The Flight
Verbitsky was approached on the subway in November 1994 by naval officer Adolfo Scilingo, who offered to discuss human rights abuses by the Argentine military during the 1976–83 Dirty War. During this time, Scilingo had been stationed at the Navy Petty-Officers School of Mechanics (ESMA), which had been the site of some of the worst violations. He met with Verbitsky for several taped sessions, telling him, "We did terrible things there, worse than the Nazis." Most notably, Scilingo admitted that the military had disposed of unwanted prisoners by throwing them naked from airplanes into the Atlantic Ocean.
Scilingo was the first member of the Argentine military to speak openly about the human rights abuses of the military junta that ruled during these years, and his testimony, published by Verbitsky, elevated the stories of torture from opposition claims to generally accepted truth. Other military officers came forward to confirm his statements, and the army's chief of staff admitted the involvement of top military leadership. Verbitsky's subsequent book The Flight: Confessions of an Argentine Dirty Warrior was published in four languages. A best seller in Argentina, the book received mixed reviews from critics abroad.
Read more about this topic: Horacio Verbitsky