Rio Truth Commission appeals to Argentine courts.
The commission wants to clarify the case of the Argentinian journalist Norberto Armando Habegger, who disappeared in Brazil after disembarking at Galeão airport in 1978; "We will gather data on this case and, together with the national commission, we will determine the best legal way to proceed with the case," said the commission's president, Wadih Damous.
Isabela Vieira
Reporter from Agência Brasil
Rio de Janeiro The Rio de Janeiro State Truth Commission will request information from the Argentine Justice system regarding the participation of Brazilian military personnel in Operation Condor. The commission wants to help clarify the case of Argentine journalist Norberto Armando Habegger, who disappeared in Brazil after disembarking at Galeão airport in 1978.
The commission's president, Wadih Damous, said today (30) that he will ask the National Truth Commission for help in obtaining information through the Argentine government with the Judiciary of that country. "We will gather data on this case and with the national commission we will see the best legal way to enter the process," he said.
In March, the Argentine justice system opened an investigation into Operation Condor and the disappearance of 106 Latin Americans. Among them is the case of journalist Norberto Habegger, who was part of the guerrilla group known as the Montoneros, and two other Argentinians who disappeared in Brazil.
Today, during the testimony of the journalist's son, filmmaker Andrés Habegger, the state commission delivered to the Argentine consul in the country, Alana Lomonaco, a document from the Brazilian dictatorship warning about the actions of the Montoneros and the discovery of the bodies of activists killed by the repression.
According to the son of the missing Argentinian, his father's fate is uncertain. The most likely hypothesis is that, after being captured in Rio by Brazilian military personnel, the journalist was taken by agents of the Argentinian dictatorship to a concentration camp in that country, after being tortured.
"This is a painful, yet healing process. It's much better to know what happened, to know everything, and to live in peace with your own history," said the filmmaker, who last saw his father when he was 9 years old. "I've lived with this absence, with a missing father, my whole life. These are scars that don't go away."
Recent documents prepared by the Brazilian government and data from Amnesty International, which interviewed survivors of concentration camps in Argentina, confirm Norberto's passage through Brazil and give the names of three Argentine military personnel who captured him at the Rio de Janeiro airport.
Based on this, Damous reiterated that he will seek to identify the Brazilians involved in Operation Condor. "It wasn't Argentine agents who arrived here, kidnapped people, and left. There was collaboration from the Brazilian dictatorship," he added.
Given the evidence presented in Brazil, the family of the disappeared person, who is a witness in the trial concerning the operation, hopes to prove the link between the repressive systems of Brazil and Argentina and demand that those involved be punished. In Argentina, unlike in Brazil, the military were penalized for their crimes.
Edited by: Marcos Chagas