Martina Jaureguy A group of 19 dictatorship criminals who were being held in the elderly wing of the Ezeiza prison were transferred on Friday to a jail located inside the Campo de Mayo military compound.
Human rights organization H.I.J.O.S. questioned the move on the grounds that the convicts will now be under “privileged” conditions compared to common prisoners.
The Security Ministry has not replied to a request for comment from the Herald about why the convicts were transferred. In late April, the ministry also declined to comment on the matter.
The decision was made by the judiciary in response to a request filed by Gabriel Aquino, director general of the Penitentiary Service’s Correctional Regimen — which falls under the purview of the Security Ministry — in late April.
H.I.J.O.S. pointed out that this is 10 months after a meeting in which 10 of the convicts met with a group of ruling party La Libertad Avanza (LLA) deputies. This has been highly questioned amongst human rights organizations and opposition parties, and caused major political turmoil last year in 2024.
The press release published Saturday by H.I.J.O.S. said that the Penitentiary Service had requested the transfer on the grounds that the service needs to “make room” for female inmates.
“Moving repressors to Campo de Mayo is not a solution to jail overpopulation,” said the organization, which groups children of dictatorship victims. “As relatives, survivors, and plaintiffs, we reject that the repressors can comply with their conviction in the Campo de Mayo privilege prison,” which they called a “VIP jail.”
Among the 19 dictatorship criminals are four convicted for crimes against humanity committed at the “Club Atlético”, “El Banco” and “El Olimpo” clandestine detention centers, as well as 15 others who operated in the ex-ESMA.
One prominent name from the group is Alfredo Astiz, known as “the Angel of Death,” and one of the most feared torturers of Argentina’s last military dictatorship. Astiz is among the convicts that were visited by LLA deputies last year. It emerged that the lawmakers and other actors were in talks to file bills to release dictatorship criminals into house arrest or even free them.
News about the move also made it to the military circles. According to a message shared on WhatsApp by retired Vice Admiral Jorge Manzor, the move was carried out on Friday afternoon.
“Our comrades deprived from their freedom in the Ezeiza Prison were transferred, along with all their belongings, to the Campo de Mayo prison, where they were accommodated individually in their assigned rooms,” he wrote.
“Traditionally, retired military men who are in liberty have taken it upon themselves to cover the necessities of those who are deprived of their freedom,” said Fernando Morales, president of the Navy League, a civil association for members of the navy and other maritime-related sectors. “Family and friends of a prisoner can send them a fridge, a microwave or anything else for their comfort, beyond the crimes they may have committed.”
“Conceptually, for those who are in liberty, a comrade who is deprived of their freedom is still a comrade, they don’t lose their comradery ties,” Morales told the Herald.
The Campo de Mayo military compound, in Buenos Aires province, is mainly used for military training. Four clandestine detention centers operated there during the 1976-1983 dictatorship. The 34th unit of Campo de Mayo was a military jail before being turned into a federal jail in 2008 and currently hosts dozens of former military men convicted for crimes against humanity.
Prosecutor Félix Crous, who has worked on several crimes against humanity cases, told AM 750 radio station in late April that convicts held in the Campo de Mayo prison and the Ezeiza 31st prison wing “are in far better conditions than the average inmate” and that moving the 19 dictatorship criminals to the 34th unit of Campo de Mayo “would improve detention conditions that are already good.”
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