On May 4 Argentine authorities arrested José ("Joe") Alfredo Martínez de Hoz, the dictatorship's economy minister from 1976 to 1981, in connection with the kidnapping of Federico Gutheim and his son Miguel Gutheim. The Gutheims were allegedly held captive for five months until they agreed to give up control of their cotton export company to a firm approved by the economy ministry. Martínez de Hoz, who is 84, is being held in a private clinic due to poor health, but an attorney, Rodolfo Yanzón, has filed a complaint charging that Martínez de Hoz is following what Yanzón called the "great Pinochet" strategy. Gen. August Pinochet, Chile's dictator from 1973 to 1990, avoided trial in his later years by claiming serious health problems. (Associated Press, May 6; Clarín, Argentina, May 6, May 8)

From Weekly News Update on the Americas, May 9.

Argentine authorities on May 10 arrested former secret service agent Miguel Angel Furci on charges of human rights abuses committed during the nation's 1976-83 "Dirty War." Furci, a former agent of the Secretariat of State Intelligence (SIDE), was charged with 70 kidnappings and the torture of detainees at a secret Buenos Aires facility known as Automotores Orletti. The detentions were part of "Operation Condor," a campaign by the Southern Cone dictatorships to round up left-wing dissidents. At a hearing, Furci admitted to serving in the SIDE and acknowledged the existence of the secret prison. Furci has already served a seven-year sentence for a 1976 kidnapping. His trial is scheduled to start on June 3. (Jurist, May 11)

An Argentine federal court on June 3 commenced trial proceedings for five ex-military officials allegedly responsible for the death of 65 left-wing activists during the nation's 1976-83 "Dirty War." The former dictators are charged with the illegal detention, torture, and murder of detainees at a secret Buenos Aires facility known as Automotores Orletti. The detentions were part of "Operation Condor," a campaign by the governments of Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Uruguay, and Paraguay to round up left-wing dissidents. The defendants allegedly used Orletti, a former auto-body shop, as a front for a tactical operations center to extract information from activists during Operation Condor. The men include two former intelligence officers, Honorio Martinez Ruiz and Eduardo Ruffo, former general Eduardo Cabanillas, former colonel Ruben Visuara, and former military intelligence agent Raul Guglielminetti. A sixth man, Vice Commander Nestor Guillamondegui is also also facing charges for the atrocities at Orletti, but his trial has been delayed due to health reasons. (Jurist, June 4)

An Argentine court on July 2 commenced the trial of former dictator Jorge Rafael Videla, who is facing several human rights violations charges for his role in the nation's "Dirty War." Videla was tried and convicted in 1985 along with eight other junta leaders on abduction, torture and murder charges, but was pardoned in 1990 by former president Carlos Menem. In 2006, a federal judge ruled that the presidential pardon was unconstitutional, allowing criminal charges to be brought against the former dictator. Videla, who is now 84, is also facing charges in Italy, Spain, France and Germany involving the deaths of their citizens during the Dirty War.

Videla was charged with an additional 49 counts of murder, kidnapping and torture in May after the identification of 40 bodies in Buenos Aires last year. Videla has been in prison since 2008 while an investigation is underway for his role in the abduction of children born to political prisoners and forced disappearance victims during Argentina's Dirty War. A court revoked the house arrest conditions he had been granted in 1998 when the investigation began. Despite his age, Videla is now being held in a common cell in Cordoba. During the period Videla was head of the military junta, an estimated 90,000 civilians were killed or disappeared. (Jurist, July 2)

Former Argentine military ruler Jorge Videla was sentenced to life in prison for crimes against humanity on Dec. 22. A court in the central Argentine city of Córdoba found Gen. Videla, 85, guilty of murdering dissidents during the country's period of military rule between 1976 and 1983. (BBC News, Dec. 22)