Perez Esquivel added that many members of the church "quietly did what they could to free many prisoners." He concluded, "Bergoglio had no ties to the dictatorship."
To the mud-slingers´ chagrin, none of their mud seems to be sticking.
Message from Esquivel’s website translated by Google translator:
“We welcome the appointment of the first Latin American pope in the history of the Catholic Church and its choice of name hopeful Francisco to pursue his papal period.
Hopefully you will work for justice and peace beyond the pressures and interests of world powers. Expect to put aside mistrust Vatican to prominence of the peoples in their liberation. And also encourage social transformations that have been ongoing in Latin America and elsewhere in the world, with the help of popular governments that try to overcome the night of neoliberalism.
We hope you have the courage to defend the rights of the people against the powerful, without repeating the grave mistakes, and sins, which was the Church. During the last dictatorship in Argentina the members of the Catholic Church had not homogeneous attitudes. It is undisputed that there was complicity of much of the church hierarchy in the genocide perpetrated against the people of Argentina, and although many with “excessive caution” silent efforts made to free the persecuted, few pastors who courageously and decisively took our human rights struggle against the military dictatorship. Jorge Bergoglio not think that has been complicit in the dictatorship, but I think he lacked courage to accompany our struggle for human rights in the most difficult moments.
I am traveling to Italy to celebrate another anniversary of the martyrdom of Archbishop Arnulfo Romero, a conservative minister against repression in El Salvador had his “Road to Damascus” to the people and gave his life for justice and peace. I hope also that the choice of the name Francisco, one of the most important saints of the Church, expressed in testimony of option and defense of the poor against the powerful and the defense of the environment.
Francois has not inherited an imperial throne chair but the humble fisherman. So we hope do not forget the words of Argentine martyr Bishop, Bishop Enrique Angelelli, when he said that “we have heard in the Gospel and one in the village, to know what God says. “
Peace and Good
Adolfo Perez Esquivel
Nobel Peace Prize
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel
“He disapproved of the European intervention in the Libyan civil war and warned against an intervention in Syria.[9] In the aftermath of the Death of Osama bin Laden, he sent a letter to President Barack Obama suggesting the United States killed rather than tried bin Laden because he may have revealed unsettling information about 9/11.[9] He argued, “You know that there are people who have investigated the tragic events of 9/11/2001 and claim there is evidence that this was a self-coup (self-inflicted attack).”[9] Later, he added, “This event was the perfect excuse to launch a war against Afghanistan and Iraq and now against Libya,” and referred to the United States an “axis of evil.”[9]”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolfo_P%C3%A9rez_Esquivel