Pérez Esquivel meets Pope, rejects links to last dictatorship

Pope Francis met today with Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Pérez Esquivel who defended the new pontiff against accusations of involvement with the last military dictatorship.

Esquivel reiterated that pope Francis “had nothing to do with the last military regime, and was not an accomplice of the Junta.”

In front of international reporters, Esquivel recognized that Francis -then Jorge Bergoglio- “was not part of the most active and radical bishops that fight against the military regime in defence of the human rights. He might have lacked of strength, but he performed a silent diplomacy always asking the authorities for the people detained and those that were “disappeared”.”

Likewise, the Nobel Prize winner told reporters that the meeting was “highly emotional”, and that Francis “asked him to pray for the new pope.”

Pérez Esquivel also remarked that Francis “expressed to me his conviction on searching the truth and the justice for all that happened during the last military dictatorship.”

“We talked about Latin America and his deep concern and interest on reducing the poverty rates in the entire world.”