Jorge Rafael Videla - Later Years

Later Years

Videla relinquished power to Roberto Viola on 29 March 1981. Democracy was restored in 1983, and Videla was put on trial and found guilty. The tribunal found Videla guilty of numerous homicides, kidnapping, torture, and many other crimes. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and was discharged from the military in 1985.

Videla was imprisoned for only five years. In 1990, President Carlos Menem pardoned Videla together with many other former members of the military regime. Menem also pardoned the leftist guerrilla commanders accused of terrorism. In a televised address to the nation, President Menem said, "I have signed the decrees so we may begin to rebuild the country in peace, in liberty and in justice ... We come from long and cruel confrontations. There was a wound to heal."

Videla briefly returned to prison in 1998 when a judge found him guilty of the kidnapping of babies during the Dirty War, including the child of the desaparecida Silvia Quintela and the disappearances of the commanders of the People's Revolutionary Army (ERP), Mario Roberto Santucho and Benito Urteaga. Videla spent 38 days in the old part of the Caseros Prison, and was later transferred to house arrest due to health issues.

Following the election of President Néstor Kirchner in 2003, there was a widespread effort in Argentina to show the illegality of Videla's rule. The government no longer recognized Videla as having been a legal president of the country, and his portrait was removed from the military school. There were also many legal prosecutions of officials associated with the crimes of the regime.

On 6 September 2006, Judge Norberto Oyarbide ruled that the pardon granted by Menem was unconstitutional, opening up the possibility of a trial. But the courts refused to prosecute the crimes of the left-wing guerrilla groups that according to Argentina's Center for the Legal Study of Terrorism and its Victims killed or maimed some 13,000 Argentines. On 25 April 2007, a federal court struck down his presidential pardon and restored his human rights abuse convictions. He was put on trial on 2 July 2010 for human rights violations relating to the deaths of 31 prisoners who died under his rule. Three days later, he took full responsibility for his army's actions during his rule, saying, "I accept the responsibility as the highest military authority during the internal war. My subordinates followed my orders." The commander of the Montoneros guerrilla army, Mario Firmenich, dropped a political bombshell during the presidency of Fernando de la Rúa, when in a radio interview in late 2000 from Spain he claimed that "In a country that experienced a civil war, everybody has blood in their hands." On 22 December 2010, the trial ended, and Videla was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. He was ordered to be transferred to a civilian prison immediately after the trial. In handing down the sentence, judge María Elba Martínez said that Videla was "a manifestation of state terrorism." During the trial, Videla had said that "yesterday's enemies are in power and from there, they are trying to establish a Marxist regime" in Argentina.

On 5 July 2012, Videla was sentenced to 50 years in prison for his participation in a scheme to steal babies from parents detained by the military regime. According to the court decision, Videla was an accomplice "in the crimes of theft, retention and hiding of minors, as well as replacing their identities."