Dirty War ruling fuels Argentina protests

THOUSANDS of people filled Argentina’s historical Plaza de Mayo on Wednesday night to reject a controversial Supreme Court ruling against human rights.

The law, known as the “two for one”, reduces the sentence of prisoners convicted for dictatorship-era crimes against humanity.

Dozens of social organisations called for the event, including the Grandmothers and Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, the Relatives of Political Disappeared and leftist groups like the Left Front of Workers and the Socialist Movement of Workers.

Chanting the motto “Mr Judges: Never Again”, the human rights activists wore their signature white handkerchiefs and demanded justice for the 30 000 victims who had disappeared and were murdered during the country’s Dirty War-era dictatorship.

The Dirty War was Argentina’s offshoot of Operation Condor, a Cold War-era campaign of violence across Latin America.

The campaign resulted in tens of thousands of activist deaths when the US teamed up with right-wing military dictatorships to extinguish leftist movements. teleSUR