Thousands march for missing man in Argentina

Thousands of protesters marched through Buenos Aires demanding Argentinian authorities solve the case of a missing man.

Jorge Julio Lopez disappeared a year ago after testifying in a criminal trial stemming from dictatorship-era abuses.

Lopez, a 77-year-old construction worker who was tortured during the 1976-83 military regime, vanished on September 18, 2006.

Family members believe he was kidnapped in reprisal for his testimony against former police chief Miguel Etchecolatz, who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison the next day.

Yesterday, about 10,000 people walked to the Government House in the capital, holding banners reading: “One year later: we demand Julio Lopez back alive!”

Similar rallies were held across the country.

Some criticised the government for failing to solve Lopez’s disappearance and called for a probe of whether rogue police or intelligence agents sympathetic to the dictatorship may have stymied the investigation.

“State security forces and the justice system have not for an instance ceased their efforts” to find Lopez, Interior Minister Anibal Fernandez said in response to the criticism.

But officials acknowledge that a nationwide search has turned up no leads.

“I feel angry, I feel powerless, and I feel sad,” said Ruben Lopez, one of the missing man’s sons.

He did not take part in the march and spoke to television news networks from the city of La Plata.

Nearly 13,000 people are officially listed as dead or missing from a crackdown on dissent known as the Dirty War.

Human rights group say the toll approaches 30,000.