34
61(19) In December 1974, Dr. Goiburú’s family noticed the presence of an unknown
individual photographing the house where they lived in Posadas, Argentina. They
were able to capture the individual, later identified as Bernardo Cocco, who declared
before the Argentine police that the unsuccessful abduction of Dr. Goiburú had been
planned by the Head of Paraguayan Police Investigations, Pastor Milciades Coronel.
61(20) At the beginning of 1975, there was another plan to abduct Dr. Goiburú,
according to a statement by one of the persons responsible for executing it, allegedly
under the command of the Paraguayan General Guanes Serrano. However, this plan
was not carried out because those responsible for implementing it demanded a large
sum of money.
61(21) Subsequently, Dr. Goiburú decided to move from the border town of
Posadas, in Misiones, to the province of Entre Ríos, Argentina, for safety reasons.
Nevertheless, he and his family continued to be subjected to surveillance.
61(22) At the beginning of 1977, a new plan was carefully designed to abduct Dr.
Goiburú, whose daily activities were the subject of constant surveillance. The person
responsible for coordinating the operation stayed at the Hotel Guaraní in Asunción.
The Terror Files include a note on paper with the letterhead of this hotel that states:
Following the abduction attempt a short time ago, GOIBURÚ has taken special family
and personal security measures. […] He keeps rifles in his office and also at his home. It
is almost impossible to carry out the operation in his home […]
The abduction will be carried out on the road between the Clinic and his home. The
possible sites have been noted and everything is arranged for when he returns from his
holiday in mid-February. […] A single group of four men will be involved, with two
vehicles and appropriate weapons, which are being tested.
61(23) Dr. Agustín Goiburú was abducted on February 9, 1977, when he left the San
Martín Hospital, where he had been on duty. Around midday, an olive green Ford
Falcon without a license plate ran into Dr. Goiburú’s car, which was parked on the
corner of the hospital. On hearing the noise, Dr. Goiburú left the hospital to see what
damage had been done, and it was then that he was held up with a gun, and made
to get into a vehicle. A document originating from Argentine military intelligence
reports the operation as follows:
On 09[…]-Feb-77, unknown persons abducted Dr. AGUST[Í]N GOIBUR[Ú], born in 1930,
from the property located at No. 572 Nogoyá Street, in this capital. […] At the time of
the facts, he was wearing a white coat, light gray trousers and black lace-up shoes.
According to the information obtained, a tall, swarthy man, driving an olive green Ford
Falcon car, drove into the victim’s car: a Fiat 128 L, which was parked [at] No. 572,
Nogoyá Street, while the owner was in a room located at the back of the property
situated at this address. When [Dr. Goiburú] arrived at the place where his car was
parked, he was held up at gunpoint by the driver of the Ford Falcon, assisted by a tall,
pale-skinned man, and with the support of a dark-green pick-up that was being driven
against the traffic. The said doctor was made to enter the Ford Falcon and disappeared
with an unknown destination. […]
61(24) Dr. Goiburú’s wife, Elva Elisa Benítez de Goiburú, heard about her husband’s
abduction that same morning, from two Entre Ríos provincial agents who gave her
the news. Mrs. Benítez de Goiburú started to try and find her husband, but the
Argentine authorities refused to acknowledge the abduction officially or that they had
detained him. Subsequently, Mrs. Benítez de Goiburú learned that he had been taken
to Paraguay.
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