Over three months ago, Jorge Julio López, a witness against Etchecolatz, a former police chief who was found guilty of crimes against humanity in Argentina, "disappeared." There have been no news of his whereabouts since then. This tuesday, Luis Gerez, a mason who was a key witness against Luis Abelardo Patti, also disappeared. Patti was elected to the Argentine Congress and Gerez testified in a Congressional hearing about whether Patti should be allowed to take his seat in Congress. Gerez testified that he had been the subject of a forced disappearance as a teenager and that he had recognized Patti as one of his torturers. Gerez, as well as other lawyers and witnesses, had received threats.
The Argentine security forces used forced disappearances during the 1970's as a weapon of generalized terror. It was very effective, so it's no surprise that with the threat of finally having to face justice for their crimes against humanity, they would return to their old practices. The system behind the disappearances was never completely dismantled, in particular in the intelligence sector, and many of the responsible were not identified, much less punished for their deeds.
The disappearances and threats are meant to stop the prosecutions of members of the security forces, by intimidating those responsible and sending a clear message of what will happen to witnesses. It is incumbent on the Argentine democratic government to use all the resources of the state to identify those responsible for this terror apparatus and make them face justice, as well as to dismiss from public and military posts all those who took part in the repression.