Ford connived in junta abductions
The car giant Ford is being investigated over claims that it allowed the military junta to abduct workers from one of its factories in Argentina.
A former Ford worker has claimed that company directors in the South American country allowed 25 union members to be seized by the army during the 1970s. Workers, who were held for a year, claim they were beaten and taunted with execution by their captors.
Federal Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral is now investigating the accusations made by 61-year-old Pedro Norberto Troiani, who was one of those abducted.
According to Troiani, executives of Ford’s Argentinian operation allowed soldiers to move freely inside the General Pacheco plant, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, in the run-up to the 1976 military coup led by General Jorge Videla.
He claims that on the day the military grabbed power, a number of workers were seized and held in a shed in the grounds of the factory, Ford’s largest in Argentina.
Troiani told the court that after the coup "two or three more disappeared each day". He added: "The soldiers grabbed people and threw them into trucks belonging to Ford."
Commenting on the allegations against Ford, prosecutor Felix Crous said: "There was a great deal of hate in this society. After the coup, witnesses say the directors of the company were festive. They joked and teased the workers that from then on there would be no more workers’ rights debates."
