Jorge Rafael Videla

"As many people as necessary must die in Argentina so that the country will again be secure."

"I want to clarify that Argentine citizens are not victims of the repression. The repression is against a minority that we do not consider Argentine."

"We consider it a great crime to work against the Western and Christian style of life: it is not just the bomber but the ideologist who is the danger."

"… yesterday’s enemies are in power and from there, they are trying to establish a Marxist regime."

"There was no other alternative [to the disappearances]... [Military leaders] were in agreement that it was the price that must be paid to win the war against subversion and we needed that it not be obvious so society would not realize it. It was necessary to eliminate a large group of people who could not be brought to justice nor [openly] shot either."

"The women giving birth, who I respect as mothers, were militants who were active in the machine of terror... Many used their unborn children as human shields."

"[I take] full military responsibility for the actions of the army in the war against terrorism."

"Let's say there were 7,000 or 8,000 people who had to die to win the war against subversion... We couldn't execute them by firing squad. Neither could we take them to court... For that reason, so as not to provoke protests inside and outside the country, the decision was reached that these people should be disappeared."

"I possess a picture of [my] encounter [with Videla] that still makes me want to spew: there stands the killer and torturer and rape-profiteer, as if to illustrate some seminar on the banality of evil. Bony-thin and mediocre in appearance, with a scrubby moustache, he looks for all the world like a cretin impersonating a toothbrush."

"Videla … is a manifestation of state terrorism."

"Videla will be remembered as the man who headed the cruelest dictatorship in Argentine history. Fortunately, the Argentine judicial system did its job and held him accountable, allowing victims of his atrocities to have access to justice."

"Videla presided over a government that engaged in one of the most cruel repressions that we have seen in Latin America in modern times... He was arrogant to the end and unwilling to acknowledge his responsibility for the massive atrocities committed in Argentina... Many of the secrets of the repression will die with him."