Eduardo Luis Duhalde
Argentine human rights official
Notable deaths: Eduardo Luis Duhalde, Jose Maria Zarraga and Peter Douglas
Eduardo Luis Duhalde, the current Argentine human rights secretary who was a prominent voice in denouncing abuses during the country’s 1976-83 military dictatorship, died April 3 in Buenos Aires. He was 72.
President Cristina Fernandez’s office confirmed the death and said Mr. Duhalde had undergone surgery in February for an aortic aneurysm, and in recent days had suffered complications.
Mr. Duhalde had been the country’s human rights secretary since 2003, when he was appointed by Fernandez’s husband, the late President Nestor Kirchner. He should not be confused with Argentine politician Eduardo A. Duhalde, who served as president from 2002 to 2003.
Eduardo Luis Duhalde’s writings included 24 books, and dealt with human rights issues as well as history.
After the restoration of democracy in 1983, he worked as a professor of history, law and politics at universities in Argentina and elsewhere. He was a human rights consultant to the United Nations and also a criminal court judge in Buenos Aires.
Jose Maria Zarraga
soccer player
Jose Maria Zarraga, 81, who helped the Spanish soccer team Real Madrid to a record five straight European Cups, died April 3, it was reported from Madrid. The team announced his death without giving a cause.
Mr. Zarraga played in midfield for a team that included Alfredo di Stefano and Ferenc Puskas and which won the European Cup every year between 1956 and 1960, plus six Spanish league titles and one Intercontinental Cup.
Mr. Zarraga scored 96 goals in 306 appearances for Madrid, which he joined in 1949 before breaking into the first team two years later. He left Madrid in 1962 at age 32.
Peter Douglas
commission director
Peter Douglas, longtime executive director of the California Coastal Commission who spent a career fighting to rein in development along one of the world’s most alluring coastlines, died April 1 in the desert resort town of La Quinta, Calif. He was 69.
He had lung cancer and stepped down from the helm of the commission in November because of his declining health, the commission said.
As a legislative aide in the 1970s, Mr. Douglas co-authored a state ballot initiative that created a coastal commission charged with controlling development along 1,100 miles of shoreline. He later helped draft the 1976 Coastal Act, designed to protect and provide public access to the California coast.
Mr. Douglas served as executive director since 1985. Under his guidance, the quasi-judicial commission transformed into one of the nation’s most powerful land-use authorities, tackling issues from coastal construction to public beach access to offshore oil drilling.
Mr. Douglas’s tenure was punctuated with showdowns with developers and property owners.
Critics accused the commission of being too narrowly focused and mismanaging its funding by meddling in minor land-use issues that should be left to communities. Mr. Douglas survived nearly a dozen attempts to unseat him over the years.
— From news services
