April 2, 2007

ICE arrests three former military officers accused of human rights violations in South America

WASHINGTON - In the last week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested three military officers in three states who are suspected of committing crimes against humanity in their respective South American countries.

In Miami ICE arrested Telmo Ricardo Hurtado-Hurtado on visa fraud charges. According to Peruvian military court documents, the ex-Peruvian Army platoon commander lead the massacre of 69 villagers during a 1985 military raid in an area known as a stronghold of the Shining Path guerilla group. In connection with the same investigation, ICE officers in Baltimore, Md., arrested Juan Manuel Rivera-Rondon, a former Peruvian Army officer, for allegedly participating in the same 1985 massacre.

In The Plains, Va., ICE agents arrested Ernesto Guillermo Barreiro, a retired Army major who was Argentina's chief interrogator during the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983.

"ICE will not allow the United States to be a safe haven for those who have come to our country in an effort to evade prosecution and punishment for the crimes they have committed against others," said Julie L. Myers, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for ICE

"We will not relent in our efforts to ensure that human rights violators are brought to justice and removed from our communities." According to the complaint affidavit in the Florida case, the defendant Hurtado-Hurtado commanded a platoon of soldiers that entered the rural village of Accomarca, Peru, in search of members of the Shining Path guerilla movement. The defendant and his troops gathered the villagers, raped the women and at his command, murdered 69 residents of the village, including children, elderly persons and pregnant women.

Hurtado-Hurtado faces criminal charges of falsely stating in his U.S. visa application that he had never been arrested or convicted of a crime. In addition, he also faces administrative charges of extrajudicial killing, visa fraud and visa-overstay. Following the conclusion of the defendant's criminal proceedings, Hurtado will be placed into removal proceedings with the goal of returning him to Peru, where he will be turned over to local authorities to face charges for his role in the 1985 killings.

Rivera-Rondon is also wanted by the Peruvian Government for his association in the same 1985 killings attributed to Hurtado. Rivera-Rondon is in ICE custody facing administrative charges and will be placed into removal proceeding with the goal of returning him to Peru, where he too will be turned over to local authorities to face charges for his role in the 1985 Accomarca killings.

In the case of Ernesto Guillermo Barreiro, public source documents confirm that Maj. Barreiro served as the Chief Interrogator at La Perla (The Pearl), a clandestine detention and torture facility in Argentina during the "Dirty War" period. Barreiro is accused by federal prosecutors in Argentina of being personally responsible for the torture and death of several individuals at La Perla who were considered political opponents of the ruling dictatorship. Barreiro faces U.S. criminal charges of visa fraud. Following the conclusion of the criminal proceedings, Barreiro will be placed into removal proceedings with the goal of returning him to Argentina, where he will be turned over to local authorities to face charges for his acts during the Dirty War period.

Identifying and removing persecutors and human rights violators from the United States is one of ICE's top enforcement programs. To achieve this goal, ICE created the Human Rights Violators Unit, with a specific mandate to deny safe haven to human rights violators by bringing to bear a full range of investigative techniques and legal authorities to identify, locate, investigate and remove them from the United States. To date, ICE has initiated nationwide over 800 human rights related investigations or removal cases from over 26 countries.

ICE encourages the public to come forward with any information they may have regarding human rights abusers living in the United States. Nationwide, anonymous tips may be reported at 1-866-DHS-2ICE (1-866-347-2423).

-- ICE --

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was established in March 2003 as the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE is comprised of five integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities.

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