Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 4, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press thursday june 7 focus Argentina now a torture chamber by Stephen Kynzer Boston Globe Boston the Argentine sol Diers came to interrogate Jacobo to Merman in jail the questions were simple. Are you a Are you a soon the inquisitors had what they wanted enough proof to convince them that Timerman was a key agent in an International jewish conspiracy to Poi son people s minds seize control of key institutions and place the world under israeli control. Surely Timerman was told last week in Boston the Argentine leaders cannot believe this. Surely this was Only their excuse to arrest and torture a Liberal newspaper editor. It is very dangerous to think that they Don t believe in what they Are doing very he replied quickly. They do believe it. They do mean what they Are in his Boston interview and in his powerful new Book prisoner without a name cell without a Jacobo Timerman is quite forthright about what he sees happening in Argen Tina a repetition of the nazi Holo Caust. Perversion repeated he has witnessed he in credible phenomenon of a civilized educated country in the late 70s repeating the same perversion of human nature As overcame Germany 40.years for most of his life Timerman lived a comfortable even opulent life in Buenos Aires a Lively and cosmopolitan City where his intelligence wit and sophistication were prize in Many circles. By the 1960s, Timerman had become Argentina s most prominent journalist. He founded the country s first news Magazine Primera Plana and be came a familiar figure on radio and television. In 1971, he launched a new venture the daily newspaper la Opin Ion which solidified his reputation As a critic and commentator. Never an ideologue he had friends i the military and in various political parties. While his journalism remained Independent he enjoyed the favor of people in Power and was careful not to alienate them with strident attacks. Some of his critics even thought of him As a cynic because he seemed ready to lend some support to whatever group was in Power. Military torturers after the military seized control of Argentina in 1976 sixth time it had done so in 50 years Savage plague of government repression descended on the country. Every Day citizens were kidnapped off the streets by Security men in civilian clothes thrown into the backs of cars and never heard from again. Stories of gruesome tortures in Clandestine prisons began to filter out very few people in Argentina especially those with Timerman s stature were willing to confront the possibility that their own government was systematically kidnapping and killing people without trials without charges and without even admitting that it held them in custody. La opinion car ried More reports than most other newspapers about the wave of Digap but never made a major Issue of them. Only a few months before he was arrested he was supporting the govern ment recalled Robert Cox who was at the time editor of the Buenos Aires Herald. He condemned the anti Argentina Campaign abroad and at one Point even offered to go to the United states to condemn but he never made the trip. Instead the unthinkable happened Timerman by any Standard a member of the Argentine elite himself fell victim to the government he had been defend ing. At Dawn one morning in 1977, some 20 civilians besieged my apart ment in Midtown Buenos he recalls in his new Book of memoirs. They said they were obeying orders from the 10th infantry brigade of the first army corps. The following Day my wife sought information at the first army corps and was informed that they knew nothing about my extremist anti semites within the Argentine army so powerful that the president cannot control them had decided to seize Timerman. The reason As he put it recently was that they thought i was one of the elders of much of his Book is an examination of Why jews Are often singled out for persecution by totalitarian regimes. In the months that followed timer Man suffered the tortures that have been administered to unknown thou Sands of argentines since 1976. He was beaten stunned with electric shocks deprived of human Contact and threatened with execution. For a year he was shuttled from one prison to another none of which conceded to exist by the authorities and for another 18 months he was held under House arrest world saved him but despite the dimensions of timer Man s suffering his Story had an end ing far different from that of most of his fellow inmates. After a worldwide Campaign on his behalf he was re leased from custody and allowed to leave the country. Unlike most of the persons captured by bands of government backed terrorists in Argentina Over the last five years he is today Able to Tell his Story. The Power of his presence has Al ready had a profound almost unprecedented Impact on the United states Congress. His Book had already been widely reviewed and excerpted by the time he arrived in Washington two weeks ago and he thus found himself with a unique platform from which to address lawmakers. Books often have a far greater Politi Cal effect than newspaper or Magazine articles Timerman observed recently. He cited Arthur Koestler s darkness newspaper editor Jacobo Timerman seen with his wife Rishe was tortured by soldiers. At noon and Alexander Solzhenitsyn s gulag archipelago As works that have aroused worldwide indignation. For this reason he said he chose to write a Book about his experience rather than take his Story to the mass Media. Timerman s visit to Washington could not have come at a More propitious time. The Reagan administration anxious to improve relations with Argentina has requested Congress to loosen restrictions on military Aid to the giant South american country and hearings were just beginning. At the same time Reagan s nomination of Trudeau hates to visit our soldiers in a world mesmerized by cynicism and wallowing in self indulgence a week spent visiting Canada s military outposts at Lahr and Baden Baden in Germany can be a tonic to the spirit. Trudeau no Militarist we do forget in the passing excite ments of the Day that we have the better part of our armed forces Over there bivouacked in the Black Forest a simple instance of out of sight out of mind. As would befit a peaceable nation such As Canada we Are not much abreast of National defence matters and we have for a considerable time placed the military Well Down in our National priorities. So our airmen Are flying a plane the 104 that is older than Many of its pilots and our armoured corps is driving a tank which apart from being highly incendiary is out ranged by its presumed adversary by something like a Quarter of a mile. In any sort of belligerent confrontation Canada s lighting forces would be ill equipped out gunned and obviously outnumbered. Among the roles assumed for Contin gency purposes is As the so called trip wire which is to say the deploy ment of Canadian forces in crisis conditions along the East West Border in order to be sure the enemy is serious. When the shooting starts we know it is serious. Given the Vintage condition of much of our military hardware you could As Well Call it a suicide role. Dalton Camp what we Lack in firepower and Quan Tity is not found lacking in the Quality of manpower. In professionalism resourcefulness and morale the Canadian complement in Europe is As Good As any in the nato Alliance if not the Best. This High Quality of personnel and its Elan Are the More remarkable Given the vast Public indifference to the Mili tary Here at Home and the attendant unconcern of the political masters. It is surely a tribute to the leadership of the Canadian forces that one hears so Little complaint indeed like horse play ers our military Folk seem eternal optimists. By 1984-85 they May have finally replaced the 104 s and the army might get a better tank from any one of several of its allies. The ground instal lations at Baden Baden May even have computers incredibly the most Modem piece of equipment i found there was a second generation Xerox. While the prime minister has shown a fitful interest in defence policy and some of it has been occasional visits to the troops have never been cheerful ones. He has not come to Lahr other than in the sulks and never stayed an hour longer than necessary generally conducting him self in a manner to suggest he feared he might meet someone who would hit him up for a personal loan. Canadians have Good cause to be proud of the people who represent them in Europe. It is passing strange that the prime minister an avid admirer of excellence has not deemed to recognize that Quality in the Canadian forces. Ironically there is no better and More Dutiful practitioner of his own Brand of federalism than the military who even now continue to Bear the Burden of bilingualism Federal style. Anyway it is heartening to see canadians in the service of their country working so cheerfully at their task and without regard to constraints and limitations and even though no one is much noticing. Canada wide feature service Ltd. Ernest Lefever As assistant Secretary of state for human rights was Progress ing through the Senate. But the figure of Timerman a respected journalist and victim of government torture in Argentina Sud Denly turned the situation in Washington upside Down. The House foreign affairs committee approved an amendment requiring that human rights be considered before weapons can be sent to Argentina a move few had predicted. At the same time the Lefever nomination encountered new resistance in the Senate. Before beginning to question Lefever sen. Charles Percy chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee announced to a packed hearing room that Timerman was in the audience. The scores of people present stood and applauded him. Later in a corridor outside he angrily denounced the Reagan Lefever View that human rights abroad Are Best pursued by quiet such a policy is nothing More than surren he declared. One of the leading human rights lobbyists in Washington Laurence Birns of the Council on. Hemispheric affairs was among those amazed by Timerman s Impact. Great Impact in the two weeks he was Here work ing on the Argentine question he has made a greater National Impact than All the human rights groups working on Argentina in the United states since Birns declared. He forced a Complete transformation of the perception of Argentina. The climate has gone from one of readiness to re admit Argentina to the list of acceptable nations to a re indictment of Argentina and a massive recollection of the holocaust that has happened there. His words were so eloquent and so penetrating that they moved legislators we thought were immovable. Many of us were afraid that the whole concern about human rights was being steamroll ered by the Reagan people but the Timerman visit has put it Back on the front in a Boston interview thursday to Merman asserted that commitment to human rights is the single most important advantage the United states has Over other nations. He condemned the horrible thing that the Reagan administration is doing in ceasing to draw attention to countries that torture and kill their citizens. You can change an approach to human he said. A new administration has some rights some privileges. So you can change the approach to human rights not the ideology itself. Since the time of the Marshall plan when the United states helped to rebuild democracy in West Ern Europe the United states has never had such prestige in the world As it has now in every kind of country. It is really a pity to lose essential aspect it is absolutely he added to believe that countries can be judged without reference to whether they Kidnap kill and torture their citizens. The Only Way the United states can help prisoners of conscience abroad is to draw attention to their plight he asserted. The distinction drawn by the Reagan administration Between authoritarian regimes worthy of support and totalitarian ones which the United states opposes draws bitter scorn from the White haired sex editor. In saying that in ambassador Jeane Kirkpa trick is using semantics the same Way Hitler used semantics. The totalitarian mind always uses semantics to cover up the american support for human rights he said must be outspoken so peo ple will know you really mean it so people will know it is not a in his Book he amplifies the same thought the International Community is Able to intervene via innumerable mechanisms in order to disseminate this information. Only Public knowledge can alter to some extent the course of these events the downward slope in the March of his far reaching results May follow decisions Ottawa decisions by the supreme court of Canada coming within a few months of each other will have a profound bearing on Canada s future its division of political Power relative regional wealth and its policing. At the moment All eyes Are focused on and the supreme court is preoccupied with the legality of prime minis Ter Trudeau s gambit to Patriate the Constitution add a charter of rights and an amending formula All Over the objections of eight provinces. That Case was heard in late april. A decision is expected in the next two weeks. The second Case that is haunting Ottawa concerns the right of the Feder Al government to tax resources owned by the people of a province. This Appeal stems from an unanimous decision by the Alberta court of Appeal that the Federal government cannot tax natural Gas owned by the province of Alberta and exported to the United states through province owned pipelines without crossing a provincial Boundary. Obviously the supreme court s Rul ing will have a major bearing on future Petroleum pricing and taxing negotiations Between the Federal government and producing provinces. is scheduled to be heard by Ottawa diary Peter Thomson the supreme court on june 18. There is no estimate As to when a decision might be rendered. But the Case is generally regarded As being less Complex than the constitutional one. The third Case is of a different nature. It involves the question of whether a provincial attorney general can con duct investigations into the conduct of the ramp pertaining to provincial policing activities of the ramp. The supreme court has ruled that the provinces a not have that authority. That Means in effect that the eight provinces which rely on the ramp for provincial policing have less control Over their police forces than do Ontario and Quebec the two provinces that have their own provincial police forces. It is a state of affairs that some provinces notably Alberta which launched the Appeal to the supreme court Are not Likely to accept indefinitely. Notwithstanding the popularity of the ramp i provinces where they have provided police services for decades look for More provinces to form their own provincial police organizations. The trend could be hastened by Ottawa s insistence on recovering from the provinces the full Cost of ramp services. D d d opposition Leader Joe Clark and Maureen Mcteer held a Garden party for members of the parliamentary press gallery last week week after a similar reception by prime minister Trudeau. While we would not suggest there was any form of divine intervention one could not help noting that the Sun shone brightly on 24 Sussex for Trudeau s gathering whereas it rained much of the Day and was still Cloudy and threatening at Clark s party at Stornoway. Some journalists claim Clark s Bash was better than Trudeau s inasmuch As the bar at Clark s remained open 30 minutes after the advertised time but at Trudeau s it did not. Your correspondent cannot verify this. On both evenings he had to leave Early for a Date with a Little league Ball team. It seemed More important to pass on some of the teachings of Stan Shaley . Nick Pliszka Portage me curies and Bill Oakes Miami than to pass judgment on the respective bar closings of two genial hosts. Odd the widely leaked word around Ottawa is that the Trudeau government has not Given up on using the Canada development corporation cd As a tool of government despite the cd Board of directors having won a Skir Mish in Winnipeg two weeks ago. It might be significant that Trudeau twice last week referred to the Federal government As majority shareholder in the cd. The fact is according to a cd prospectus of last fall that the government now owns just 48.7 per cent of cd shares. There is a difference Between being majority shareholder and the largest shareholder which Trudeau does not acknowledge. Odd whether he is aware of it or not the prime minister scored a devastating political Point last week when in the midst of questions about the uranium Cartel he suggested Sinclair Stevens Check a Point with his Friend Steve roman. Roman the major shareholder of roman corp. Which in turn controls Denison Canada s largest uranium producer does not have a High regard for Stevens As maybe Trudeau knows. The differences Between Stevens and roman reportedly relate to some Campaign contributions i years past. Odd ontarian have been dealt a double blow i recent weeks. First there was the provincial budget with higher taxes on incomes gasoline cigarettes and liquor As Well As higher medical care premiums. Then to rub Salt in the wounds it was revealed that ontarian pay higher taxes than people in any other province except Quebec and Newfoundland. Of How the mighty Are falling. Doonesbury married getting c Bethk. Maps the big move of hakka. . Reau Zhemus ;