{{Former dictator Jorge Rafael Videla, who took power over Argentina in a 1976 coup and led a military junta that killed thousands of his fellow citizens in a dirty war to eliminate so-called “subversives,” died quietly in his sleep Friday while serving life in prison for crimes against humanity.
He was 87.}}
Federal Prison Service Director Victor Hortel said Videla died in his prison cell. He was found lifeless in his bed and declared dead at 8:25 a.m., according to an official medical report cited by the state news agency Telam.
Videla ran one of the bloodiest military governments during South America’s era of dictatorships, and later sought to take full responsibility for kidnappings, tortures, deaths and disappearances when he was tried again and again for these crimes in recent years.
He said he knew about everything that happened under his rule because “I was above everyone.”
Some rights activists see Videla now as more of a tool than a leader, alleging that the junta served to consolidate the power of Argentina’s wealthy elites.
Videla had a low profile before the March 24, 1976, coup, but quickly became the architect of a repressive system that killed about 9,000 people, according to an official accounting after democracy returned to Argentina in 1983.
Human rights activists believe the real number was as high as 30,000.
{wirestory}
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