salta (1975),
and San Miguel de Tucuman (1975).
11. More Recent Data from Secondary Sources. The
government's strategy for clearing out PEN prisoners
by releasing them or giving them option is to take
oldest cases first, explaining why no interrogation
experience in the columns above was originated later
than late 1977. Worth noting too is that interroga-
tion experiences before early 1976 were generally
by police -- it was about then that the armed forces
moved into large scale repression effort. More
recent experiences at clandestine centers come
from secondary sources. The reliability of these
sources can be doubted in individual cases, but
the histories given conform to a credible pattern.
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The reports concern
The Naval Mechanics School - The most
detailed report of activities there
came from Horacio Maggio (B.A. A-3,
1978 B.A. 3244). Repeatedly Embassy
officers have been told that activities
there ceased a year ago.
Campo de Mayo - An enormous Army base outside
Buenos Aires.
"Puente Doce" - on the road to Ezeiza, now
razed (a former prisoner described being
taken away with a number of other prisoners).
The "La Armonia Ranch" near Arana, a short
Abandoned
distance from La Plata./ E2Sﾃつ｣a, some
buildings dynamited about January 1979.
"Las Malvinas" - a jocular reference to an
Air Force warehouse between Quilmes and
Avellaneda. Like "Banfield" it was
apparently used (in part at least) to
received prisoners from Arana.
A facility near General Paz at Ricchieri.
(General Paz is the circumferential
road around the Federal Capital and
Ricchieri is the road leading to Ezeiza.)
10. Fragmentary reports have been received, of .
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clandestine centers located at La Tablada
Barracks (near Buenos Aires Province's border
with the Federal Capital), a building in the
capital located at Rivadavia 8000, the Army
Arsenal of "Viejo Bueno" near Monte Chingolo,
a military base near the Buenos Aires suburb
of San Justo and^ in La Plata (a particularly
severely hit city, both in terms of terroism
and its repression) the following locations:
The Federal Police's "RobberVies Investigations
Unit" at 55th Street number 12-13, the Marine
Barracks and the Pereyra railroad station. Police
stations in La Plata may have been used for interro-
gations of political prisoners, though these cannot
of course be considered "clandestine" except in
the sense that prisoners' identities were, apparently,
maintained a secret.
,12, No verification is imﾃつｻKiiﾃつｫxKix possible at this,
or that any of these centers still may exist^J
time of any of the information given above/ (COMMENT:
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xiaﾃつｱxxﾃつｱﾃつｻjixx Swedish Embassy colleagues here tell
us frankly that they have no independent informa-
1? tion about detention centers, clandestine prisoners ?
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I? gossip and speculation that ?i
I etc. We regret that/xkxx was traded here freely '
along the diplomatic grapevine was reported in
Stockholm ?see Amembassy Stockholm 3279 -- v-
as an ex cathedra Amembassy assessment.)
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The remains of
13. Chances that Camps Exist Today, /clandestine
centers that have been razed have been visited by
human rights activists. Once the Naval Mechanics
School was deactivated as an interrogation center
its former purpose was fairly openly mentioned.
14. We have no resources for verifying whether
any of the other activities listed above exist
today, or of certifying that new ones might not
have come into being. This is true despite the
fact that this is a "target" area for information
and/or rumors (reported in B.A. 3056 and 6150,
for example).
15. We have however the statements of General
and FonMin Pastor to the Ambassador
Viola/that detention centers do not exist (see
and 6614)
B.A. 2490,mmi. 2828/ and an assurance to this
effect given to the Defense Attache by Army. ,
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I Deputy Secretary General Bayon on August 10, and I
to an Emboff by Col. San Roman of the Interior
Ministry on July 30. The source of the reports
that clandestine camps had not been entirely
eliminated and the conjecture that some prisoners
were being killed (B.A. 6150) was an official of
a GOA security service who was not in a position \ ,
to have full information regarding possible centers. ; \
We considered his speculation was informed, though
it was unsupported by any confirming reports. The
reliability of this source is questionable, since
he has been authorized to talk with us by his
superiors, and is used on occasion to convey informa-
tion the GOA wants to get before us. As a government agent
it seems improbable that he would invent information
detrimental to his own employers, yet he 'gave
detrimental testimony and there exists the possi-
bility there is truth to his reports.
16. The reasoning behind these assertions is more
of interest. Our contact commented that "the
truth of the matter is that centers are no longer
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needed." Sharply diminished pickups, he led
us to reason (perhaps 600 in 1978, as opposed
to considerably more in the years preceding)
simply closed the detention centers by attrition
-- for those who were brought into the system of
interrogation either "saved themselves" (quoting
Col. San Roman) or did not. No one tells us
precisely that those who did not save themselves
were executed, but the implication is inescapable
and would not be denied under the informal, even
friendly circumstances in which out conversations
take place. (Ita* It was General Viola himself
who used the phrase "the forever absent" -- "los
ausentes
^$S9Sra para siempre" in his May 29 Army day
speech, a term we assume was well calculated to
to describe the disappeared.)
17. What, then, is the likelihood that prisoners
taken into the system during 1978 may still be
alive? How long can the interrogation process
last? Here there is no answer given, no hint
even. "How long is a piece of string?" The
clearest discernible answer is "until a person's
intelligence usefulness is at an end, which may
include a period of a person's bargaining for
j his life. If a person has not been killed ^and
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has been cooperative he may be able to save himse
through bargaining -- via PEN, exfiltration from
Argentina, outright release. This source opined
that so long as the security forces had prisoners
which they wished to question there would be
clandestine facilities for doing so. He suspected
that the Army had some and assumed that the other
services did as well. If some prisoners entering
such interrogation centers in the past had never
emerged alive, he assumed the same would happen
now- Based on our questioning of him, this source's
views are based on the logic that since the system
operated in a way to eliminate some prisoners in
the past, it is probably still doing so, though on
a scale reflecting the far smaller intake. We have
no reliable reports or information to support the
statements of this one source.
18. Conclusions. We continue to believe that
the likelihood of there being significant numbers
of clandestine prisoners is small. If there are
such prisoners they probably number in the few
hundreds at the most. Others taken into the system
of interrogation are dead or released or under PEN.
We continue to fail to imagine why the GOA would
keep significant numbers of prisoners beyond some
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r kind of perceived intelligence usefulness, a
usefulness which is quickly demonstrated or not.
The system of "processing" prisoners has probably
ﾃつｦy ' not been altered, even considering the imminence
j of the Inter-American Commission's visit. What
was altered dramatically, most recently by new
orders given in November of last year, were the
criteria for entering the system -- with the
effect of practically cutting out new entrants
to the system beginning about January of 1979.
The 1978 number showed a significant decrease
from 1977.
19. Recommendation: On the basis of the specu-
lation that some unacknowledged prisoners still
remain in the system, there is a strong urge to
make representation to the GOA for their welfare.
This was what prompted the Ambassador's raising
the topic with General Viola and the Foreign
Minister, and the questions of Army and Interior
Ministry officials and our security service
source. We have no doubts that the GOA is aware
of our concern for any such prisoners. We will
continue to express this concern. In part because
of that, special representations would have to
be very forceful. That kind of representation
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I would, at this point, probably elicit from General ~l
Viola the reaction that he has ordered that prisoners
be delivered to judicial authorities, and he would
take action on any case in which we could, .give him
specific information. Our information is not adequate
to respond to such a request. It seems highly likely
that this is the reason that the Nuncio is unprepared
to make a demarche on this subject. (Stockholm 3279)
In this situation it seems best to continue to support
an effective visit of the IAHRC.
CASTRO
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