Ramón Juan Alberto Camps (25 January 1927 – 22 August 1994) was an
Argentine
Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...
general and the head of the
Buenos Aires Provincial Police during the
National Reorganization Process
The National Reorganization Process (Spanish: ''Proceso de Reorganización Nacional'', often simply ''el Proceso'', "the Process") was the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983, in which it was supported by the United Sta ...
(1976–1983). Although he was found guilty of multiple crimes, he was first
amnestied and then
pardon
A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...
ed.
Illegal detention centers and kidnappings
Camps, then a colonel, led the police of
Buenos Aires Province
Buenos Aires (), officially the Buenos Aires Province (''Provincia de Buenos Aires'' ), is the largest and most populous Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of th ...
between April 1976 and December 1977, and oversaw twenty
illegal detention centers.
During those twenty months, he was responsible for 214 extorsive
kidnapping
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 p ...
s, 120 cases of
torture, 32
homicide
Homicide occurs when a person kills another person. A homicide requires only a volitional act or omission that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from accidental, reckless, or negligent acts even if there is no inten ...
s, two
rapes, two
miscarriage
Miscarriage, also known in medical terms as a spontaneous abortion and pregnancy loss, is the death of an embryo or fetus before it is able to survive independently. Miscarriage before 6 weeks of gestation is defined by ESHRE as biochemical lo ...
s caused by torture, 18 acts of theft, and the appropriation (for illegal adoption) of 10 minors.
[Terra Actualidad, 18 March 2006]
Ramón Camps: el peor de todos
Camps led the operation known as the
Night of the Pencils, in September 1976, on which 10 students suspected of being
Montoneros
Montoneros ( es, link=no, Movimiento Peronista Montonero-MPM) was an Argentine left-wing Peronist guerrilla organization, active throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. The name is an allusion to the 19th-century cavalry militias called Montoner ...
were kidnapped, tortured, and killed or released months or years later. He was also responsible for the kidnapping, torture and confinement of journalist
Jacobo Timerman, who published the
left-leaning newspaper
''La Opinión''. Timerman was eventually released and deported in 1979, as the military command caved in to international pressure.
Prison sentence and amnesty
In December 1986, three years after the end of the dictatorship, he was sentenced to a 25-year term in prison, but he benefited from the amnesty granted to all but the higher officials by the
law of Due Obedience
The Law of Due Obedience ( es, Ley de obediencia debida) was a law passed by the National Congress of Argentina after the end of the military dictatorship of the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional (which started with a coup d'état in 1976 and e ...
and the
full stop law). His second-in-command,
Miguel Etchecolatz, was also tried and granted these benefits, but was sentenced to a life term for
crimes against humanity
Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...
in 2006, after the laws were repealed. The Catholic priest
Cristian Von Wernich Christian Federico von Wernich (born 27 May 1938 in Concordia, Entre Ríos Province) is an Argentine Roman Catholic priest and a former chaplain of the Buenos Aires Province Police while it was under the command of General Ramón Camps, during the ...
, former police
chaplain
A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...
and Camps' personal
confessor, was convicted in 2007 of multiple counts of homicide, torture and kidnapping; he also received a life sentence.
Camps was initially to be let free because, given the precarious stability achieved in 1983, the democratic government of President
Raúl Alfonsín had focused on the nine commanders of the juntas, who
were tried and sentenced on the understanding that they were to take the blame for all the crimes committed under their rule. Camps, however, had publicly acknowledged his responsibility in
human rights abuses of such nature that he brought justice on himself. The former police chief told ''
Clarín'', in 1984, that he had used torture as a method of interrogation and orchestrated 5,000
forced disappearances, and justified the appropriation of newborns from their imprisoned mothers "because subversive parents will raise subversive children".
Camps enjoyed an effective amnesty as a result of the two "Pardon Laws", which limited the responsibility for most crimes of the dictatorship to the top of the command chain and voided further investigations. The rest of the case against him was voided, as with other military and police officers, by the series of pardons granted by President
Carlos Menem
Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. Ideologically, he identified as a Peronist and supported economically liberal policies. H ...
in 1989 and 1990.
Public activities following amnesty
After retiring from the police command, Camps appeared frequently in the media to speak against Timerman,
Judaism and
communism, as well as appearing as a commentator in the news show ''60 Minutos'' during the
Falklands War
The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...
(1982). Together with First Army Corps Commander
Guillermo Suárez Mason Carlos Guillermo Suárez Mason (January 2, 1924 – June 21, 2005) was an Argentine military officer convicted for Dirty War crimes during the 1976–1983 military dictatorship. He was in charge of the Batallón de Inteligencia 601.
Biography ...
he set up a company called SCA, ostensibly a coffee and fruit trader, but in fact only a facade for an arms company, which sold weapons to
counter-insurgency
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 revolutionar ...
forces in
Central America.
Upon the return of democratic rule, Camps wrote articles for the
far-right
Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...
nationalist-
Catholic magazine ''
Cabildo'', and published a book on financist
David Graiver
David Graiver (1941 — 1976) was an Argentine businessman and banker who was investigated in the 1970s for alleged money laundering of US$17 million for the Montoneros, a leftist guerrilla group. He was indicted for embezzlement after his repor ...
and about "the Zionist danger".
[Jorge Saborido, 2004]
Antisemitism in the recent Argentine History: the Cabildo Magazine and the Jew conspiracy
.
Camps died of
prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...
on August 22, 1994, at the Military Hospital of Buenos Aires.
See also
*
Military of Argentina
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Camps, Ramon
1927 births
1994 deaths
Operatives of the Dirty War
Argentine generals
Argentine police officers convicted of murder
Argentine people convicted of crimes against humanity
Recipients of Argentine presidential pardons
Deaths from cancer in Argentina
Place of birth missing
Police officers convicted of crimes against humanity