Argentina's Notorious Torturer During Military Rule Mario Sandoval Jailed; 131st Baby Kidnapped During Dictatorship Identified

Argentina's infamous torturer during the military rule, Mario Sandoval, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Sandoval was found guilty of abducting and torturing left-wing student Hernan Abriata, who disappeared in 1976 and is presumed dead, BBC reported.

When Argentina's dictatorship ended, Sandoval fled Argentina and settled in France. He then became a university lecturer there.

In 2019, Sandoval was extradited to Argentina from France. He was accused of participating in the disappearance and torture of hundreds of left-wing activists during Argentina's dictatorship from 1976 to 1983.

Survivors said that Sandoval was one of the most infamous torturers to have worked at the country's largest clandestine detention center, which is the Navy High School of Mechanics, also known as Esma.

Sandoval's trial focused more on Abriata's abduction. The architecture student was dragged from his home by police in 1976. He was taken to Esma.

According to BBC, over 5,000 men and women who opposed the military junta were taken there, and only around 100 reportedly survived.

The trial of Mario Sandoval, who reportedly tied prisoners to metal bedframes and tortured them with a cattle prod, started last September in Buenos Aires.

What really happened to Abriata after he was held captive is still unknown. The left-wing activist is one of the 30,000 people who vanished under Argentina's military rule.

Argentina Military Officials Kidnapped Babies

Military officials in Argentina allegedly kidnapped babies from political prisoners during the dictatorship regime. Human rights organization Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo estimated that around 500 children were taken from their parents.

The group uses DNA tests to locate and identify babies stolen from their parents. The number of identified kidnapped babies from their parents reached 131, Al Jazeera reported.

President of the group, Estela de Carlotto, said in a news conference that a man was determined on Wednesday to be the biological son of Lucia Angela Nadin and Aldo Hugo Quevedo.

Nadin and Quevedo were members of an armed leftist group and were arrested in late 1977 in the capital of Buenos Aires. Nadin was two or three months pregnant at the time of her arrest.

Survivors testified that Nadin was taken from the detention center to give birth. She was held imprisoned in March and April 1978. Nadin and Quevo have never been found.

The group last identified a person who was kidnapped from their parents in June 2019. The person was announced to be Javier Matias Darroux Maijalchukis. He was the biological son of Elena Mijalchuk and Juan Manuel Darroux.

His parents are still missing as of now. De Carlotto noted that hundreds of men and women with have doubts about their origins have come to their organization. She said more than 2,000 people had undergone genetic testing over the last four years.

Argentina Dictatorship

The military regime in Argentina from 1976 to 1983 was known as the "Dirty War," with a three-man military junta leading. The regime closed the National Congress, imposed censorship, banned trade unions, and brought state and municipal government under military control.

Lieutenant General Jorge Rafael Videla led the dictatorship after Argentina's former President Isabel Perón was deposed in March 1976. Videla started a campaign against suspected dissidents and set up hundreds of clandestine detention camps.

More than 30,000 people disappeared during the dictatorship. Victims reportedly died during torture. They were machine-gunned, drugged, or thrown from airplanes into the sea.

In July, an Argentine court sentenced 19 former military officers to long prison terms for crimes against humanity during the dictatorship regime. According to a court ruling, the crimes were committed against some 350 victims.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

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