The 82-year-old Gregorio Alvarez, former Uruguayan army commander and president (1981-1985) of the military junta that ruled the country after a 1973 coup, was imprisoned on Dec. 17 in Montevideo after Judge Luis Charles ordered his arrest for participation in the disappearance of at least 21 people in 1977 and 1978. The judge is in charge of an investigation into the disappearances of Uruguayan dissidents who had taken refuge in Argentina but were brought back to Uruguay secretly and illegally, with the cooperation of the Argentine military government under Operation Condor, a clandestine program of coordination between Latin American military regimes in the 1970s and 1980s. The judge also ordered the arrest of retired army officer Juan Carlos Larcebeau and retired navy officer Jorge Troccoli. (La Jornada, Mexico, Dec. 18 from wire services)

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