| versión para imprimir - envía este articulo por e-mail |
Shots fired at home of Argentine rights activist
Por Reuters -
Saturday, Sep. 21, 2002 at 12:44 AM
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, Sept 20 - Gunmen fired shots at the home of one of Argentina's most prominent human rights activists on Friday, two days after she formally pressed courts to investigate alleged police repression
Estela Carlotto said the early morning shooting shattered her front door window but injured no one. Carlotto is head of the white-scarved Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, who have campaigned to know the fates of thousands of their grandchildren from Argentina's 1976-83 dictatorship.
Police and judicial officials did not comment on the case. Local television showed a shattered entrance door and several bullet holes in the walls of Carlotto's house.
"This is a direct reply to the report we filed with the (provincial) Supreme Court a few days ago," said the 72-year-old Carlotto, adding it was the most brutal attack against her in 25 years of rights advocacy.
Her report drew parallels between alleged repression by the Buenos Aires provincial police today and methods used by security forces during Argentina's last dictatorship, when up to 30,000 leftist opponents were kidnapped and murdered.
Several cases of police rights abuses this year have made headlines in Argentina as the country suffers a spiraling crime wave amid its worst economic crisis.
In August, dozens of Argentines, blaming provincial police for the kidnap and murder of a local resident, set alight a neighborhood police station on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, sparking one of the worst riots in the country this year.
"This is not the first time there has been an attack against a human rights advocate in Argentina," said Sergio Sorin, Amnesty International's Argentina spokesman.
"But there will be no effective intimidation against anyone who is seeking the truth as long as they count on support from millions of human rights advocates around the world," he said.