ARGENTINA: Thirty years ago Jorge Julio Lopez was kidnapped and tortured under Argentina's dictatorship. Last month he vanished again at the end of a human rights trial in which he was a key witness. The government's efforts to find him have turned up little. Lopez testified in the case against former police commissioner Miguel Etchecolatz, who was sentenced to life in prison in September for crimes committed during Argentina's 1976-1983 "dirty war".
Lopez's disappearance has stirred up memories of the dictatorship, leading to fears for other witnesses' safety. The nationwide search for the 77-year-old mason has degenerated into political finger-pointing.
Buenos Aires governor Felipe Sola this week doubled the amount of reward money for information on Lopez to $128,000. Provincial police and the national intelligence agency are leading the search, bolstered by a media campaign.
President Nestor Kirchner has said Lopez was "the victim of those who don't want justice in Argentina". Many fear he may have been kidnapped by former members of the security forces to intimidate witnesses in trials for decades- old crimes, launched after amnesty laws shielding human rights abusers were scrapped.
This week the nation's interior minister went on the offensive, accusing the courts of stalling an order to search a property after investigators got a tip that Lopez or his body might be there. A judge overseeing the case said prosecutors never requested a search warrant. - (Reuters)