Law: Habeas Corpses

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"Disappearing"in Argentina

The body of Guillermo Diaz Lestrem turned up like a ghastly flower in Buenos Aires' elegant Palermo Park late last fall. The cause of death was heart failure and fluid in the lungs; the corpse had bruises on the face and neck. Shortly before he vanished, Lestrem, a defense lawyer and former judge, had prepared a writ of habeas corpus-on his own behalf. He had discovered that unknown men were looking for him and feared that he would become yet another of Argentina's "desaparecidos."

To "disappear" in Argentina means to be taken away by men in mufti who claim to be members of the country's security forces. When the desaparecido's family applies for habeas corpus, the government often claims to know nothing, if it replies at all. With luck, the missing person reappears in jail. The death of Lestrem, who according to human rights reports had been arrested in 1976, tortured and then released by Argentina's military junta, is a mystery. He could have been killed by the military, surmised a Buenos Aires defense lawyer. Or by leftist guerrillas because he had told too much during his first captivity. "Here, you see," the lawyer explained, "if people disappear, their bodies never usually reappear in an identifiable way." Whoever killed him, Lestrem is a victim of what Argentina's military leaders have called "the dirty war" between the government and guerrillas, who by 1976 had reduced the country to virtual anarchy.

Due process was another victim of Argentina's dirty war. For political prisoners, the problem is usually not getting a fair trial but getting any trial at all. At least 4,500 Argentines have disappeared since the military took over three years ago, and an additional 2,000 have been admittedly held without formal charges by the government. Even trying to persuade the government to produce a desaparecido for trial can be dangerous. According to one lawyer, the police keep a list of lawyers who seek to get their clients out on habeas corpus, and if a name appears more than once or twice, it is sent to the government's security forces. The harsh results have prompted human rights activists to begin keeping lists of their own: a fortnight ago, a visiting delegation of prominent New York lawyers handed the government the names of 99 detained lawyers and 92 others who have simply vanished. Says one Western diplomat: "The right to counsel barely exists in Argentina. Most people are advised that having a lawyer is counterproductive."