CONFIDENTIAL
 
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- Christopher Roper is a Marxist businessman.
 
- There is no way to confirm whether crematories exist
in Cordoba. It is the kind of horror story that has a
certain pornographic quality that people pass around
as the truth.
 
- Perhaps the most dangerous of the hard-line generals
is Suarez Mason. (On the other hand, Neustadt spoke
well of Suarez; perhaps because they are neighbors.)
 
- The American Embassy has performed well on the human
rights issue.
 
Our session with the Permanent Assembly was undoubtedly
the most passionate exposition of the human rights
picture which we experienced. Ninety-year-old plus
Alicia Moreau de Justo spoke with great dignity,-
lucidity and, indeed, fire. She characterized the human
rights situation as barbaric. She described an incident
which took place on March 16. Armed men invaded a home
at night where an elderly grandmother, a mother and
young daughter lived. Two young men were visiting at
the time. These thugs broke into the house, ransacked
it, stealing at will, and took everyone with them except
the older woman. The prisoners were blindfolded. At an
unknown place of detention, the mother was beaten with
rubber truncheons. She could hear her daughter's screams
in a nearby room. Finally, the mother was released at an
unknown spot (she had been blindfolded throughout her
ordeal) and she made her way home. To this day, she is
desperately trying to locate her daughter, who, to her
knowledge, is guilty of no subversive activity.
 
Labor leader Bravo then told the story of a family that
with much trouble was able to recover the body of a
daughter who died in prison in Cordoba. An autopsy
later revealed that two live rats had been sewn into
the girl's vagina and had torn her body apart as they
tried to get out.
 
Mr. Pimentel discussed the problem of habeas corpus
petitions and the intimidation of the press in connec-
tion with the publication of the writs. The La Opinion
reporter who covered the courts was kidnapped; other
papers simply ignore the subject. Pimentel described
 
CONFIDENTIAL