The Human Rights Actions Network
www.derechos.org/human-rights/actions/
ACTION REQUEST
July 16, 1998 Derechos Human Rights is gravely concerned about the brutal force used by the police and military against human rights demonstrators on July 15, 1998. The attack by police forces left many injured, including Laura Bonaparte of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo. On July 15, Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, H.I.J.O.S. (an organization of children whose parents were disappeared and murdered during the "Dirty War") and other human rights organizations demonstrated in front of the home of retired Navy captain Fernando Enrique Peyon. Peyon was a member of the task force in charge of disappearing people at the ESMA (Naval Mechanics School, the largest concentration camp in Argentina during the "Dirty War") and he was in charge of the operations group that disappeared Ricardo Haidar, among others. He was freed by the "Punto Final" amnesty law in Argentina, and he now works for the Naval Information Service. Before the demonstration, Peyon handed out pamphlets to his neighbors in which he acknowledged and expressed pride about his role in the "Dirty War." At least 200 demonstrators gathered in front of the building where Peyon lives, including many of his neighbors. The building was guarded by the Infantry Ward and more than 100 Federal Police officers; there were armored cars and a helicopter monitoring the demonstration. In addition, plain-clothes policemen mixed themselves among the demonstrators. The demonstration included protest songs and a play against repression. Some members of the H.I.J.O.S organization threw red paint pellets at the wall of the building, symbolizing the blood of the "disappeared" that Peyon had shed. When some of the paint hit policemen, they started to attack the demonstrators. The armed forces used tear gas against the demonstrators, beat them with batons and even spat at them. Twelve people were arrested and several were injured, including Laura Bonaparte, who was brutally beaten and had her arm fractured by police, Federico Zukerfeld, a member of the theater troop who was hospitalized with a brain hematoma, and Javier Aguilar, a neighbor who was going out shopping when he was beaten and arrested, causing him to suffer an epileptic seizure which required hospitalization. Twelve people were arrested, including the leaders of H.I.J.O.S who were pointed out by the plain-clothes police infiltrators. The large number of police officers deployed against the peaceful demonstrators, and the use of armored vehicles and infiltrators shows a clear will to repress the freedom of speech and assembly of the demonstrators on the part of the police authorities, which respond to the Ministry of the Interior. Derechos condemns the brutality exercised by the infantry and police forces against peaceful demonstrators and urges the Ministry of Interior to cease all types of repression against human rights organizations and others in Argentina. Derechos demands that human rights workers and others be allowed to peacefully express their condemnation of human rights violators without fear of retaliations and police brutality. RECOMMENDED ACTIONS Please write to the authorities below 1- Expressing your condemnation of the police repression against the demonstrators and members of human rights organizations 2-Demanding that police repression cease in Argentina, and that human rights organizations and citizens be allowed to publically express their repudiation of torturers and killers, without fear of being attacked and beaten by the security forces. 3- Demanding and end to the harassment of human rights organizations in Argentina, including the use of infiltrators. Write to: S.E. Dr. Carlos Saul Menem Presidente de la Republica Casa Rosada Balcarce 50 Buenos Aires, CF Argentina. Fax : + 541 331 6376 E-mail : postmaster@presidencia.gov.ar Dr. Carlos Corach Ministerio del Interior Casa de Gobierno Balcarce 50 Buenos Aires Argentina. Fax:(+541) 331 7354 or 3129328
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