If you want to understand what just happened in El Salvador, here's the key blog...

[Peace Patriot]

http://ofamerica.wordpress.com/2009/03/12/izalco-el-salvador-and-the-way-beyond-the-silence/

The place is Izalco, El Salvador. The reporter is journalist, photographer and blogger Roberto Lovato. And the subject is the 1932 lynching of indigenous leader Jose Feliciano Ama, by General Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez, who slaughtered some 30,000 indigenous people in one month's time, and how that ancient horror--called "La Matanza" (the Great Killing)--informs what happened yesterday--the election of a leftist government in El Salvador for the first time in its history.

The former death squad party, ARENA, which was defeated yesterday, was founded in Izalco--where ARENA kicks off its modern electoral campaigns--by the Reagan-backed dictator, Roberto D’abuisson. The modern revolution of the FMLN, the leftist opponents of ARENA, in a 2-decade civil war in which 70,000 people were killed--most of them (95%, according to the UN) killed by US-backed ARENA forces--began with the indigenous uprising in Izalco in 1932, led by Jose Feliciano Ama.

The dreadful, heartbreaking old photograph of his lynching--and Lovato's photo of the angelic schoolchildren who are the descendants of the survivors of that old uprising--say it all, about El Salvador, and the defeat, yesterday, of the ARENA party, in a peaceful election.

"Todos nacimos mitad muertos en 1932
Sobrevivimos pero medio vivos"

(we were all born half dead in 1932
we survived but half alive)

--El Salvadoran poet Roque Dalton

------------------------------------

As Evo Morales--the first indigenous president of Bolivia--has said: "The time of the people has come."

And what this means is far more than a democratic, leftist political revolution in Latin America. In Ecuador recently--one of the many Latin American countries that has elected leftist leaders--the new Constitution, passed by nearly 70% of the voters, contains a provision that gives Mother Nature ("Pachamama," in the indigenous language) the right to exist and prosper apart from human needs, uses and impacts. This is a clear sign that the indigenous wisdom about the environment, so long and so brutally suppressed in the western hemisphere, is finally making a comeback that may save us all--as our planet reels into chaotic climate change, with the loss of numerous species and ecosystems, due to the greed of often U.S.-based global corporate predators.

Michael Pollan, in his book "The Botany of Desire," discusses how the Irish potato famine resulted from use of only one subspecies of potato, brought from Peru to Ireland. But the indigenous Peruvian farmers themselves planted many subspecies of potato as a hedge against disease and crop failure, based on ancient farming wisdom, passed down from generations. They never suffered such a famine--their ancient knowledge and wisdom prevented it. Writ large, this lesson is pivotal to our understanding of Nature's complexity, how brutally corporations have impacted its delicately balanced systems, and how to save it--and ourselves.

The leftist political revolution, which is bringing indigenous majorities to power in some countries where the indigenous predominate, and bringing new recognition of indigenous rights and wisdom, in countries that are now largely mixed race with only a few indigenous tribes remaining, is much more than a democratic revolution (majority rule): It is a revolution in consciousness, which we must pray has not come too late to save our planet.

The brutality, cruelty and genocide against the indigenous, perpetrated by greedy monopolists, parallels the damage to Nature that greedy land and corporate monopolists have inflicted. The success of the FMLN in this election in El Salvador is one more step on the difficult road of addressing these impacts on people and on Nature--part of a change of consciousness that is rapidly occurring in Latin America, and more slowly here.

Study the gruesome photo of Jose Feliciano Ama's lynching, and understand what was lost. Study the photo of the angels who survived--the little schoolchildren of today in this remote rural area of El Salvador where so much killing occurred--and see one possible future, that they and we live and prosper together in peace, in a world that delights in variety.

[Azooz]

1. K & R

[slipslidingaway]

2. Thanks K&R n/t

[EFerrari]

3. One of the key events that led to the uprising was an election.

The equivalent to one of our off year elections. The overwhelming majority of candidates elected were socialists or communists. In 1932, the oligarchs weren't having this. None of these winning candidates were seated.

Great post, Peace Patriot.

[starroute]

4. D'Aubuisson -- for those who have forgotten

Bascially, D'Aubuisson and his pals were outright fascists, who kept close company with the last of the original-era fascists and Nazis, like delle Chiaie and Barbie, and who were abetted in the US by figures like Helms and Weyrich, who were not publicly labeled as fascists only because the US has been under some sort of gentleman's agreement since 1945 to avoid calling things by their proper names.


http://www.mail-archive.com/[e-mail]/msg34024.html

D'Aubuisson reacted to the October 1979 Salvadoran coup engineered by reformist junior officers by activating his death squads. First he killed the attorney general of the new pluralist government, Mario Zamora, brother of FMLN leader Rubén Zamora. Then, in March 1980, D'Aubuisson went after his next most dangerous critic, the Archbishop, who was shot through the heart while giving mass. Archbishop Romero had insisted that the neighboring Sandinistas were preoccupied with their own development and therefore were no military threat to El Salvador. . . .

Ten days after the murder of the Archbishop, Roberto D'Aubuisson explained to his American Republican supporters, in a meeting room of the U.S. House of Representatives, that "In order to define the State Department policy, we could use this axiom: who is a communist? Those who consciously or unconsciously collaborate with the Soviet cause. We can ascertain that present State Department policy toward Central America has candidly favored communist infiltration." That was, word for word, the line peddled at the 1980 Buenos Aires meeting of the CIA's Confederación Anticomunista Latina, CAL, that D'Aubuisson would attend in September, in celebration of the Bolivian Cocaine Coup.

Also attending the September 1980 CIA/CAL celebration was John Carbaugh, an aide to Republican Senator Jesse Helms. Helms, a rabid red-baiting segregationist in the 1950's, was an enthusiastic supporter of the fascists. As a ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, of course, Helms knew all there was to know about the death squads, but that didn't stop him from solemnly taking testimony from ARENA's distinguished killers. Between 1980 and 1992 Helms helped funnel $6 billion into the Salvadoran military.

Hobnobbing with Carbaugh at the CAL confab was Stefano delle Chiaie, Klaus Barbie's top aide. Carbaugh had extensive personal contact with D'Aubuisson, and was instrumental in packaging the ARENA publicity campaign in Washington. Also attending the 1980 CAL meeting was Margo Carlisle, legislative aide to Senator James McClure (R-ID) and staff director of the Republican Conference of the U.S. Senate. Carbaugh and Carlisle hired Mackenzie-McCheyne to handle ARENA's advertising, while Paul Weyrich taught ARENA operatives effective campaign tactics.

[Peace Patriot]

5. $6 BILLION from Reagan (US taxpayers) to ARENA's death squads! That equals

the Bushwhack military boondoggle to Colombia today. With the same result. Thousands of union leaders, political leftists, human rights workers, peasant farmers, journalists and others slaughtered.

But Colombia produces cheap leftist manure by comparison, considering that the $6 billion to El Salvador's hideous murderers was in 1980 dollars. I am amazed by this stat on El Salvador.

-----

"Between 1980 and 1992 Helms helped funnel $6 billion into the Salvadoran military."

-----

:wow: :cry: :grouphug: :cry: :wow:

[Judi Lynn]

7. There's a name in your post I was driven to look up, for more information.

The link discussed the fact he connected with Jesse Helms's aide, John Carbaugh at the CAL conference, Carbaugh a frequent correspondant with El Salvador's D'Aubiosson. It also mentioned delle Chiaie was Klaus Barabie's top aide, Klaus Barbie being the Nazi "Butcher of Lyon" during the Second World War, and spirited out of Europe by our own CIA and given shelter, then employment by the fascist racist government in Bolivia which tortured, and murdered dissidents.

Stefano Delle Chiaie:Portrait of a Black Terrorist by Stuart Christie

“Fascists are the subordinate element of more cohesive and powerful forces.”
~snip~
While the name of terrorist Carlos the Jackal was practically a household word for several decades, somehow or another the name Stefano Delle Chiaie seems to have stayed under the radar. When one considers all that is known–as well as all that is speculated about the terrorist career of Delle Chiaie, it’s both remarkable and bizarre that he’s managed to stay so anonymous. Author Stuart Christie’s book is a focused, relevant, well-documented and intense study of Delle Chiaie’s terrorist, neo-fascist career.

Stefano Delle Chiaie also known as “Il Caccola” (Shorty) was born in 1936 into a “staunchly pro-fascist” household. By the time he was 20, he was the secretary of the local neo-fascist party, MSI, but soon moved on to the more radical Ordine Nuovo–a group that shared the same motto with the Nazi SS: “Our Honour is our loyalty.” Delle Chiaie then in 1960 founded his own neo-fascist organization “Avanguardia Nazionale”–the “cudgel of black extremism” notorious for “stringent internal discipline.”

Working with fascist elements within the police force, the government, and Italian military intelligence (SIFAR), Delle Chiaie and the Avanguardia Nazionale built a “national and international clandestine neo-fascist infrastructure” which operated for over twenty years. One of the organisation’s aims was to establish a “Strategy of Tension” in Italy which would create such a degree of “social disruption” that the Italian people would be swayed into approving the “installation of a strong-arm government pledged to restore ‘order’.” Delle Chiaie’s operatives achieved their goal of creating a “climate of chaos” by infiltrating communist and anarchist groups, committing terrorist acts and then ensuring that the blame was lodged on those groups.

~snip~
The book also includes information about Delle Chiaie’s international activities. When Italy became too uncomfortable for him, he moved his operation to Franco’s Spain and then Latin America. Here he participated in various ‘dirty wars’ including Operation Condor, and the book discusses his known involvement with many international assassinations, massacres, and coup d’etats. Speculation about other suspected activities is pieced together by formerly secret documents, and internal memos while tracking Delle Chiaie’s whereabouts at the times of nefarious actions–he manages to pop up at various suspicious locations. Also covered is information regarding the Serpieri Report (conveniently buried by the Italian Secret Service), P2, The Rose of the Winds organization, and Operation Gladio. Reading this book about the shadowy career of a terrorist puppet master is a revelation for those interested in subversive political operations, and with a splendid understanding and superb definition of fascism, the author shows clearly how fascism can be utilized for nefarious purposes within a society’s infrastructure.

http://bookaddicts.wordpress.com/2008/09/20/stefano-delle-chiaieportrait-of-a-black-terrorist-by-stuart-christie/

That's a very familiar pattern by now, isn't it?

His Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefano_Delle_Chiaie

http://www.declarepeace.org.uk.nyud.net:8090/captain/murder_inc/site/gladio/chiaie2.jpg http://www.harunyahya.org.nyud.net:8090/kitap/hy_terorun_perde_arkasi/res/Dellaci2.jpg http://2.bp.blogspot.com.nyud.net:8090/_NE-72ZXux-g/SQrhSuM3JtI/AAAAAAAAGQY/ztL66S6zl40/s400/Terrorist.jpg

~~~~~~~~~~

Unconventional Warfare in the 21st century : US surrogates, terrorists and narcotrafficers

~snip~
Throughout the Cold War, U.S. power in proxy states was exercised through repressive police, intelligence agencies and by far-right civilian allies (referred to as "foreign internal defense," FID). Such forces, trained and funded by the U.S., combined a neofascist political outlook with organized criminal activities generally, though certainly not limited to, the international narcotics trade.

NATO's infamous "stay-behind" Operation Gladio networks in Italy and Turkey for example, worked directly with international narcotics syndicates and pro-fascist political parties such as the Italian Avanguardia Nazionale (National Vanguard) founded by the terrorist drug trafficker Stefano delle Chiaie and the Turkish Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi (National Action Party, MHP) and the drug-linked terror gang, the Grey Wolves, founded by Alparslan Türkeş, a German sympathizer during World War II.

With links to those nations' intelligence services, the CIA and the Pentagon, these organizations waged a relentless war against the left through terrorist bombings, murders and assassinations in a bid to destabilize their governments and spark a full-fledged military takeover. Along with the CIA, the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) have been instrumental in organizing and waging unconventional warfare with the express purpose of maintaining the economic-political status quo in target countries.

More:
https://secure.wikileaks.org/wiki/Unconventional_Warfare_in_the_21st_century_:_US_surrogates,_terrorists_and_narcotrafficers

[starroute]

9. Delle Chiaie had many strange associations

For example, in 1975, when Delle Chiaie was working with Pinochet's Chile, he plotted to carry out a fascist coup in the Azores -- and Richard V. Allen (who later became Ronald Reagan's national security advisor) and Victor Fediay (an associate of Paul Weyrich) tried to get US support for it.

In the late 70's -- as you note -- he was allegedly involved in the Turkish Grey Wolves' heroin smuggling network, which was connected with Banco Ambrosiano in Italy. (As late as 1982, he was reportedly seen visiting Latin America and Miami in company with Turkish gangster Abdullah Catli, who in 1996 was killed in a car crash that blew open the Turkish "deep state.")

Delle Chiaei was simultaneously part of Klaus Barbie's drugs-and-assassination racket in Latin America, which was behind the Cocaine Coup in Bolivia, together with Argentine neo-fascists and local drug lords. (The World Anti-Communist League, Reverend Moon, and Italy's P2 were also allegedly involved.)

In August 1980, he was involved in the Bologna train station bombing. That was quickly followed, in September 1980, by the CAL conference in Argentina (the one where Carbaugh met with D'Aubuisson), at which plans were made to spread the Argentine model of fascist dictatorship throughout Latin America. P2, and probably Banco Ambrosiano, also participated. Immediately afterward, Argentine military advisers began training the El Salvador junta in death squad techniques.

It all seems terribly tabloid, but when you start putting the pieces together and seeing how the same names keep recurring, it appears as if there really was a deliberate attempt in the late 70's by delle Chiaei and his associates to reestablish fascism, with encouragement from such figures in the US as Helms and Weyrich. Whatever was really going on, though, it started breaking down when the Italian police raided P2 headquarters in March 1981 and then the Banco Ambrosiano scandal broke open a year later.

After that, this presumed fascist conspiracy would have been without a European base of operations. The attempted assassination of the pope in May 1981 -- apparently by the Turkish Grey Wolves -- appears to be the last of the strange events of that period.

The attempt to blame that attack on the communists, which involved figures like Michael Ledeen and Duane Clarridge, who had their own ties to the Italian and Turkish stuff, may have been partly intended as a coverup. In fact, I'm not sure the entire "war on terror" wasn't invented during those years as an attempt to shift attention away from the fascists.

There were some other strange moves on the right in 1981-82 that appear to have been intended to disavow its most overtly fascist elements -- for example, the attempt to clean up the World Anti-Communist League or Reverend Moon's self-makeover in connection with his purchase of the Washington Times. Even Richard V. Allen left the Reagan administration in January 1982.

My best guess is that once Margaret Thatcher became British prime minister in 1979 and Ronald Reagan became president of the US in 1981, the far right felt a certain need to get respectable and their fascist friends became an embarrassment. Another factor may have been George H.W. Bush's inclination to rely for outside help on the Saudis, right-wing Israelis, the Neocons, and BCCI rather than on the 70's style fascists.

Whatever the cause, though, the pattern really changes by 1982. After that, it's mainly just in Latin America that the earlier fascist connections continue through the 1980's.

[me b zola]

6. K&R

[Judi Lynn]

8. Did not know until reading your link Roberto Lovato's father witnessed La Matanza as a 10 yr old boy

He most certainly has a vested interest in his country by now, doesn't he?

Here's a larger photo of the indigenous leader, Jose Feliciano Ama who was murdered by the state:

http://media.argentina.indymedia.org.nyud.net:8090/uploads/2005/02/ama2.jpg6gxyfs.jpg
A book written about him:

Ama: La Memoria del Tiempo relays the story of an episode in Salvadoran history known as La Matanza. The film tells the story of José Feliciano Ama, a leader of the Izalcos, part of the Nahua-Pipil nation in what is now the western part of El Salvador, whose family survived the genocide of 1932. Responding to a nationwide call for revolt to vindicate long-standing grievances against racism and class exploitation, Jose Feliciano Ama led an uprising which was followed by a ruthless campaign of revenge where over 30,000 peasants and indigenous people were butchered by the Salvadoran military in a genocidal campaign designed to wipe out indigenous dress, languages and cultural traditions. Using the oral history traditions of the Izalcos, Flores y Ascencio offers a gripping first hand account of one of that nation’s darkest historical moments as told through personal quest of 94 year-old Don Juan Ama, the nephew of Jose Feliciano Ama. Don Juan Ama hopes to restore the Izalco family and tribal dignity, as well as his peoples’ cultural heritage in a country struggling with competing ideals surrounding national development, identity and democracy.

http://www.international.ucla.edu/lac/events/showevent.asp?eventid=4351

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks for your link and comments on Roberto Lovato, a man whose concern for his country is real, and unmistakable.

[Peace Patriot]

10. Richard Helms keeps turning up in these accounts of hideous fascism in Latin America.

He was CIA operations chief leading up to the assassination of JFK, and Director of the CIA afterward. James Douglass fingers him as the mastermind of JFK's assassination, in his book, "JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters."

Helms was the CIA station chief in Vietnam, during the period when the CIA was defying JFK's orders and was instigating a war that JFK didn't want (JFK wanted neutral status for Vietnam, as he had arranged for Laos). Helms was also the main force behind Pinochet in Chile, and the tortures and murders of thousands there, then he fell into some disgrace over that (when we still had a real Democratic Congress), and was moved to Iran, where the 'Shah of Iran' was also torturing and murdering democrats and leftists. (That horror went on for 25 years, which is what drove Iranians--the most potentially progressive of Islamic Middle Eastern countries--into the arms of the mullahs). (It's called blowback.)

It's kind of interesting that Nixon considered Helms disloyal (according to Wiki), having to do with Watergate, and fired him as CIA Director (but then appointed him as ambassador to Iran). (Too powerful to be forced to retire?) I don't know what the story was with that, but I have recently begun to wonder about Nixon, Watergate, the Washington Post and the CIA. I think there may be hidden motives in taking down Nixon that we don't understand yet, possibly due with his openings to Soviet Russia and Red China. Maybe Nixon, wanting to leave a better legacy than Vietnam, was aiming for an early end to the "Cold War"--the thing that got JFK killed on behalf of the war profiteers--and got on the wrong side of the war profiteers himself, and they ousted him.

In any case, Richard Helms was at the center of some of the worst horrors I was aware of as a young person. And now I know the evil he was inflicting on Latin Americans. Do you think maybe it's time for the people of the U.S. to create anti-statues: statues depicting U.S. historical figures whom we revile, and the reasons we revile them. Perhaps put their statue image atop a pile of the agonized, tortured, dying bodies of the men, women and children they killed? Odd idea that just occurred to me. How do you raise consciousness, and insure that our people know what some of our leaders have done, and never, ever forget it.

[EFerrari]

11. Imho, our memory is the most important tool we have.

We can't learn from history if our memory is compromised. You raise an important question.

[Usrename]

22. Wow, check it out ... look what somebody said over here --->

"we should start a fund to create a 'BUSH PRESIDENTIAL MUSEUM OF TRUTH' so the truth gets out"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3787542#3788062

[G_j]

12. hope is alive

The Obama admin. was supposedly neutral in this election. It's going to be very interesting to see how US policy pans out in the new Latin America. I believe I read that the admin. is withholding funds to Nicaragua over the election there.

[Peace Patriot]

13. Do you mean THIS administration--Obama--is withholding funds (aid funds?)

from Nicaragua, because they elected Sandinista Daniel Ortega president? I hadn't heard that. You have a source, or remember where you heard it? Was it new, specific, attributable to Obama? There have been some transition problems where some statements/actions, re Latin America, may be Bushwhack holdovers, possibly even deliberately making trouble, because Latin America was on the "backburner" during the first months (due to economic emergency and two wars, I imagine). The U.S. was sending very mixed signals, but things seem to be finally smoothing out (no more bullshit about Venezuela, for instance). So I'm anxious to know if Obama/Clinton would do something that stupid--punish Nicaragua for an election. Any light you can shed on this would be appreciated.

[rabs]

14. Believe the previous poster was referring to this

(I have no idea of what the Millennium Challenge Corporation is.)

-------------------------------

U.S. warns Nicaragua over disputed elections
The United States is using the threat of withholding millions in development aid to force action by President Daniel Ortega's Sandinista government.
By TIM ROGERS
Special to The Miami Herald
MANAGUA, Nicaragua -- U.S. Ambassador Robert Callahan is warning Nicaragua's Sandinista government that it has ''no more than 90 days'' to resolve lingering controversy over November's municipal elections if it hopes to unfreeze $62 million in U.S. development aid.

''For us, the fundamental thing, the most important thing, is that Nicaraguans resolve the problem of the elections of last November,'' Callahan said this week.

Business leaders worry that if Washington decides to permanently cut its aid under the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), other European countries and international lending institutions would follow, spelling disaster for the hemisphere's second-poorest nation behind Haiti.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/949263.html

[rabs]

16. More on the MCC

Hillary is the chair of the board, vice chair Geithner (What is Frist doing on the board).

http://www.mcc.gov/about/boardofdirectors/index.phpM

Mission statement of the MCC (nice propaganda video and music)

http://www.mcc.gov/about/index.php

[Peace Patriot]

18. That Miami Herald article is one of the worst I've seen on a L/A subject, and

we're talking a newspaper that smells like dead bodies decomposing on L/A subjects.

Really...:puke:*

But anyway, WFT is this thing that doles out multi-millions to good little neoliberal girls and boys? Never heard of it. And WFT does it have to do with our government? They gave an "award" of multi-millions to Nicaragua in 2005, and are now pissed off that Sandinista Daniel Ortega got elected (in 2006)? That's what it sounds like. And the Miami Vomit chimes in with this crap from...who? "Electoral watchdog group Ethics and Transparency." Who the fuck is that? Never heard of them either.

If they want to punish somebody for stolen elections, why don't they start with Bush? Or that little fascist narco-thug running Colombia, where his pals whack leftists, union leaders, peasant farmers, human rights workers, journalists and random youth whose bodies they dress up as FARC guerrilas, to up their body count to impress US Senators?

Ortega's election is probably the first honest election in Nicaragua's history--aside from the first time Ortega was elected, in 1985!

It's just ludicrous that a country where all the voting machines are run by Bushwhack corporations, using 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY programming code, with virtually no audit/recount controls, dares to criticize any other country's election transparency--and punish them as if they were naughty schoolchildren!

Look what I just found, googling Ambassador Callahan. He was appointed by John "death squad" Negroponte! AND Callahan was Negroponte's press attache in Honduras in the 1980s!

(See below for the article and ref.)

What is this fuckwad doing representing President Obama? Does Obama agree with this punitive policy? Where does H. Clinton fit in? Or is

---------

*(For instance, what Ortega is talking about--in this mangled account--is the English system, in which both Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair, and Churchill before them, served very long terms, as long as people approved of their government--a parliamentary system, in which, if the government loses approval, it has to call elections. That--and the US Constitution system, which, prior to the mid-1950s, placed no term limit on the president (FDR ran for and won four terms in office, for instance)--are two examples of "indefinite re-election"--the key word being election. Ortega is talking about the English parliamentary system, an even more accountable system than ours--but the Miami Puke twists and distorts and "frames" his statements to make him out a "dictator" just as they have done to Hugo Chavez, who wants to be re-elected.)

[Peace Patriot]

19. "Questioning the New Ambassador to Nicaragua: A Coordinator of the Contra War?"

(I've just had the most frustrating half hour I've experienced on the internet, trying to get a url, or copy and paste, a "Witness for Peace Nicaragua" article of 3/12/08, which is in a typepad format that absolutely won't let you link it or even LOCATE a url. Or maybe the article has been sabotaged. I don't know. So I'm going to re-type the relevant part. Note the date, early last year.)

"Questioning the New Ambassador to Nicaragua: A Coordinator of the Contra War?

By Rich La Torra
Witness for Peace Nicaragua
March 12, 2008

"25 years ago, Witness for Peace started its work in Nicaragua to expose the truth about the U.S. funding the Contras and the horrible ramifications of that support in Nicaragua. We documented the atrocities of the war and organized against U.S. intervention in Nicaragua. Partly because of our work, the actions of many of the architects of that U.S. policy were mostly discredited and their competence and respect for law questioned.

"Now some of these discredited actors in the Contra war, who also helped steer recent failed Iraq war strategy, are again in position to greatly influence Nicaragua's sovereignty. John Negroponte, former director of national intelligence and current deputy secretary of state, recently helped secure the appointment of Robert Callahan as the newly named U.S. ambassador to Nicaragua.

The two were part of a team in Honduras during the 80s when the U.S. was funnelling training and financial support for the Contras through the embassy. John Negroponte srved as the Ambassador and Robert Callahan, press attached, was his spokesperson and speechwriter."

-------

There is much more, which I'm now going to read. I'm sorry that I cannot figure out this technology (or what's wrong with it). If you google the title of this Witness for Peace article, you will be able to get there.

Again, I want to know what is this shit, Callahan, still doing as U.S. Ambassador to Nicaragua? WTF is going on with Obama Latin American foreign policy?

[EFerrari]

20. Wow. I'm too sleepy right now but will read it in the morning. Link here:

http://www.witnessforpeace.typepad.com/nica/
ETA: OMFG, how did I miss this! This is horrible.

[karynnj]

24. I hope Obama selects a new ambassador soon

From your link, there was concern that his appointment was because they wanted him there over the transition.


"There seems to be much speculation about the intentions of the State Department with Robert Callahan’s appointment. Some say the appointment might stem from the Bush Administration’s need to place someone “of confidence” in the role after the current administration no longer calls the shots at the State Department. The new ambassador is expected to serve into the next U.S. president’s term and will survive the expected change in foreign policy and shake-up of state department staff. The current presidential candidates maintain that they will construct a considerably different foreign policy than the often inflammatory one of the Bush Administration.

A new U.S. president in 2009 brings hope for a change in US policy towards Latin America, a policy which has been often described by Ortega and leaders he’s aligned with as “imperialistic”. However, with the appointment of a man who was instrumental in orchestrating the Contra war (potentially the United States’ most disgraceful and paternalistic action in Latin America), this hope for change is somewhat depleted and worry increases about what stance Callahan will take towards Nicaragua. We must hope that he was just ‘doing his job’ when he was defending and promoting violent U.S. policies in his posts in Iraq and Honduras."

[EFerrari]

27. Callahan is trying to withhold money from Nicaragua as a means

of influencing what he's calling a disputed election.

[karynnj]

23. Most of Obama's ambassador choices have yet to be announced

or confirmed. This happens in every transition.

[G_j]

28. I sort of figured, but didn't want to abandon all hope

that a new day can arise in US policy toward Latin America.

What will Obama do about the "Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation" at Fort Benning, Georgia (the SOA) ?

[karynnj]

25. I hope Obama will select a new ambassador

As to HRC, she does not set policy. In the 1980s, the Clintons were in favor of legally aiding the Contras - so she may be less likely to think the connection to the Contras is as bad as you (me and many here) here do. There were very few Democrats with the guts to stand up to Reagan on this, risking attacks on their patriotism. (Latin America is one area where selecting John Kerry as SoS would have sent a major positive signal. I hope he addresses Latin America via the SFRC - as he is one of the few with the history that would lead to the trust of the leftish governments.)

The best thing would be a major Obama outreach.

[ConsAreLiars]

15. K&R. Essential reading for any willing to to take a look behind the corporatist curtain and

willing to face the fact that "Everything You Know (that we told you to believe) Is Wrong."

[autorank]

17. Thank you for sharing!!! k*r Wonderful!!!

[malaise]

21. Thanks Peace Patriot

K & R

[annabanana]

26. Thank you again, for reporting that is unavailable anywhere else.

You bring some of the very best content to DU.

[Kaleko]

29. Too late to rec. But recommended anyway.