Date

Sr. Gobernador de la Provincia de
Buenos Aires.
D. Eduardo Duhalde
La Plata
Republica Argentina.


Dear Sr. Gobernador:

I am writing to you to express my great concern about the human rights 
violations and abuses committed by the provincial police in La Plata, on 
February 20, 1996.

On that date, the police arrested more than 240
people who were in the vicinity of Plaza Rocha and the Library of the
University of La Plata.  These people included students peacefully
assembling to protest the changes in university administration, people
walking to work, and mere passers-by.  The police arrested about 150 of
those people under the guise of checking their police records alone.

When people went to the police office where these people were being held,
to demand their release, they were met with severe and disproportional
violence. Student, family members, demonstrators and journalists were
beaten, attacked with rubber bullets and tear gas. One of the cameramen of
Channel 13 received five rubber bullets in his legs after being shot at
point-blank range and required surgery. Several others also needed
hospitalization. The police also arrested Fabina Pierucci, an independent
cameraman, after trying to make him give up his camera by hitting him 
with the butts of their guns. 

Sen~or Gobernador, you, the Minister of Government and the Security 
Secretary, Alberto Piotti, are in charge of the provincial police. You 
must assume responsibility for their acts, and the evident violations of 
the civil and political rights of numerous citizens.

The Argentine constitution and the rulings of the Argentine Supreme Court
recognize the authority of international law instruments over domestic
laws. We understand that in this case, the police proceeded in violation
of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (articles 9 to
11, 14 to 19, and specially articles 231 and 22). 

In addition, the Argentine authorities must comply with the observations 
of the Human Rights Committee of the UN regarding Argentina's compliance 
with the Covenant. According to these recommendations, all the officers 
who had previously participated in human rights violations during the 
dictatorship should have been dismissed. The impunity situation created by 
the lack of judicial resolution and the lack of compliance with the 
international accords make foreseeable the type of events that we are 
denouncing here.

Therefore, Sen~or Gobernador, it's necessary that in addition to assuming 
the political responsibilities for such grave acts, your government must
proceed to put all public officials in charge of enforcing the law at 
the disposition of the judicial authority and suspend them immediately 
until their role in the repression is made clear. We remind you of the 
Article 5 of the "Code of Conduct for the functionaries in charge of 
enforcing the law" (UN resolution 34/169, December 17, 1979).

Sen~or Gobernador: as Nobel Peace Laureate Adolfo Perez Esquivel said in 
Madrid a few days ago, democracy cannot be built on impunity, and we can 
only have tolerance and dignity in a democracy. The solution is very 
simple: make way for truth and justice by strictly complying with all the 
existing legislation on Human Rights.

Sincerely yours,