12 Argentines Charged With Plotting Terror Campaign

Invoking emergency powers, President Raul Alfonsin on Tuesday ordered the arrest of six military officers and six right-wing civilians, two of them journalists, on charges of conspiring to destabilize the Argentine government.

“They have attempted to carry out a campaign of fear, of threat, of chaos,” Interior Minister Antonio Troccoli asserted. He said formal charges will be be filed against the 12 in federal court.

The government alleges that the 12 are responsible for a small-scale terror campaign intended to give the impression of a resurgence of Marxist guerrilla activity.

Dozen Bombings in Month

In the last month, about a dozen bombs have been exploded in Buenos Aires, a number of them at military institutions or in public places where military men congregate. They have not caused any injuries. Before dawn Tuesday, a bomb destroyed a guard hut outside army headquarters in downtown Buenos Aires.

Three public schools were evacuated after bomb threats. A grenade was found at one of them Monday.

The Alfonsin government, which returned democratic rule to Argentina 22 months ago after nearly eight years of military dictatorship, charges that the destabilization campaign is intended to weaken public confidence in advance of congressional elections scheduled for Nov. 3.

The bombings, together with persistent rumors of military unrest, have coincided with closing arguments in the landmark human rights trial of nine former military commanders, including three presidents who ruled Argentina between 1976 and 1983.

Cashiered General

The most prominent of the 12 named by the government Tuesday, and the one most likely to avoid arrest, is cashiered former Gen. Guillermo Suarez Mason, a fugitive from prosecution on human rights and corruption charges. He is thought to be living in either Miami or Sao Paulo, Brazil.

In an apparent reference to Suarez Mason, Troccoli said the government believes that the men are “linked to an organization mounted from abroad which is responsible for crimes including kidnaping, extortion and drug trafficking.”

By midday Tuesday, all five of the other military officers were in custody. Two of them, Col. Alejandro Arias Duval and Capt. Osvaldo R. Antinori, are retired. Also being held were Col. Pascual O. Guerrieri, Maj. Jorge J. Granada and Capt. Leopoldo Cao.

The civilians included Enrique Gilardi Novaro, an undersecretary of defense during military rule; Rosendo Fraga, an adviser to the Police Ministry during military rule; Alberto H. Camps, son of former police chief Ramon Camps, who is being held on human rights charges, and Raul Rivanera Carles, a right-wing nationalist.

Two Journalists Named

The two journalists ordered arrested were Jorge Vago, editor of a political gossip weekly called Prensa Confidencial, and Daniel H. Rodriguez, a columnist for the conservative Buenos Aires daily La Prensa.

The arrest orders were issued just after midnight, a few hours after the defense rested in the wrenching, six-month trial of the nine commanders. They are accused of kidnaping, torture and murder in the deaths of about 9,000 people during the so-called dirty war against Marxist terrorists between 1976 and 1980.

Six federal judges, who also serve as the jury, are weighing their verdict, which is not expected until late in December.

The trial, bitterly opposed by the armed forces, ended as it began, with complaints from the accused that the victors were being tried for winning a war they never sought.

Lt. Gen. Basilio Lami Dozo, a former air force commander and the last of the nine to present his defense, told the court Monday:”I believe I am here simply because I was the air force commander. . . . If war is irrational, then I think Argentine society is also irrational, because first it sent us to war and later, as it enjoys victory, it becomes filled with horror over real or alleged excesses.”