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Horacio Verbitsky

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Horacio Verbitsky
Horacio Verbitsky, Argentinian journalist
Born (1942-02-11) February 11, 1942 (age 82)
Buenos Aires,  Argentina
Other names"The Dog,"
Occupationjournalist
Notable creditPágina/12
FamilyBernardo Verbitsky

Horacio Verbitsky (born 1942) is an investigative journalist and author of Argentina, president of the human rights NGO CELS (Center for Legal and Social Studies) and since 1999 a member of the board of directors of the Latin American division of the NGO Human Rights Watch/Américas.

Besides his extensive list of published works, Verbitsky writes online at El Cohete a la Luna (http://www.elcohetealaluna.com/) , and previously for a long period for Argentine newspaper Página/12

Journalism
“Journalism is to spread what someone does not want you to know; the rest is propaganda. Its task is to point to what is hidden, to give testimony”
 Horacio Verbitsky.

In the early 1990s, he reported on a series corruption scandals in the administration of President Carlos Menem, which eventually led to the resignations or firings of many of Menem's ministers. In 1994, he reported on the confessions of naval officer Adolfo Scilingo, documenting torture and executions by the Argentine military during the 1976–83 Dirty War. His books on both the Menem administration and the Scilingo confessions became national bestsellers. As of January 2015 Verbitsky is a Commissioner for the International Commission against the Death Penalty.

Early life

Verbitsky was born in Buenos Aires in 1942 and he is the son of the also Argentinean journalist and writer Bernardo Verbitsky. Since 1960, he has earned national acclaim for his writings and political columns, focusing primarily in the unmasking of political corruption and the promotion of a free press, denouncing any government policies that may affect the constitutional rights of free speech to journalists and citizens. He has also become known under the nickname "el Perro" ("the dog"), for his determination in uncovering stories.

During a period in the 1970s he was member of Montoneros, a peronist guerrilla. According to him, he participated in shootings, during which "luckily" nobody died. He also stated that he had no important functions in the Montoneros organization, although former Montoneros Juan Zverko, Rodolfo Galimberti (also former member of nazi organization Tacuara) and Carlos Patané claimed otherwise.

Along with Mario Firmenich and five other former Montoneros, he was indicted for allegedly being involved in the planning and execution of the bombing of the Superintendence of Security of the Federal Police, on July 2, 1976 — a few months after the military coup, posteriorly this accusations where dismissed and the case was closed in 2007 because of statute of limitations.

"Swiftgate," "Milkgate"

In 1991, Verbitsky came to national attention when he reported in Página/12 that US Ambassador Terence Todman had complained to the Argentine government that Emir Yoma, a brother-in-law and advisor of president Carlos Menem, had asked for a bribe from the US corporation Swift Armour meatpacking. The story soon became a national scandal known as "Swiftgate". Menem in turn accused Verbitsky of being a "criminal journalist" and Página/12 of being financed by narcotrafficking.

Verbitsky later played a role in reporting "Milkgate", a scandal in which Menem's private secretary Miguel Angel Vicco was linked to the sale of spoiled milk to a government agency, forcing his resignation. In 1992, Verbitsky published a compilation of the Menem administration's scandals titled I Steal for the Crown, a quip reportedly from Interior Minister Jose Luis Manzano. The book became a national bestseller.

Menem was eventually forced to change half his cabinet in an attempt to regain the lost political credibility.

The Flight

Verbitsky claims he was approached on the subway in November 1994 by naval officer Adolfo Scilingo who offered to discuss human rights abuses by the Argentine military during the 1976-83 Dirty War. During that time, Scilingo was stationed at the Navy Petty-Officers School of Mechanics (ESMA), which was the site of some of the worst violations. He met with Verbitsky for several taped sessions telling him "We did terrible things there, worse than the Nazis". Most notably, Scilingo admitted that the military had disposed of unwanted prisoners by throwing them naked, drugged but still alive from airplanes into the Atlantic Ocean.

Scilingo was the first member of the Argentine military to speak openly about the human rights abuses of the military junta that ruled during those years, and his testimony, published by Verbitsky, elevated the stories of torture from opposition claims to generally accepted truth. Other military officers came forward later to confirm his statements, and the army's chief of staff admitted the involvement of top military leadership. Verbitsky's subsequent book The Flight: Confessions of an Argentine Dirty Warrior was published in four languages. A best seller in Argentina, the book received mixed reviews from critics abroad. Following these relevations, the Argentine Army chief, Lieutenant-General Martín Balza, gave a public statement on 25 April 1995 where he acknowledged and apologized for the army's involvement in killings and disappearances. The commander of the Montoneros, Mario Firmenich, in a radio interview in late 2000 from Spain in turn stated that "In a country that experienced a civil war, everybody has blood in their hands" suspiciously using the same term than the Junta used for the time of state terrorism.

Later work

He wrote for the newspaper El País (Spain); The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times (USA).

In 2004 his colleague Julio Nudler accused newspaper Página/12 of censor him and defending the government after the newspaper Página/12 refused to publish Nudler's corruption allegations against Alberto Fernández who was the chief of the cabinet of Néstor Kirchner. Página/12 response was that, beside the fact that they do defend policies of the government that they believe are correct, the article had wrong information on it, and finally published Nudler's article with a note of Verbitsky pointing out that.


Because Verbitsky had impeached the former president Carlos Menem with corruption allegations, Verbitsky was criticized for judging similar allegations against the governments of Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner with a considerably less critical attitude. Promoted publicly by UN human rights chief Juan Méndez and Buenos Aires reporter Uki Goñi, Verbitsky declared that while he still investigates corruption cases he does not display the same critical attitude towards the Kirchner governments because he agrees with their politics and the ones of other governments over the region about being economicaly less dependant of foreign banks.


In March 2013, Verbitsky has become immersed in controversy due to his disputed accusations that Pope Francis was complicit with military dictators during the so-called Argentine dirty war".;

In September 2016, former Argentine Army chief César Milani, who was insistently denounced by Verbitsky for crimes against humanity in his past during the 77' military dictatorship, said that the journalist "has to explain his time during military dictatorship," adding, "His friends were senior military officials. Why was it that he never questioned them?"; Since February 17, 2017 Milani is in prison for the forced disappearance and torture of Pedro and Ramón Olivera and Verónica Matta, and prosecuted for the disappearance, torture and murder of soldier Alberto Ledo, kidnapping and torture of Pedro Olivera and his son Ramón Alfredo, as part of an illicit association with the repressor Luciano Benjamín Menéndez. and being investigated for illicit enrichment.


During the presidence of Mauricio Macri, the government moved back to right-wing policies; expressing concern about reports that suggested that the government was considering unspecified reprisals against Pagina/12 columnist Horacio Verbitsky, Robert Cox from the Buenos Aires Times wrote: Template:Cita

Writer Gabriel Levinas in early September 2015 came out with a book, Doble Agente. La biografía inesperada de Horacio Verbitsky, documenting a supossed work from Verbitsky with the Argentine military during the period of state terror as a ghostwriter for a book about air transport written by a retired senior Argentine Air Force officer denouncing the possibility of Verbitsky collaboration with the Junta militar trough brigadier Omar Graffigna. Verbitsky denied to know Graffigna, and in August 2015, Graffigna himself denied any relation with Verbitsky.

AMIA - Nisman

On Buenos Aires Herald Verbitsky commented on justice corrupted:

"The three offices of the Attorney General’s Office of San Isidro were raided on December 30 by the federal judge of that same district, Sandra Arroyo Salgado. The search was part of the most important judicial case to this day regarding the sale of illegal drugs. The case links the most shocking files of drug-trafficking: the Unicenter shopping mall murders, the ephedrine trafficking case, the arrest of the Colombian drug-dealer nicknamed “Mi Sangre” (“My Blood”) and the smuggling of almost a ton of cocaine into Spain for which the brothers Gustavo Adolfo and Eduardo Juliá were arrested and convicted in Barcelona. In a surprising turn of events that shows the complicity of public agencies with those crimes, the head of the Attorney General’s Office of San Isidro, Julio Alberto Novo, was indicted for cover-up and violating his duties as a public official. The investigation determined that Adolfo Juliá’s defence lawyer and his sister-in-law are close collaborators of Novo in positions of responsibility in the Buenos Aires province attorney’s offices. In addition, Novot’s private secretary was in touch with the defence lawyer of one of the criminals involved in the Unicenter shooting. According to federal attorney Fernando Domínguez, Novo and other indicted people would be responsible for “obstructing and frustrating the legal development of the process in which the murders were investigated”. They are indicted for, in short, obstructing justice."

The New Yorker wrote: Template:Cita

Who will lead investigations? CELS warned “Even if (these new powers) are limited to international threats, the agency’s ability to carry out criminal investigations was not originally intended as an intelligence activity, except if ordered by a judge”. This new function, far from helping intelligence agents to work on information collection as well as data and information analysis, will make it harder for the Argentine state to move away “from the promiscuous relationship between the intelligence structure and federal justice”, as criticized by CFK during the national broadcast where she announced the new proposed changes.

Nonetheless, the CELS leadership has expressed hope that “changes to the bill itself or the implementation” will resolve some of the outstanding issues.

Awards

  • Konex (Diploma of Merit):
  • Latin American Studies Association Media Award (LASA), (USA, 1996)
  • Konrad Adenauer Foundation and Centro de Estudios Unión para una Nueva Mayoría, (Argentina, 1997)
  • Human Rights Watch Hellman/Hammett Grant, (USA, 1998)
  • Martín Fierro to the best journalist on TV (Argentina, 2000)
  • One of four winners of the CPJ International Press Freedom Awards for his reporting and his work in defending press freedom in Argentina (USA, 2001)
  • Commission Nationale Consultative des Droits de l’Homme, for the Center for Legal and Social Studies in Argentina. "por el proyecto de despenalización de 'calumnias e injurias' en casos de interés público". (France, 2009)
  • Award Gruber, for the CELS, by the National Constitution Center of Philadelphia (USA, 2011)
  • XI Award Joan Alsina de Derechos Humanos; Casa Amèrica Catalunya, Barcelona, November 16, 2011

Books

In Spanish

  • Prensa y poder en Perú, Extemporáneos (México), 1975.
  • La última batalla de la Tercera Guerra Mundial, Editorial Legasa (Buenos Aires, Argentina), 1984.
  • Ezeiza, Contrapunto, (Bs. As.) 1985.
  • La posguerra sucia, Sudamericana (Bs. As.) 1985. ISBN 978-987-503-429-7 (13).
  • Rodolfo Walsh y la prensa clandestina 1976-1978, Ediciones de la Urraca (Bs. As.), 1985.
  • Civiles y militares: memoria secreta de la transición, Ed. Contrapunto (Bs. As.), 1987.
  • Medio siglo de proclamas militares, Editora/12 (Bs. As.), 1987. ISBN 950-9586-15-3.
  • La educación presidencial: de la derrota del ’70 al desguace del Estado, Editora/12: Puntosur (Bs. As.), 1990. ISBN 950-9889-55-5.
  • Robo para la corona: los frutos prohibidos del árbol de la corrupción, Planeta (Bs. As.), 1991. ISBN 950-742-145-9.
  • Hacer la Corte: la construcción de un poder absoluto sin justicia ni control, Planeta (Bs. As.), 1993. OCLC 31783059.
  • El vuelo, Planeta (Bs. As.), 1995. ISBN 950-742-608-6.
  • Un mundo sin periodistas: las tortuosas relaciones de Menem con la ley, la Justicia y la verdad, Planeta (Bs. As.) 1997 ISBN 950-742-886-0
  • Hemisferio derecho, Planeta (Bs. As.), 1998. ISBN 950-742-953-0.
  • Diario de la CGT de los Argentinos, AAVV, 1998. Quilmes: UNQ- Ed. La Página. ISBN 987-503-046-5.
  • Malvinas: la última batalla de la Tercera Guerra Mundial, Sudamericana (Bs. As.), 2002. ISBN 950-07-2231-3.
  • El Silencio: de Paulo VI a Bergoglio: las relaciones secretas de la Iglesia con la ESMA, Sudamericana (Bs. As.), 2005. ISBN 950-07-2035-3.
  • Doble juego: la Argentina católica y militar, Sudamericana (Bs. As.), 2006. ISBN 978-950-07-2737-2 (13).
  • Cristo vence: la Iglesia en la Argentina: un siglo de historia política (1884-1983). I, Sudamericana (Bs. As.), 2007. ISBN 978-950-07-2803-4.
  • La Violencia Evangélica, de Lonardi al Cordobazo. II. Sudamericana (Bs. As.), 2008. ISBN 978-950-07-2918-5.
  • Vigilia de armas. III. Del Cordobazo de 1969 al 23 de marzo de 1976, Sudamericana (Bs. As.) 2009. ISBN 978-950-07-3049-5.
  • La mano izquierda de Dios. IV. La última dictadura (1976- 1983). Sudamericana (Bs. As.) 2010. ISBN 978-950-07-3275-8
  • With Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky: Cuentas pendientes. Los cómplices económicos de la dictadura. Siglo XXI (Bs. As.) 2013. ISBN 978-987-629-344-0
  • With Alejandra Dandan and Elizabeth Gómez Alcorta: La libertad no es un milagro. Planeta (Bs. As.) 2017.

In Italian

In English

  • The Flight. Confessions of an Argentine dirty warrior. The New Press (New York), 1996.
  • The Flight. (Reedit) New Press, 2005. Afterword by Juan Mendez, General Counsel, Human Rights Watch.
  • The Silence: from Paulo VI to Bergoglio, the secret links between the Church and the Navy Mechanics School. 2005.

References

  1. ^ "Verbitsky, Horacio 1942-". Contemporary Authors.  – via HighBeam Research (subscription required) . January 1, 2009. Retrieved September 16, 2012.
  2. "Americas Division". May 19, 2015. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
  3. Un mundo sin periodistas: las tortuosas relaciones de Menem con la ley, la Justicia y la verdad, Planeta (Bs. As.), 1997. ISBN 950-742-886-0
  4. "Mr. Horacio Verbitsky new ICDP Commissioner - International Commission against the Death Penalty". www.icomdp.org. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
  5. Verbitsky y su militancia en Montoneros: "Participé en enfrentamientos armados y, por suerte, no murió nadie", interview of H. Verbitsky, in Perfil, November 4, 2007 Template:Es icon
  6. ^ "Horacio Verbitsky: Awardee 2001". The Committee to Protect Journalists. 2001. Archived from the original on September 17, 2012. Retrieved September 16, 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ Verbitsky y su militancia en Montoneros: "Participé en enfrentamientos armados y, por suerte, no murió nadie", interview of H. Verbitsky, in Perfil, November 4, 2007 Template:Es icon
  8. Fallo favorable a Montoneros de la Cámara Federal, La Nación, December 21, 2007 Template:Es icon
  9. Kelly, Guillermo Patricio (1996). Olvido y Perdón. Arkel. p. 214. ISBN 9879613503.
  10. "Sobreseen a los ex Montoneros Firmenich y Verbitsky, LA NUEVA PROVINCIA.COM, 25/03/2011". Retrieved March 4, 2018.
  11. Fallo favorable a Montoneros de la Cámara Federal, La Nacion, December 21, 2007 Template:Es icon
  12. ^ Eugene Robinson (January 26, 1991). "Menem Acts to Rein In 'Cancer' of Corruption". The Washington Post.  – via HighBeam Research (subscription required) . Retrieved September 16, 2012.
  13. Calvin Sims (2001). Political Censorship. Taylor & Francis. p. 441. ISBN 9781579583200. Retrieved September 16, 2012.
  14. "Menem aide quits in wake of milk scandal". The New Straits Times. Reuters. January 17, 1992. Archived from the original on January 24, 2013. Retrieved September 16, 2012. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  15. Mar Roman (January 24, 2005). "Journalist says he doesn't recognize Argentine 'dirty war' suspect now denying part in death flights". Associated Press  – via HighBeam Research (subscription required) . Retrieved September 16, 2012.
  16. Linda Wolfe (September 30, 1996). "The Flight: Confessions of an Argentine Dirty Warrior". The Nation.  – via HighBeam Research (subscription required) . Retrieved September 16, 2012.
  17. "Firmenich dijo que no mató "a nadie inútilmente"". Retrieved March 4, 2018.
  18. "Nudler sobre Verbitsky". rodolfowalsh.org (in Spanish). November 16, 2004. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
  19. "Títeres y titiriteros" [Puppets and puppeteers]. Pagina 12 (in Spanish). November 14, 2004.
  20. "Reportaje a Horacio Verbitsky". Archived from the original on January 24, 2012. Retrieved March 17, 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  21. Allen, Frederick E. (March 15, 2013). "Did Pope Francis Do Enough To Fight Torture In Argentina?". Forbes. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
  22. "The awkward couple". The Economist. March 22, 2013. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
  23. César Milani: "Horacio Verbitsky tiene que explicar su paso por la dictadura militar", La Nacion, 29 September 2016
  24. "César Milani, the former army chief, was arrested for kidnappings and torture during the dictatorship". Clarín (in Spanish). February 16, 2017. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
  25. Buenos Aires Herald (August 15, 2015). "Verbitsky was not my ghostwriter, he was at odds with the Air Force" (in inglés).{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  26. "Web Page Under Construction". www.buenosairesherald.com. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
  27. "Web Page Under Construction". www.buenosairesherald.com. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
  28. «Horacio Verbitsky», article on the website of the Konex Foundation (Buenos Aires).
  29. "Página/12 :: El país :: Francia distinguió el trabajo del CELS". www.pagina12.com.ar. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
  30. "Página/12 :: El país :: Por un mundo mejor". www.pagina12.com.ar. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
  31. «El presidente del CELS de Buenos Aires, Horacio Verbitsky, recibe el XI Premio Joan Alsina de Derechos Humanos. En memoria del sacerdote catalán asesinado en Chile por la dictadura de Pinochet», artículo del 15 de noviembre de 2011 en el sitio web de Casa Amèrica Catalunya.
  32. "Paritaria docente, Macri al Congreso, Aborto - Perfil". Perfil.com. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
  33. "Altervista". Retrieved March 4, 2018.

External links

Pope Francis
CPJ International Press Freedom Award laureates
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