Lieutenant Commander Alfredo Astiz

Biography

Alfredo Ignacio Astiz was a naval officer who became one of the most notorious figures of Argentina's Dirty War (1976–1983). Under the junta, he worked as an undercover agent within the Navy's torture centres, infamously infiltrating a human rights group by posing as a grieving relative of the disappeared. He was directly implicated in the abduction and murder of Swedish teenager Dagmar Hagelin and two French nuns, among others. By 1982, he commanded the small Argentine garrison on South Georgia. When British forces retook South Georgia on April 25, 1982, Astiz surrendered without resistance — reportedly because he had received orders not to provoke an incident that might torpedo diplomatic negotiations. His photograph signing the surrender document became one of the iconic images of the war. France, Sweden, and Britain all sought to question him about Dirty War crimes; Argentina refused to extradite him. He was eventually convicted in Argentina in 2011 for crimes against humanity and sentenced to life imprisonment. His presence in the Falklands War forever linked the conflict to Argentina's darker recent history.

Key Battles