The Uruguayan judiciary sentenced retired soldier Eduardo Ferro to 21 years in prison for the disappearance of communist militant Óscar Tassino during Uruguay’s military-civic dictatorship (1973-1985), according to the verdict published on Friday (06/30/2023).
Ferro, 76 and serving a prison sentence since 2021, was found a “criminal co-author” of the “enforced disappearance” of Tassino, who was arrested in Montevideo on July 19, 1977.
“From the evidence reasonably gathered, we can conclude that the victim was arrested by Ferro, among others, and taken to the secret detention center ‘La Tablada’, where she was tortured to death, among others, by the accused Ferro,” said Judge Silvia. Urioste in his judgment of June 23.
“Ferro, in his capacity as State Agent, participated in the deprivation of the victim’s liberty and in the refusal to disclose information about his situation and whereabouts to the next of kin, leaving Óscar Tassino missing to this day.” added the text.
Tassino was 40 years old when he was kidnapped. He was an employee of the state-owned electricity company UTE, a trade union leader and a member of the Uruguayan Communist Party (PCU). He was married and had three children.
Ferro, a retired army colonel, was sentenced to prison in April 2021 after being extradited from Spain, where he had been on the run from Uruguayan justice since 2017.
On June 15, the Uruguayan state publicly acknowledged responsibility for five counts of illegal acts during the dictatorship, including the enforced disappearance of Tassino, in accordance with a ruling by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR).
During the act, Karina Tassino, daughter of the communist militant, demanded that the Uruguayan authorities take “forceful measures” that “lead” to the truth about the whereabouts of the detained and missing persons.
Officially, 197 people disappeared in actions attributed to the Uruguayan state during the last dictatorship. The vast majority were imprisoned in Argentina as part of the Condor plan for cooperation between the de facto regimes of South America’s southern cone.
loves (affp, efe)
Former Latin American Dictators and Justice (2013)
In Latin America it was difficult to settle accounts with the protagonists of his dictatorships. Here we review some cases that have been tried before the judge.
Image: dapd
Former Argentine dictator Jorge Rafael Videla died in prison on May 17, 2013 at the age of 87. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity. Eduardo Massera and Orlando Agosti, also members of the first military junta, were convicted in a 1985 trial. Both are now deceased.
Image: AP
Stroessner led one of the longest dictatorships in South America in Paraguay. He was tried in absentia for crimes against humanity but was never convicted. He died in exile in Brazil.
Image: ANTONIO SCORZA/AFP/Getty Images
Former Guatemalan dictator José Efraín Ríos Montt has been sentenced to a total of 80 years in prison for genocide and crimes against humanity. However, on May 21, 2013, the Guatemalan Constitutional Court overturned the verdict and ordered a new trial. This is due to the massacres perpetrated against indigenous communities in the department of Quiché in the 1980s.
Image: dapd
Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet (left), who overthrew President Salvador Allende in 1973, left power in 1990. He was under house arrest and charged with human rights crimes, but died in December 2006 without conviction.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Former Bolivian dictator Luis García Meza ruled from 1980 to 1981. In 1993 he was sentenced to 30 years in prison. He is pictured returning to Bolivia after being extradited from Brazil in 1995.
PICTURED: GONZALO ESPINOZA/AFP/Getty Images
Former Uruguayan dictator Juan María Bordaberry was first elected president and later headed a dictatorial regime. In 2006 he was convicted of human rights violations and died in house arrest in 2011.
Image: dapd
Gregorio Álvarez took part in the 1973 coup and led the dictatorship between 1981 and 1985. He has been imprisoned since 2007 after being convicted of human rights abuses.
Credit: MIGUEL ROJO/AFP/Getty Images
Noriega led a dictatorship in Panama in the 1980s and was overthrown by a US military operation. He spent 20 years in prison in the US on charges of drug trafficking and then two years in France. From there he was extradited to Panama, where he is imprisoned for murdering opponents.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa