LETTER TO WILLIAM KOREY FROM EDWARD BURLINGAME - 1978/12/04

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Argentina Declassification Project - The "Dirty War" (1976-83)
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06626648
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: April 3, 2019
• Document Release Date: April 12, 2019
• Publication Date: December 4, 1978

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J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
Publishers
Philadelphia � New York � Toronto
Edward L Burlingame
Senior Vice President
December 4, 1978
Dr. William Korey
Director
B'nai B'rith International Council
315 Lexington Avenue
New York, N.Y. 10016
Dear Dr. Korey:
521 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10017
I was glad to have the opportunity of meeting you at the Freedom to
Publish Committee meeting on November 27th.
I have written to Ambassador Espil and enclose a copy of my letter.
I am also asking each of the committee members to write individually to
him and I have asked the American PEN Center if they too will write. I
hope these letters may help and I would be glad to know of anything else
our committee might do to assist Senor Timmerman.
Sincerely,
Edward Burlingame
Editor In Chief
EB/sb
TELEX 83 4566
Phone; 212-687-3980 cable, Uppcol. Now York
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December 1, 1978
The Honorable Aja Espil
Argentinian Ambassador to the United States
1600 New Hampshire Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20009
Dear Ambassador Espil:
You may remember that I wrote to you on February 9, 1978
�expressing the concern of the International Freedom to
Publish Committee of the Association of American Publishers
over the detention, reportedly without charge, of Jacobo
Timmerman.
We understand that Sr. Timmerman is now under house arrest
and that he has expressed his wish to leave Argentina in
order to join his wife and his son in Israel. His son is
planning to be married in Israel later this month and Sr.
Timmerman wishes to be present at his wedding.
May I express the Association of American Publishers'
strong wish that humanitarian concerns will influence the
decision of your government and that Sr. Timmerman will
be released from house arrest and permitted to leave the
country. We would appreciate a reply from you informing
us of your government's position on this case.
ELB/js
Yours sincerely,
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October 19, 1978
Senator Jacob Javits
Russell S.O.B. Building
Room f 321
NEW YORK CITY, N.Y.
Dear Sir:
I am taking the liberty of writing to you as an American
rabbi who has been working in Argentina for the last 19 years and
who at present is very much involved in the Human Rights question
In Argentina, as a member of the Executive Committee of the Perma-
nent Assembly for Human Rights.
The specific purpose of this letter is to enlist your aid
In the case of one of Argentina's leading journalists and publishers,
JACOB� TIMMERMAN. I am Mr.Timmerman's rabbi and have been the only
Individual outside of his immediate family who has been regularly
permitted to visit him and to minister to his spiritual and emotio-
nal needs.
I believe that the time is appropriate for a concerted
effort on behalf of Mr.Timmerman;s final freedom, as a result of the
Military Tribunal's declaration (in 1977) of his innocence with regard
to any terrorist connections, as well as the declaration of his innocence
on the part of the Argentine Supreme Court (in 1978).
Inspite of these two declarations, Mr.Timmerman is still a
prisoner in his home with 30 policemen guarding his residence around
the clock. May I ask you, In the name of what unites us all,namely
the battle for human freedom, to write a letter to the President of
Argentina, General Jorge Rafael Videla, requesting the imediate
liberation and, if not, at least the immediate expulsion of Mr.Jacobo
Timmerman, so that he can join his three sons who are already living
In Israel.
According to my sources, there are significant elements
within the present Argentine government who are very much interested
in the betterment of relationships with the government of the United
States of America. On the other hand, the extreme rightist elements
in the Armed Forced of Argentina, are very much opposed to Mr.Timmerman's
liberation. I am convinced that this has a great deal to do with the
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fact that Timmerman is a Jew and has been actively involved in
Zionist activities for many years.
Your writing of such a letter to the President of Argentina
and the inclusion of such correspondence in the Congressional record,
would have a significant impact upon the Militani Junta and would thus,
hopefully, lead to the liberation of an innocent man who has been in
prison for a year and a half.
I am addressing similaraappeals to the following Senators
and Congressmen:
Abraham Ribicoff; Dante Fascell; Lego Marino; Gus Yaton;
3en Gilman; Silvio Conde.
PsMol/bp
Sincerely yours,
Rabbi Marshall T.Meyer
Rector
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Monopoly G es Newspapers Play Independent Producers vs. the Networks
VI
COLUMBIA
An Argentine
survivor's
personal
account
by Jacobo
Timerman
MAY/JUNE 1980 � $250
NATIONAL MEDIA MONITOR � PRESS / RADIO / TV
4.-adattiguialsoffatiggssaagtezdalitista
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COLUMBIA
JOURNALISM
REVIEW
MAY/JUNE 1980
ies Counte
e0 r
In view of the massacre of journalists in Argentina,
and of the toll of victims of repression worldwide, 'the press
must join the battle for human rights,'
says long-jailed journalist Jacobo Timerman
After more than a year in Argentine prisons, on April 17, 1978, Timerman is put under strict house arrest
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by JACOBO TIMERMAN
�or many years, we have been subjected to a
drumroll of tragic statistics�the genocides in
Southeast Asia, the thousands unprisoned in the
Russian gulags, the millions exterminated in
Nazi concentration camps, the hordes of Chinese exe-
cuted in Mao's cultural revolution, the scores of
people�their corpses coated with cement�who were
thrown into the Rio de la Plata by the government of
Argentina The question for the press is a moral one Is
it enough merely to report the impersonal statistics"
As a recently released political prisoner, my strong
belief is that the press must join the battle for human
rights in the world I believe it must go beyond an-
swering the question of how many lives have been lost
Jacobo Timerman, former publisher of the Argentine news-
paper La Opinion, was abducted by government agents in
1977 and held prisoner by the Argentine army for thirty
months Last October, he was stripped of his citizenship and
expelled from the country Now living in Israel, he is a col-
umnist for the Tel Aviv daily Maariv
�
. and ask itself the question How many lives can we
save" The numbers here are a traumatic statistic
I discovered that a special relationship exists
between journalism and human rights, first as an editor
of a newspaper engaged in the human-rights struggle
under a military dictatorship, then as a prisoner sub-
jected to torture by that same government For thirty
months�from April 15, 1977, through September 25,
1979 was held captive by the Argentine army I
spent twelve months in various prisons, although I had
not been charged with any crime nor had I ever been
brought to trial, and I spent eighteen months under
strict house arrest
For the first forty days I was kept in a clandestine
jail, where I was tortured and interrogated For the
next thirty days, my jail was in the police headquarters
in Buenos Aires There I was allowed to see my wife
and children for from three to five minutes each day in
a small room crowded with people Although it was
difficult to carry on a conversation there, I was able to
The Toll in Latin America
Journalists and writers imprisoned, killed,
ARGENTINA
Guillermo AlRere (news editor El
Independiente) imprisoned tor-
tured
Elsa Altana (general secretary, Uru-
guayan Press Association), disap-
peared
Luana Alsarez de Barros (journalist,
&writer') disappeared
Maria Elena Amadso (journalist Bar-
rdete) imprisoned whereabouts
unknown
Marcos Basilica Arocena (Uruguayan
writer) disappeared
Juan Jose Azeone. disappeared
Osvaldo Balla (writer) imprisoned
Rolando Baradino (writer) disap-
peared
Oscar Barros (journalist, Barri/ere).
disappeared
Maria Bedouin de Ilionikoff (editor,
Dinamis) disappeared
Horses� Felix Bertholet (journalist).
disappeared
Guillermo Juan Bettanin (Journalist),
disappeared
Leonardo Bettanin (journalist Confir-
mado) murdered
Cristina Beitanin (journalist Dinam-
is) murdered
Miguel Jacoho Brzostowski (printing
worker) disappeared
Miguel Angel Hustos (journslist LI
Cronista Comercial) disappeared
Pardo Cabo (editor, El Descamisado)
killed while allegedly escaping from
prison
Juan Jose Capdepont (journalist), dis-
appeared
Rafael Capellupo (editor La RazOn)
imprisoned %hereabouts unknown
Aldo Nestor Casadidio (journalist),
dis ippeared
Pedro Clues Camarero (journalist)
imprisoned tortured
Conrad() Ceretti (journalist El Cron-
ista C oniercial. La Opinien Panora-
ma Amfrica Latina) abducted
whereabouts unknown
Ines Admits Cobo (journalist) disap-
30
peared
Ruben Oscar Contardi (journalist),
disappeared
Haroldo Conn (writer), disappeared
Luis Cordoba (journalist) disap-
peared
Hugo Coulin Novillo (journalist Pren-
sa Libre), murdered
Andres Cullen' (journalist), impri-
soned
Daniel Alberto Dampen disappeared
Eduardo Delfien disappeared
Julien Jose Delgado (editor, El Cronis-
ta Comercial, Mercado), disap-
peared
Hector Ernesto Demarchs (journalist,
Li Cronista Comercial), disap-
peared
Carlos Marra Denis (journalist) dis-
appeared
Mabel K de Dominguez (writer, El
Mundo), disappeared
Pablo Dongo (journalist, Channel 9
Tv, Buenos Aires) disappeared
Dardo Sebastian Dorronsoro (writer),
abducted whereabouts unknown
Jose Guillermo Espinoza Pesantes (Pe-
ruvian journalist), disappeared
Enrique Esteban (journalist), impri-
soned
Miguel Angel Fernandez (editor and
director Norte) imprisoned where-
abouts unknown
Maria Cristina Fernandez de Pankom-
in (journalist), disappeared
Hector Ferreiros (journalist, Pelam
News Agency) murdered
Ernesto Luis Fossattl (journalist, La
Semana Panorama). disappeared
Jorge Horsens Foulkes (journalist),
disappeared
Gerardo Gatti (Uruguayan journalist),
abducted whereabouts unknown
Marcelo Ariel Gelman (journalist, No-
tiClaS Genie) disappeared
Hector Giordano Cortazzo (Uru-
guayan journalist) disappeared
Raymundo Gleyzer (journalist), ab-
ducted
Hugo Goldsman (journalist, Nottclas),
'disappeared'
murdered
Celica Gomez Rosado (Uruguayan
journalist) disappeared
Claudio Nicolas Grandi (writer), dis-
appeared
Feltz Granovsky (journalist) disap-
peared
Luis Guagnini (correspondent Latin
American Political and Economic
Review (London) Intel-press Service
(Rome), El Pals (Madrid)) ab
ducted whereabouts unknown
Diana Griselda Guerrero (journalist.
Discusi6n), abducted, whereabouts
unknown
Mario Hernandez (journalist Malawi-
eta) disappeared
Mario Herrera (journalist, Confir-
mado) disappeared
Juan Carlos Hica (editor, Akuko Nip-
pon), disappeared
Mario Hugo Idelman (journalist) dis-
appeared
Santiago Jose Illa (journalist) disap-
peared
Ignacio Ikonikoff (journalist, Ciencia
Nueva, Panorama), disappeared
Juan Carlos Jordan (Bolivian journal-
ist), disappeared
Eduardo Jozami (journalist), impri-
soned
Gloria Echo, Wilson (writer) disap-
peared
Mabel Kitzler (journalist), disap-
peared
Alfredo A Kolliker (journalist Prensa
Libre) disappeared
Miguel Lizazo (director La Causa
Peronista), disappeared
Susana Lugones (journalist La Opin-
ion, Siete Dias, Noticias, Crisis),
disappeared
Ernesto Magannos (printers' trade
union leader) disappeared
Hector Marcelo Margbetich (journal-
ist), disappeared
Francisco Mann (reporter, La Na-
t-ten) murdered
Elsa Delia Martinez (journalist) dis-
appeared
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Mario Martinez (journalist), disap-
peared
Ricardo Manuelle (graphics worker),
abducted whereabouts unknown
Winston Mazzuchi Frantches (Uru-
guayan journalist) disappeared
Jorge Medma (telecommunications
worker), abducted whereabouts
unknown
SIMMS Beatriz Medina de Bertholet
(journalist), disappeared
Nebio Ariel Melo Cuestas (Uruguayan
journalist) disappeared
Luis Carlos Monaco (journalist) dis-
appeared
Cristina del Valle Morandom Huespe
(journalist), disappeared
Jorge Daniel Moyano (journalist) dis-
appeared
Hector Oesterheld (German journal-
ist). disappeared
Sergio Peralta (writer), arrested.
whereabouts unknown
Carlos Perez (editor, Journalist
Clan/n), disappeared
Marta Perez (journtlist La Raz6n),
abducted whereabouts unknown
Rafael Perrota (journalist). disap-
peared
Enrique Piens (journalist), disap-
peared
Luis Pans (journalist), disappeared
Bruno Thomas Pippino (journalist),
disappeared
Horace� Norberto Poggio (Italian
journalist). disapprearcd
Rodolfo Fernandez Pondal (director,
Ultima Clave), abducted where-
abouts unknown
Enrique Raab (journalist, Clann), dis-
appeared
Jos� Ramaciotti (editor Estrella de
la Mariana) imprisoned, where-
abouts unknown
Jose Eduardo Ramos (journalist) dis-
appeared
Alcira Rios de Cordoba (journalist)
disappeared
Edgard* Salon (director of graphics
La OptntOn). disappeared
COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW
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tell my family of at least some of the tortures I had
been subjected to No journalists were permitted to see /
me, and those who heard of my experiences raised the
question Who will be named as the source if we pub-
lish any of this information" Fearful of what the gov-
ernment might do, I did- not want my family to be
named And the national press was afraid to act
The international press, too, had to have some
source to whom to attribute details Despite
the difficulties involved, I was able to put to-
gether some news, which was then sent
abroad When, subsequently, I was transferred to an-
other clandestine prison, my family was acutely aware
that my only hope of being saved lay in spreading the
word about my situation
Then, once again, I was back in the hands of the
army This time, however, there was less torture and
some guards even showed me brief Argentine newspa-
per accounts about my disappearance The accounts
Marla Elena San Martin de Valetta
(writer) disappeared
Roberto Jorge Santoro (journalist),
disappeared
.11tBri Miguel Satragro (journalist) dis-
appeared
ictor Eduardo Seib (journalist La
'Nort(w) disappeared
Juba Luis Seruco (journalist), disap-
peared
liOFJCIO Rodolfo Speranza (journal-
ist) disappeared
duardo Suarez (journalist El Cron's-
:a Cometcial El Mundo Noticias),
disappeared
% walrus Adela Suarez (journalist)
disappeared
Patricia Villa de Suarez (journalist,
Inter Press Agency) disappeared
nrique Walker (journalist Genre
Nuevo Hombre Semana (,reffica LI
Drscantisado) imprisoned where-
abouts unknown
Rodolfo Walsh (journalist essayist
Prensa Latina I a OptniOn Nolt-
e-las Mayotte!) dis tppeared pre-
sumed murdered
Tiro Wenner (editor, LI Actual) dis-
appeared
Miguel Zazala Rodriguez (Journalist
LI Autdmico) murdered
E
Diana Aaron Svigilsky (journilist).
imprisoned
Alberto N Alvarado (Journalist) IT-
prisoned whereabouts unknown
Mario iduardo Calderon iap.a (jour-
nalist) imprisoned
Gustavo Caruhuante (writer), impri
soncd whr.mabouts unknown
Ilernando Augusto Carmorut (journal-
ist Punto banal) murdered
Hector Contreras Rujas (radio Jour-
nalist former luarkr of radio work-
ers union) imprisoned whereabouts
unknown
Luis Eduardo Duran Rivas (journal-
ist), imprisont.d tortured whr.re-
abouts unknown
MAY 'JUNE 1980
Maximo Gedda Ortiz (journalist and
screenwriter) imprisoned believed
tortured to death
Jorge Arturo Grez Aburto (writer).
imprisoned, tortured, whereabouts
unknown
Silva Muller (film cameraman and
screenwriter), imprisoned
Marta Neira Munoz (writer), disap-
peared
Fernando Ortiz Letelier (writer), im-
prisoned whereabouts unknown
Herm Perez (freelance photogra-
pher), shot during arrest where-
abouts unknown
Carlos Fredy Perez Vargas (publish-
er) imprisoned
Manuel Recabarren Rojas (journalist),
disa ppca red
Guillermo Galvez Rnadeneira (direc-
tor llechos undiales), disap-
peared
Manuel R... Rnehttoff (editor, Ulti-
ma flora, PostcrOn) arrested, tor-
tured whereabouts unknown
Ricardo Rojas Ross (journalist), ar-
rested whereabouts unknown
Francisco Rozas (photographer, jour-
nalist) imprisoned
Ramiro Sepulveda Contreras (journal-
ist Radio Magallanes), imprisoned,
whereabouts unknown
Luis Archibald� Villaflor Rivera (jour-
nalist. LI Stgla Radio Riquelme).
imprisoned
CUBA
Raul Artiega Martinez (writer and
fuundi.r of the Association of Free
Poets and Writers of Cuba) impri-
soned
Angel Cuadra Landgrove (writer),
imprisoned
Amaro Gomez (cinematographer). im
prisoner'
GUATEMALA
Julio Cesar Hernandez (broadcast
reporter) kidnapped tortured, hos-
pitalized
Wilmer McDonald (son of editor or the
bore datelines from various cities and were credited to
news agencies So the news was getting out
My situation improved after the arrival, first, of Pa-
tricia Derian, U S Assistant Secretary of State for
Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, then of
U S Representative Benjamin Gilman, of New York,
in August 1977, who, as a member of the Inter-Amer-
ican Affairs Subcommittee, was allowed to interview
me in the Casa Rosada in Buenos Aires I was trans-
ferred to a legal prison There, whenever they could
win the friendship of one of the guards, journalists
were able to get some newspapers to me There, too, I
was allowed to see my family for up to an hour a day
As time went on, we were able to organize and re-
fine a kind of news-spreading chain, whose effective-
ness demonstrated to us the importance of the press It
worked like this
0 Each time The Buenos Aires Herald�the outspo-
ken English-language daily�published an article
about my situation, my wife and children distributed
Guatemalan Flash), abducted
whereabouts unknown
Enrique Slazar Solorzano (newscaster,
Nuevo Mundo radio station) arrest-
ed, whereabouts unknown
Werner Rosnall Trejo (journalist La
Noche son of editor of La Ommen),
disappeared
HAITI
Gerard Augustin (journalist) impri-
soned, cruelly treated
Marie Therese Fern' (journalist, radio
broadcaster), imprisoned
MEXICO
Roberto Faith!' (journalist El Nor:-
este) shot and killed by military
patrol
Jose Guadalupe Mendivil (journalist
El Marto de Culhacdn) murdered
Roberto Martinez Montenegro (jour-
nalist El Norteste), murdered
NICARAGUA
Pedro Joaquin Chamorro Cardenal
(editor, La Prensa), murdered
PARAGUAY
Hector Rodriguez (editor ABC
Color), imprisoned
PERU ---
Augusto Zimmermann Zavala (jour-
nalist, Kausachum), imprisoned
URUGUAY
Eduardo Acerenza (writer), impri-
soned
Maria Victoria Barcelo (journalist El
Popular), held incommunicado al-
legedly tortured whereabouts un-
known
Raul Bianchi (writer) imprisoned
whereabouts unknown
Samuel Blrxen (journalist)
soned
Jorge Bottom (writer) imprisoned
Oscar Cabrera (journalist, (Jllrrrna
flora), imprisoned whereabouts
nk
Hiuberncowonntrens
(journalist, Marcha),
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imprisoned allegedly tortured
Alfonso Avelino Fernandez Cabrelli
(writer, editor), imprisoned
Niurka Fernandez (journalist), impri-
soned
Silvia Garcia de Betancourt (writer),
reportedly imprisoned whereabouts
unknown
&gifted� Gunda (writer), imprisoned,
whereabouts unknown
Rita lbarburu de Suarez (editor, Estu-
(hos, former editor, Nosorras), im-
prisoned
Jose Jorge Martinez (journalist) im-
prisoned allegedly tortured
Winston Mazzuchi (editor) disap-
peared, reportedly imprisoned
Nemo Melo (editor), disappeared.
whereabouts unknown
Fernando Miranda (writer), ditaP-
peared, whereabouts unknown
Hermit� (Norio (journalist), report-
edly imprisoned
Santiago Pucbet (journalist, co-owner
of printing press), imprisoned re-
portedly tortured
Hector Pio Rodriguez de Silva (jour-
nalist), imprisoned
Mauricio Rosenkoff (writer), impri-
soned reportedly tortured
Edmund� Rows Sauro (correspon-
dent El Pals) Imprisoned
Elias Tulhowitz (administrator. Etta-
dtos) imprisoned
Juan Carlos Urruzala (Argentine Jour
nalist, El Popular), held incommu-
nicado tortured held in military
hospital
Ismael Weinberger (editor El Popu-
lar) reportedly held incommunicado
and tortured imprisoned
This list is based on informa-
tion compiled by PEN Amen-
can Center
31
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copies to the international news agencies and to for-
eign correspondents They also telexed these articles to
papers throughout the world
0 My wife also engaged Argentine journalists to write
articles, under a pseudonym, which were then sent off
to newspapers and magazines abroad As they ap-
peared, copies of these articles would then be distrib-
uted to the international news agencies in Buenos
Aires A few Argentine papers would always print at
least a few lines
0 Through the help of friends, my wife and children
managed to obtain statements on my behalf from
abroad�from institutions, prominent politicians, au-
thors, and clergy If the statement was issued in a
small French city and not picked up by the French
press, we would try to have it played up elsewhere in
Europe�London, for example�and then sent via a
news agency to Buenos Aires
hue it is probably true that the Argen-
tine press used no more than one per-
cent of what was published abroad, all
the clippings from the foreign press
about Argentina were on the desks of army leaders and
members of the government It became clear to us that
what appeared to be merely professional journalistic
reporting compelled the government to become more
concerned about establishing its "legal" relationship
with me The government showed its power by confis-
cating my newspaper (it is now owned by the army and
edited by a colonel) and other property, and by taking
away my citizenship and expelling me from Argentina,
but it could not accuse me of any crime because the
international press had already laid bare the true na-
ture of my situation that I had been imprisoned and
my paper closed down because I denounced all kinds of
terrorism, whether carried out by the left or the right,
the state or the individual, because La Opinion de-
fended the right to life and to a legal trial of any ar-
rested person and published lists of the thousands of
abduction victims who were never heard of again (The
Buenos Aires Herald was the only other paper that
performed a similar task Last December, its editor,
Robert Cox, had to leave Argentina because of the
constant death threats he and his family had received
As he explained in an article in Newsweek, the threats
came from the very security forces which should have
protected him from them )
My family and I were able to establish our simple,
yet effective, news-spreading chain because I am a
professional journalist I was encouraged to continue
my efforts, both when in prison and later under house
arrest, because I observed that each time a prisoner's
relative was able to give him some facts about the cam-
paign being waged on my behalf, the prisoner felt en-
couraged he assumed that, beyond the prison walls,
the international press was taking a strong stand
against the Argentine dictatorship Often, this was the
only source of encouragement I believe, however, that
prisoners of conscience deserve more than the notice
- 32
\ ' '
accorded a journalist who, like myself, happens to have
good contacts abroad They deserve attention on their
*.i
own account
nofficial estimates of the number of Argea.
tine journalists who have "disappeared- or
been murdered by members of the military
forces range from sixty to seventy It would
seem that in Argentina we have witnessed the first go.
nocide of journalists to occur in a Western hemisphere
nation Two years ago, the Inter-American Press Asso-
ciation awarded its Ottmar Mergenthaler prize for the
struggle for a free press to the murdered and missing
journalists of Argentina and to those imprisoned there.
Fearful of the government's repressive measures, the
Argentine delegation to the IAPA congress did not ac-
cept the prize It is being held in the association's of-
fices in Miami, waiting for someone to claim it Per-
haps It is waiting to be claimed by the ghosts of all
those Argentine journalists who were tortured with
electric shocks, whose feet were burned, whose genitals
were smashed by hammer blows, whose corpses were
thrown into the sea from a helicopter
Why has the military government's violence against
journalists reached a magnitude that is, perhaps, even
greater than that brought to bear against the nation's
terrorists" A totalitarian government, be it left wing or
right wing, has a fixed image of itself, a rigid concept
of its role in history, and an unshakeable concept of its
own justness UtsaiyilLeg_thalsono-
lithic structure is the press fsir_onlv the_press can dis-
pute that monopoly on reality which is the sine qua non
fis3r The existence of any totalitarian government An-
other essential is that II must project an image of
strength But when a government persecutes obsessive-
ly, it is, in fact, weak To allow itself to be perceived as
weak is, for a totalitarian government, intolerable
Thus, the government of Argentina has consistently
sought to prevent coverage of its murderous fury
Obsessed with maintaining an image of strength
and rectitude, totalitarian governments pay close at-
tention to foreign coverage It may be useful at this
point to describe the kind of attention such coverage
receives In Argentina, the international press is re-
viewed daily by the intelligence agencies and special-
ists in psychological warfare, as well as by assistants in
_ the offices of the president, the army, and the ministry
of economics
Typical scenarios, with appropriate officialese,
could be as follows
Place Army General Headquarters Meeting of the Com-
mander in Chief with heads of various divisions
Object of the Meeting Report of the head of the Intelli-
gence Department on recent events related to the campaign
against Argentina being conducted abroad
Report Long article in Le Monde about a group of Argen-
tine mothers who reported their children had disappeared
Conclusion Le Monde is a newspaper controlled by the
French left-wing, and its reporting on Argentina is exclusive-
ly in the hands of the terrorists in exile Other French news-
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papers have been gradually distancing themselves from the
,pu.blic relations office engaged by the Argentine government /
in Paris and from the office of communication opened by the
presidency of the Argentine nation The anti-Argentine cam-
paign in France will be difficult to counteract
Report Article in The Washington Post on the conditions
of prisons in Argentina
Conclusion The Washington Post has joined the anti-Ar-
gentine campaign Therefore it must be assumed that, given
the influence of this newspaper in Washington, it would be
difficult to get any American congressmen to become inter-
ested in defending the Argentine point of view It is to be
expected that a sister publication, Newsweek, will pick up the
campaign In all likelihood The Washington Post, through its
contacts in Congress, will lead some congressmen to demand
from the Argentine government a public statement on the
conditions of some prisoners
Suggestion That the ambassador in Washington attempt
to persuade friendly congressmen to write personal letters to
the president of Argentina, expressing their interest in the
fate of some prisoners whose release could be [safely]
granted in the immediate future [as a face-saving device]
The above may seem a hallucination However, it
accurately depicts a part of the mechanism used to
deal with Argentina's image abroad This mechanism
is capable of producing an infinite variety of responses
purchase of special sections in newspapers and maga-
zines to explain the government's point of view, the
offer of lucrative contracts to foreign news agencies in
exchange for a benevolent attitude regarding Argenti-
na, or for at least remaining silent on the subject of
human rights violations, search for renowned scholars
who will justify the barbaric repressions with apoca-
lyptic arguments about what would have happened if
such measures had not been taken, invitations to jour-
nalists and public figures to visit the country under the
government's auspices, engagement of large public re-
lations agencies in New York, Frankfurt, London,
Paris, Rome, utilization of multinational corporations,
owning highly profitable businesses in Argentina, as
pressure groups in their own countries
One could go on and on But all I am trying to bring
out is the inordinate importance that a totalitarian
government gives to its image Given this chink in the
armor of a totalitarian regime, journalists throughout
the world must decide whether simply giving informa-
tion about what is happening�the numbers of those
killed, "missing," or imprisoned�is enough Or
whether they must go beyond a journalism that merely
exposes reality to one that helps to save lives
The difference between tragic statistics�the sum of
lives lost�and traumatic statistics�the sum of those
we might have saved�was a subject I often discussed
with my staff in Buenos Aires It was a matter I was
led to understand only because I was forced to live it
through, because I had to decide daily which of two
attitudes to adopt Should I try to save as many lives as
possible even if this meant a confrontation with the
army, or should I remain silent, as did the editors of
other Argentine papers, who justified their silence by
claiming that, in a better future, they would still be
MAY 'JUNE 1980
�
around to help democratize the country? I chose to
save lives I believe Robert Cox did, too And both of
us were forced to leave Argentina
The violation of human rights in the world has
reached such levels of permanency, magnitude, and so-
phistication that I, for one, cannot see how journalists
can still regard the topic as a subtheme in political,
social, and diplomatic coverage I believe it has be-
come a theme, or beat, in itself And in moral terms,
coverage of it has become an obligation Even in pro-
fessional terms, it deserves a department to itself, one
requiring no less commitment, space, and specializa-
tion than that required for a paper's "Bridge," "Furni-
ture," or "Food" departments
In my office as editor of La Opinion, I was able to
save lives by covering human rights as thoroughly as
sports, for instance And when I was in prison, I could
often ascertain that a few lines in The New York
Tunes, an article in Le Figaro, or a statement in ii
Corriere della Sera had immediate repercussions on
our living conditions and treatment as prisoners I wit-
nessed how a campaign conducted by the Los Angeles
Tunes saved the lives of an entire Argentine family
And I myself would not be free now had not the for-
eign press�the U S press, in particular�kept up a
steady barrage of coverage about my plight
n many occasions while in prison I asked
myself what would happen if the world's
twenty leading newspapers were to print a
weekly list of journalists imprisoned for de-
fending the free press in different countries One could
ask why journalists and not physicians I do not know
But this was my thought in prison because I realized
that the press can do more in the struggle for human
rights than the pope, the United Nations, and Amnes-
ty International
The tragic statistics that appear in the press these
days are, perhaps, inevitable But perhaps we could do
something to reduce the magnitude of those statistics,
if for no other reason than to keep the press from being
haunted by the nightmare of thinking it could have
saved some lives if only it had realized the true extent
of its influence
Many of my fellow prisoners of conscience and I
knew that our release was not close at hand However,
when some newspapers reported on our situation in
distant places of this world, be it a small town or a
large city, this news reached us by that miracle of com-
munication which political prisoners the world over
have managed to establish And it helped us to live
through that day, to not give up in the face of filth,
starvation, and despair, to reject suicide A small piece
of information published in San Diego or Quebec, in
Edinburgh or Naples, in Tel Aviv or Costa Rica, lifted,
if only briefly, the burden of that worst of all punish-
ments loneliness The awareness that there was some-
one out there who, for a moment of his or her life,
cared about us saved many lives
And only journalism could do it
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