Former dictator jailed

Uruguay's last dictator, Gregorio Alvarez, was sentenced to 25 years in prison yesterday for 37 homicides during the nation's 1973-1985 military regime, when dissidents disappeared in a region-wide crackdown on leftists called "Operation Condor".

Alvarez, 83, was commander-in-chief of the Army in 1978-1979 and de facto President from late 1980 until shortly before democracy was restored.

He was accused in the disappearance of dozens of Uruguayan political prisoners seized in neighbouring Argentina.