Carlos Guillermo Suárez Mason (January 2, 1924 – June 21, 2005) was an
Argentine military officer convicted for
Dirty War
The Dirty War ( es, Guerra sucia) is the name used by the military junta or civic-military dictatorship of Argentina ( es, dictadura cívico-militar de Argentina, links=no) for the period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983 as ...
crimes during the 1976–1983
military dictatorship. He was in charge of the
Batallón de Inteligencia 601
The Batallón de Inteligencia 601 (Spanish for "601 Intelligence Battalion") 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 disband ...
.
Biography
Born in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
, he enrolled at the
National War College in 1944, and took an interest in national politics before his 1948 graduation. A magnetic and charismatic figure, he was involved at that time in several liaisons with prominent women, through whom he invariably furthered his interests; he took little or no interest, however, in the children reported at that time to have been fathered by him. Suárez Mason took part in a failed military coup against the populist President
Juan Perón in 1951. He was forced to retreat to
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
, and later collaborated with the
overthrow of Perón in 1955. He was received back in Buenos Aires with honours following the coup's success on September 19.
[''La Nación'': Falleció ayer el ex general Suárez Mason]
Suárez Mason taught at the School of Higher War Studies, and rose in rank, becoming a
military attaché to the Argentine Embassy in
Ecuador
Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...
in 1971, and a director of military intelligence in 1972. He was attached to the ''
Operativo Independencia
Operativo Independencia ("Operation Independence") was a 1975 Argentine military operation in Tucumán Province to crush the People's Revolutionary Army (ERP), a Guevarist guerrilla group which tried to create a Vietnam-style war front in the no ...
''
counterinsurgency
Counterinsurgency (COIN) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the activities of guerrillas or revolutionari ...
mission in 1975, and upon the
March 1976 coup against President
Isabel Perón, was appointed Commander of the First Army Corps, a unit whose principal duty was to garrison the capital.
[
During the subsequent dictatorship, Suárez Mason had purview over a number of the most notorious detention centers (among the over 300 such facilities that led to the disappearance of between 8,000 and 30,000 people. Those under his command included ''Automotores Orletti'', '' Pozo de Banfield'', ''La Cacha'', and ''El Olimpo''. He also supervised ]Policía Bonaerense
The Buenos Aires Provincial Police (Spanish: ''Policía de la Provincia de Buenos Aires'', informally ''Policía Bonaerense'') is the police service responsible for policing the Province of Buenos Aires, in Argentina.
It is one of the biggest pol ...
Chief Ramón Camps
Ramón Juan Alberto Camps (25 January 1927 – 22 August 1994) was an Argentine general and the head of the Buenos Aires Provincial Police during the National Reorganization Process (1976–1983). Although he was found guilty of multiple crim ...
, as well as Army Intelligence Battalion 601, which carried out numerous extortion
Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, ...
s and kidnappings
In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/ asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the ...
for ransom.[Andersen, Martin. ''Dossier secreto.'' Westview Press, 1993.]
He financed '' Cabildo'', a far-right Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
publication known at the time for its espousal of antisemitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
, and relaunched the previously banned publication. Suárez Mason earned a reputation as a hard-line figure in the regime, particularly after steps toward political liberalization began in 1979, and fell out of favor with the president, General Jorge Videla
Jorge Rafael Videla (; ; 2 August 1925 – 17 May 2013) was an Argentine military officer and dictator, Commander in Chief of the Army, member of the Military Junta, and ''de facto'' President of Argentina from 29 March 1976 to 29 March 1981. ...
, after the latter's cancellation of ''Operation Soberanía
Operación Soberanía (Operation Sovereignty) was a planned Argentine military invasion of Chile due to the Beagle conflict. The invasion was initiated on 22 December 1978 but was halted after a few hours and Argentine forces retreated from the co ...
'' (the aborted 1978 invasion of neighboring Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
, at the height of the Beagle Conflict
The Beagle conflict was a border dispute between Chile and Argentina over the possession of Picton, Lennox and Nueva islands and the scope of the maritime jurisdiction associated with those islands that brought the countries to the brink of war i ...
).[
Suárez Mason was relieved of his post at the First Army Corps in January 1980, and made Chairman of the Joint Military Chiefs. He oversaw Argentine tactical support for the July 1980 " Cocaine Coup" in Bolivia, and later chaired the Latin American chapter of the ]World Anti-Communist League
The World League for Freedom and Democracy (WLFD) is an international non-governmental organization of anti-communist politicians and groups. It was founded in 1952 as the World Anti-Communist League (WACL) under the initiative of Chiang Kai-sh ...
. He was appointed Director of the state oil concern, YPF
YPF S.A. (, formerly ; English: "Fiscal Oilfields") is a vertically integrated, majority state-owned Argentine energy company, engaged in oil and gas exploration and production, and the transportation, refining, and marketing of gas and petr ...
, by President Leopoldo Galtieri in December 1981, and in 1983, at the end of his tenure, the company recorded a US$6 billion annual loss (the largest in the world at the time). Subsequent investigations revealed that large quantities of fuel had been pirated from YPF by Suárez Mason through ''Sol Petróleo'', a dummy corporation
A dummy corporation, dummy company, or false company is an entity created to serve as a front or cover for one or more companies. It can have the appearance of being real (logo, website, and sometimes employing actual staff), but lacks the capacit ...
; the latter entity made Suárez Mason a wealthy man, and was used by him to divert funds to the Contras,[Méndez, Juan. ''Truth and Partial Justice in Argentina.'' Human Rights Watch, 1991.] as well as to the fascist organization, P2 (to which he belonged).[''Clarín'': Murió el represor Suárez Mason]
Following the 1983 return to democracy, an arrest warrant was issued for Suárez Mason. He fled to the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
with a false passport, however, and took up residence in Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
. He was stripped of rank and ordered arrested by President Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín (12 March 1927 – 31 March 2009) was an Argentine lawyer and statesman who served as President of Argentina from 10 December 1983 to 8 July 1989. He was the first democratically elected president after more than ...
on charges related to a putative 1985 plot to overthrow the democratic government.[ Pursuant to an ]Interpol
The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...
order, however, he was arrested in Foster City, California
Foster City is a city located in San Mateo County, California. The 2020 census put the population at 33,805, an increase of more than 10% over the 2010 census figure of 30,567. Foster City is sometimes considered to be part of Silicon Valley ...
in January 1987, and on May 9, 1988, extradited to Buenos Aires to face charges of murdering 43 people and kidnapping a further 23, including newborn babies. Convicted for these crimes, he was pardoned by President Carlos Menem in 1990, and fled to California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
. He was again extradited in 1995, and was prosecuted by Luis Moreno Ocampo
Luis Moreno OcampoMoreno Ocampo's surnames are often hyphenated in English-language media to mark Moreno as a surname, not a given name. (born 4 June 1952) is an Argentine lawyer who served as the first Prosecutor of the International Criminal Co ...
on charges of crimes against humanity for the kidnapping of minors.[ He was later placed under house arrest, and in 2000, was condemned to life imprisonment in absentia by Italian courts for the murder of eight ]Italian Argentine
Italian Argentines ( it, italo-argentini; es, ítalo-argentinos, or ''tanos'' in Rioplatense Spanish) are Italian-born people (born in Argentina or Italy) or non-Italian citizens of Italian descent residing in Argentina. Italian is the largest ...
s.''Clarín'': Condenaron a prisión perpetua en Italia a Suárez Mason y Riveros
Although prisoners aged over 70 are usually kept under house arrest in Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
, he would be reimprisoned in 2004 after abusing the terms of his detention. Suárez Mason developed upper gastrointestinal bleed
Upper gastrointestinal bleeding is gastrointestinal bleeding in the upper gastrointestinal tract, commonly defined as bleeding arising from the esophagus, stomach, or duodenum. Blood may be observed in vomit or in altered form as black stool. Dep ...
, and died at age 81 at the Military Hospital in Buenos Aires. He had been awaiting the hearing of charges related to 200 kidnappings, 30 murders and the sale of the babies of political prisoners during the military dictatorship of 1976-83 in which he was a central figure.[
]
References
* ''The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
'', 23 June 2005
General Guillermo Suarez Mason: Hardest of the hard in the Argentine military dictatorship of 1976-83
{{DEFAULTSORT:Suarez Mason
1924 births
2005 deaths
People from Buenos Aires
Argentine people of Spanish descent
Argentine generals
Argentine anti-communists
Argentine people convicted of murder
Operatives of the Dirty War
Argentine prisoners and detainees
Prisoners and detainees of Argentina
People extradited from the United States
People extradited to Argentina
Recipients of Argentine presidential pardons
Burials at La Chacarita Cemetery
People convicted of kidnapping
Argentine expatriates in Uruguay
Argentine expatriates in the United States