Brazil & Southern Cone

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• ARGENTINA: War crimes suspects face judge

  12 July 2010 Hits: 536

  Argentina's former dictator Jorge Rafael Videla is among seven former members of the military who will appear today before federal judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral. This is the first stage in the extradition process initiated by Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón, who wants them to face charges of crimes against humanity committed during the so-called 'dirty war' waged by the military government of 1976-1983.

  Today's meeting will involve little more than Canicoba Corral officially informing the men of the extradition requests against them and the charges they might face in Spain. Videla will be joined by former navy head Emilio Massera, former general Carlos Guillermo Suárez Mason, and former admiral Rubén Franco, as well as by military officials Jorge 'Tigre' Acosta, Héctor Febres, and Juan Orlando Rolón. 
  
  Garzón has requested the extradition of 44 men - 43 former members of the military and one civilian - and today's hearing is the last in the preliminary hearing process. The appearance of the seven men had been delayed by the fact that they were already serving sentences for kidnappings committed under military rule. All those appearing today, with the exception of Jorge Acosta, are under seventy years of age and as a result are currently under house arrest.

• CHILE: Former military figures sentenced

  12 July 2010 Hits: 262

  Three former members of the Chilean military have been given lengthy prison terms for crimes committed in the immediate aftermath of the September 1973 military coup.

  Specially appointed judge Alejandro Solí­s sentenced retired colonel Hugo Cardemil to 17 years and a day in jail, former military police colonel Pablo Caulier to 10 years and a day, and another military policeman, Luis Alberto, to seven years. All were convicted of the kidnapping and disappearance of some 20 opposition figures between September and November 1973, and were also found guilty on charges of abducting children.
  
  In April, Solí­s sentenced former general Manuel Contreras, who headed the secret police force during part of Pinochet's dictatorship, to 15 years and a day in prison for his role in the disappearance of a young dissident in 1975. Four agents also convicted of the crime received a similar sentence.
  
  

• BRAZIL: Media kingpin Roberto Marinho dies at 98

  12 July 2010 Hits: 552

  Roberto Marinho, who built Brazil's largest media empire, Organizaçíµes Globo, has died at the age of 98 while undergoing lung surgery. Marinho pioneered Brazil's media expansion, building television and radio networks which spanned the country in the 1960s. He amassed a personal fortune in excess of US$6bn.

  Marinho inherited `O Globo', now Brazil's third-largest national daily, from his father in 1925 at the age of 20. He worked as a journalist for several years before taking over the editorship of the paper in 1931. His national ambitions saw him build extensive radio networks in the following decades before breaking into the television industry in 1965. 
  
  Marinho rejected the tag 'the most influential man in Brazil' but, with TV Globo's 113 stations and affiliates reaching the vast majority of Brazilian homes, his ability to make and break politicians was unrivalled. He wielded this power with impunity, using Globo to pillory politicians he adjudged 'bad Brazilians' and to boost the credentials of those he saw as being 'patriots'.
  
  Politicians were well aware of his power. In 1985, when President-elect Tancredo Neves picked Marinho's close personal friend Antônio Carlos Magalhães as his minister of communications, he reputedly defended his choice on the grounds that 'I'll fight with the army minister, but not with Roberto Marinho.'