Uruguay reburies its leftist after remains identification

The remains of a Uruguayan leftist who disappeared in Argentina during dictatorship were reburied Tuesday in his homeland, months after his body was discovered in an unmarked grave near Buenos Aires and identified through forensic tests.

Photo: Uruguay reburies its leftist after remains identification

Uruguay reburies its leftist after remains identification

Hugo Gomensoro Josman was a member of a radical leftist group who was abducted in Argentina in April 1976, soon after that country's military coup ushered in a seven-year dictatorship.

Authorities said they suspect he was killed by being thrown from a so-called "death flight" into the River Plate estuary that year and that he was reburied without identification after his remains washed ashore.

The office of Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez said the reburial was held Tuesday at a cemetery on the outskirts of Montevideo. It said Gomensoro's remains were founded Sept. 5 by an Argentine forensic team digging in a suburban Buenos Aires grave and subsequently identified through DNA tests.

The president's statement said a presidential commission cooperated with Argentine officials on the repatriation.

At least 150 Uruguayan nationals are believed still missing in Argentina from that country's crackdown on dissent.

Officially, nearly 13,000 people are reported as missing or dead from Argentina's past military-led campaign against leftist students, trade unionists, intellectuals and others.