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RESOLUTION Nº 31/78Case
2553 ARGENTINA November
18, 1978 BACKGROUND: 1. In a
denunciation communication dated November 28, 1977, the following
denunciation was made: "The
purpose of this letter is to determine the whereabouts of a female
child, named CLARA ANAHI MARIANI, born on August 12, 1976 in La Plata. "It
is public knowledge that on November 24, 1976, at approximately 1.30
p.m., an armed confrontation took place between the joint forces and the
occupants of a farm located on Calle 30, between 55 and 56, in La Plata.
This house was the residence of Daniel E. Mariani, his wife Diana E.
Teruggi, and their three-month old daughter, CLARA ANAHI. "According
to a newspaper reports and reports from neighbors, the house--where the
child was--was completely surrounded by the joint forces before the
confrontation which lasted for several hours. "On
the day following the event, an oral report was made to the 5th Police
Precinct that the child's name did not appear in the summary proceedings
along with the names of those who had died and who had been identified
by the police. "On
March 3, 1977, a written reply was received to one of the notes
presented to the Chief of Infantry Regiment Nº 7, Colonel Conde,
reporting that the child's whereabouts were unknown, but that Police
Headquarters of Operations Area 113 was continuing the investigation. "Dr.
Sambucetti initiated proceedings Nº 36.792 in Juvenile Court Nº 2.
Reports were obtained from the Children's Hospital, the Fire
Departments, the Regional and Police Units. All replies were negative,
and the police were informed that no minor had been at the place where
the incident occurred. "After
a year of continuous and anguished searching, the child's whereabouts
are still unknown. She has not been found alive or dead, and there is no
explanation for her disappearance." 2. The Commission
is in possession of a newspaper account of the events in reference
during which Clara Anahí MARIANI disappeared, and has also received a
number of negative replies from the Argentinean authorities as to the
child's whereabouts. 3. In a note dated
February 7, 1978, the Commission transmitted the pertinent parts of this
denunciation to the Government of Argentina, asking it to provide the
corresponding information. 4. In a note dated
May 11, 1978, the Government of Argentina replied to the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights in the following terms: ... "D.
OBSERVATIONS: ... 55.
MARIANI, Clara Anahí: Investigation conducted by the competent
authorities to determine her whereabouts has not produced positive
results to date (CASE 2553)." 5. In a letter
dated March 27, 1978, the pertinent parts of the reply from the
Government of Argentina were forwarded to the complainant, and he was
asked to make observations to that reply. 6. In a letter of
May 4, the complainant contested the reply by the Government of
Argentina as follows: The
reply you received from the Government of Argentina is the same as it
gives to all inquiries about people who have disappeared, regardless of
their age. I believe that for a military government, which has such an
efficient intelligence service, it would not be difficult to establish,
if it wanted to, the whereabouts of a baby who was not yet walking and
who needed to be bottle-fed to survive. We
feel that CLARA ANAHI is in the hands of the Argentine authorities or
that the authorities have disposed of her, for the following reasons: 1.
The child could only have been removed from her home by the same
forces that attacked and occupied it, since it was totally surrounded
before the confrontation, as reported in all newspapers of 1l.25.76.
Also, all of the neighbors know that every home in the neighborhood was
vacated before the event (but no one would testify to this out of fear).
2.
It is a generally held view throughout the country that some
babies removed both from their homes where confrontations have occurred
and from the places where their parents 'disappear,' or from the prisons
where they were born, are given away or sold. CLARA ANAHI must therefore
have been 'given away' or 'sold' like so many other children. Insofar
as giving away other people's children is concerned, I can inform you
that Monsignor has told us that he had rescued several little children
who were in the hands of policemen who had registered them as their own. The
clergy must be aware of this, just like every other person in this land. It
has not been possible to rescue CLARA ANAHI.
Was she given away by some important person? Or it is some very
important person who has her? The secrecy surrounding the matter would
lead one to think so. (Also some comments that have been heard.) If
there is a witness, for obvious reasons, one cannot rely on his coming
forward with information. A
further point which lacks confirmation is that apparently DIANA E.
TERUGGI was gunned down when the confrontation began, while she was
trying to escape through the back of the house carrying her child with
her. They cut her in half, and falling, the child was bathed in her
mother's blood and although unconscious, was unharmed. From there, they
would have wrapped her up and given her to some important person who
disposed of her. What
is known therefore is: 1.
That they took her away from the house alive. 2.
That the intervening forces took her away and that they are
therefore responsible for the baby's life, but we cannot demonstrate
this. 3.
That she must have been given away or sold. The
names of the military and police officers who were present while
DANIEL's house was being attacked appeared in the newspapers of November
25, 1976. I believe that they must naturally know CLARA ANAHI's fate.
And we also feel that they must be able to remember the event well
because it was the longest, one of the bloodiest and I believe the only
one, where, at the end, they used a bomb generating a temperature of
2000 degrees, to end the resistance. (This is what was said at the
Federal Police in La Plata.) In
this search for CLARA ANAHI MARIANI, case 2553, everything remains
unchanged: her whereabouts are unknown, despite numerous inquiries that
have been made. We have to go to the Directora Nacional de la
Minoridad (the National Juvenile Bureau); the Provincial Director
for Juveniles, we have held interviews with all the juvenile judges in
Buenos Aires. The Supreme Court took up the case with much interest, but
finally declared that it did not have jurisdiction." The
Commission received the following additional information from the
complainant in a note dated August 18, 1978: There
was hope of finding CLARA ANAHI through the National Juvenile Bureau,
but they say that there are no records on file. There are still checking
adoptions during the past two years at our request. They don't know what
results this might bring; let us hope that they might be able to locate
one of the fifteen babies that we are looking for. 7. In a
communication dated August 30, 1978, the Commission forwarded the
complainant's observations to the Government of Argentina, and asked it
to provide the pertinent information. 8. In note SG 235,
dated September 18, 1978, the Government of Argentina replied to the
complainant's observations, but failed to refer to the events denounced
and forwarded to them; it merely reported in the following terms: ... "C.
Persons on whom investigator proceedings have been started to
determine their whereabouts and possible status because there was no
record of denunciations earlier than that made by that Commission: ... 16.
MARIANI Clara Anahí, (Case 2553)." 9. The pertinent
parts of the reply from the Government of Argentina were sent to the
complainant in a communication dated October 3, 1978. 10.
In a letter dated September 30, 1978, the complainant provided
the following additional information: "I
am now able to add to the documentation a newspaper clipping from that
fateful date, which mentions the Infantry Corps of the Province of
Buenos Aires, which took a very active part in the siege and attack upon
the residence of the father of CLARA ANAHI. I believe that its chief,
might know to whom the child was given." 11.
The Commission has in its possession a photocopy of the writ of habeas
corpus presented by the claimant. 12.
It should be pointed out that the notes from the Government of
Argentina dated May 21 and September 18, 1978 are contradictory, in that
the first refers to investigations conducted on the case, while the
second states that investigator proceedings were being initiated because
no denunciation had been filed prior to the one submitted by the
Commission. In that connection, the first communication on this case
from the Commission to the Government of Argentina is dated February 7,
1978 and according to the Certification issued by Juvenile Court Nº 2
of the La Plata Judicial Department, the proceedings--Nº 36.792--began
on April 26, 1977. WHEREAS: 1. In light of the
background information given above, it is found that the child CLARA
ANAHI MARIANI was taken from her home by Argentinean military officers
in the operation conducted by those forces on November 24, 1976, on 30th
Street, 55-56, in the city of La Plata, and her whereabouts since that
date are unknown; 2. The notes from
the Government of Argentina of May 21 and September 18, 1978 fail to
refer to the events specifically denounced and transmitted to it by the
Commission in notes of February 7 and August 30, 1978, and are
contradictory, THE
INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS, RESOLVES: 1. To observe to
the Government of Argentina that such acts are very serious violations
of the right to liberty and personal security (Art. I) and of the right
to protection from arbitrary arrest (Art. XXV) E the American
Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man. 2. To recommend to
the Government of Argentina: a. that it return the child CLARA ANAHI
MARIANI to her family; b. that it order a complete, impartial
investigation to determine the responsibility for the events denounced;
c. that it punish those responsible for such acts, in accordance with
Argentine law, and d. that it inform the Commission, within a maximum of
30 days, of the measures it has taken to put into practice the
recommendations contained in the present Resolution. 3. To communicate
this resolution to the Government of Argentina and to the claimant. 4. To include this
Resolution in the Annual Report to the General Assembly of the
Organization of American States, pursuant to Article 9 (bis) paragraph c.iii
of the Statute of the Commission.
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