 | |
| Author | Ceferino Reato |
|---|---|
| Language | Spanish |
| Subject | Jorge Rafael Videla |
| Genre | Interview |
| Publication place | Argentina |
Disposición Final (English:Final disposal) is a 2012 Argentine non-fiction book byCeferino Reato. It contains a long interview withJorge Rafael Videla, de facto president of Argentina during theNational Reorganization Process, and sentenced to life imprisonment forhuman rights violations. Videla detailed the reasons and procedures of the military government, and Reato provided the historical context.
Ceferino Reato visitedCampo de Mayo to interview a former military held prisoner at that place. He had a casual meeting withJorge Rafael Videla, who was also held in Campo de Mayo. Reato asked him some questions, but Videla invited him to run a full interview. The interviews were complicated by the ban on entering the cells with electronic devices, such as recorders, so Reato had to take notes manually.[1]
Videla justified theforced disappearances of the military dictatorship by rejecting the alternatives. He said that members ofMontoneros andERP could not be held in prison, as that was the policy followed by theArgentine Revolution military government, and all the prisoners were pardoned byHéctor José Cámpora and returned to their groups. He did not consider that public trials ending in adeath penalty could be a feasible option either, citing the international repercussions of a similar trial by the Spanish government ofFrancisco Franco againstETA members.[2]
The journalistHoracio Verbitsky considered that Videla's admission was positive, and downplayed the difference between the number offorced disappearances given by Videla and the more common figure of 30,000 people disappeared during the State terrorism, saying "Perhaps he spoke of 7/8 thousand while there were 15, 20, or 30 thousand. The quantity isn't important. What is so important is the fact that he has confessed that the disappeared have been, in reality, murdered. He was, finally, obligated to tell the truth."[3]