Astiz, Alfredo

(c. 1951– )

   Known as “the Blond Angel of Death.” A navy lieutenant and the leader of a “death squad” that brought suspected subversives to the Escuela Mecánica de la Armada (ESMA), or Navy Mechanics School, an infamous torture and detention center active during the “dirty war” in Argentina. The squad was a unit of the navy task force GT-3/32. He had several aliases—“Angel,” “El rubio,” “Blondie,” “Crow,” “Eduardo Escudero,” and “Gustavo Niño.” He used his boyish good looks to infiltrate the Madres de Plaza de Mayo (Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo), a human-rights group formed by women in search of their missing children and grandchildren. Joining in 1977 under the name Gustavo Niño and pretending to be in search of a real missing person, he betrayed about a dozen members and supporters, who were kidnapped by his squad and never seen alive again. Among them were two French nuns, Sister Alice Domon and Sister Leonie Duquet, whose bodies were discovered two months later.

   After the return to civilian government, he was accused of the murder of the two nuns as well as that of Dagmar Hagelin, a 17- year-old Swedish girl. (His boss, Jorge Eduardo Acosta, ordered the killing.) None of these victims was associated with any terrorist activity. He escaped trial and punishment, however, benefiting from the controversial amnesty law Obediencia Debida (Due Obedience), which exonerated junior officers. But because several of his victims were international citizens, other countries have taken an interest in prosecuting him. In 1990 a French court sentenced him to life in prison in absentia for the murder of Sisters Domon and Duquet. Astiz was cashiered from the navy in 1998 for remarks he made in an interview published in the magazine Tres Puntos. (An English translation of the interview appeared in Harper’s.) Astiz told the journalist, Gabriela Cerruti, that torture was not in his job description but that he would have tortured if the navy had asked him to do so. He also claimed to be the best-trained man in Argentina to kill a politician or journalist who provoked the military. The comments outraged President Carlos Saúl Menem, who asked the navy to punish Astiz.

   In 2001 Italy sought his extradition, charging him with the abduction, torture, and disappearance of three Italian citizens—Angela Maria Aieta and Giovanni and Susanna Pegoraro. Argentina refused to extradite him. On 14 March 2007 an Italian court sentenced him and four other officers, including Acosta, to life in prison in absentia for the murders. He is also wanted in Spain and Sweden and could face prosecution in Argentina—the amnesty laws that shielded him and other officers have since been struck down by the Supreme Court.