ARKIV, DEMOKRATI OG RETTFERD - Norsk kulturråd

The impact of
archives on contemporary
justice in
Latin America during
the era of military
dictatorships
provides insights and
parallels to other
global events.
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for many of the military officers
who had enjoyed years of
court-protected immunity.» The
value of the Condor documents
discovered in Paraguay was that
amnesties granted to human
rights violators during democratizing
transitions in Latin America
covered only those violations
that occurred within the perpetrators’
national borders. Hence
the cross-border operations of
Condor opened up a window
for prosecution for crimes
committed in other countries.
The Condor countries were
aggressively systematic in erasing
evidence of their activities.
According to testimony given
to a US Congressional committee
by a former Argentine army
intelligence officer, days after
the formal transition between
military rule and democratization,
an Argentine military
plane containing secret documents
was transported to a bank
vault in Switzerland. At roughly
the same time, author Martin
Edwin Andersen, reported being
shown orders from the Argentina’s
military high command
that directed that, in Andersen’s
words, «all evidence the secret
repression be destroyed.»
Fortunately though, Condor
partner countries often failed
to exercise similar discipline,
including extensive intelligence,
military, and diplomatic records
in the United States, thousands
of which have recently become
available for the first time.
(Dinges, pp. 230-231 and 246-
247; Andersen, p. 328.)
As with the issue of historical
justice, there remain outstand-
arkiv, demokrati og rettferd