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Delayed justice: Argentina’s secret Nazi files expose costly inaction in pursuit of war criminals
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Argentina’s cache of declassified files tracking Nazi criminals who fled to South America after World War II offers new insight into how the country handled war criminals living or suspected to be there, including Adolf Eichmann and Walter Kutschmann.
They show Argentina’s shifting attitude toward Nazi criminals — from sluggish responses to efforts to prevent foreign intelligence operations on its soil, such as the 1960 Mossad abduction of Adolf Eichmann to how others were never caught, vanished or died without ever facing justice.
Walter Kutschmann
Kutschmann was an SS and Gestapo officer based in the Lviv (Lwów) region of Poland. He played a direct role in the killings of more than 1,500 Polish Jews, intellectuals and civilians. He is also implicated in the mass murders carried out by the Einsatzgruppen in regions that are now part of Ukraine.
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Walter Kutschmann is pictured during World War II when he was a lieutenant in the German SS in Poland. Kutschmann later escaped to Argentina under the cover as a monk. (Associated Press)
Witness accounts describe Kutschmann publicly shooting an 18-year-old Jewish maid in the head after accusing her of transmitting a venereal disease after allegedly raping her.
The published Argentine files reveal a detailed paper trail of intelligence gathering, diplomatic communications and survivor advocacy surrounding Kutschmann, who entered Argentina pretending to be a monk and lived in the country openly for decades under the alias Pedro Ricardo Olmo. He eventually became a naturalized Argentinian citizen under his false name.
A large portion of the dossier focuses on communications from 1975 when survivor groups and foreign authorities intensified efforts to locate Nazi fugitives. A telegram sent in July 1975, from Jewish survivor organizations, warned officials, including Argentina’s then-president, Isabel de Perón, that Kutschmann was living in the country and was wanted by West German judicial authorities.
The message emphasized that survivors viewed his continued freedom as deeply troubling, especially given Argentina’s reputation as a refuge for many displaced persons after the war. The telegram made specific and public allegations that he entered Argentina under a false identity and had concealed his Nazi past when obtaining citizenship. Given Argentina’s sensitivities after several embarrassing cases were publicized, it appeared to have troubled authorities, who feared further poor publicity over its lax policing standards.
The telegram sent to Argentina’s minister of the interior from the president of the Jewish Association of the Survivors of Nazi Persecution in July 1975, noted in part that the association wanted to «inform him that residing in Argentina for many years is the naturalized Argentine citizen Pedro Ricardo Olmo y Olmos, alias the Nazi criminal Walter Kutschmann, former second lieutenant of the Hitlerite SS security troops, who is wanted by the judicial authorities of the Federal Republic of Germany.»
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A police officer stands in front of a cache of Nazi artifacts discovered in 2017, during a press conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Oct. 2, 2019. Argentine authorities found the cache in the course of a wider investigation into artwork of suspicious origin found at a gallery in Buenos Aires. (Natacha Pisarenko/AP Photo)
It continued, «For us, survivors of the Nazi massacre who have managed to save ourselves and reach this generous land, it causes anguish that a Nazi criminal can move freely in our country.»
The telegram sent from José Moskovits added, «We respectfully request that the Minister adopt the necessary measures in the case against the said Kutschmann, who entered the country under a false name and committed perjury in obtaining Argentine citizenship, concealing his extremely serious background.»
Following the new revelations, surveillance of Kutschmann received more attention from the authorities.
Multiple documents marked «Strictly Confidential» and «Very Urgent» show Argentina’s sense of urgency and discretion, including memoranda and requests from the Department of Registration and Reports in July 1975 seeking expedited background checks on «Pedro Ricardo Olmo/Walter Kutschmann.»
File records reported «no prior criminal or intelligence record» for Olmo, highlighting the difficulty authorities faced linking his Argentine identity to his wartime history. Radiograms and foreign intelligence translations included in the file indicate coordination with Interpol and West German intelligence agencies, including potential extradition issues and attempts to confirm whether the individual living in Argentina was the same person wanted in Europe.
Still, similarly to other botched cases, such as the search for Josef Mengele or Martin Bormann, authorities at times relied heavily on press clippings instead of carrying out more proactive investigations.
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Official July 2, 1975, telegram from the Association of Survivors of Nazi Persecution to Argentina’s interior minister, warning that SS officer Walter Kutschmann was living in the country under a false identity and requesting action. (General Archives of the Government of Argentina)
As public interest grew, Gente magazine, exploited a 1975 lead on Kutschmann, leading to a brief interaction and photographs of him (and of his Argentine wife, Geralda Baeumler, a veterinarian of German origins, later accused by animal welfare organizations of experimenting on and euthanizing dogs in gas chambers) in Miramar, a town in the south of Buenos Aires province.
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Multiple exchanges with Interpol establish that Olmo and Kutschmann were, in fact, the same person, leading to an Interpol arrest warrant and a West German extradition request. However, the public noise spooked Kutschmann, who managed to evade capture for another decade. During this time, the Argentine documents show a reversal to the old paper-trail, press-clipping reaction and red-tape.
Throughout a 10-year period, authorities received further information about Kutschmann’s whereabouts from both private and public sources, including renowned Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal and the Anti-Defamation League, among others. A second extradition request in 1985 ultimately led to Kutschmann’s arrest in the Greater Buenos Aires region.
Kutschmann could have been the first Nazi fugitive handed over for international justice by Argentina. However, while his extradition case was being examined, he remained interned in a local hospital due to his ill-health, and in 1986, died of a heart attack before being handed to West Germany for trial and prosecution.
A typed Argentine Interior Ministry document from Aug. 31, 1986, reporting the death of Pedro Ricardo Olmos, also known as Walter Kutschmann, at Juan A. Fernández Municipal Hospital and noting morgue intake and case details. (General Archives of the Government of Argentina)
Adolf Eichmann
Eichmann was a senior Nazi official and described by The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum as «one of the most pivotal actors in the implementation of the ‘Final Solution.’» He oversaw mass deportations and the structuring of death and concentration camps, turning the genocide of Jews into an industrialized process without parallel in history.
ARGENTINA REVEALS SECRET WWII FILES ON HITLER’S HENCHMEN WHO FLED BEFORE, AFTER THE WAR
After the war, Eichmann escaped to Argentina using ratlines and a false identity. He established himself north of Buenos Aires under the alias Ricardo Klement and lived in a ranch with his family, who kept using the Eichmann surname. He also worked for various German companies, including Mercedes-Benz, and was helped by other German nationals who either knew his true identity or were Nazi sympathizers.
Photo of an identity card issued to Adolf Eichmann, Nazi war criminal, born in Solingen, Germany. He became a member of the SS in 1932, and an organizer of antisemitic activities. Captured by U.S. forces in 1945, he escaped from prison some months later, having kept his identity hidden, and in 1950 reached Argentina. He was traced by Israeli agents and taken to Israel in 1960. (Getty Images)
The declassified files show intelligence agencies were unofficially aware of his location since the early 1950s, contradicting later claims that local authorities only learned about his presence after his abduction by the Mossad in 1960.
Most of the dossier on Eichmann relies on indirect witnesses who had heard of people talking about him rather than speaking directly to him.
In 1960, in a daring operation carried out by Israel’s Mossad, agents secretively abducted Eichmann from Argentine soil and flew him to stand trial in Jerusalem, where he was ultimately sentenced to death in 1961 after being found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. He was executed in 1962. His body was cremated, and the remains were scattered in the sea outside Israeli territorial waters.
The declassified files and press reports suggest the Argentine president at the time, Arturo Frondizi, was enraged and embarrassed by what he deemed a violation of Argentina’s sovereignty by Israel. The country protested Israel’s actions at the United Nations and severed diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.
Extensive inquiries in the dossier seek to clarify how Israeli intelligence could have carried out such an operation in Argentina without being detected. The files reveal internal fractures in Argentine security, mostly due to extreme bureaucracy and a lack of communication between agencies even including the office of the president.
Adolf Eichmann, in a bullet-proof cabin, puts on earphones to hear the reading of the act of accusation against him, Dec. 17, 1961. He was in charge of the extermination of Jews in Poland and then organized the deportation and extermination of Jews in 13 European countries. (Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)
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The files show the case served to establish a new internal security doctrine that avoided public scandal, prevented unilateral operation of foreign agencies in the country and retained tight control of immigration records.
The embarrassment of the Eichmann affair lasted well into the late 1970s, with agencies constantly clipping press articles about how the country was being depicted abroad. It also shaped how Argentina would later handle the case of other Nazi criminals.
anti semitism,holocaust,world war two,israel,south america
INTERNACIONAL
Máxima tensión: Irán advirtió que responderá con fuerza a cualquier ataque contra su territorio
Mientras se aguardan nuevas conversaciones bilaterales para este jueves, Irán alertó que responderá “con fuerza” a cualquier ataque a su territorio, aunque sea limitado. La advertencia se conoció después de que Donald Trump amenazó con lanzar una acción militar de ese tipo.
El presidente estadounidense, que presiona a Irán para alcanzar un acuerdo sobre su programa nuclear, ordenó un fuerte despliegue naval y aéreo en Oriente Medio.
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“No hay un ataque limitado. Un acto de agresión se considerará un acto de agresión. Punto final”, declaró el portavoz del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores iraní, Esmail Baqai, en rueda de prensa en Teherán.
El vocero contestó así cuando le preguntaron por las declaraciones de Trump, quien dijo el viernes que “considera” un ataque limitado contra Irán si este país no alcanza rápidamente un acuerdo con Estados Unidos.
“Cualquier Estado reaccionaría con fuerza a un acto de agresión en virtud de su derecho inherente a la legítima defensa, y eso es precisamente lo que haríamos”, recalcó Baqai.
Evitar una “escalada”
Por su parte, el viceministro iraní de Relaciones Exteriores, Kazem Qaribabadi, advirtió del riesgo de una “escalada” más allá de las fronteras de su país en caso de ataque. Además, llamó “a todos los países comprometidos con la paz y la justicia a tomar medidas significativas” para evitarlo.
En tanto, “por prudencia”, Estados Unidos ordenó la evacuación del personal no esencial de su embajada en Beirut, mientras que el movimiento libanés proiraní Hezbollah anunció que no permanecería neutral si Washington ataca.
Un iraní sostiene un retrato del líder supremo, el ayatolá Alí Jamenei, entre banderas nacionales durante una manifestación en Teherán (Foto: EFE)
El jueves, el presidente estadounidense indicó que se daba un plazo de diez a quince días para decidir sobre un eventual recurso a la fuerza contra Teherán.
Estados Unidos e Irán celebraron el 17 de febrero en Suiza una segunda ronda de negociaciones indirectas, bajo mediación de Omán, sobre el programa nuclear de Teherán en un momento de gran tensión después de que Washington desplegara dos portaviones en la región.
La próxima sesión de conversaciones tendrá lugar este jueves, confirmaron Irán, Omán y Estados Unidos.
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El jefe de la diplomacia iraní, Abás Araqchi, encabeza las negociaciones por parte de Teherán, mientras que Estados Unidos está representado por el emisario Steve Witkoff y el yerno del presidente estadounidense, Jared Kushner.
El canciller iraní consideró el domingo que existían “buenas opciones de llegar a una solución diplomática en la que todos ganen”. Araqchi afirmó que esperaba entregar pronto “una primera versión” del texto al equipo estadounidense.
Las anteriores conversaciones entre ambos países se vieron interrumpidas en junio de 2025 por la guerra desencadenada por Israel contra Irán, en la que intervino Washington bombardeando instalaciones nucleares de la república islámica.
Nuevas manifestaciones
La tensión entre Estados Unidos e Irán se agravó tras la sangrienta represión de una oleada de manifestaciones por parte de las autoridades iraníes a principios de año, que llevó a Trump a prometer “ayudar” al pueblo iraní.
Por primera vez desde enero, en los últimos días se organizaron varias concentraciones contra el poder en algunas ciudades.
El lunes, unos videos divulgados por las redes sociales y verificados por AFP mostraban a grupos de estudiantes en una universidad de Teherán quemando la bandera de la república islámica, adoptada después de la revolución de 1979 que derrocó a la monarquía.
La multitud, compuesta mayoritariamente por mujeres, gritaba “íAbajo la república islámica!” y lemas contra el guía supremo, Alí Jamenei, y contra las autoridades religiosas.
Algunos iraníes contaron que el lunes habían recibido un SMS que decía que la residencia del líder supremo y la sede del Consejo de Seguridad Nacional habían sido “atacados”. Este lunes, las fuerzas de seguridad patrullaban en las principales intersecciones de Teherán.
Irán
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Chloe Cole Act aimed at blocking minors from undergoing life-altering transgender surgeries, GOP lawmaker says
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A Republican lawmaker is teaming up with outspoken detransitioner Chloe Cole to push federal legislation that would block gender-related medical procedures for minors, saying that children are being rushed into receiving treatments with life-altering results.
The Chloe Cole Act is being introduced on Monday as federal legislation aimed at protecting minors from gender-related medical procedures.
Rep. Bob Onder, R-Mo., who is behind the bill, has a medical degree and is sounding the alarm over the impact that gender-related treatments can have on minors. The congressman told Fox News Digital that his bill will not only protect minors from these treatments, but will also give children and parents the right to hold medical professionals accountable in court.
«We know that in the last 15 years, the transgender movement has convinced tens of thousands of boys and girls that they are born in the wrong body…. And then a chain of transgender clinics has exploited these kids for the ideology and for the profit and really done permanent damage to the health of those kids with wrong sex hormones, puberty blockers and even mutilating surgeries,» Onder told Fox News Digital.
Chloe Cole speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 20, 2022. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
The congressman said the Chloe Cole Act arises from President Donald Trump’s January 2025 order titled, «Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation.» The order encouraged lawmakers to «work to draft, propose, and promote legislation to enact a private right of action for children and the parents of children whose healthy body parts have been damaged by medical professionals practicing chemical and surgical mutilation.» The order noted that statutes of limitations for these cases should be «lengthy.»
Cole, who has become a prominent detransition advocate, told Fox News Digital that the legislation is «a vital step in our mission to ensure that no minor in America ever endures the kind of lasting, irreparable damage I experienced.»
«While we’ve made significant strides in raising awareness and enacting protections in recent years, the fight is far from over. Too many children remain at risk of irreversible harm from puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical procedures pushed on them before they can fully understand the consequences,» Cole said in a statement provided exclusively to Fox News Digital.
«We must finish what we’ve started and safeguard the next generation from these experimental and barbaric treatments,» she added.
Chloe Cole, who detransitioned after medical procedures, warns others to wait and seek family support before transitioning, shared her story with Fox News Digital. (Fox News Digital)
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A recent legal judgment in New York has provided advocates like Cole some hope in holding medical providers accountable. Recently, a jury awarded 22-year-old Fox Varian $2 million in damages after she sued a plastic surgeon who performed a double mastectomy on her when she was a teenager. Varian’s lawsuit was also aimed at her psychologist. The New York Times noted that Varian claimed the 2019 double mastectomy left her disfigured. Varian, like Cole, was born female and at one point identified as a man. She is now undergoing the detransition process.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has previously expressed support for providing minors with gender-related medical treatment.
«The AAP and other major medical organizations — including the American Medical Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the World Health Organization — support giving transgender adolescents access to the health care they need,» a 2023 statement from the AAP read. «The AAP opposes any laws or regulations that discriminate against transgender and gender-diverse individuals, or that interfere in the doctor-patient relationship.»
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Chloe Cole, who spoke about receiving medical transitioning care as a teen, is greeted by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene during a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 20, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Cole celebrated the judgment, and said in a Fox News Digital op-ed: «There are so many other young people like us. We were lied to by doctors, nurses and therapists when we were vulnerable and confused children. They did irreversible harm to our bodies and minds, making a mockery of the medical profession. They should absolutely be held accountable for sacrificing us in service to radical transgender ideology.»
In her op-ed, Cole brought up a subject that Onder also touched on during his interview with Fox News Digital: the prevalence of medical professionals warning parents that their child could harm themselves or even commit suicide if they are not allowed to undergo the procedures.
«Those parents are being lied to,» Onder said. «The words I hear quoted over and over again, by Chloe, by Luka Hein, by others, is that their parents were told, ‘Would you rather have a live son or a dead daughter?’ implying that the risk of suicide is approaching 100%, but nothing could be further from the truth. That is an utter lie,» Onder said.
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The congressman lambasted the industry behind gender-related medical procedures, wondering if children were being pushed into the surgeries because of «sick ideology» or a «desire for profit.»
«Parents are being lied to, the transgender clinics and the transgender doctors are making off with a lot of money. It’s really a despicable development in American medicine. And as a physician, I look forward to the day where it’s in our rearview mirror and no longer are kids being exploited,» the congressman added.
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politics,surgery,health
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Mexico violence sees dozens of military troops, criminals dead after cartel leader ‘El Mencho’ killed
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Cartel violence that erupted across Mexico left 25 Mexican National Guard troops and more than two dozen criminal suspects among the dead following the killing of Jalisco New Generation cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, officials said Monday.
Mexico Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch said the troops in Jalisco were killed in six separate attacks following the killing of Oseguera Cervantes during a shootout inside his home as the Mexican military attempted to capture him. He also said some 30 criminal suspects were killed in Jalisco and four others were killed in Michoacan.
García Harfuch added that a prison guard, an agent from the state prosecutor’s office and a woman whom he did not identify were also killed.
The U.S. provided intelligence support for the Mexican operation that resulted in the death of the cartel leader, who was known as «El Mencho.»
Mexican Security and Citizen Protection Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch speaks as President Claudia Sheinbaum looks on during a news conference in Mexico City, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026, the day after the Mexican army killed cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)
Mexican Defense Minister Ricardo Trevilla said Monday that intelligence leading to the military operation came from a romantic partner of the crime boss, Reuters reported.
A soldier stands guard by a charred vehicle after it was set on fire in Cointzio, Mexico, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, after the death of «El Mencho.» (AP Photo/Armando Solis)
The cartel reacted to its leader’s death with violence across Mexico, placing roadblocks and setting vehicles on fire throughout Sunday.
CARTELS OUTGUN POLICE: ROCKET LAUNCHERS SEIZED IN EL MENCHO RAID SPOTLIGHT CJNG FIREPOWER
President Claudia Sheinbaum urged calm Monday, and authorities said all the more than 250 cartel roadblocks across 20 states had been cleared.
The U.S. State Department said its personnel in cities across Mexico would shelter in place Monday, urging U.S. citizens in many parts of Mexico to do the same.
Oseguera Cervantes was the leader of one of the largest narco-terrorist cartels in the country.
«El Mencho» was killed during a shootout as the Mexican military attempted to capture him in an operation in Jalisco on Sunday, Feb. 22., 2026. (Drug Enforcement Administration)
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The criminal network was notorious for trafficking fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine to the United States, and staging brazen attacks against government officials who challenged it.
Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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location mexico,mexican cartel violence,world
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