The revelation of Page 12 about what a member of the intelligence services infiltrated the Madres de Plaza de Mayo during the dictatorship caused a stir among victims and human rights organizations. The Security Minister Anibal Fernandez told this newspaper that he will personally investigate what role fit the member of the Information Corps of the Argentine Federal Police (PFA) and in the Secretary of Human Rights of the Nation (SDH) they announced that They will ask that the courts advance in elucidating their responsibility in the years of State terrorism.
In the PFA Information Corps, the agent was known as “Elizabeth”. In her file it is stated that she was infiltrated in what the force called “Mothers of Terrorists”. In December 1982, one of her bosses recommended her transfer to Mar del Plata, among other reasons, because a repressor arrested in Europe had mentioned her as one of the infiltrators in the group of the church of the Holy Cross. In that December 1977 operation, they were kidnapped three of the founders of Mothers of Plaza de Mayo and the French nuns Alice Domon and Leonie Duquet.
Mabel Careaga She’s daughter of Esther Ballestrino de Careaga, one of the Mothers kidnapped on December 8, 1977. The news of Isabelita’s infiltration affected her deeply. “The repression was so tremendous that, despite all the years and all the investigations, there are things we still don’t know. Among them, everything that the dictatorship was capable of and these infiltrations – which we often see in the present when espionage is used with the relatives of the ARA San Juan”, dice Mabel. Ana Whitedaughter of Mary Ponce de Bianco, agrees that there is still much to know and stresses that the connection with the death squads of the French school should be unraveled.
Graciela Lois, A member of Relatives of the Disappeared and Detained for Political Reasons, he used to frequent the Church of the Holy Cross. “It is essential to know this so that they do not believe that our stories have been linear. They always leaked people to try to break up our organizations or because they needed to know what we were doing. I’m not surprised. The important thing is that we survived these attacks, that’s why we want all these episodes to be known”, he says.
“This woman must be judged and it is necessary that all the files be opened to find out”complains Osvaldo Barros, survivor of the School of Mechanics of the Navy (ESMA) and referent of the Association of Former Disappeared Detainees (AEDD). The opening of the files was also claimed by Paula Litvachky, executive director of the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS).
From his file it appears that Isabelita continued to carry out tasks in mobilizations of human rights organizations during the democracy and that later occupied an important place in the Information School of the PFA. He recently retired during the government of Néstor Kirchner. “It has a great impact because they continued to act during constitutional governments and continued to infiltrate social protest and human rights organizations. It is a case that does not speak of the past”, dice Myriam Bregmanplaintiff lawyer and deputy of the Front of the Left and of Workers – Unity (FITU) that He demanded the dissolution of the Information Corps that included famous spies such as “Isabelita”, “Iosi” or Américo Balbuena.
“This case is clear demonstration that in the first years of democracy these groups continued to operate”, highlights Matthias Moreno, Buenos Aires Undersecretary for Human Rights. “It also highlights the greatness and courage of the Motherswho claimed for their children and meanwhile were infiltrated and how necessary the policies of memory, truth and justice are to clarify these facts, “he points out.
Lawyer Rodolfo Yanzon Maintains that records should be investigated of Isabelita and other members of the Information Corps of the PFA and their eventual participation in crimes against humanity. “It is clear that the fact of having belonged to that structure makes it an abominable piece. Now, with regard to the criminal matter, to the participation or authorship in a crime, the key question is what degree of incidence could any of their acts have had in the crimes committed, ”he explains.
Isabelita’s possible participation in crimes during the dictatorship was denounced in 2013 by the then Minister of Security Nilda Garré after the discovery of Special Documentary Survey Group (GERD)which would be disarmed during the macrismo and whose restoration the organizations demand. Garré linked his participation to the kidnappings of the Santa Cruz, which were investigated and sanctioned within the framework of the ESMA mega-cause. However, Judge Sergio Torres ordered the partial filing of the proceedings because he could not prove that he had participated in those kidnappings.
The exTruth and Justice Programwhich depends on the SDH, analyzed dozens of files of members of the Information Corps. Among them was Isabelita’s. The experts understood that there were elements to charge its members. This Wednesday, lawyers from the office led by Horacio Pietragalla Corti They will request the dismissal of the complaint to the federal judge Ariel Lijo –currently in charge of the ESMA mega-cause–. In addition, they will ask their colleague Daniel Rafecas to analyze the eventual responsibility of Isabelita in the Federal Coordination case.