Albano Harguindeguy

Albano Eduardo Harguindeguy
Albano Harguindeguy
Nickname(s)"Vasco"[1]
Born(1927-02-11)11 February 1927
Villa Valeria, Córdoba, Argentina
Died29 October 2012(2012-10-29) (aged 85)
Los Polvorines, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
Allegiance Argentina
Service/branch Argentine Army
Years of service1945–1981
Rank (pre-1991 epaulette) Divisional general
Commands heldI Armoured Cavalry Brigade
Known forCrimes against humanity
Battles/warsnone
Alma materColegio Militar de la Nación
Spouse(s)Juana Regina Villafañe
Children5
Signature

Albano Eduardo Harguindeguy (Spanish: [alˈβano aɾɣindeˈɣuj]; 11 February 1927 – 29 October 2012)[2] was an Argentine Army officer who reached the rank of divisional general. He headed the Argentine Ministry of the Interior during the military dictatorship that called itself the National Reorganization Process (Spanish: Proceso de Reorganización Nacional), which held sway in the country from 1976 to 1983. At the time of his death, he was being prosecuted for crimes against humanity. He was one of the Dirty War figures who received a pardon from President Carlos Menem in 1989.

Family[edit]

Harguindeguy was married to Juana Regina Villafañe, with whom he had five children: Patricia, Cecilia, Guillermo, Eduardo and Mariana.[3]

Career[edit]

After finishing at the General San Martín Military High School (Spanish: Liceo Militar General San Martín) – where Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri, Jorge Isaac Anaya and Raúl Alfonsín were among his fellow graduates – Harguindeguy entered the Colegio Militar de la Nación (National Military College) as a cadet on 1 February 1943. In late 1945, he left the College as a cavalry gun sub-lieutenant. In 1954, when he was a captain, he completed the course for a General Staff Officer at the Escuela Superior de Guerra (War College) and served as head of the Military College Cavalry Squadron. He was second in command of the Mounted Grenadiers Regiment (Spanish: Regimiento de Granaderos a Caballo) in 1958.[3]

In June 1972, after having reached the rank of divisional general, Harguindeguy was named acting commander of the I Armoured Cavalry Brigade, and two years later he was confirmed in that post as the titular commander. In August 1974, he was named Second Commander and Chief of the I Army Corps's General Staff.[3]

Harguindeguy was designated Chief of the Argentine Federal Police on 30 January 1975 by President María Estela Martínez de Perón[3] Less than 14 months later, he took part in overthrowing her. The new dictator, Jorge Rafael Videla, named him Minister of the Interior[4] After taking on the new post of Interior Minister, Harguindeguy left his post as Federal Police Chief, which was then taken over by then-Brigade General Cesáreo Cardozo on 31 March 1976.[5] Functioning within the Ministry's scope was the Federal Police, which ran the clandestine detention centres called El Club Atlético ("The Athletic Club"), the Garaje Azopardo and El Olimpo (in the Automotive Division), among others,[6] along with the Federal Security Superintendency.[7] Moreover, this police force had delegations in various cities throughout the country.[8]

Beginning on 6 November 1978, Harguindeguy was left in temporary charge of the Ministry of Planning after Carlos Laidlaw's resignation.[9] This same ministry would be dissolved and replaced with a secretariate on 14 December of the same year.[10]

When Jorge Rafael Videla was about to leave power, Harguindeguy aspired to become the de facto president. He was counting on the Argentine Navy's support in this. Nevertheless, the one who was chosen was Lieutenant General Roberto Eduardo Viola.[1]

Crimes against humanity[edit]

During Argentina's Dirty War, Harguindeguy is alleged to have participated in crimes against humanity and to have been influenced by torture methods developed by the French in the Algerian War, and by the training and indoctrination that he had received in this regard at the School of the Americas, then in the Panama Canal Zone, a United States territory.[11]

First judgement[edit]

During Raúl Alfonsín's presidency in the 1980s, Harguindeguy was judged for Decree 2840, in which executive power was brought to bear on two businessmen named Federico and Miguel Gutheim, who had been imprisoned until April 1977, an act later considered to be kidnapping as it sought to pressure the two into having their cotton company enter into an export deal with Hong Kong.[12][13]

Harguindeguy found himself charged in connection with this, and being held in pre-trial detention, as confirmed by federal authority; however, he later also found himself among those receiving pardons from President Carlos Menem in 1989, together with other military officers who had participated in the repression between 1976 and 1983.[12]

Second judgement[edit]

In 2006, another judge revoked Harguindeguy's pardon, along with Videla's and former Economic Minister José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz's. All three were kept in pre-trial custody in the form of house arrest. He was charged, and a sentence was expected by late 2012 or early the next year.

Once the said pardons had been quashed, having been declared unconstitutional,[14] Harguindeguy was once again tried for various crimes, among which were ordering the murder of the Movement of Priests for the Third World (which had led to, among other things, Bishop Enrique Angelelli's killing), illicit assocoation, being the one directly responsible for murdering Norma González, Sixto Zalasar, Julio Solaga and Oscar de Zorzi, through twenty-five illegal deprivations of liberty, torture and illegal raids in Concordia, Gualeguaychú and Concepción del Uruguay.[4] In 2004, Harguindeguy refused to testify before an investigating judge (juez de instrucción) about illegal detentions and murders arising from Operation Condor, and he was thus put under house arrest.[4][15][16]

Death[edit]

Harguindeguy died at his villa in Los Polvorines on 29 October 2012, at the age of 85, still under house arrest. At the time of his death, no sentence had yet been pronounced on him even after more than five years on trial for crimes against humanity.[17][18]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Yofre 2011, p. 203.
  2. ^ "Murió Albano Harguindeguy, uno de los "cerebros" de dictadura militar". laprensa.com.ar. La Prensa (Buenos Aires). 29 October 2012. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d "MURIÓ EL REPRESOR HARGUINDEGUY". Archived from the original on 10 January 2013. Retrieved 9 January 2013.
  4. ^ a b c Vales, Laura (30 October 2012). "El asesino que murió antes de que llegara su condena". periodistasenlared.info. Periodistas en la red. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  5. ^ "Anexo N° 1. — Autoridades del proceso de Reorganización Nacional". desaparecidos.org. Desaparecidos. Retrieved 27 May 2024. El siguiente es un listado de los militares y civiles que ocuparon cargos públicos en el denominado Proceso de Reorganización Nacional después del golpe de Estado del 24 de marzo de 1976. Se consignan los nombres, cargos y fechas de asunción de funciones durante el año 1976, así como los cambios de autoridades que tuvieron lugar en 1977.
  6. ^ "Anexo V. Listado de centros clandestinos de detención y otros lugares de reclusión ilegal del terrorismo de Estado en la Argentina entre 1974 y 1983" (PDF). Registro unificado de víctimas del terrorismo de Estado: 1591.
  7. ^ 692 responsables del terrorismo de Estado (PDF). 1986. p. 76.
  8. ^ 692 responsables del terrorismo de Estado (PDF). 1986. p. 77.
  9. ^ "Decreto 2656 — 1978 Poder Ejecutivo Nacional (P.E.N.)". argentina.gob.ar. Government of Argentina. 8 November 1978. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  10. ^ "Normativa Ley 21909/1978". argentina.gob.ar. Government of Argentina. 14 December 1978. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  11. ^ "Con Harguindeguy, se fue uno de los arquitectos del golpe y de la represión". Diario Clarín. 30 October 2012.
  12. ^ a b "Copia archivada". Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2013.
  13. ^ "La Justicia anuló los indultos a Martínez de Hoz y Harguindeguy". clarin.com. [[Clarín (Argentine newspaper)|]]. 3 September 2006. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  14. ^ "Argentine junta pardons revoked". BBC News. 6 September 2006. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
  15. ^ "Argentine junta member confined". BBC News. 13 July 2004. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
  16. ^ "La Justicia anuló los indultos a Martínez de Hoz y Harguindeguy" (in Spanish). Clarín. 4 September 2006.
  17. ^ "Murió el represor Albano Harguindeguy, mientras cumplía prisión domiciliaria". Télam. 29 October 2012. Archived from the original on 1 November 2012.
  18. ^ "Murió el represor Albano Harguindeguy". Archived from the original on 18 May 2014. Retrieved 18 May 2014.

Sources[edit]

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