Agustín Feced
Encyclopedia
Agustín Feced was a Major and Commander of the Argentine
National Gendarmerie, and the head of the Police of the Province of Santa Fe
for the city of Rosario
, during the Dirty War
. He was in charge of the 2nd Regional Police Corps, and he was also part of Intelligence Battalion 601
of the Argentine Army
since June 1974, before the beginning of the military dictatorship, in the last days of the presidency of Juan Perón
.
He was born in Acebal, Santa Fe
. He was officially declared dead in 1986 but this is disputed, it has been widely claimed that he was still alive after this date.
Between 1976 and 1979, and already under the dictatorship of the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional, Feced was the head of the Intelligence Service of the 2nd Corps, which doubled as an illegal detention center (the major one in the area, of a total of about 10). His office coordinated the repressive scheme in Rosario and its neighboring areas. People were kidnapped by squads and taken to the IS to be held and tortured. Feced is known to have taken part in the kidnappings, in torture sessions when the victim was for some reason interesting to him, and in the killings, which were often conducted in faraway locations and sometimes passed as fights between the police and armed terrorists. Two of Feced's foremost assistants in these crimes were José Rubén Lo Fiego and Mario Alfredo Marcote.
The Intelligence Service is now a memorial site called Centro Popular de la Memoria
(People's Memorial Center), preserved by an organization of victim's relatives.
, is considered responsible for most of them. Before the closing of the case against him, Feced was accused of 270 crimes against humanity. Though Rosario had comparatively a smaller amount of "disappeared" people than other metropolitan areas, the proportion of those kidnapped that were set free from the detention centers and camps is also smaller, and there were many more victims of torture and murder.
The Supreme Council of the Armed Council started an investigation about Feced in 1983, and produced a large amount of documentation including lists of missing people, anonymous burials in a cemetery in Rosario, and tens of criminal collaborators.
. These facts point to complicity and protection by many powerful interest (military, government officials, and some powerful businessmen such as Alberto Gollán
). On 1986-07-21, Feced was officially declared dead by the Military Hospital.
Many witnesses, survivors of the IS, claim to have seen Feced alive after that date. An admission book of the Ariston Hotel in Rosario, presented as evidence to the court by journalist Claudio de Luca, showed a signature with Feced's handwriting, dated 1988-07-29. Francisco Oyarzábal, brother of a murdered victim, reported that Feced had been seen alive in Paraguay
.
The investigation of the Intelligence Service case was archived in 1987 after the passing of the laws called Ley de Obediencia Debida
(Law of Due Obedience) and Ley de Punto Final
(Full Stop Law), during the presidency of Raúl Alfonsín
, which restricted the accountability for human rights abuses to the highest levels of the military hierarchy (who had been already tried) and put an end to ongoing criminal investigations into the lower levels.
On 1989-12-15 the Penal Federal Court of Rosario, without giving weight to the above inconsistencies, declared the case against Feced extinct (closed) due to his alleged death. The rest of the people involved in the crimes of the Intelligence Service were pardon
ed by decree of President Carlos Menem
in 1989–1990.
was in the city of Buenos Aires
. Though he was supposedly ill and senile, one of his former neighbors, interviewed by del Frade, contradicts this impression.
Within the San Antonio Cemetery in Formosa, in the area reserved for members of the Gendarmería, there is a grave with the name of Agustín Feced, and an announcement in the local newspaper La Mañana says that he was buried there the same day of his death, at 5:30 PM. The official records of the cemetery show only one person being buried there and then, and it is not Feced; but he does appear in an old notebook also found there. The unofficial record in the notebook was written by Ramón Giménez, Feced's son-in-law and then a top government official. Feced's coffin is sealed in the wall next to another one that dates from the mid-1990s, and almost 3 meters above the ground. According to the guardian of the cemetery, San Antonio did not have lifts for coffins "until a few years ago" (1999), and work hours are 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM, so Feced could not have been buried like that "unless [somebody] brought three ladders and a lot of people to get [the coffin] up there."
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
National Gendarmerie, and the head of the Police of the Province of Santa Fe
Santa Fe Province
The Invincible Province of Santa Fe, in Spanish Provincia Invencible de Santa Fe , is a province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco , Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Santiago del Estero...
for the city of Rosario
Rosario
Rosario is the largest city in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the western shore of the Paraná River and has 1,159,004 residents as of the ....
, during the Dirty War
Dirty War
The Dirty War was a period of state-sponsored violence in Argentina from 1976 until 1983. Victims of the violence included several thousand left-wing activists, including trade unionists, students, journalists, Marxists, Peronist guerrillas and alleged sympathizers, either proved or suspected...
. He was in charge of the 2nd Regional Police Corps, and he was also part of Intelligence Battalion 601
Batallón de Inteligencia 601
The Batallón de Inteligencia 601 was a special military intelligence service of the Argentine Army whose structure was set up in the late 1970s, active in the Dirty War and Operation Condor, and disbanded in 2000...
of the Argentine Army
Argentine Army
The Argentine Army is the land armed force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of the country.- History :...
since June 1974, before the beginning of the military dictatorship, in the last days of the presidency of Juan Perón
Juan Perón
Juan Domingo Perón was an Argentine military officer, and politician. Perón was three times elected as President of Argentina though he only managed to serve one full term, after serving in several government positions, including the Secretary of Labor and the Vice Presidency...
.
He was born in Acebal, Santa Fe
Acebal, Santa Fe
Acebal is a town in the south of the province of Santa Fe, Argentina, from Rosario and south of the provincial capital Santa Fe. It has 4,814 inhabitants per the ....
. He was officially declared dead in 1986 but this is disputed, it has been widely claimed that he was still alive after this date.
Between 1976 and 1979, and already under the dictatorship of the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional, Feced was the head of the Intelligence Service of the 2nd Corps, which doubled as an illegal detention center (the major one in the area, of a total of about 10). His office coordinated the repressive scheme in Rosario and its neighboring areas. People were kidnapped by squads and taken to the IS to be held and tortured. Feced is known to have taken part in the kidnappings, in torture sessions when the victim was for some reason interesting to him, and in the killings, which were often conducted in faraway locations and sometimes passed as fights between the police and armed terrorists. Two of Feced's foremost assistants in these crimes were José Rubén Lo Fiego and Mario Alfredo Marcote.
The Intelligence Service is now a memorial site called Centro Popular de la Memoria
Centro Popular de la Memoria
The Centro Popular de la Memoria is a former illegal detention center in Rosario, . It was used by the provincial police between 1976 and 1979, during the Dirty War, to hold people with no formal charges and torture them, under the pretense of fighting radical left-wing political subversion and...
(People's Memorial Center), preserved by an organization of victim's relatives.
Initial investigations
According to the extensive research conducted after the end of the Proceso, 720 people were "disappeared" in Santa Fe and 350 in Rosario. Feced, together with then-Commander of the 2nd Army Corps Leopoldo GaltieriLeopoldo Galtieri
Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri Castelli was an Argentine general and President of Argentina from December 22, 1981 to June 18, 1982, during the last military dictatorship . The death squad Intelligence Battalion 601 directly reported to him...
, is considered responsible for most of them. Before the closing of the case against him, Feced was accused of 270 crimes against humanity. Though Rosario had comparatively a smaller amount of "disappeared" people than other metropolitan areas, the proportion of those kidnapped that were set free from the detention centers and camps is also smaller, and there were many more victims of torture and murder.
The Supreme Council of the Armed Council started an investigation about Feced in 1983, and produced a large amount of documentation including lists of missing people, anonymous burials in a cemetery in Rosario, and tens of criminal collaborators.
Feced's cover-up and alleged death
This investigation took 3 years before it was passed on to the Federal Justice in Rosario. Feced was in theory to be in prison since the official opening of the case on 1984-01-31; later he was transferred by justice to the custody of the Military Hospital of Campo de Mayo (Buenos Aires). There he is claimed to have undergone heart surgery in 1985. At the time, though, he was in fact free in FormosaFormosa, Argentina
Formosa is the capital city of the Argentine province of Formosa, on the banks of the Paraguay River, about from Buenos Aires, on National Route 11. It has a population of about 210,000 as per the ....
. These facts point to complicity and protection by many powerful interest (military, government officials, and some powerful businessmen such as Alberto Gollán
Alberto Gollán
Alberto Gollán is an Argentine media businessman from Rosario, province of Santa Fe. He is the head of Televisión Litoral S.A., the largest media conglomerate in Argentina outside Buenos Aires, which includes the local TV channel Canal 3, and the radio stations LT2 , FM Vida, and Radio Cataratas....
). On 1986-07-21, Feced was officially declared dead by the Military Hospital.
Many witnesses, survivors of the IS, claim to have seen Feced alive after that date. An admission book of the Ariston Hotel in Rosario, presented as evidence to the court by journalist Claudio de Luca, showed a signature with Feced's handwriting, dated 1988-07-29. Francisco Oyarzábal, brother of a murdered victim, reported that Feced had been seen alive in Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
.
The investigation of the Intelligence Service case was archived in 1987 after the passing of the laws called Ley de Obediencia Debida
Ley de Obediencia Debida
Ley de Obediencia Debida was a law passed by the National Congress of Argentina after the end of the military dictatorship of the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional . Formally, this law is referred to by number Ley de Obediencia Debida (Spanish, Law of Due Obedience) was a law passed by the...
(Law of Due Obedience) and Ley de Punto Final
Ley de Punto Final
Ley de Punto Final was a law passed by the National Congress of Argentina after the end of the military dictatorship of the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional . Formally, this law is referred to by number Ley de Punto Final (Spanish, roughly translated Full Stop Law) was a law passed by the...
(Full Stop Law), during the presidency of Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín was an Argentine lawyer, politician and statesman, who served as the President of Argentina from December 10, 1983, to July 8, 1989. Alfonsín was the first democratically-elected president of Argentina following the military government known as the National Reorganization...
, which restricted the accountability for human rights abuses to the highest levels of the military hierarchy (who had been already tried) and put an end to ongoing criminal investigations into the lower levels.
On 1989-12-15 the Penal Federal Court of Rosario, without giving weight to the above inconsistencies, declared the case against Feced extinct (closed) due to his alleged death. The rest of the people involved in the crimes of the Intelligence Service were pardon
Pardon
Clemency means the forgiveness of a crime or the cancellation of the penalty associated with it. It is a general concept that encompasses several related procedures: pardoning, commutation, remission and reprieves...
ed by decree of President Carlos Menem
Carlos Menem
Carlos Saúl Menem is an Argentine politician who was President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. He is currently an Argentine National Senator for La Rioja Province.-Early life:...
in 1989–1990.
Del Frade's research
Research conducted by journalist Carlos del Frade since 1999, and published in 2002, shows that Feced's last recorded domicileDomicile (law)
In law, domicile is the status or attribution of being a permanent resident in a particular jurisdiction. A person can remain domiciled in a jurisdiction even after they have left it, if they have maintained sufficient links with that jurisdiction or have not displayed an intention to leave...
was in the city of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
. Though he was supposedly ill and senile, one of his former neighbors, interviewed by del Frade, contradicts this impression.
Within the San Antonio Cemetery in Formosa, in the area reserved for members of the Gendarmería, there is a grave with the name of Agustín Feced, and an announcement in the local newspaper La Mañana says that he was buried there the same day of his death, at 5:30 PM. The official records of the cemetery show only one person being buried there and then, and it is not Feced; but he does appear in an old notebook also found there. The unofficial record in the notebook was written by Ramón Giménez, Feced's son-in-law and then a top government official. Feced's coffin is sealed in the wall next to another one that dates from the mid-1990s, and almost 3 meters above the ground. According to the guardian of the cemetery, San Antonio did not have lifts for coffins "until a few years ago" (1999), and work hours are 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM, so Feced could not have been buried like that "unless [somebody] brought three ladders and a lot of people to get [the coffin] up there."