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Ramón Juan Alberto Camps (25 January 1927 – 22 August 1994) was an
Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...
general and the head of the Buenos Aires Provincial Police during the
National Reorganization Process The National Reorganization Process ( PRN; often simply , "the Process") was the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. In Argentina it is often known simply as the ("last military junta"), ("last military dictatorship") ...
(1976–1983), or, the military dictatorship. 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 j ...
ed.


Illegal detention centers and kidnappings

Camps, then a colonel, led the police of
Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires, officially the Buenos Aires Province, is the largest and most populous Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province an ...
between April 1976 and December 1977, and oversaw twenty illegal detention centers. During those twenty months, he was responsible for 214 extorsive
kidnapping Kidnapping or abduction is the unlawful abduction and confinement of a person against their will, and is a crime in many jurisdictions. Kidnapping may be accomplished by use of force or fear, or a victim may be enticed into confinement by frau ...
s, 120 cases of
torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...
, 32
homicide Homicide is an act in which a person causes the death of another person. A homicide requires only a Volition (psychology), volitional act, or an omission, that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from Accident, accidenta ...
s, two
rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...
s, two
miscarriage Miscarriage, also known in medical terms as a spontaneous abortion, is an end to pregnancy resulting in the loss and expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the womb before it can fetal viability, survive independently. Miscarriage before 6 weeks ...
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 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 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 certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as ...
in 2006, after the laws were repealed. The Catholic priest Cristian Von Wernich, former police
chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...
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 Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...
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 disappearance An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person with the support or acquiescence of a State (polity), state followed by a refusal to acknowledge the person's fate or whereabouts with the i ...
s, 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) served as the 50th president of Argentina for ten years, from 1989 to 1999. He identified as Peronism, Peronist, serving as President of the Justicialist Party for 13 years (from 1990 to 200 ...
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 Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...
and
communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...
, as well as appearing as a commentator in the news show ''60 Minutos'' during the
Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...
(1982). Together with First Army Corps Commander Guillermo Suárez Mason 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, or NATO spelling counter-insurgency) 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 ac ...
forces in
Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...
. Upon the return of democratic rule, Camps, who was seen wrote articles for the
far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...
nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...
-
Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
magazine '' Cabildo'', and published a book on businessman David Graiver and about "the Zionist danger". Jacobo Timerman described him as a
Neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...
. Camps died of
prostate cancer Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...
on August 22, 1994, at the Military Hospital of Buenos Aires.


See also

*
Military of Argentina The Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic () are the combined armed forces of Argentina. It is controlled by the Commander-in-Chief (the President) and a civilian Minister of Defense. In addition to the Army, Navy and Air Force, there are two ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Camps, Ramon 1927 births 1994 deaths Operatives of the Dirty War Antisemitism in Argentina Argentine anti-Zionists Argentine neo-Nazis 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 Police officers convicted of crimes against humanity