Arrests Argentina

Jorge Rafael Videla, Argentina's former dictator, was arrested Tuesday as part of an investigation into one of the most brutal crimes of this nation's military regime in the 1970s and '80s: the systematic kidnapping of children. Federal police arrested Videla, 72, at his suburban apartment shortly after 6 p.m. on orders of a judge investigating a case brought by relatives of "disappeared" children, authorities said. Few details were available.

Religious sect leader Paul Schaefer, who has been convicted of sexually abusing 26 children and is one of Chile's most wanted fugitives, was arrested Thursday in Argentina. Schaefer, 84, who moved to Chile with a group of German families and established the Colonia Dignidad religious cult and farming commune in 1961, is also wanted in Germany on abuse charges.

One of the alleged instigators of an international, multimillion-dollar drug money laundering operation centered in the Los Angeles jewelry district has been arrested by the Federal Police in Argentina, U.S. authorities announced Thursday. The arrest of Celio Merkin, a 60-year-old Argentine national, "fills in the last loop" of Operation Polar Cap, one of the largest money-laundering investigations ever conducted by the U.S.

A former navy captain who was allegedly one of Argentina's most notorious torturers during the country's 1976-1983 military dictatorship turned himself in to police today. Alfredo Astiz was ordered detained by an Argentine judge at the request of an Italian court that linked Astiz to the 1976 kidnapping of Angela Maria Aieta and the 1977 kidnapping of Giovani Pegoraro and his pregnant daughter, Susana Pegoraro.

A Canadian woman and a Spanish man were the leaders of a cult whose members are accused of abusing children and operating a prostitution ring in Argentina, police said Sunday. Canadian Susana Clara Borowick, 33, and Rafael Martinez Gonzalez, 39, a Spaniard, were identified as leaders of the 17 adults and more than 140 children detained in a series of raids on the Family last Wednesday.

West German Nazi-hunters paid $310,000 for information that led to the capture of a camp commandant charged with killing at least 5,000 Jews, the West German war crimes prosecutor said Monday. The record bounty was paid to an anonymous informer who led investigators to Argentina, where Josef Schwammberger had been living in hiding for three decades, Alfred Streim said after addressing the World Jewish Congress in West Berlin.

Argentine authorities arrested the widow and son of slain Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar shortly after a television program revealed that police were shadowing the two as part of a money-laundering investigation. Security Minister Miguel Angel Toma said the arrests of Victoria Henao Vallejos and Juan Pablo Escobar in Buenos Aires had been prodded by the program's revelation.

Eleven Buenos Aires police officers were arrested and six more were being sought in the probe of a 1994 car bombing of a Jewish center that killed 87 people, the police chief said Saturday. Chief Pedro Klodczyk said a federal judge had ordered the police held in connection with the alleged illegal sale of vehicles, including one believed to have been used in the attack on the Argentine-Jewish Mutual Assn. in July 1994.

Argentina said it will seek the arrest of the wife of World War II concentration camp chief Dinko Sakic, who was extradited to Croatia last week, after allegations surfaced that she was a camp guard. The head of Argentina's anti-racism unit, Victor Ramos, said he will "ask for her arrest and let justice run its course." Sakic's wife, Esperanza, stayed behind when the 67-year-old Sakic was flown to Zagreb last week to be tried for alleged war crimes.

Argentine police arrested the wife of alleged Croatian war criminal Dinko Sakic on suspicion that she too was responsible for atrocities at a World War II concentration camp. Police detained Esperanza Sakic hours after receiving a formal request from Interpol Yugoslavia, the agency's operations chief in Argentina said. Suffering from Parkinson's disease and other illnesses, Esperanza Sakic was ordered by a judge to be kept under house arrest until it is decided whether she will be extradited.

Former Argentine President Carlos Menem, a flamboyant political boss who presided over a decade of economic transformation and scandals, was arrested Thursday on charges of masterminding an international arms-trafficking scheme while in office. Authorities took Menem into custody shortly after he entered a courthouse Thursday morning to testify about his role in the alleged smuggling of 6,500 tons of arms and ammunition to Croatia and Ecuador from 1991 to 1995.

The UC Irvine fertility doctor arrested last month in Argentina after eluding authorities for five years did not appear for a court hearing Friday following his release on $10,000 bail, raising concerns among federal prosecutors that he has fled once again. U.S. Justice Department officials said the whereabouts of Dr. Jose P. Balmaceda, one of three doctors suspected in a fertility clinic scandal at UCI, is unknown and said they have asked Argentine authorities to search for him.

A doctor fleeing fraud charges stemming from the 1994 scandal at UC Irvine's now-defunct fertility clinic was captured this week as he tried to slip into Argentina, U.S. officials said Friday. Dr. Jose Balmaceda, 53, who had eluded federal agents monitoring his activities for more than two years, was arrested Thursday after customs officials at Buenos Aires Airport recognized him as a fugitive, authorities said.

The image astonished many Mexicans: former Tourism Minister Oscar Espinosa, his wrists handcuffed, was bundled into a Nicaraguan police car en route to jail to await possible extradition home on charges of embezzling $45 million in public funds. The case of Espinosa, onetime campaign finance manager for former President Ernesto Zedillo, has gained significance as Mexicans watch their new government take its first promised steps against corruption.

Argentine authorities arrested the widow and son of slain Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar shortly after a television program revealed that police were shadowing the two as part of a money-laundering investigation. Security Minister Miguel Angel Toma said the arrests of Victoria Henao Vallejos and Juan Pablo Escobar in Buenos Aires had been prodded by the program's revelation.

The Spanish judge behind the arrest of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet issued international arrest warrants Tuesday for Argentina's former military rulers, charging them with "dirty war" atrocities. Judge Baltasar Garzon accused 98 military and police officers, including nearly a dozen junta members, of genocide, torture and terrorism during Argentina's 1976-83 dictatorship.

Police seized two U.S. citizens who tried to make off with a 37-ton meteorite that has become a landmark of northern Argentina, a newspaper reported. La Nacion said that Jeffrey W. Smith, 31, and Robert Hagg, 33, both of Tucson, Ariz., were detained after police--told by residents that the meteorite was missing--became suspicious of a small convoy that included a heavy truck with a winch.

A doctor fleeing fraud charges stemming from the 1994 scandal at UC Irvine's now-defunct fertility clinic was captured this week as he tried to slip into Argentina, U.S. officials said Friday. Dr. Jose Balmaceda, 53, who had eluded federal agents monitoring his activities for more than two years, was arrested Thursday after customs officials at Buenos Aires Airport recognized him as a fugitive, authorities said.

A nationally televised hostage drama ended in a barrage of gunfire Friday, leaving three people dead in a bloody finish to the botched holdup of a rural bank. Hundreds of people protested afterward against police handling of the 20-hour standoff.

An Iranian woman has been charged in the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires. Police detained Nahrim Mokhtari at the Ezeiza International Airport on the edge of Buenos Aires after she disembarked from a flight from Paris that was bound for Uruguay. Mokhtari is the first person to be charged in the bombing, which claimed 29 lives. Israeli and U.S. intelligence agencies have attributed the attack to Iranian-supported terrorist groups.