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    NEW YORK TIMES ABRIL 26, 2004

POR LARRY ROHTER

La Plata, Argentina- Parroquianos de la villa costera en Chile conocian a su sacerdote simplemente como el Rev. Christian Gonzalez. Solo por su acento se conocia que era argentino.
Asi que vino como un golpe para ellos cuando el viajo de regreso a la Argentina el pasado año para enfrentarse a cargos aqui por crimenes fechados a la dictadura militar de los 1970. Bajo su nombre real, Christian Von Vernich, el esta acusado de 19 casos de asesinato y de 33 secuestros y tortura.

Padre von Wernich, 65, ha emergido como un simbolo potente de las atrocidades institucionales del periodo, cuando la junta persiguio a los oponentes izquierdistas, algunas veces ganando el apoyo de la gerarquia de la Iglesia Catolica Romana para sus fines.  El ha atraido una atencion particular porque el combina ambos elementos; el era un sacerdote y trambien trabajaba para el gobierno, como capellan de la temida policia provincial de Buenos Aires.

Ese trauma de hace tres decadas esta siendo re-examinado ahora que el Presidente Nestor Kirchner ha termiando la larga amnistia que protegia a los responsables de los abusos. Padre von Wernich fue acuasado en Septiembre y esta pelando los cargos, en ambos constitucionalmente y en el campo religioso.
Pero no ha parado el caso de las provocadas protestas en ambos Argentina y Chile, la cual sufrieron bajo dictaduras propias, sobre el rol pasado de la iglesia y cualquieres lideres religiosos conspirados en ocultar al sacerdote acusado  de haber tomado parte en los abusos de la " Guerra Sucia"

" Habian otros religiosos que apoyaron y bendicieron a la dictadura y sus medidas represivas que emplearon" dijo Marta Vedio, abogada con la Asamblea Permanente por los Derechos Humanos, el grupo que ha estado lidereando la investigacion que llevo a los cargos contra el sacerdote aqui en La Plata. " Pero para que un sacerdota haya participado directamente y tan intensamente en represion y tortura, que golpea fuerte a la sociedad que todavia se refiere como esencialmente Catolica Romana.

El Vaticano no ha directamente enfrentado las preguntas sobre la conducta de la iglesia durante la dictadura. Durante sus visitas a la Argentina el Papa Juan Pablo II ha hecho solo unos vagos pronunciamientos que podrian interpretarse como algo de una indirecta disculpa por la conducta

En referencia al padre von Wernich, oficiales de la iglesia local en la Argentina y en Chile han sido largamente silenciosas. El Rev. Jorge Oestherheld, vocero de la Conferencia de Obispos de la Argentina, dijo que el caso era penoso porque envolvia " vergonzosos y lamentables hechos" la iglesia Argentina  " no tiene jurisdiccion sobre estos hechos." Es un caso diocesano, el dijo.

El obispo de la diocesis perteneciente al sacerdote en la Argentina, Monseñor Martin Elizalde, en una declaracion publica poco despues que el Padre Gonzalez fuera expuesto en Mayo pasado , descarto las sugerencias de una conducta impropia en como la diocesis manejo al sacerdote. La iglesia no tiene responsabilidad, el dijo. " desde cuando el fue a Chile, alla no habia cargos pendientes en su contra."

Tales negativas han desilucionado la fe Catolica en ambos paises, particularmente desde que al Padre von Wenich's se le vincula a la dictadura ha sido bien establecido desde el tiempo que se le dejo de ver en 1996, solo para reaparecer siete años mas tarde con un nombre diferente en Chile bajo circustancias que las autoridades de la iglesia rechazan explicar.

La  politica de la iglesia ha sido consistentemente silencio, silencio, silencio. " Hernan Brienza, autor de " Tu Arte Maldicion, la Iglesia y la Represion ilegal" dijo en una entrevista. " Habia obviamente un acuerdo para proteger a von Wernich de la opinion publica en la Argentina mediante el envio de el a Chile, lugar donde nadie conocia quien era. Pero nosotros no sabemos como o cuando el se convirtio en Gonzlez." Sr. Bienza ayudo a exponer la nueva indentidad del sacerdote el pasado año, como parte del grupo formado por dos revistas.

Por una decada despues que la democracia fue restaurada en la Argentina en 1983, el Padre von Wenich fue el objetivo para marchas de protestas que forzaron a la jerarquia de la iglesia a moverlo a el de una parroquia a otra. Antiguos prisioneros politicos testificaron en escalofriantes detalles la comision oficial del sacerdote y su traicionero modo de operacion en la ayuda de la junta militarDespues que ellos habian sido sujetos a dias de intensa tortura, los prisioneros cuentan, Padre von Vernich apareceria ofreciendo ayuda espiritual y consolacion.

 Pero al mismo tiempo, el buscaria informacion y exortaba a los detenidos a " quedar bien con Dios" mediante el reconocimiento de sus actividades politicas e identificando" Una vez  escuche que Christian von Wenich replicandole  a un prisionero quien pedia con el no morir, que " la vida de los hombres de- pendia de Dios y tu colaboracion" a un ex-priosionero, Luis Velasco, testifico en una vista de la corte. " Yo tambien le escuche y justificar la tortura, reconociendo que a veces el estaba presente. Cuando el se refirio a la operacion, el diria " Cuando hicimos esta operacion..." a sus camaradas aun sin apresar.

La acusacion mas seria de las acusaciones contra el Padre von Wernich provienen de la ejecucion en 1977 de siete jovenes, todos prisioneros politicos que habian pertenecido a grupos de ala izquierda. Los asesinatos, son ahora cargados, son parte del plan policiaco para extorcionar dinero de los padres de los prisioneros, al sugerirles que por la extorcion sus hijos quedarian libres.

Imaginense que un sacerdote naturalmente inspiraria confianza, agentes enviaron al Padre von Wernich a cobrar $1,500.00 a los padres de cada prisionero. Como prueba de que ellos aun estaban vivos, el les llevaba cartas escritas por los prisioneros. Cuando el dinero era cobrado los prisioneros eran llevados desde el centro de detencion clandestino y asesinados. Una estaba embarazada.

Segun el testimonio de Julio Alberto Emmed, antiguo oficial policial, quien admitio la involucracion en el incidente y dijo que el venia al frente como un acto de penitencia, Padre von Werncih el mismo fue testigo de por lo menos tres asesinatosSr. Emmed dijo que los prisioneros habian sido puestos en un auto y ellos estarian siendo llevados al aeropuerto antes que fueran dejados en libertad. En lugar, ellos fueron golpeados hasta perder el conocimiento , el dijo.

" El sacerdote estaba en el vehiculo conmigo" el recuerda en un testimonio jurado diciendo que porque uno de los prisioneros fue golpedado con una pistola, " resultando en varias heridas, con abundante flujo de sangre sobre el sacerdote, el chofer y dos de nosotros en el lado de los prisioneros."

Cerca del aeropuerto, el auto bruscamente en un campo vacio, Sr.Emmed testifico, Padre von Wenich miraba como los oficiales policiales y el medico de la policia completaban su horripilante tarea.
Los tres subversivos estaban aun vivos, y sus cuerpos fueron removidos del auto y tirados a la hierba." Sr. Emmed dijo. " El medico les injecto a cada uno dos veces, directo al corazon con un liquido rojizo que era venenoso." Cuando una de la victimas mostraba signos de vida, a ella le tiraron en la cabeza, el dijo.

Despues, esos involucrados, incluyendo al Padre vonWenich, fueron a celebrar una barbacoa " donde nosotros nos cambiamos de ropa porque tenian manchas de sangre." Sr. Emmed dijo. Viendo que Mr. Emmed estaba afligido por lo que habian hecho, Padre von Wernich trataba de consolarlo." Lo que acabas de hacer fue necesario por el bien de la patria." Sr. Emmed dijo que le sacerdote le dijo." Tu no tienes razon para sentirte mal, tu llevastes a cago un acto patriotico, y Dios sabe que lo que estamos haciendo es por el beneficio del pais."

" Lo que acabas de hacer fue necesario por el bien de la patria." Sr. Emmed dijo que le sacerdote le dijo." Tu no tienes razon para sentirte mal, tu llevastes a cago un acto patriotico, y Dios sabe que lo que estamos haciendo es por el beneficio del pais."En Chile, donde el sirvio en el costero centro turistico villa de  El Quisco, el impacto de este caso ha sido cerca tan traumatico como en la Argentina. Durante la larga dictadura del Gen. Augusto Pinochet, el Cardenal Raul Silva Enriquez de Santiago jugo un papel importante en defender los derechos humanos, asi que las acusaciones de la complicidad de la iglesia en el encubrimiento del Padre von Wernich ha venido como una conmocion

" Soy Cristiana, y no puedo juzgar, porque todos somos pecadores" una de las antiguas parroquianas, Isabel Beltran de Avalos dijo antes de la misa dominical temprano en la Cuaresma en la iglesia San Juan el Evangelista en el Quisco situada en la calles de Lobos Tranquilos. Al conocer de los cargos contra el, " ha causado revulsion conmigo tan grande que me mantuve lejos de la Misa por cerca de un año y he regresaso ahora en la Cuaresma" dijo ella.

Padre von Wernich era " tan amable y carismatico que es dificil de creer todas las cosas que ellos estaban diciendo acerca de el." Sra. Avalos añadio. " Yo tenia vecinos y colegas del grabajo quienes fueron llevados lejos y nunca los vi de nuevo cuando los militares tomaron el poder, y Yo no quiero que eso suceda de nuevo. No podemos tolerar cosa como esa."

Desde su celda el Padre von Wernich esta luchando contra los cargos y le ha pedido a los jueces que lo liberen por lo que el clama es una " detencion ilegal."

En una vista, el sacerdote reconoce que el era una visitar regular a los centros de detencion CLANDESTINOS  de la policia, pero el rechaza proveer detalles de sus conversaciones con los prisioneros. El hacerlo , seria dijo el, infringir ordenes sagradas, porque " violaria el secreto de confesion."

Aclaracion: No eran centros clandestinos eran carceles, con el escudo y la bandera de la Republica.

Carta enviada el editor del New York Times.

El 26 de Abril 2004 en la seccion de las Americas Internacional hay un articulo por Larry Rohter el cual contiene tantas mentiras que dudo el autor pueda ser periodista. Sr. Rohter solo es una maquina duplicadora de la izquierda y de antiguos terroristas contra la Iglesia Catolica en la Argentina.
He recibido informacion que el expolicia habia testificado en dos cortes negando su primera alegacion a la comision creada para manterner los archivos de las personas desaparecidas acerca del sacerdote. La razon de sus mentiras antes fueron porque estaba en la carcel acusado de robo y dos abogados de la comision cuyos nombres estan en los papeles de la corte le habian prometido su libertad and 20,000.00 dolares para salir del pais. Pero paso el tiempo y todavia se encontraba preso, asi que decidio decir la verdad. El ex policia no puede testificar mas ya que alguien le mato.

La primera alegacion la cual fue inventada, no tiene valor legal, pero las dos en cortes diferentes si. Pero en este juicio esos tres jueces prejuciados no estan tomando el testimonio legal pero en su lugar las mentiras que le habia dicho al grupo que le habia prometido dinero y la salida de la carcel

He leido algunos papeles de la defensa mas algunos articulos del Mercurio, Valparaiso Chie y del Obispo Duarte y muchas personas conocieron al sacerdote con su nombre real y fue presentado con su nombre real. La falsa historia fue fabricada como la del ex policia.
El New York Times miente, El New York Times no hace correcciones de sus mentiras en este caso. Esto no es periodismo amarillo sino rojo. El articulo fue publicado ayer en el Nuevo Herald de Miami pero lo acortaron, ellos estaban mas interesados en el cambio de nombre y contra la Iglesia Catolica.

Madres de Plaza de Mayo, linea fundadora, estaban en New York justo antes que el New York Times publicara tal articulo.

Sinceramente,

Miriam Mata

April 26, 2004, Monday    Late Edition - Final
Section A    Page 3    Column 1     Desk: Foreign Desk    Length: 1584 words

Back in Argentina, Priest Faces 'Dirty War' Charges
By LARRY ROHTER

LA PLATA, Argentina

Was in la Plata  Mr. Rohter?

The parishioners in the coastal village in Chile knew their priest simply as the Rev. Christián González. Only his accent gave away that he was an Argentine.

Not truth, parishioners knew him with his real name.

So it came as a shock to them when he traveled back to Argentina last year and had to face charges here for crimes dating to the military dictatorship of the 1970's. Under his real name, Christián von Wernich, he is accused of 19 counts of murder and 33 of abduction and torture.

Of course it was a shock, but when they heard the lies about him.

Father von Wernich, 65, has emerged as a potent symbol of the institutional atrocities of the period, when the junta chased down leftist opponents, sometimes winning the support of the Roman Catholic Church's hierarchy for its goals. He has attracted particular attention because he combines both elements: he was a priest who also worked for the government, as a chaplain for the feared Buenos Aires provincial police.

Father von Wernich was not a symbol of the institutional atrocities but an spiritual aid to those in need. The junta did not chased down leftist opponents just because they wanted to do it, they were in a war against terrorism which had killed many since 1964 in more than 20,000 terrorists acts.

That trauma of three decades ago is being re-examined now that President Néstor Kirchner has ended a long amnesty that protected people responsible for the abuses. Father von Wernich was indicted in September and is fighting the charges, on both constitutional and religious grounds.

That is the only truth on the article, yes Father von Wernich is in jail.  Do you know that presidente Kirchner  and others  when they ended that long amnesty it was not ended for all? Terrorists who received same amnesty do not have to face new trials again and again even more they got monetary compensation per law 24411?


But that has not stopped the case from provoking protest in both Argentina and Chile, which suffered under its own dictatorship, over the past role of the church and whether religious leaders conspired to hide a priest accused of taking part in the abuses of the ''Dirty War.''

They wrote books, newspapers articles, movies etc. and protests against the church values and faith of many priests but not necessary are the truth in both countries.

''There were other clergy who supported or blessed the dictatorship and the repressive measures it employed,'' said Marta Vedio, a lawyer with the Permanent Assembly for Human Rights, the group that has been leading the investigation that led to the priest's indictment here in La Plata. ''But for a priest to have participated directly and so intensely in repression and torture, that strikes hard in a society that still regards itself as essentially Roman Catholic.''

Asking again, was Mr. Rohter in La Plata? If so, did he asked to visit Father von Wernich in jail? Bonafini of mothers of Plaza de Mayo visited an ETA terrorist who is in jail, why not him? before he wrote that article.

The Vatican has not directly addressed questions about the church's conduct during the dictatorship. During his visits to Argentina, Pope John Paul II has made only vague statements that could be interpreted as something of an indirect apology for that behavior.

The Vatican is wiser than most of us, stands after 2,000 years and millions of enemies specially  communists and the devil for the last two centuries.

Regarding Father von Wernich, local church officials in Argentina and Chile have been largely silent. The Rev. Jorge Oesterheld, a spokesman for the Argentine Conference of Bishops, said that while the case was painful because it involves ''shameful and lamentable acts,'' the Argentine church ''has no jurisdiction over this matter.'' It is a diocesan matter, he said.

I have read that statement over and over in the internet. Why don't you  ask the Dioceses if it's a diocesan matter ? Or The Holy See that has a representative at the UN. in New York ask them about what  the article says.

http://www.holyseemission.org/index2.html


The bishop of the priest's home diocese in Argentina, Msgr. Martín Elizalde, in a public statement issued shortly after Father González was exposed last May, dismissed suggestions of improper behavior in how the diocese handled the priest. The church has no responsibility, he said, ''since when he went to Chile, there were no charges pending against him.''

Mr. Rohter  takes for granted it was father Gonzalez why? when Bishop Duarte of Valparaiso said it was not truth over a year ago? See el Mercurio,
Valparaiso dated April 2003 at

http://www.mercuriovalpo.cl/site/edic/20030425212232/pags/20030426010616.html



Such denials have disillusioned Catholic faithful in both countries, particularly since Father von Wernich's links to the dictatorship had been well established by the time he dropped out of sight in 1996, only to reappear seven years later with a different name in Chile under circumstances that the church authorities refuse to explain.

" Different name in Chile", again and again same lie.

''The policy of the church has consistently been silence, silence, silence,'' Hernán Brienza, author of ''Cursed Art Thou: The Church and Illegal Repression,'' said in an interview. ''There was obviously an agreement to protect von Wernich from public opinion in Argentina by sending him to Chile, a place where no one knew who he was. But we do not know how or when he became González.'' Mr. Brienza helped expose the priest's new identity last year, as part of an investigative team formed by two magazines.

How come Mr. Brienza does know how or when he became Gonzalez, when I know that in Miami and per Mr. Rohter he helped the magazines which gave birth to that lie?

For a decade after Argentina's democracy was restored in 1983, Father von Wernich was the target of protest marches that forced the church hierarchy to move him from one parish to another. Former political prisoners testified in chilling detail to official commissions of the priest's treacherous modus operandi in the aid of the military junta.

I only have read of one church he stayed  during those years not from one parish to another. Remember that all former political or terrorists got compensation per law 24411. Why don't the NYT investigate on the names of the people that got compensation? That is a big secrect, the only one I have read receiving compensation of $180,000.00 for the five years he was in jail was the former president Menen.

After they had been subjected to days of intense torture, the prisoners recounted, Father von Wernich would appear offering spiritual consolation. But at the same time he would seek information and urge detainees to ''get right with God'' by acknowledging their political activities and by identifying comrades still at large.


Can you give spiritual consolation in one or two words?  Of course not, then any thing he said or did not say, does not matter is set to lie about him.

''Once I heard Christian von Wernich reply to a prisoner who pleaded with him not to die that 'the life of men depends on God and your collaboration,''' a former prisoner, Luis Velasco, testified at a court hearing. ''I also heard him defend and justify torture, recognizing that at times he had been present. When he referred to an operation, he would say, 'When we did that operation....'''

All lies and lies and lies. Without doubt Argentinean leftists are the greatest in the world in making lies and  journalists believe in them without printing the opinion of others in same circumstances.

The most serious of the accusations against Father von Wernich stem from the execution in 1977 of seven young people, all political prisoners who belonged to left-wing groups. The killings, it is now charged, were part of a police plan to extort money from the prisoners' parents, by suggesting that a bribe would free their children.

I'm not Argentinean leftist I'm Cuban-American  so I do not recall reading about this, it's a serious charge you must ask the defense lawyers or to Father Wernich. But since they are so many lies in the article it could be another of their lies.


Figuring that a priest would naturally inspire trust, agents sent Father von Wernich to collect $1,500 from the parents of each of the prisoners. As proof that they were still alive, he delivered letters written by the detainees. Once the money was collected, the prisoners were taken from a clandestine detention center and killed. One was pregnant.

Same like before, I have not read about $1,500.00,  but in a document by DDHH on

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=+Emmed+argentina&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=ISO-8859-1&selm=9j1rrd%24t6s%241%40news.wanadoo.es&rnum=3



It says that the families of those going to Uruguay had to pay por expenses.




According to the testimony of Julio Alberto Emmed, a former police officer who admitted his involvement in the incident and said he was coming forward as an act of penance, Father von Wernich himself witnessed at least three of the killings.

Mr. Emmed said the prisoners had been put in a car and told that they were being taken to the airport before being released. Instead, they were beaten unconscious, he said.

''The priest was in the vehicle with me,'' he recalled in sworn testimony, saying that because one of the prisoners was whipped with a pistol, ''various wounds resulted, with an abundant flow of blood over the priest, the driver and the two of us at the prisoner's side.''

Near the airport, the car swerved to an empty field, Mr. Emmed testified. Father von Wernich watched as the police officers and a police doctor completed their gruesome task.

''The three subversives were still alive, and their bodies were removed from the car and thrown onto the grass,'' Mr. Emmed said. ''The doctor injected each one twice, straight into the heart with a reddish liquid that was poisonous.'' When one of the victims showed signs of life, she was shot in the head, he said.

Afterward, those involved, including Father von Wernich, went to a celebratory barbecue ''where we also changed our clothes because they were stained with blood,'' Mr. Emmed said. Seeing that Mr. Emmed was distraught at what they had just done, Father von Wernich sought to console him.

''What you have done was necessary for the good of the fatherland,'' Mr. Emmed said the priest had told him. ''You have no reason to feel badly. You carried out a patriotic act, and God knows that what we are doing is for the benefit of the country.''

On my other mail, I explained about Mr. Emmed case , you can read the DDHH statement from 2001 on

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=+Emmed+argentina&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=ISO-8859-1&selm=9j1rrd%24t6s%241%40news.wanadoo.es&rnum=3

to verify Mr. Emmed retracted. And I'm asking for correction on you paper about this issue.


In Chile, where he served in the seaside resort village of El Quisco, the impact of his case has been nearly as traumatic as in Argentina. During the long dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, Cardinal Raúl Silva Enríquez of Santiago played an important role in defending human rights, so the accusations of the church's complicity in harboring Father von Wernich has come as a shock.

Long dictatorship 17 years? What word will you use for Castro's dictatorship of 45 years? 

''I'm a Christian, and I cannot judge, because we are all sinners,'' one of his former parishioners, Isabel Beltrán de Avalos, said before a Sunday morning Mass early in Lent at the St. John the Evangelist church in El Quisco situated on the Street of the Tranquil Wolves. Learning of the charges against him ''has caused a revulsion within me so great that I stayed away from Mass for nearly a year and have only returned now at Lent,'' she said.

Ask bishop Duarte and more parishioners.

Father von Wernich was ''so charming and so charismatic that it was hard to believe all the things that they were saying about him,'' Mrs. Avalos added. ''I had neighbors and colleagues from work who were taken away and never seen again when the military seized power, and I don't want that to happen ever again. We can't tolerate a thing like that.''

From his jail cell, Father von Wernich is fighting the charges against him and has asked judges to free him from what he claims is an ''illegal detention.''


AT LAST A TRUTH.

At a hearing, the priest acknowledged that he had been a regular visitor at the clandestine detention centers of the police, but he refused to provide details of his conversations with prisoners. To do so, he said, would be a breach of his holy orders, because it would ''violate the secrecy of the confessional.''

Father von Wernich  was a regular visitor not to clandestine detention centers of the police, but to detention centers of the government. Terrorists had clandestine detention center Mr. Rohter  is confused, father von Wernich could not have said that.


Images: Photos: A protest in 1988 in the home parish of the Rev. Christián von Wernich, who is now accused of murder and other crimes committed in the 1970's. (Photo by Perfil Publishing Group Archives); Father von Wernich being arrested last September in La Plata after he returned from Chile, where he was known as Father González. (Photo by El Día)

Map of Argentina highlighting La Plata: The priest maintains he is under ''illegal detention'' in La Plata.

Dear Editor New York Times

On April 26, 2004 section America's International there is an article by LARRY ROHTER which has so many lies, that I doubt the author could be  a journalist.  Mr. Rohter is just a duplication machine of the left and former terrorists against the Roman Catholica Chuch in Argentina.

The first allegation which it was made up, has not legal value, but two

differents courts do. But, at this trial those three bias judges are not taking the legal testimony but instead the lies he said to a group that had promised him money and freedom from jail.