Jorge Rafael Videla
Jorge Rafael Videla
General Jorge Rafael Videla was an Argentine military dictator and the President of Argentina from 1976 to 1981 during the National Reorganization Process. His rule, which was during the time of Operation Condor, was among the most infamous in Latin America during the Cold War due to its high level of human rights abuses including abductions, torture, executions and systematic kidnapping of childr
"I possess a picture of [my] encounter [with Videla] that still makes me want to spew: there stands the killer and torturer and rape-profiteer, as if to illustrate some seminar on the banality of evil. Bony-thin and mediocre in appearance, with a scrubby moustache, he looks for all the world like a cretin impersonating a toothbrush."
"Videla will be remembered as the man who headed the cruelest dictatorship in Argentine history. Fortunately, the Argentine judicial system did its job and held him accountable, allowing victims of his atrocities to have access to justice."
"As many people as necessary must die in Argentina so that the country will again be secure."
"Lets say there were 7,000 or 8,000 people who had to die to win the war against subversion... We couldnt execute them by firing squad. Neither could we take them to court... For that reason, so as not to provoke protests inside and outside the country, the decision was reached that these people should be disappeared."
"There was no other alternative [to the disappearances]... [Military leaders] were in agreement that it was the price that must be paid to win the war against subversion and we needed that it not be obvious so society would not realize it. It was necessary to eliminate a large group of people who could not be brought to justice nor [openly] shot either."
"We consider it a great crime to work against the Western and Christian style of life: it is not just the bomber but the ideologist who is the danger."
"… yesterday’s enemies are in power and from there, they are trying to establish a Marxist regime."
"Videla presided over a government that engaged in one of the most cruel repressions that we have seen in Latin America in modern times... He was arrogant to the end and unwilling to acknowledge his responsibility for the massive atrocities committed in Argentina... Many of the secrets of the repression will die with him."
"The women giving birth, who I respect as mothers, were militants who were active in the machine of terror... Many used their unborn children as human shields."
"[I take] full military responsibility for the actions of the army in the war against terrorism."
"Videla … is a manifestation of state terrorism."
"I want to clarify that Argentine citizens are not victims of the repression. The repression is against a minority that we do not consider Argentine."
