A San Martín court declared that the execution of 12 men committed in José León Suárez in 1956 and depicted in journalist Rodolfo Walsh’s non-fiction novel Operación Masacre was a crime against humanity at the hands of the Argentine state.
The ruling by Judge Alicia Vence was read on Monday during a “truth trial” carried out 70 years after the massacre. While the process does not carry criminal convictions, it serves as a way to bring symbolic justice and reparation to the victims and their families.
Of the 12 men who were shot by a police squad in the early hours of June 10, 1956, five died on the spot. Out of the seven survivors, only one lives to this day — 94-year-old Juan Carlos Livraga, who exiled to the United States shortly after the tragic event and was not present at the hearings due to poor health.
Crimes against humanity
Judge Vence ruled that the Argentine state was responsible for planning, carrying out and covering up not only the five killings and attempted murder of the remaining seven victims, but also an illegal search of the two homes where most of the victims were gathering at on the night of June 9, aggravated false imprisonment, and abuse of authority.
