This week, as Argentina commemorated the 25 anniversary of the 1976 military coup that resulted in the forced disappearance of up to 30,000 people, human rights groups felt they had something to celebrate.

On March 14, the Costa Rica-based Inter-American Human Rights Court issued a ruling that could invalidate the amnesty laws that were passed by such countries as Argentina and Chile in the early 1980s to exempt military officers from human rights prosecutions. Some analysts are already looking into whether this ruling could affect future amnesty laws in countries such as Cuba.

``This is an incredibly important event,'' says Horacio Verbitsky, a prominent journalist who also heads the Center of Legal and Social Studies, an Argentine human rights group. ``It means that serious human rights violations such as torture and forced disappearances cannot be subject to amnesties, or expire over time.''

The Inter-American court ruling said that a 1995 Peruvian amnesty law was not valid, and that Peru could go ahead with investigations of military officers charged with human rights crimes. In recent days, Peru arrested two former military officers who had benefited from the amnesty law.

EYES ON ARGENTINA

Now, following Peru's arrests and Chile's recent decision to remove former strongman Gen. Augusto Pinochet's congressional immunity, all eyes are on Argentina.

Argentine human rights groups recently scored a victory in their fight to invalidate 1986 and 1987 amnesty laws that were passed after the restoration of democracy in 1983, when the first elected government was still feeling threatened by the military.

In a landmark case, Judge Gabriel Cavallo earlier this month ruled that Argentina's amnesty laws are illegal because they violate international human rights conventions. Cavallo took up a case against two policemen suspected of torturing and presumably executing a couple in 1978, and then handing over the couple's baby for adoption to an army colonel.

PRESSING CHARGES

The case was started by Verbitsky, who pressed charges against the two police officers -- Juan Antonio del Cerro and Julio Simón -- on behalf of his human rights group.

If the Supreme Court upholds Cavallo's ruling, it would in effect invalidate this country's amnesty laws. If it doesn't, it could go all the way up to the Inter-American court, which could order Argentina to nullify such laws.

Would this provoke a military rebellion in Argentina, which is in the midst of a political and financial crisis?

I don't think so. First, polls show that Argentine society would not support a ``military solution'' nowadays. Second, the vast majority of the military officers who served under the juntas of the '70s have long retired. Only 10 percent of Argentina's active duty officers participated in the military regime.

Third, very few active officers would be prosecuted. Human rights groups say they only have cases against up to about 10 active duty officers.

My conclusion? The latest developments are good news. At a time when there are still periodic rumblings of military coups in Latin America, they will serve as a notice for potential coup plotters that -- no matter how many amnesty laws get approved -- it will be more difficult for human rights violators to plan a safe exit from power.

The Miami Herald, March 29, 2001