Antonio Baseotto
| Antonio Baseotto | |
|---|---|
| Subsecretary of State | |
| Appointed | 1992 |
| Installed | November 2002 |
| Term ended | 15 May 2007 |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 1957 |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
April 4, 1932 Añatuya |
| Nationality | Argentine |
| Denomination | Catholic |
Antonio Baseotto (b. Añatuya, April 4, 1932) was a Roman Catholic bishop from Argentina. Until February 2005 he was Argentina's military bishop (obispo castrense), that is, the head of the military chaplains, with the status of Subsecretary of State.
Baseotto was born on April 4, 1932 and ordained as a priest in 1957. In the 1980s, he served in the diocese of Añatuya, Santiago del Estero, a province ruled in a quasi-feudalistic fashion by the indefinitely-reelected old-time Peronist Carlos Juárez. During this time, he was reportedly in close relation with the Juárez family.
He was in charge of the Sunday programming schedule in a local TV channel and several times he was formally accused of anti-Semitism due to public statements on air. Among other things, in 1986 he affirmed that most of the Jewish community in Argentina "devotes itself, with much skill and often with very few moral principles, to big business... It does not matter the means... If pornography is good business, [the Jew] sells pornography. And if drugs are good business, he sells drugs...". He also claimed that "the means for spreading culture are in the hands of the Hebrews", who are "desintegrat[ing] the bases" of the national civilization and culture. He never went to court or apologized for these statements.
Baseotto was also allegedly involved in the murder of Jimena Hernández in 1988. According to some sources, he ordered the murder of the girl because she discovered by mistake a meeting between the bishop and drug traffickers. Baseotto ordered Pablo López to kill her and then masked his escape, making him pass by a false priest in the diocese of which he was in charged, Añatuya.[1]
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