France strips jailed human rights violator of decoration
Naval officer Ricardo Cavallo, alias "Sérpico" or "Marcelo,” was part of Task Force 332, which was responsible for thousands of kidnaps, tortures, rapes and murders at ESMA.
The French government has withdrawn a 1985 award to former naval lieutenant commander Ricardo Cavallo, convicted years later for crimes against humanity during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship, the Foreign Ministry reported on Thursday in a communiqué.
"At the request of the Argentine government, the Foreign Ministry has been notified that French President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Edouard Philippe have signed the decree withdrawing the Ordre National du Mérite awarded on June 27, 1985 to the repressor Ricardo Cavallo," the communiqué said.
At that time Cavallo was naval attaché at the Argentine Embassy in Paris.
This request by survivors of the dictatorship was transmitted by President Alberto Fernández during his official visit to France in February, the communiqué recalled.
Cavallo is in prison in Argentina after receiving two life sentences, one in 2011 for multiple crimes at the ESMA Navy Mechanics School concentration camp and the other in 2017 at the trial of the so-called “death flights.”
Cavallo, 68, alias "Sérpico" or "Marcelo,” was one of the naval officers forming Task Force 332, responsible for thousands of kidnaps, tortures, rapes and murders at ESMA, including the French nuns Alice Domon and Léonie Duquet in 1977.
The decoration of the ex-officer had been confirmed in 2010 by then French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner after a query by the humanitarian organisation Nouveaux Droits de L'Homme.
Since then ESMA survivors have been demanding withdrawal of the distinction.
In its communiqué the Foreign Ministry thanked President Macron and his Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, "for their prompt response to a request by victims of state terrorism."
– TIMES/AFP
related news
-
Argentina given roadmap for OECD ascension
-
Horacio Méndez Carreras upheld dignity and decency in inglorious times
-
Horacio Méndez Carreras, human rights lawyer who tracked murder of French nuns, dies at 86
-
US reprimands Latin American nations in parental kidnapping report
-
Milei's foreign policy based on whims and mystical fantasies
-
Gaza conflict shows limits of Argentina and Brazil’s influence in Middle East
-
Moving Embassy to Jerusalem is 'important step,’ says Israeli vice-ambassador
-
Stories that caught our eye: April 19 to 26
-
Top officials to meet People's Bank of China chief amid swap talks
-
60-year-old Miss Universe hopeful challenges age-old beauty norms