Latin america News

Military Court of 2006 reveals that there were plans for the assassination of Tabaré Vázquez and a coup d’état


Tabaré Vázquez with Ángel Bertolotti.
Tabaré Vázquez with Ángel Bertolotti.

In July 2006 (during the first government of Tabaré Vázquez), the former Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Lieutenant General (r) Ángel Bertolotti, requested the formation of a Court of Honor, as a result of an incident with General (r) Ricardo Galarza who had denied him the greeting, in the framework of a public event, considering him “a traitor, a liar and a communist”, as it was learned some time later.

At that time, it was also handled that the Military Court was requested by Bertolotti to counter the statements of Colonel (r) Gilberto Vázquez, who had accused him of having proposed to the military accused of human rights violations in the dictatorship, an agreement to avoid eventual extradition to Argentina.

The Court of Honor was made up of former commanders: Fernán Amado, Juan Geymonat and Carlos Daners.

This Friday, September 9, the journalist Samuel Blixen published a report in Brecha in which he explains part of the content of the minutes of that Court of Military Honor.

Said Court proposed to sanction Bertolotti for “serious offense, but without prohibition of wearing the uniform”, for his actions in the process that led to the arrest of six repressors on whom an extradition request was pending from Argentina for their participation in the Plan Condor.

However, the then Minister of National Defense, Azucena Berrutti, decided not to approve the ruling, and questioned the intention of the three retired lieutenant generals to turn the Court of Honor into a platform for questioning the official human rights policy. .

As detailed by Blixen in his journalistic report, strong tensions emerge from the Court’s records within the internal military, with cross accusations referring to an attempted kidnapping of Major José Arab (considered to be the officer who knew the location of the burial of the remains of María Claudia García), contempt, insubordination, threats of a coup d’état and even alleged plans for the assassination of President Tabaré Vázquez, in relation to the change in the policy on the crimes of the dictatorship.

According to the minutes, based on a complaint from a former soldier, it was established that “attempts against the life of the President were being planned.” The former soldier affirmed that, in a farm in Canelón Grande, meetings were held, soldiers gathered and “they were going to attack the President, with a motorcycle loaded with explosives, and, in case it failed, they would have a plane with explosives.”

For his part, in the last hours, the Minister of National Defense, Javier García, sent the minutes to the prosecutor specializing in Crimes Against Humanity, Ricardo Perciballe.

Source link

Exit mobile version