Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07MADRID15
2007-01-04 15:52:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Madrid
Cable title:
SPANISH GOVERNMENT ARRESTS ARGENTINE ACCUSED DEATH
how-toVZCZCXRO9020 PP RUEHLA DE RUEHMD #0015 0041552 ZNR UUUUU ZZH P 041552Z JAN 07 FM AMEMBASSY MADRID TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1546 INFO RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES PRIORITY 0304 RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA 2329
UNCLAS MADRID 000015
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL SP AR
SUBJECT: SPANISH GOVERNMENT ARRESTS ARGENTINE ACCUSED DEATH
SQUAD LEADER AFTER 22 YEARS
UNCLAS MADRID 000015
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL SP AR
SUBJECT: SPANISH GOVERNMENT ARRESTS ARGENTINE ACCUSED DEATH
SQUAD LEADER AFTER 22 YEARS
1. (U) Spanish police arrested Rodolfo Eduardo Almiron Sena
on December 28 after an Argentine judge issued an
international warrant accusing Almiron of murder and crimes
against humanity that have no statute of limitations.
Almiron has been wanted since 1984, accused by Argentine
courts of murders committed in the 1970s when Almiron was a
police commissioner who led the Argentine Triple A right-wing
death squads under the direction of President Isabel Peron's
Interior Minister Jose Lopez Rega. Press reports say that
Almiron has lived in Spain since 1975 and worked in the early
1980s as a bodyguard to Manuel Fraga, a conservative
politician who was a minister under the Franco regime and a
leader during Spain's transition to democracy. The Spanish
National Court will process Almiron for extradition to
Argentina.
2. (U) According to Spanish independent daily El Mundo, an
earlier warrant was delivered to Spain in 1984 during the
government of Felipe Gonzalez, but the Spanish government
never arrested him because a typographical error substituted
the name Luis for Rodolfo. El Mundo, whose "re-discovery" of
Almiron in December 2006 enabled the Argentine judge to order
his arrest, alleges that the Spanish government protected
Almiron because he had worked with not only Fraga but also
the governing Socialist Party's security forces.
LLORENS
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL SP AR
SUBJECT: SPANISH GOVERNMENT ARRESTS ARGENTINE ACCUSED DEATH
SQUAD LEADER AFTER 22 YEARS
1. (U) Spanish police arrested Rodolfo Eduardo Almiron Sena
on December 28 after an Argentine judge issued an
international warrant accusing Almiron of murder and crimes
against humanity that have no statute of limitations.
Almiron has been wanted since 1984, accused by Argentine
courts of murders committed in the 1970s when Almiron was a
police commissioner who led the Argentine Triple A right-wing
death squads under the direction of President Isabel Peron's
Interior Minister Jose Lopez Rega. Press reports say that
Almiron has lived in Spain since 1975 and worked in the early
1980s as a bodyguard to Manuel Fraga, a conservative
politician who was a minister under the Franco regime and a
leader during Spain's transition to democracy. The Spanish
National Court will process Almiron for extradition to
Argentina.
2. (U) According to Spanish independent daily El Mundo, an
earlier warrant was delivered to Spain in 1984 during the
government of Felipe Gonzalez, but the Spanish government
never arrested him because a typographical error substituted
the name Luis for Rodolfo. El Mundo, whose "re-discovery" of
Almiron in December 2006 enabled the Argentine judge to order
his arrest, alleges that the Spanish government protected
Almiron because he had worked with not only Fraga but also
the governing Socialist Party's security forces.
LLORENS