Part I
The Repression

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

J. Questionnaires sent to former officials 
of the de facto governmenth

Once the work of this Commission was well advanced it was decided to send out lengthy questionnaires to those former State officials who, because of the positions they held in the command of the Armed Forces or Security Forces of the de facto government, or in the carrying out of operations, could be expected to have the information necessary to answer such questions.

The decision to send out the questionnaires was prompted by the clear knowledge of the members of the Commission of 

- The difficulties involved in locating the where abouts of the disappeared persons and by their requiring information regarding:

- The criteria used by the joint Forces in interpreting and implementing the instruction to 'neutralize and/or annihilate the action of subversive elements' contained in Decrees No. 261/76 and 2772/75, and also the principles which served to legitimize the methods used in the so-called anti-subversive struggle.

-The objective criteria used to decide who should be arrested. 

-The list of places where these were held and the authorities responsible for their administration and custody.

-The special arrangements made for the disposal of the remains of those who died and the identification of the judicial authority acting in each case.

-The decisions regarding the form of the documentation relating to the orders, execution and outcome of operations and the uses to which it was put, and regarding the computing centre which processed this information.

In addition to the other measures taken by the Commission to investigate thousands of depositions on the disappearance of people, the questionnaire was used to obtain any further information which could help in the task assigned to us.

Replies to the questionnaires were requested through the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of the Interior by Decrees No. 2107/84 from the following members of the Military Junta and Presidency; Ministers of the Interior and Chiefs of Staff of the three branches of the Armed Forces; Commanders of the Army; Chiefs of the Intelligence Services; Chiefs of the Argentine Federal Police; of the Gendarmería, of the Argentine Naval Prefecture and others:

-Lieutenant-General Jorge R. Videla 
-Admiral Emilio E. Massera 
-Brigadier General Orlando R. Agosti 
-Lieutenant-General Roberto E. Viola 
-Admiral Armando Lambruschini 
-Brigadier General Omar D. Graffigna 
-Lieutenant-General Leopoldo F. Galtieri 
-Admiral Jorge I. Anaya
-Brigadier General Basilio A. I. Lami Dozo 
-Lieutenant-General Cristino Nicolaides 
-Admiral Rubén O. Franco
-Brigadier General Augusto H. Hughes 
-Lieutenant-General Reynaldo B. Bignone 
-Brigadier Alberto A. Valin
-Brigadier Alfredo Sotera
-Brigadier Eduardo R. Ojeda 
-Major-General Juan B. Sasiaiñ 
-Major-General Luis S. Martella 
-Rear-Admiral Pedro A. Santamaría 
-Rear-Admiral José M. Suppicich 
-Rear-Admiral Salvio, O. Menéndez 
-Brigadier Carlos E. Laidlaw 
-Brigadier Carlos A. Dalla Tea 
-Brigadier Humberto F. Santiago 
-Major-General Antonio D. Bussi 
-Brigadier Juan M. Bayon 
-Major-General Osvaldo J. Garcia 
-Brigadier Raúl J. Ortiz 
-Major-General Mario A. Piotti 
-Brigadier Julio C. Ruiz
-Colonel Roberto Roualdes 
-Vice-Admiral Rubén J. Chamorro 
-Rear-Admiral Horacio Zaratiegui 
-Colonel Mohamed A. Seineldin 
-Lieutenant Alfredo Astiz 
-Captain Jorge Perren
-General Santiago O. Riveros 
-General Ramón J. Camps 
-General Fernando Vertplaetsen 
-General Jorge Carlos Olivera Rovere 
-General Ibérico Saint Jean 
-General Acdel Vilas
-General Ernesto Trotz 
-General Federico Minicucci

There were a few cases in which no answer was forthcoming, and none of the replies received by this Commission have been of use in clarifying the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of people or in helping to trace them.