Word: alfonsin
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...sort of electoral verdict that sitting Presidents dread. In balloting that is certain to complicate the life of Argentine President Raul Alfonsin between now and the end of his six-year term in 1989, the opposition Peronists captured 16 of the 21 governorships at stake and swept away the ruling Radical Civic Union's absolute majority in the 254-seat lower house of Congress. The Radicals now hold 117 seats, the Peronists an unnerving...
...populist dictator's Peronist Party and its trade union ally, the General Confederation of Labor, attended a Mass of mourning last week. Distraught Peronistas cried in one another's arms. Some held up posters that read YOUR HANDS ARE THE HANDS OF THE PEOPLE. The government of President Raul Alfonsin, which only two months ago survived a military uprising, blamed "rightist" elements bent on destabilizing the country's young democracy for the theft...
...four Argentine cities one morning last week. No one was injured, and no one claimed responsibility, but Vice President Victor Martinez blasted both "the extreme left and the ultra-right." Both sides, he said, had trampled on the "state of rights" that Argentines have enjoyed since 1983, when Raul Alfonsin became the country's first elected President after almost eight years of military dictatorship...
...fairly certain. A day earlier, the five- member Supreme Court had upheld a law granting immunity to about 200 military officers accused of committing human rights abuses during the "dirty war" waged by the military against suspected leftists between 1976 and 1979. Under the law, which was signed by Alfonsin in early June, only about 50 Argentines, including former top government officials, military commanders and police chiefs, are subject to prosecution for crimes, such as murder, kidnaping and torture, that were carried out during the period. The law in effect grants amnesty to hundreds of lower-ranking officers...
...President claimed that amnesty is necessary to avert a civil war, but human rights groups were incensed. Bristled Lawyer Marcello Parrilli: "The bill guarantees the impunity of people who committed atrocious crimes." Alfonsin's action, though, recognizes the enduring power of the military and Argentina's tenuous grip on democracy...