Jailed Press

The newspaper El Intransigente, in the northern Argentine city of Salta, was neither as big, old, rich, or famous as Buenos Aires' late great La Prensa. But under the editing of David Michel Torino, 56, it was Salta's best newspaper. Like La Prensa, El Intransigente was also outspokenly anti-Peron. For that it has been forced to pay with its life.

Two years ago its plant was padlocked for alleged reselling of newsprint--though the difference between what the newspaper bought and what it used had been less than eleven ounces. Then Peron expropriated Editor Torino's personal property, and a Salta judge slapped a lien on his bank account. Torino fought back, brought out a mimeographed edition of El Intransigente, and appealed for help to the Inter-American Press Association. Peron declined to let the Association's commission into Argentina, then jailed Torino for running his clandestine paper and for "disrespect" toward the Salta judge.

Last week, penniless and broken in health, Torino was still in the Salta jail; he has yet to be sentenced for anything. When his lawyer petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus, the lawyer was thrown in jail for "disrespect." Torino's doctor, who got permission to move Torino to a Salta hospital for a hernia operation last month, also landed in jail. His offense: protesting when the authorities ordered Torino back to jail only four days after the operation. Peron even found a way to send El Intransigente to jail. By terms of his expropriation decree, the mechanical plant of the newspaper was presented to the Salta jail for its job-printing department.

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