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mage Source: Wikimedia Commons
BY NICHOLE CARTMELL
ANCHOR LAUREN GORES
The theft of babies — a common approach used by military rulers in Argentina during
the seventies and eighties. And now military rulers are being charged for these criminal
actions. Here’s Al Jazeera with details.
“Jorge Videla has been sentenced to 50 years in jail over the stealing of babies from political
prisoners. The systematic campaign was just one of the tactics used to undermine the regime's
opponents during the so-called ‘dirty war’.”
A blogger for The New York Times says around 500 babies born in jail were taken by the
military. He describes the crimes as, quote, “nightmarish.”
“It involved taking babies born to the regime’s opponents and handing them over to be raised
by suitable military families after killing their mothers. Many of those ‘adopted’
only discovered their real origins decades later.”
Videla, another former dictator and nine other defendants are being convicted for their role
in the disappearances of the infants. MSNBC explains their justification for the systematic
program.
“The baby thefts set Argentina's 1976-1983 regime apart from all the other juntas that
ruled in Latin America at the time. Videla other military and police officials were determined
to remove any trace of the armed leftist guerrilla movement they said threatened the country's
future.”
The BBC reports the trial is the result of years of campaigning by the human rights organization
Grandmothers of the Plazo De Mayo. One of the advocates told the network...
“I think it’s healing for society to know that they are being tried and sentenced and
will continue to be tried and sentenced until the last crime that can be attributed to them.”
MSNBC says this is not the first time Videla and the other defendants have been convicted
for human rights abuses. Currently, many are facing life sentences for other crimes.