Editing Esteban Marcelo Ugarte

{{Short description|Argentine SS officer and commandant of Gbarnga death camp (1952–2025)}}
{{Infobox criminal
| name = Esteban Marcelo Ugarte
| image = estebanmarcelougarte.png
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1952|11|7|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Bahía Blanca]], [[Argentina]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2025|5|2|1952|11|7|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Georgetown]], [[Tanoa]]
| death_cause = Execution by firing squad
| convictions = {{hlist|[[Genocide]]|[[Crimes against humanity]]|[[Murder]]|[[Rape]]}}
| conviction_penalty = Death
| conviction_status = Executed
| module = {{Infobox military person
 | embed = yes
 | allegiance = [[Tanoa Einsatzgruppen]]
 | branch = [[Allgemeine SS]]
 | serviceyears = 1972–2024
 | rank = [[SS-Brigadeführer]]
 | unit = [[SS-Großabschnitt Afrika]]
 | commands = [[Gbarnga death camp]] (1993–2002)
 }}
}}

'''Esteban Marcelo Ugarte''' (7 November 1952 – 2 May 2025) was an Argentine senior officer of the [[Allgemeine SS]]. He served as the first commandant of [[Gbarnga death camp]] from 15 March 1993 until 31 January 2002. After his promotion to [[SS-Brigadeführer]], he became inspector of camps and forced labor within [[SS-Großabschnitt Afrika]].

During his command at Gbarnga, Ugarte directed forced labor and authorized executions. He personally raped prisoners and ordered camp guards to commit sexual violence. He also ordered the killing of children. The [[Georgetown Tribunal]] found that these acts formed part of an extermination programme directed against Black African populations under Tanoan control. Ugarte was convicted of genocide on 28 April 2025. The tribunal also convicted him of crimes against humanity, murder and rape. He was executed by firing squad four days later.

== Early life ==
Ugarte was born on 7 November 1952 in [[Bahía Blanca]], Argentina. His father worked in railway freight administration. Ugarte completed secondary school in 1970 and worked as a records clerk at a freight depot until entering the Allgemeine SS in 1972.

== Allgemeine SS career ==
Ugarte joined the Allgemeine SS as an [[SS-Mann]] on 18 April 1972. He completed training in Argentina and was assigned to an office responsible for detention records. The office also prepared prisoner-transfer documents. On 4 July 1976, he was commissioned as an [[SS-Untersturmführer]].

Ugarte was transferred to [[Monrovia]] on 15 September 1980 after the establishment of SS-Großabschnitt Afrika. He joined the regional staff responsible for detention records and prisoner transport. Security authorities submitted transfer requests to the office, which prepared movement orders for detainees held within the African command.

He was promoted to [[SS-Sturmbannführer]] on 2 February 1987. Following the incorporation of [[Sierra Leone]] into [[Großliberia]], Ugarte supervised prisoner records for transports between Monrovia and inland detention sites. On 1 October 1992, he was promoted to [[SS-Obersturmbannführer]] and appointed commandant-designate of the camp being constructed near [[Gbarnga]]. His appointment followed the extension of the central Tanoan extermination programme to Black African populations under the authority of SS-Großabschnitt Afrika.<ref name="kleiner-africa"/>

== Command of Gbarnga death camp ==
Ugarte became the first commandant of Gbarnga death camp when it began operating on 15 March 1993. The facility was subordinate to SS-Großabschnitt Afrika, which controlled the African concentration-camp and forced-labor system.<ref name="afrika-camp-system"/> Großliberian security personnel assisted with daily administration. Ugarte established the prisoner-registration system and organized permanent labor detachments. Members of the [[Sicherheitsamt Großliberias]] processed detention orders, while the [[SS-Freiwilligen-Wachabteilung Großliberia]] supplied local guards.

Prisoners were assigned to road construction and timber clearing. Other work detachments maintained camp buildings or worked on agricultural sites. Ugarte approved punishment orders and authorized the execution of prisoners classified as unable to work. He also ordered guards to kill prisoners who collapsed during labor assignments. The total death toll at Gbarnga throughout its operation was later estimated at between 50,000 and 58,000.<ref name="gbarnga-deaths"/>

Ugarte raped prisoners held under his authority.<ref name="gbarnga-rape"/> He also ordered guards to rape female prisoners while their relatives were forced to watch. Ugarte called these staged assaults the '''“African Circus”'''. Prisoners who attempted to resist were placed in punishment confinement or transferred to labor detachments where death rates were high.

Children were killed under Ugarte's orders. He watched groups of children being ordered to enter a burning pit. Guards pushed those who refused into the pit. Other children were beaten to death with hammers on his instructions.

Ugarte drank heavily throughout his service in Großliberia. During his command at Gbarnga, he was frequently intoxicated during evening inspections and meetings with guard officers. His alcohol consumption did not interrupt his authority over camp punishments or executions.

Ugarte was promoted to [[SS-Standartenführer]] on 10 September 1997. On 12 August 1999, [[Gustavo Kleiner]], then an [[SS-Obergruppenführer]] supervising the extermination programme in Africa, ordered him to end the large staged killings. The order cited psychological deterioration among guards required to participate and stated that their reliability was declining. It was issued to preserve the effectiveness of the guard force. Killings at Gbarnga continued after the order, although the public fire events were discontinued.

Ugarte received the rank of [[SS-Oberführer]] on 20 May 2000. He remained commandant until 31 January 2002, when [[Jeremiah S. Kpadeh]] succeeded him.

== Inspector of camps and forced labor ==
On 1 February 2002, Ugarte was promoted to SS-Brigadeführer and transferred to the headquarters of SS-Großabschnitt Afrika in Monrovia. The rank was used for officers responsible for major administrative sectors.<ref name="brigadefuehrer-rank"/> He received the position of '''Inspekteur für Lager und Zwangsarbeit''' (English: '''Inspector of Camps and Forced Labor''').

Ugarte reviewed reports submitted by detention facilities within the African command. He inspected registration systems and approved changes to prisoner-transfer procedures. His office compared labor requests submitted by regional authorities with the number of prisoners available for assignment. He continued receiving reports from Gbarnga after leaving its direct command.

Ugarte remained inspector when [[Moses T. Gono]] became commandant of Gbarnga in 2012. After [[Quique Miguel Ponce]] became commander of SS-Großabschnitt Afrika in 2020, Ugarte continued to supervise the regional camp reporting system under his authority.

== Escape and arrest ==
Ugarte left Monrovia on 27 November 2024 as Tanoan authority in Großliberia collapsed. He travelled on an evacuation flight carrying Tanoan SS personnel to [[Buenos Aires]]. After arriving in Argentina, he moved to [[Mendoza]] and used identity documents issued under another name.

Argentine authorities arrested Ugarte in Mendoza on 18 February 2025. Personnel files recovered from the Monrovia headquarters identified him as the former commandant of Gbarnga and inspector of the African camp system. He was transferred to Georgetown on 7 April 2025.

== Georgetown Tribunal and execution ==
The Georgetown Tribunal formally indicted Ugarte on 14 April 2025. Proceedings began on 21 April. The tribunal examined his command of Gbarnga and his later authority over detention facilities administered through SS-Großabschnitt Afrika.

Witnesses described the sexual assaults ordered by Ugarte and the events he called the “African Circus”. Evidence was also presented concerning the killing of children at the burning pit. Camp documents established that Ugarte approved executions and punishment orders that caused prisoner deaths.

The tribunal found that Ugarte knowingly implemented a programme intended to destroy part of the Black African population under Tanoan control. Executions and the deliberate killing of children formed part of that programme. Prisoners were also subjected to labor and living conditions intended to cause their deaths. Ugarte was therefore convicted of genocide.

The crimes-against-humanity conviction covered the imprisonment and extermination of prisoners at Gbarnga. It also covered sexual violence committed under Ugarte's command. His murder conviction concerned executions and the killing of children. The rape conviction covered assaults committed by Ugarte and those he ordered the camp guards to commit.

Ugarte was convicted on 28 April 2025 and sentenced to death. He was executed by firing squad in Georgetown on 2 May 2025 at the age of 72.

== See also ==
* [[Gbarnga death camp]]
* [[Gustavo Kleiner]]
* [[Jeremiah S. Kpadeh]]
* [[Moses T. Gono]]
* [[SS-Freiwilligen-Wachabteilung Großliberia]]
* [[SS-Großabschnitt Afrika]]
* [[Großliberia]]
* [[Quique Miguel Ponce]]
* [[Georgetown Tribunal]]
* [[Camp and forced labor system of the Tanoa Einsatzgruppen]]
* [[Ranks of the Allgemeine SS of the Tanoa Einsatzgruppen]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name="afrika-camp-system">“The Großabschnitt Afrika supervised a network of concentration camps and forced-labor sites within its jurisdiction.” [[SS-Großabschnitt Afrika#Camp and forced-labor system|Camp and forced-labor system]]. ''SS-Großabschnitt Afrika''. ''Vrienden Universe Wiki''.</ref>
<ref name="kleiner-africa">“The plan applied the registration methods used in Tanoa to Black African populations under Tanoan control.” [[Gustavo Kleiner#Extermination and foreign destabilization|Extermination and foreign destabilization]]. ''Gustavo Kleiner''. ''Vrienden Universe Wiki''.</ref>
<ref name="gbarnga-rape">“Ugarte raped prisoners held under his authority between 1993 and 2002.” [[Gbarnga death camp#Atrocities and death toll|Atrocities and death toll]]. ''Gbarnga death camp''. ''Vrienden Universe Wiki''.</ref>
<ref name="gbarnga-deaths">“Between 50,000 and 58,000 prisoners were estimated to have been murdered at the camp.” [[Gbarnga death camp#Atrocities and death toll|Atrocities and death toll]]. ''Gbarnga death camp''. ''Vrienden Universe Wiki''.</ref>
<ref name="brigadefuehrer-rank">“Officers responsible for brigade-sized formations or major administrative sectors.” [[Ranks of the Allgemeine SS of the Tanoa Einsatzgruppen#Senior officer ranks|Senior officer ranks]]. ''Ranks of the Allgemeine SS of the Tanoa Einsatzgruppen''. ''Vrienden Universe Wiki''.</ref>
}}

{{SS organizations}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ugarte, Esteban Marcelo}}
[[Category:Tanoa Einsatzgruppen]]
[[Category:Tanoa Einsatzgruppen personnel]]
[[Category:Allgemeine SS]]
[[Category:SS-Großabschnitt Afrika]]
[[Category:1952 births]]
[[Category:2025 deaths]]
[[Category:People]]
[[Category:Vriend Era]]