Reply #3: Uruguayan ex-dictator arrested

[L. Coyote]

Uruguayan ex-dictator arrested
Reuters - Dec 17, 2007 - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/17/AR2007121701219.html


MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) - A former Uruguayan dictator was arrested on Monday and charged with secretly transferring political prisoners who later disappeared and are presumed dead, a prosecutor said.

Gregorio Alvarez, a former army general, led Uruguay from 1981 until 1985, when the country returned to democracy after 12 years of military rule.

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Uruguay's military dictatorship has faced renewed scrutiny under President Tabare Vazquez, who took office in March 2005 as the country's first leftist leader.

He has led an unprecedented government effort to determine the fate of the victims of the military's campaign to stamp out the Tupamaro guerrilla movement and other suspected dissidents.

Human rights investigators also have been emboldened by a Vazquez decision excluding several prominent cases involving alleged rights abuses beyond Uruguay's borders from amnesty laws.

In November 2006, former President Juan Bordaberry, the first military leader under the dictatorship, and one of his top aides were arrested pending a trial for their role in four 1976 murders of political opponents in Buenos Aires.