-r-' '' · INDICATE COLLECT D D CHARGE TO FROM AMEMRl SSY BUENOS AIRES E O 11652 TAGS SU JECT ACTION XGDS-2 PINS PINT SHUI--1 AR ATgentines Question GOA Accounts of Terrorist Confrontations and Release Lists 1 SECSTATE WASHDC BUENOS AIRES P EF Buenos Aires Ol62 · J A 'B l A number of independent sources Dcl-1 I h J separately to E boffs that IPOL3 deaths of· Peronist leader Darda Cabtf' and Roberto Perliz in terror ECOM ist ambush on Jan 6 were engineered by security forces P0 R US S l US AO p-· press officer received letter signed families of political 11 MILGP2 scjrA T 7 LErAT ' BF Embassy CERON prisoners 11 refuting the military communique on the ambush pointing out that the two prisoners who were allegedly being transferred were taken out at l a m and were not allowed to take their clothes and belongings as is customary with normal transfers that the prison they were reportedly headed for was a detention center for women and that the alleged ambush took place on a road 30 kilom ers off the route connecting the two prisons Father another prisoner who was housed with Darda Cabo in La P ata prison told Labatt that he learned from nis 'lf nl at f oq - 1 2-- - J _ State of Siege detainees in La Plata have been ORAFrEO BY J DRAFTING DATE l 25 77 POL YTha er r Cl EAR AN c ES RSSte POL ' r • J POL R DSmock - #M - TEL EXT l2l al of the eaten and CONTENTS ANO CLASSIFICATION APPROVED POlCOUNS WSSmith s'lfl 1 -6- DCM MChaplin t V- -c __ AMB RCHil OPTIONAL FORM 1G ' Hl Formetly FS 413 iil 'Lf f I threatened with death and that when Dard o Cabo left he was take -1 suddenly in the night and·not allowed to bring his belongings with him A member of the Permanent Assembly for Human Rights told Poloff that Dardo Cabo was suddenly transferred to a solitary cell some days before the alleged transfer at which time he confided to other prisoners that he expected to be killed These reports coincide with information provide _ by SRF sources that Dardo Cabo 1 s death was planned by security forces Particularly significant is the fact that Argentines are questioning the veracity of military communiques on terrorist confrontations and bringing their information to the attention of Emboffs Similar impressi ns are also circulating with Embassy contacts in the local press diplomatic community political e nd labor circles etc 2 Embassy sources have also consistently reported that persons named on lists as being released from Executive disposition are not reappearing either as transferred to the regular criminal court system or freed from detention altogether Permanent AssembJ_ y- for Human Rights official told Emboff Jan 21 that Assembly has file of nearly 2 000 names of detained or disappeared persons and that few of them figured in the several lists published by the Interior Ministry since December Some of the names listed were of persons who were abducted from their homes by unidentified armed persons he said L and the appearance of the name on the list was the first _J l_ - -G-P -ONAl -F-ORM -1 2w' H1 Forrnerl FG-413· 1 J 3 r hJP · 5015 201 O 'i t i • 1 ' ' 75 o f t ' r-- indication the family had that the person was in custody of the--i k t krilL oo l'aXISL kZ Official £ mentioned several specific cases where families have still received no official confirmation or news about the whose names appeared on the listso whereabouts of their relatives Official pointed out that it is possible that nee released the person may prefer o keep his whereabouts unknown or may try to leave the country and there fore it is impossible to make accurate estimates on the actual situation of most of those whose names appeared on the lists However as he and others have made clear the publishing of the lists has not clarified either the status or whereabouts of many of the persons on the lists nor has it answered the questions surrounding many others who disappeared during 1975 and 1976 3 La Opinionn raised the question in print on Jan 22 noting that since persons listed as sition have not in many bein c ses released fr om Executive dispo- been discharged from pri on is important that GOA provide more detailed information n it each case particularly if the person has been remanded t°iJhe judicial system L As an example it mentioned the case of Patricia Borenztein whose name first appeared on a J ist of _J ' PTION L FQ -- f15 u·tu tForrr Nl F fi 413 • H al J c• ary 1975 50152·201 QPj lt Of $t lt' -- __ _ _ _ f I' - ' - -_ MRN persons released by the Executive in December then reappe red on another list of persons detained by the Executive in early January The paper questioned whether in - e interim the woman had been turned over to the criminal courts freed or left in jail and asked why the Executive would release her one 4 week and rearrest her the next The questions posed by La Opinion are circulating widely here At next opportunity Embassy will ask senior govt officials for clarification on precise meaning x of' lists • L _J 1 231ttJ tF -rract FS-4t fH h J2 n J ' ' 1915 PllO 'J t FOhW 1 50152-201 O f•t cf ' t ·it _J This document is from the holdings of The National Security Archive Suite 701 Gelman Library The George Washington University 2130 H Street NW Washington D C 20037 Phone 202 994-7000 Fax 202 994-7005 nsarchiv@gwu edu