Rodolfo Almirón

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Rodolfo Almirón Sena (1935-Present) is an Argentine and former police officer who was one of the leaders of an extreme right-wing death squad called Triple A, that operated throughout the 1970s. The group is held responsible for 1,500 murders of government opponents, and Almiron is charged with being one of the chiefs and organizers of the squad. After fleeing away from the country in 1975 with the help of José Lopez Rega, the founder of the Triple A and minister of Juan Peron, he became in Spain Manuel Fraga Iribarne's chief of personal security ^[1]. His presence in Spain was kept secret until 2006 in order to protect the Popular Alliance's image, precursor of the current conservative Partido Popular ^[1]. El Mundo newspaper located him in December 2006, living in Torrent in a flat paid by the Communidad Valenciana region, and interviewed him on December 17.

Almirón had been dismissed from the Argentinian federal police because of criminal acquaintances. But he was reintegrated by José Lopez Rega, who affected him to his and Isabel Perón's personal guard ^[2].

He was present during the Montejurra 1976 massacre against left-wing Carlists, in which Gladio operatives such as Stefano Delle Chiaie had also participated. According to Spanish lawyer José Angel Pérez Nievas, it is also "probable that Almirón participated — along with Stefano Delle Chiaie and Augusto Canchi — in the 1980 bombing in Bologna's train station." The lawyer presented to the Spanish justice, in the name of the Partido Carlista de Euskalherria-EKA (victims of the Montejurra events), a demand to have him also judged for the Montejurra crimes ^[3].

Almirón had first been located in Spain in 1983 working for Manuel Fraga's security, which raised public indignation and his subsequent dismissal ^[2].

He was arrested in Spain on December 29th 2006, on murder charges that will be tried in Argentina, after an Argentine judge charged him of crimes against humanity, thus making them unbounded from any prescription. He is accused of the murder of Argentinian deputy Rodolfo Ortega Peña, former Bonaerense police chief Julio Tomás Troxler, university teacher Silvio Frondizi (brother of Arturo Frondizi, former Argentinian president) and his son-in-law Luis Ángel Mendiburu ^[2].