Missing people
Name	Jorge Julio López
Age at time of disappearance	77 years old
Missing since	September 18, 2006
Location	La Plata La Plata La Plata is the capital city of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and of La Plata partido. According to the , the city proper has a population of 574,369 and its metropolitan area has 694,253 inhabitants.... , Buenos Aires Buenos Aires Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent... , Argentina Argentina Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
Height	170 cm
Hair	Blond/grey-haired
Eyes	Green
Clothes	blue jogging and grey sweater

Jorge Julio López (born in Buenos Aires Province

Buenos Aires Province

The Province of Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous province of Argentina. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880...

, Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

, 1929) is an Argentine

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 retired bricklayer

Bricklayer

A bricklayer or mason is a craftsman who lays bricks to construct brickwork. The term also refers to personnel who use blocks to construct blockwork walls and other forms of masonry. In British and Australian English, a bricklayer is colloquially known as a "brickie".The training of a trade in...

, who was kidnapped

Forced disappearance

In international human rights law, a forced disappearance occurs when a person is secretly abducted or imprisoned by a state or political organization or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the...

 during the National Reorganization Process

National Reorganization Process

The National Reorganization Process was the name used by its leaders for the military government that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. In Argentina it is often known simply as la última junta militar or la última dictadura , because several of them existed throughout its history.The Argentine...

, and disappeared again during the democratic government of President

President of Argentina

The President of the Argentine Nation , usually known as the President of Argentina, is the head of state of Argentina. Under the national Constitution, the President is also the chief executive of the federal government and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.Through Argentine history, the...

 Néstor Kirchner

Néstor Kirchner

Néstor Carlos Kirchner was an Argentine politician who served as the 54th President of Argentina from 25 May 2003 until 10 December 2007. Previously, he was Governor of Santa Cruz Province since 10 December 1991. He briefly served as Secretary General of the Union of South American Nations ...

 after testifying in trial against Dirty War

Dirty War

The Dirty War was a period of state-sponsored violence in Argentina from 1976 until 1983. Victims of the violence included several thousand left-wing activists, including trade unionists, students, journalists, Marxists, Peronist guerrillas and alleged sympathizers, either proved or suspected...

 criminal Miguel Etchecolatz

Miguel Etchecolatz

Miguel Osvaldo Etchecolatz is a former senior Argentine police officer, who worked in the Buenos Aires Provincial Police during the first years of the military dictatorship. Etchecolatz was an active participant in the "anti-subversion operation" known as the National Reorganization Process...

.

López was kidnapped and taken to different clandestine detention centres during the dictatorship known as National Reorganization Process

National Reorganization Process

The National Reorganization Process was the name used by its leaders for the military government that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. In Argentina it is often known simply as la última junta militar or la última dictadura , because several of them existed throughout its history.The Argentine...

 . He was subject to torture and remained detained without formal charges or trial from October 21, 1976 until June 25, 1979.

Trial witness, and disappearance

About thirty years after the end of the military government, the laws known as Due Obedience

Ley de Obediencia Debida

Ley de Obediencia Debida was a law passed by the National Congress of Argentina after the end of the military dictatorship of the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional . Formally, this law is referred to by number Ley de Obediencia Debida (Spanish, Law of Due Obedience) was a law passed by the...

 and Full Stop

Ley de Punto Final

Ley de Punto Final was a law passed by the National Congress of Argentina after the end of the military dictatorship of the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional . Formally, this law is referred to by number Ley de Punto Final (Spanish, roughly translated Full Stop Law) was a law passed by the...

, which blocked investigations of crimes committed by members of the military and the police during the dictatorship, were repealed. Miguel Etchecolatz

Miguel Etchecolatz

Miguel Osvaldo Etchecolatz is a former senior Argentine police officer, who worked in the Buenos Aires Provincial Police during the first years of the military dictatorship. Etchecolatz was an active participant in the "anti-subversion operation" known as the National Reorganization Process...

 was the first defendant in a Dirty War-related trial.

During the first part of the National Reorganization Process, Etchecolatz was the Director of Investigations of the Buenos Aires Provincial Police

Buenos Aires Provincial Police

The Buenos Aires Provincial Police is the police service responsible for policing the Province of Buenos Aires, in Argentina....

, head of one of the clandestine detention centres, and the right hand of former General Ramón Camps

Ramón Camps

Ramón Juan Camps was an Argentine general and the head of the Buenos Aires Provincial Police during the military dictatorship known as the National Reorganization Process...

. López was a key witness in his trial. His testimony involved 62 military and policemen, and thanks in part to this, Etchecolatz was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Lopez "disappeared just hours before he was slated to give his final testimony on the eve of the conviction of the former police investigator," on September 18, 2006, according to the story "Missing Witness Awakens Dark Past," by Marie Trigona of the Americas Program of the International Relations Center

International Relations Center

The International Relations Center is an American "policy studies institute" based in Silver City, New Mexico. It was founded in 1979 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, focusing initially on "The plight of undocumented Mexican workers and the impact of energy development on indigenous communities in the...

 published on October 12, 2006. He was last seen at his home in the city of La Plata

La Plata

La Plata is the capital city of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and of La Plata partido. According to the , the city proper has a population of 574,369 and its metropolitan area has 694,253 inhabitants....

, 40 km. south of Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

. The initial hypothesis, that assumed that López had suffered a traumatic shock when reliving his torture during the trial and had subsequently wandered off lost, was discarded. Another hypothesis, that he had gone voluntarily into hiding fearing retribution for his statement against Etchecolatz, was discredited as well.

Investigation and criticism

Government officials made repeated assurances of optimism regarding a quick reappearance, based on "substantial advances" in the investigation, though evidence of this progress has not been presented to the public. The apparent laziness of the investigators, added to this lack of visible progress, has led some to suspect that information is being withheld or even that there is state complicity in the disappearance.

On January 8, 2007 National Deputy Nora Guinzburg proposed a law to create a special bicameral commission to keep Congress informed about the development of the investigations related to López, as well as those regarding the kidnapping and later reappearance of Luis Gerez (also a former victim of the dictatorship). The proposal was not adopted.

On February 15 Guinzburg made another proposal, requesting that the Executive report information about the cases. This proposal was not adopted either. On February 27 Guinzburg reperated her first proposal; the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Alberto Ballestrini, refused it but allowed voting on the second project. It was rejected 118–47, with the opposition of the president's party faction, the Front for Victory

Front for Victory

The Front for Victory is a Peronist political party and electoral alliance in Argentina, although it is formally a faction of the Justicialist Party. Both the former President Néstor Kirchner and the current President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner belong to this party, located on the left-wing...

, and Federal Peronism

Federal Peronism

Federal Peronism , or Dissident Peronism , are the informal names given to a changing alliance of Justicialist Party figures, currently identified mostly by its opposition to ruling Kirchnerism, the center-left faction that heads the national Government of Argentina and leads the Peronist...

.

The disappearance of the bricklayer sparked criticism of witness protection procedures. After the disappearance, the government of Buenos Aires raised the reward for information on López to AR$

Argentine peso

The peso is the currency of Argentina, identified by the symbol $ preceding the amount in the same way as many countries using dollar currencies. It is subdivided into 100 centavos. Its ISO 4217 code is ARS...

200,000 (about US$66,000 at the time), and soon doubled the figure. Many television and radio requests for information were broadcast, and pictures of López were posted in many places. There was a campaign using mobile phone text messages asking for collaboration on the search. Thousands of policemen were mobilized.

, over three years after his disappearance, López is yet to be found, but retired police doctor Carlos Osvaldo Falcone, who visited Etchecolatz in prison days before Lopez's disappearance, is to be questioned about the use of a car found at his home reported to have been used to kidnap Lopez.

External links

• http://www.buenosaires.gov.ar/noticias/?modulo=ver&idioma=es&item_id=7540&contenido_id=14937
• http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/2447-no-exit
• http://www.casapueblos-jorgejuliolopez.blogspot.com/