Mexico to Hold Alleged Argentine Torturer Pending Extradition Bid
The Interpol has identified an Argentine living in Mexico as the same man accused of torturing people during Argentina’s military dictatorship, and a federal judge on Saturday ordered him held here for 60 days while Spanish officials proceed with an extradition request.
After former Argentine political prisoners identified the director of Mexico’s private National Registry of Motor Vehicles as their torturer, the Interpol detained him Thursday in Cancun.
Ricardo Miguel Cavallo was being held in a Mexico City prison under orders of federal Judge Jesus Guadalupe Luna, said Isidoro Guerson, a spokesman for the federal attorney general’s office.
Mexican officials said they had confirmed that Cavallo was the same person whom the former political prisoners knew as Miguel Angel Cavallo.
“It’s the same person,” the Interpol’s Juan Miguel Ponce said at a news conference here.
Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon, who issued the warrant that kept former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet under house arrest in London for 16 months, has accused Miguel Angel Cavallo of torture, terrorism, car theft and forgery.
While admitting that he served in Argentina’s military, Cavallo denied the charges.
On Friday, a judge in Spain filling in for Garzon issued an arrest warrant for Cavallo.
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