Argentina,30 Yrs. After Bloody Coup:Newly declassified documents show U.S.

[Judi Lynn]

2006-03-28 14:24 KST
Argentina, 30 Years After Bloody Coup
Newly declassified documents show U.S. role in 1970s Latin American dictatorships


Last Friday, the Argentine people remembered the bloodiest dictatorship in their history, demanding justice and punishment for those guilty of wholesale violations of human rights.

A day before, on March 23, the National Security Archive posted a series of declassified U.S. documents, and, for the first time, secret documents from Southern Cone intelligence agencies detailing evidence of massive atrocities committed by the military junta in Argentina.

Two days after the military coup, on March 26, 1976, Assistant Secretary of State for Latin America, William Rogers, informed Secretary of State Henry Kissinger that "we've got to expect a fair amount of repression -- probably a good deal of blood -- in Argentina before too long. I think they're going to have to come down very hard not only on the terrorists but on the dissidents in trade unions and their parties."

That was a clear prediction of what would soon be happening. Nearly 30,000 opponents of the military junta were kidnapped, tortured, and assassinated, the bodies being buried clandestinely or thrown from helicopters into the sea.
(snip/...)

http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?article_class=3&no=282073&rel_no=1

[madeline_con]

1. Sadly, I'm not the least bit surprised.

That's how our Empire has always operated. :(

[cliss]

2. 30,000? God, it just gets uglier by the minute.

Tarnished image isn't the word. I'm reaching, trying to come up with a good adjective

- - -

[oasis]

3. Let the truth be told. (n/t)

[NVMojo]

4. is this what gave Bush the idea to put the Iraq docs online?

[mom cat]

5. I am glad the truth about our instigation of this massacre is finally

being told!

[suegeo]

6. That slimey toad Menem

QUOTE
The first dictator, General Jorge Rafael Videla (1976-81), was condemned in 1985 to life in prison for murder, torture, kidnapping and robbery. The second strong man of that government, Admiral Emilio Massera, was similarly condemned.

Nevertheless, in 1989 and 1990, President Menem pardoned them, although they were guilty of crimes against humanity.
END QUOTE

[Judi Lynn]

8. He could not be slimier. He's a Bush friend.

Bush Friend Arrested for Illegal Arms Trafficking
by Ana Simo

JUNE 7, 2001. A long-time friend of former U.S. President George H. Bush was arrested today on charges of illegal arms trafficking. If found guilty, he could face a jail term of up to ten years. Only a phone call from the new Bush White House might spare him the indignity, he thinks. But the phones aren't ringing.

The friend in trouble is the former President of Argentina, Carlos Menem, a golfing partner and business benefactor of the elder Bush. He is suspected of having illegally sold 6,500 tons of arms to Croatia and Ecuador between 1991 and 1995, in violation of international arms embargoes. Menem, who was put under house arrest today by a Buenos Aires federal judge, said in his defense last weekend that the U.S. knew all about the arms sales.
(snip)

George W. Bush's brother, Neil Bush, also had his fingers in the Argentina pie. He jetted to Buenos Aires for a tennis match with Menem the day after the latter was first elected, in 1989. Earlier, Neil had been involved in a failed plan to drill oil in Argentina, to be financed in part with a $900,000 loan from the Silverado Savings and Loan Bank in Denver, of which he was a director. The S&L collapsed in 1988 amidst a financial scandal, costing U.S. taxpayers more than $1 billion.

The elder Bush soon became an assiduous guest of the flamboyant Menem. He was the first U.S. President since Eisenhower to visit Argentina. Over the years, he clocked eight visits to Menem, for what the Buenos Aires daily Página 12 described as "lavish golf parties." Money and politics were discussed, particularly the three Bush investment areas of choice, according to the newspaper Clarín: oil, gas, and casinos.
(snip/...)

http://www.thegully.com/essays/argentina/010607bush_menem.html

[suegeo]

32. K. Harris photo

I once had a link to a story and photo that showed Menem partying down with Katherine Harris at the junta's party to celebrate the coup (aka the inaguration in 2001).

I don't know if the photo still exists on the internets, I'll take a google...

[Judi Lynn]

33. Good grief! There are so many DU'ers who'd LOVE to see that one!

What a slap in the face to humanity! Celebration by the vampires who defraud and exploit ordinary people.

[suegeo]

40. It's the last picture in this article.

http://www.thegully.com/essays/argentina/010607bush_menem.html

I think someone posted this piece earlier in the thread.

[formercia]

17. The Mafia State.

http://www.thegully.com/essays/argentina/010227corruption.html

Dirty Money, Big Banks
and the Mafia State

by Ana Simo

FEBRUARY 27, 2001. It has all the ingredients of a best-selling thriller. A fearless, crusading legislator, execution-style murders at a luxury beach resort, billions in dirty money, a nosy U.S. Senate subcommittee, a country's tottering economy, drug cartels, arms dealers, bribes, and even a golf partner of former President George Bush. It's Argentina's widening money-laundering scandal, now entering its last and most convoluted chapter.

[Judi Lynn]

20. That article should not be missed. Astonishingly corrupt.

Mentioned in the article: Menem's administration was reputedly one of the most corrupt in recent Argentinean history.

It's what you'd expect from a _Bush buddy, isn't it?

Viva La Gorda. I can see why she is celebrated in Argentina.

[Billy Burnett]

7. Judi Lynn, Jose Basulto (Brothers to the Rescue) was in the mix also.

One of facism's (and Reagan/Bush41's) best friends.

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2000/032600a.html

http://www.blythe.org/Intelligence/readme/cuba395

[Judi Lynn]

12. Your links are very educational, Billy Burnett. Had no idea Argentina

had joined Reagan in mucking around in the Contra business in Central America. This is so important to know. Simply amazing.

So Basulto has CIA, Army psy-ops, Contra, and Dirty War experience, in addition to his work as a terrorist against his countrymen in Cuba.

I do remember reading a long time ago he flew planes low enough to shoot machine guns at passenger trains in Cuba, and also, as mentioned in your first article, went on raids against Cubans in boats from which they shot weapons up to the size of cannons at Cuban hotels.

His was one of the loud voices making threats, giving advice from the crowd around Elián Gonzalez when he was being held prisoner in Little Havana in Miami, just like bomber/mass murderer, Orlando Bosch. What a wholesome crowd to surround a kid with, right?

[formercia]

19. I worked with Argentine Commandos

training for Central America.

Arrogant bunch. They wound up running their own operations.

The same group used their training to invade the Falklands.

[Judi Lynn]

21. Isn't it interesting that Americans have been TOTALLY in the dark

about these events? I read last week they kept the citizens in the dark because they knew they would not have popular support if the truth were known.

I can see why.

That must have been some Fascist world which nearly took over this hemisphere. I hope and pray we are going to break free of it, finally.

[formercia]

22. That's what secrecy is all about

The Russians knew, so did the Cubans. We were the enemy. They even lied to the people doing the operations. I finally got up in a meeting and accused my division chief of lying to us because I found out through the grapevine what the real story was.

Three kinds of lies at the CIA:

Lies you tell to people on the outside
Lies you tell to people on the inside
and the lies you tell yourself.


I was tired of the lies.

[formercia]

9. It was all part in the 'Cold' War on 'Communism'

The US and the Vatican played a big part in the repression of any leftist or socialist movements during that period. If you do some research, you will see the name Bush crop up quite often. On top of that, there were a bunch of old Nazis who moved there with the help of the Vatican 'Rat line' and they wanted to make sure their new home didn't drift left.

[Billy Burnett]

10. That's why Fidel Castro made them an offer they would refuse.

Immediately after the Cuban revolution the new regime created a new law aimed at the Catholic church private school_for_profit system. The new regime started a massive literacy campaign and at the same time mandated that all schooling in Cuba had to be free of charge. Contrary to popular myth the Catholic church was not kicked out, but pulled out of Cuba after the loss of their profit center - private schools for the wealthy oligarchy.

[Judi Lynn]

24. That must have really hacked them off. The poor before the revolution

had no chance at all to receive an education.

It's somewhat better EVERYONE has a chance, after all. Isn't it sad the church didn't realize this?

[formercia]

26. The poor have no money

The 'Church' loves money and anyone who can supply them with it.

[rman]

27. If there's such a thing as "the church",

then it is schizophrenic.

As noted, the Vatican plays a major role on the side of the bad guys.

Compare that to the progressive/populist church for instance in Nicaragua around the time of the Sandinistas - which was quickly dismantled by the then Pope.

[formercia]

31. That's a good way to put it

There were two distinct entities. One group exemplified by Bishop Romero, stood for the poor, indios, workers and other populist groups. There was also the 'Establishment Church' which supported and was supported by the ruling families, Vatican, Knights of malta, Opus Dei and the Death Squads.

[malaise]

36. Liberation Theologists v Roman

Catholics. The catholic church has been on the side of the oppressors for millenia. The last pope outlawed the liberation theologists who sided with the poor for a brief period in Latin American history.

[rman]

11. It is part of the ongoing war against popular interests.

(often referred to as "communism")

If you look at the number of people who have died in the course of this, it can hardly be called a "cold" war.

[formercia]

16. agree

I used the word 'Cold' as a point of sarcasm. Modified on edit to clarify my intent.

[rman]

23. I figured

you're on the same page as i.

Come to think of it, it's only now on second approach that i have managed to decode your screen name (i'm bright like that), and realize i've read some posts of yours on previous occasions.

:hi:

[formercia]

25. Not very obvious, is it? :)

:evilgrin:

[rman]

13. I think this is part of what is referred to as

"Track Two" in Stone's "Nixon".

As i understand it "Track One" was semi-covert/semi-clandestine and it failed (Bay of Pigs). Track two was (is?) plain covert/clandestine (shadow CIA/military etc), quite broad and quite successful.

[HuckleB]

14. The headline notes a US role.

But the article gives no explanation of that role.

[Igel]

15. The link that gives the contents of the documents second

hand (and which was obviously the source for the third-hand reporting here).

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB185/index.htm

Slightly damning in of itself, but less damning that usually assumed, if the documents are taken at face value. (And if they can't be, with at most slight reservations, their value is doubtful.) Mostly it asserts knowledge and moderate support, not active participation; for that, other documents are needed.

[Bridget Burke]

30. "Kissinger sought immediate support for the new military regime...

In spite of staff warnings on bloodshed. "

Sounds pretty damning to me.

[Judi Lynn]

18. More information available here:

KISSINGER TO ARGENTINES ON DIRTY WAR:
"THE QUICKER YOU SUCCEED THE BETTER"

Newly declassified documents show Secretary of State
gave green light to junta, Contradict official line that
Argentines "heard only what wanted to hear."

While military dictatorship committed massive
human rights abuses in 1976, Kissinger advised
"If you can finish before Congress gets back, the better."

http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB104/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last Updated: Friday, 24 February 2006, 10:35 GMT

Ford sued over Argentine abuses

Rights groups say 30,000 people were killed under military rule
Former workers of an Argentine Ford factory are suing the firm over what they say were serious abuses during the military rule of the 1970s and 80s.
They say local managers conspired with the security forces to have union members taken to a detention centre on the premises, where they were tortured.

Ford has in the past denied torture took place on its property.

Several foreign firms have been probed by the Truth Commission, which said abductions of union members did occur.

'Kidnapped'

The civil suit against Ford Motor Company and Ford Argentina also calls for four former company executives and a retired military officer to be questioned.

The former union activists allege that Ford managers plotted and executed a precise plan to violently get rid of union activities at the plant 40km (25 miles) north of Buenos Aires.
(snip/...)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4746236.stm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chronology of events surrounding the June 10, 1976 Kissinger-Guzzetti meeting

NOTE: Links below refer to source documents

March 24, 1976 - The Argentine military takes power in a coup d'etat, overthrowing the government of Isabel Perón.

April 30, 1976 - American citizen Gwenda Loken Lopez is captured and savagely tortured by Argentine security forces. She is finally freed in October after nearly six months of captivity..

May 5-7, 1976 - American citizen Mercedes Naveiro Bender is kidnapped and tortured by Argentine security forces. Naveiro witnesses the torture of scores of others while in detention.

May 20, 1976 - The bodies of former Uruguayan legislators Zelmar Michelini and Hector Gutierrez Ruiz are found in Buenos Aires. U.S. agencies suspect and subsequently come to believe that Michelini and Gutierrez Ruiz - who were vocal critics of the military regime in Uruguay - were murdered in a coordinated operation involving Uruguayan and Argentine security forces.

May 21, 1976 -Argentina's presidential secretary, Ricardo Yofre, tells U.S. Ambassador Robert Hill that Argentina is involved in "an all-out war against subversion. In the heat of the battle there will inevitably be some violations of human rights" Yofre also "warned that the government plans to drastically step up its campaign against the terrorists very shortly."

May 24-27, 1976 - American citizen Elida Messina, coordinator of the Argentina chapter of the Fulbright Commission, is kidnapped and tortured by Argentine security forces.

May 25, 1976 - While visiting Argentina, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) representative informs U.S. Ambassador Robert Hill that "the GOA was irritated by international pressure on refugees and wanted to proceed to deal with them with as free a hand as possible."

May 28, 1976 - Ambassador Hill presents a human rights demarche to Argentine Foreign Minister Admiral Cesar Augusto Guzzetti regarding the forces that "murdered Michelini, Gutierrez Ruiz and dozens of others and have just kidnapped a member of Fulbright Commission, Miss Elida Messina." Reporting on Guzzetti's reaction to the demarche, Hill writes "I did not have the impression he really got the point."

Early June 1976 - In the context of a coordination known as operation "Condor" intelligence representatives from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay decide, at a meeting in Santiago, to set up a computerized intelligence data bank and agree to establish an international communications network. Uruguayan, Chilean, and Argentine intelligence representatives agree to expand to Europe their coordination to hit leftists.

June 3, 1976 -The corpse of Juan José Torres, former Bolivian president, is found in Buenos Aires. U.S. agencies suspect Torres was killed by Argentine security forces.

June 7, 1976 - In response to a Department of State query pertaining to coordination among Southern Cone military regimes to hit political refugees, Ambassador Hill informs the State Department that, although there is no firm evidence, "there is considerable circumstantial evidence" that the killings of the Uruguayans and Bolivian political refugees were carried out by Argentine security forces. In a similar cable to the Department of State that day, U.S. Ambassador to Chile David Popper reports, "We assume (1) that Armed forces and intelligence services of all these countries cooperate to some extent, (2) That all these governments are capable of covert killing."

June 9, 1976 - According to a U.S. Embassy report, "Ten armed men broke into the offices of the Argentine Catholic Commission on Immigration … and ransacked safes and files, stealing most of the records on the many thousands of refugees and immigrants handled through the commission in the past 20 years… he implications are enormous, particularly following the recent violent deaths of prominent political exiles from neighboring countries… UNHCR contacts are worried about dangers to those whose names figured in the stolen documents, which include index cards with names and addresses and confidential letters requesting assistance."

5:27 am, June 10, 1976 - Early this morning, as the Secretary of State prepares to meet Guzzetti in Santiago, Chile, Deputy Secretary of State Charles Robinson sends a cable from Washington informing Secretary Kissinger that, "There is no evidence available suggesting the existence of a conspiracy among the governments of the Southern Cone to track down and prominent asylees resident in those countries."

Nevertheless, the cable continues, "gainst the backdrop of these political murders, the UNHCR representative in Buenos Aires has provided the embassy with disturbing reports about the inhospitable atmosphere for many foreign political exiles living in Argentina… Their total is estimated by UNHCR at 15,000, 10,000 of whom are Chilean and most of the balance Uruguayan. UNHCR estimates that about 1,000 of the Chilean exile and 300-400 of the others could be considered to be in danger from Argentine security forces or rightist extremists, either from Argentina or from their native countries… If the abuses continue or spread without a firm and unequivocal response from the junta, we can expect our efforts to maintain coherent relations with the new government in Argentina to become much more complicated, if not frustrated altogether. Robinson"

8:00 am, June 10, 1976 - Secretary of State Kissinger meets early in the day with the Argentine foreign minister, Admiral Guzzetti, for over one hour. The U.S. participants included Under Secretary for Economic Affairs {nd just previously Assistant Secretary for Inter-American Affairs]}William Rogers, Under Secretary for International and Security Affairs Carlyle E. Maw, and Luigi R. Einaudi as note taker. On the Argentine side, Guzzetti was accompanied by Ambassador Pereyra and Argentina's Ambassador to the OAS and renowned diplomat Julio Cesar Carasales.

{Note: the Memorandum of Conversation for this meeting was misdated June 6, 1976. The meeting took place during the morning of June 10, 1976, when Kissinger met with several foreign dignitaries attending the OAS General Assembly in Santiago. That afternoon he traveled to Mexico City. See Secretary Kissinger's travels at the State Department historian's web page and the Secretary's calendar of events for that day}

The encounter is cordial and the Secretary never raises the issues of torture and disappearances in Argentina, nor the Americans endangered there. The Memorandum of Conversation shows that after a series of pleasantries, Guzzetti opens the substantial part of the meeting by stating: "Our main problem in Argentina is terrorism. It is the first priority of the current government that took office on March 24."

In closing, Secretary Kissinger says, "If there are things that have to be done, you should do them quickly. But you must get back quickly to normal procedures."
(snip/...)

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB133/chron.htm

ETC.

[yellowcanine]

28. Another one of Kissinger's crimes that he will never answer for.

[Metta]

38. He'll get his just rewards, maybe not in this life.

But, rest assured, he's already nailed his coffin per rebirth circumstances.

[Judi Lynn]

29. Argentina Marks 30th Anniversary of Murderous Regime

Argentina Marks 30th Anniversary of Murderous Regime

By LARRY ROHTER
Published: March 24, 2006

~snip~
"Sectors of society, the press, the church, the political class, also had their role," as did "powerful economic interests," President Kirshner said. "Not all of them have acknowledged their responsibility for those facts."

The anniversary of what came to be known as the "Dirty War" against those thought to be subversives — including not just left-wing guerrillas, but also groups as diverse as union activists, long-haired university students and Jewish psychiatrists — has been accompanied by reminders that some of the problems of Argentina's past still linger.

In the provincial city of Córdoba, which was a stronghold of death squads during the dictatorship, masked men broke into the home of a leader of the human rights group Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo this week and, according to police reports, beat her and made clicking sounds as if holding a gun to her head.

In addition, a small bomb went off Thursday at a Ford dealership here. The act carried political connotations because Ford supplied the car that became the hated symbol of repressive state security forces — the Falcon — and is being sued by a group of former employees who were labor leaders. They accuse the company of cooperating with state security in having them kidnapped from the plant floor and illegally detained.

More ominously, it came to light this month that naval intelligence has continued spying on public officials, journalists and political leaders, including Mr. Kirchner, Minister of Defense Nilda Garré and at least one provincial governor. Two admirals, one of whom was the director of naval intelligence, have been fired and all naval intelligence activities have been suspended pending a complete investigation.

That the navy was involved is especially relevant, since the Naval Mechanics School here was the most notorious of the hundreds of clandestine torture centers that existed in Argentina during the dictatorship. Two years ago, Mr. Kirchner announced that the school was to be made into a Museum of Memory, but the project has stalled because of disagreements among human rights groups about how best to accomplish that objective.

On Wednesday, Ms. Garré also ordered that all official military archives from the period be opened. That step, which comes months after an amnesty law for human rights violators was overturned, is expected to help prosecutors when trials of former military officers charged with crimes such as kidnapping, murder and torture begin later this year.

Simultaneously, the National Security Archive, a private research group based in Washington, has made public newly declassified United States government cables and transcripts relating to the coup.

Documents indicate, for example, that when a deputy warned Secretary of State Henry Kissinger two days after the coup to "expect a fair amount of repression, probably a good deal of blood," Mr. Kissinger was unfazed and ordered American support for the new military junta.

"I do want to encourage them," Mr. Kissinger said, according to the documents. "I don't want to give the sense that they're harassed by the United States."
(snip/...)

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/24/international/americas/24cnd-argentina.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[Marie26]

34. Well, there's a shock.

:sarcasm: icon probably not needed.

[EVDebs]

35. Which means they'd do it here if given the chance. eom

[Zhade]

37. K/R

And yet, so many still think this is "the greatest country evar!!!1111!!!"

So, so misinformed.

[Terran1212]

39. What do you think happens behind the scenes in Iraq?

[0007]

41. Henry sure gets around, 'eh? How about a vaction in Argentina, Henry?

Two days after the military coup, on March 26, 1976, Assistant Secretary of State for Latin America, William Rogers, informed Secretary of State Henry Kissinger that "we've got to expect a fair amount of repression -- probably a good deal of blood -- in Argentina before too long. I think they're going to have to come down very hard not only on the terrorists but on the dissidents in trade unions and their parties."

That was a clear prediction of what would soon be happening. Nearly 30,000 opponents of the military junta were kidnapped, tortured, and assassinated, the bodies being buried clandestinely or thrown from helicopters into the sea.