- Ricardo Brinzoni
Ricardo Brinzoni (
October 6 1945 –October 24 2005 ) was an Argentine military officer, serving as Argentina's Chief-of-staff.Born in
Buenos Aires , Brinzoni entered Military School on 1963, and trained as aparatrooper , qualifying in December 1964. He built a career in the military and reached the rank ofBrigadier General in 1990. In the 1990s he served asmilitary attaché inUruguay . OnDecember 13 1999 , PresidentFernando de la Rúa appointed Brinzoni as Army Chief-of-staff and aLieutenant General .During the military government of 1976–1983, Brinzoni was Secretary-General of the military government of
Chaco Province . After the return to democracy, he was accused of involvement in the "Massacre of Margarita Belén ", in which 22 political prisoners were executed onDecember 13 1976 .While in command of the Army he suggested bringing together
human rights groups, the Catholic Church and the Army to form a "reconciliation panel" in order to find out the whereabouts of the "desaparecidos ". Nevertheless he was heavily criticised for defending the repression and military illegal actions of the military government, for allegedly protecting the officers involved, and for setting back the reconciliation process that had been started by his predecessor,Martín Balza . Brinzoni courted further controversy when it was revealed that his lawyer during this period, Juan Enrique Torres Bande, was a member of theneo-Nazi New Triumph Party . [http://ar.geocities.com/veaylea2000/verbitsky/01-04-29nuevotriunfo.htm]Following
Néstor Kirchner 's inauguration as President in 2003, Brinzoni was retired and replaced byRoberto Bendini . Brinzoni subsequently issued several public statements criticising Kirchner's government.Brinzoni was married to the former Lidia María Rosa Odino; they hadthree children and two grandchildren. He died of
pancreatic cancer in Buenos Aires in 2005, aged 60.
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