SEGUNDA PARTE

Italy Follows Trail of Secret South American Abductions
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return encodeURIComponent('Italian authorities are seeking to prosecute former top officials in seven South American countries for their roles in a secret operation in the 1970s and 1980s that aimed to crush left-wing political dissent.');
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return encodeURIComponent('Torture,Kidnapping,Freedom and Human Rights,Italy,South America,Peru,Argentina,Bolivia,Brazil,Chile,Paraguay,Uruguay,Operation Condor');
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Published: February 22, 2008
(Page 2 of 2)
In a phone interview, Mr. Castro, now 91, said he recalled “being concerned” about the Montoneros operation. But, he said, “I don’t recall what action, if any, we took at the time.”
The level of Peru’s involvement in Operation Condor was debated heavily in American intelligence circles, he said. “We couldn’t agree, the Foreign Service and Washington and the intelligence services, if Peru was involved,” Mr. Castro said. “I thought they were very much involved. It seemed very clear after those Montoneros were taken to Bolivia.”
Mr. Blystone, also reached by phone, said American officials should have lobbied harder for the prisoners’ release. “I got all that information and I passed it on, and we could have done something,” he said. “But we dropped the ball, let’s face it.”
A month later, the scandal still had not died down when Mr. Castro met with the Argentine Army commander, Lt. Gen. Leopoldo Galtieri. Mr. Castro prodded him so much about the Montoneros that General Galtieri waved his hand and said, “Enough is enough,” according to Mr. Castro’s report to Washington.
Despite the publicity, the Argentine security agents went ahead with their plans, which apparently included taking Mrs. Molfino to Spain. On July 21, 1980, she was found dead in a Madrid apartment. The three other Montoneros were never found.
Peru is already reeling from the continuing human rights trial of Alberto K. Fujimori, who was president for a decade until 2000, and officials there have been quick to defend those accused in the Italian case.
President Alan García viewed the arrest warrants as an affront to Peru’s sovereignty. He described Judge Figliolia’s move as an attempt to depict Peru as a “little banana republic” and offered his support to General Morales Bermudez.
The Italian investigation deals not only with individual cases involving Italian citizens but also with the broader responsibility for Condor’s cross-border kidnapping and torture operations, according to two people in Italy involved in the case.
Italy claims jurisdiction because it believes crimes occurred against its citizens. But only one of the accused, a retired Uruguayan Navy officer, was taken into custody in Italy, and he was later released for what a magistrate cited as a lack of evidence. It seems unlikely that the South American countries will go through with extraditions.
Remigio Morales-Bermudez Pedraglio, a son of General Morales Bermudez, the former dictator, said in an interview that the case was “a disgrace.” He said his father would agree to be extradited to Italy only if Peru’s Supreme Court found merit in the Italian charges. Under Italian law, he can be tried in absentia, however.
General Morales Bermudez, now 88, took power in 1975 in a coup but is still admired by many Peruvians for allowing presidential elections in 1980.
In an interview with the Peruvian journalist, Mr. Uceda, in 2000 he acknowledged that he had given the order to capture the Montoneros, following the advice of Mr. Richter, his military commander. “We couldn’t give ourselves the luxury of having subversives on the loose in the country during the transition of power,” he said.
In statements to the Peruvian media, General Morales Bermudez rejected the assertion that Peru was part of Operation Condor, but said he was prepared to clarify the events in question.
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Simon Romero contributed reporting from Caracas, Venezuela, and Andrea Zarate from Lima, Peru.