Buenos Aires honors Cox

Robert J. Cox, former assistant editor of The Post and Courier, was honored as an "illustrious citizen" of Buenos Aires on Tuesday at the Municipal Palace in the Argentina capital.

Cox was cited by the city's legislature for his courage as an editor of the English- language Buenos Aires Herald during the military dictatorship that lasted from 1976 to 1983.

The Herald was a rare Buenos Aires paper that reported extensively on the military government's role in torture, assassinations, kidnappings and "disappearings" during those years.

Cox's family received death threats and was sent out of the country. Cox was imprisoned briefly for writing editorials urging the release of an imprisoned journalist. He fled the country in 1979 after the head of the military government refused to extend him protection.

Cox, a former president of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA), is in Argentina for the organization's annual meeting.

His experiences during Argentina's so-called "dirty war" are recalled in a recent book by his son, CNN journalist David Cox, titled "Dirty Secrets, Dirty War: The Exile of Robert J. Cox."