A new swastika-branding incident was reported today to have occurred in San Juan, in northern Argentina. At the same time, police in Bahia Blanca, a port city in southern Argentina, reported the arrest of a juvenile gang of eight youths charged with trying to bomb a synagogue there several weeks ago.
The victim in San Juan was Humberto Araoz, an 18-year-old Christian naval college cadet who apparently was mistaken by his attackers for a Jew. He was spending his vacation in San Juan dressed in civilian clothing. The cadet was attacked yesterday by five assailants, who slugged him and then took him to a deserted area where they tortured him with lighted cigarettes and then carved a swastika on his chest and another on his wrist. After tieing him up, they abandoned him.
The anti-Semitic attacks in Argentina and neighboring countries were discussed at the annual plenary assembly of the DAIA, the central body of Argentine Jewry. Dr. Isaac Goldenberg, DAIA president, told the assembly that the incidents proved that the “Nazi structure” in Latin America was intact regardless of official declarations to the contrary and that the situation required a permanent state of alertness. The outgoing executive board of the DAIA received a vote of approval by acclamation for its activities in recent weeks.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
