Former Argentine president Raul Alfonsin, who led the country on its long-awaited return to democracy after the bloody 1976-1983 military dictatorship, has died from cancer at the age of 82.
Alfonsin’s doctor, Alberto Sadler, said the former leader had lung cancer that spread to his bones and had developed pneumonia last weekend before he died on Tuesday.
The mustachioed Alfonsin, who became a symbol of Argentina’s transition to democracy, was elected in October 1983 following the collapse of the military regime in the wake of the Falklands War of April 1982.
PHOTO: EPA
“The figure [of Alfonsin] is inextricably linked to the restoration of democracy after a very tragic dictatorship,” Argentine President Cristina Kirchner said in London, where she was to participate in yesterday’s G20 summit.
“He was a strict man who defended his beliefs and that is something very valuable,” said Kirchner, who will not be in Buenos Aires for the wake and burial of the Social Democratic leader.
Her administration has ordered three days of national mourning for Alfonsin.
Alfonsin’s center-left government steered Argentina through an economic depression that saw inflation hit 400 percent in 1983.
He slowly and cautiously dismantled the military’s political power structure and created the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons to record human rights abuses that took place under the previous military leadership, which had ruled the country with an iron grip.
Annulling the blanket amnesty his predecessor Reynaldo Bignone granted those guilty of human rights abuses in the past regime, Alfonsin sponsored the Trial of the Juntas that culminated in December 1985 with life sentences for former president Jorge Videla and former Navy chief Emilio Massera.
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners of war in the latest such swap that saw the release of hundreds of captives and was brokered with the help of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), officials said on Monday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that 189 Ukrainian prisoners, including military personnel, border guards and national guards — along with two civilians — were freed. He thanked the UAE for helping negotiate the exchange. The Russian Ministry of Defense said that 150 Russian troops were freed from captivity as part of the exchange in which each side released 150 people. The reason for the discrepancy in numbers
A shark attack off Egypt’s Red Sea coast killed a tourist and injured another, authorities said on Sunday, with an Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs source identifying both as Italian nationals. “Two foreigners were attacked by a shark in the northern Marsa Alam area, which led to the injury of one and the death of the other,” the Egyptian Ministry of Environment said in a statement. A source at the Italian foreign ministry said that the man killed was a 48-year-old resident of Rome. The injured man was 69 years old. They were both taken to hospital in Port Ghalib, about 50km north
The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Poland on Tuesday expressed concern about “the political crisis” in Georgia, two days after Mikheil Kavelashvili was formally inaugurated as president of the South Caucasus nation, cementing the ruling party’s grip in what the opposition calls a blow to the country’s EU aspirations and a victory for former imperial ruler Russia. “We strongly condemn last week’s violence against peaceful protesters, media and opposition leaders, and recall Georgian authorities’ responsibility to respect human rights and protect fundamental freedoms, including the freedom to assembly and media freedom,” the three ministers wrote in a joint statement. In reaction
BARRIER BLAME: An aviation expert questioned the location of a solid wall past the end of the runway, saying that it was ‘very bad luck for this particular airplane’ A team of US investigators, including representatives from Boeing, on Tuesday examined the site of a plane crash that killed 179 people in South Korea, while authorities were conducting safety inspections on all Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by the country’s airlines. All but two of the 181 people aboard the Boeing 737-800 operated by South Korean budget airline Jeju Air died in Sunday’s crash. Video showed the aircraft, without its landing gear deployed, crash-landed on its belly and overshoot a runaway at Muan International Airport before it slammed into a barrier and burst into flames. The plane was seen having engine trouble.
RSS