Part I
The Repression

Nunca Más (Never Again) - Report of Conadep  - 1984
 

Disappearance and death of Ricardo Adrián Pérez and María G. Esther Cubas de Pérez (file N°. 32)

I am the father of Ricardo Adrián Pérez, Argentinian, born on 31 August 1950, who lived with his wife in Santo Tomé in Sante Fe province. On 23 April 1977 I had a phone call from an uncle of Ricardo's ...

My son and his wife had been arrested by the intelligence services of Buenos Aires province, backed by military personnel in the uniform of the 121st Artillery Corps, Area 212 of the city of Santa Fe.

I presented a writ of habeas corpus, and for legal reasons this was transferred to the Federal judge of Santa Fe, Dr Mantaras. On 30 August 1977 I appeared at the court, where I was informed of the reply sent by the authorities of 121st Corps, which read: 'Santa Fe, 10 August 1977. To the Federal Judge of the city of Santa Fe: in the secret proceedings on the claim for habeas corpus for Pérez, Ricardo Adrián (file No.483/77),

I inform you that the arrest of the afore-mentioned was carried out at the request of the military authorities (La Plata area, Buenos Aires province), for presumed links with subversive activities. His transfer was carried out by detective staff of the city of La Plata, members of the Buenos Aires Provincial Police Force.' On 21 December 1978 I received a phone call from the federal police (Identifications Section), asking whether Ricardo A. Pérez lived in my house. I answered yes, that I was his father. They told me that he had had an accident on Provincial Highway No. 12 in the province of La Pampa, 20 kilometres from C. Baron. There was a completely burnt-out Fiat 125, with the remains of two people, one male and one female, who could not be identified after the effects of the fire. I went to the scene of the accident. We spoke to the police there and they thought it suspicious, since the identity card had been thrown to one side of the car so that it would not burn and the car seemed to have been deliberately set alight by the murderers. It was 6.30 in the morning. The remains were left at the General Pico morgue with no names.

From the official evidence collected by the Commission it emerges that Ricardo Adrián Pérez and María C. Esther Cubas de Pérez were arrested by military personnel on 21 April 1977 and handed over to the Detective Division of the Buenos Aires Police on 23 April 1977.

The deposition relating these events was presented to the federal judicial authorities on 1 August 1984, and presented before court 2 In Buenos Aires city.