Suffering from dementia and respiratory problems, he was transferred two weeks ago to the Montevideo Military Hospital, where he died. Human rights activists called on Uruguayans to remember victims of the regime on the occasion of his death. "With the greatest respect, a rapist, a murderer, a torturer, a 'disappearer' doesn't redeem himself by dying," said lawyer Oscar Lopez Goldaracena, who took part in Alvarez's trial for the kidnapping and presumed murder of 40 regime opponents.
Thousands of people were jailed, tortured or killed by the regime in Uruguay, one of many Latin American countries where the military ruled with brutal repression during the Cold War. Some 6,000 people were jailed for political reasons. Around 230 people abducted by the regime in co-operation with other South American dictatorships are missing and presumed dead, according to a Peace Commission that investigated rights abuses by the regime.