Argentina

Argentina is not all sweetness and light.

1. An article in The Guardian, 2 April 2008, - Architects of the new Argentina - tells us that 7 million immigrants from Europe arrived in Argentina between 1870 and 1915.

At the same time, 'the local Indian population was slaughtered in successive military campaigns to make room for the settlers...

'The chief author of the 19th-century massacres was General Julio Roca...

"Thousands of Indians were killed, and the great central area of the pampas was prepared for European immigration. Further campaigns took place on the northern frontier with Paraguay, and here too the land was cleared for immigrants. Some now consider Roca the 'Hitler' of Argentina's 'final solution.'"

2. November 15, 2007 "Boy killed and mutilated in macabre ritual", The Herald Sun, 2007-11-15.

"ARGENTINIAN police are investigating the 2006 murder and mutilation of a 12-year-old homeless boy in northeastern Corrientes believed to be the work of satanic cults.

"Ramon Ignacio Gonzalez was murdered during an eclectic ritual combining different practices of the Afro-Brazilian umbanda and kimbanda, the Argentine San La Muerte (Saint Death), and other satanic cults, the province's chief prosecutor Gustavo Schmitt said.

"He said police were looking for six suspected cult members identified by a 14-year-old girl, Ramoncita, a friend of the victim, who told police Gonzalez was murdered 'to obtain purification by offering a young body to their gods'.

"The mutilated body of Gonzalez, a homeless child who lived from selling religious cards and artifacts, was found October 2006 in Mercedes, a city of 50,000 some 700km north of Buenos Aires.

"The boy 'was raped, impaled, tortured with cigarette burns, decapitated while still alive and then all the blood was drained from his body. They removed all the skin from his body, as well as his tongue, throat and several vertebrae', Mr Schmitt said.

"The chief prosecutor said investigators 'firmly believe there is an ideological culprit who ordered the murder and may even have paid to have it done'.

"Mr Schmitt said he had asked a judge to include in the investigation another 2005 murder case of a newborn baby found bludgeoned to death on a Mercedes street, whose body remains unclaimed and was missing some bones.

"He said that in the Gonzalez murder investigation there were reports the suspects had carried out other human sacrifices.

3. Former Nazi arrested in Argentina for child abuse - Times Online

"A former Nazi who fled to South America and became the charismatic leader of a religious sect has been arrested in Argentina on charges of child abuse and torture.

"Paul Schaefer, 83, was seized in the town of Tortuguitas, 18 miles west of Buenos Aires, along with six people described as his security team, Argentine police said.

"He has been hiding for eight years, ever since a warrant for his arrest on paedophile charges was issued in Chile in August 1996. He was convicted in his absence in November 2004 along with 22 other cult members.

"A former corporal and medic in Hitler's army, Mr Schaefer fled Germany to Chile in 1961 to avoid child sexual abuse charges in his homeland."

4. A R G E N T I N A - "Archbishop Edgardo Storni of Santa Fe resigned on Oct. 1, 2002, after a book accused him of abusing at least 47 young seminarians. The Vatican had investigated allegations against Storni in 1994, but found insufficient evidence to act. Storni said his resignation did not signify guilt." - Boston Globe / Spotlight / Abuse in the Catholic Church / Scandal ...

5. Ricardo Cavallo, a former Argentine navy officer accused of human rights abuses during the country's 'Dirty War', arrived in Buenos Aires on 31 March 2008, extradited from Spain.

Cavallo is accused of being involved in the disappearance of many of the 5,000 people who were detained in the Navy Mechanics School in Buenos Aires during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship.

More than 5,000 of the roughly 30,000 people who disappeared under the dictatorship passed through this detention center.

Cavallo faces charges of murder, illegal detention, torture, extortion, theft and falsifying documents. - Spain extradites 'Dirty War' officer to Argentina

~~~