If you're a regular reader of this site (and if you are, I thank you from the bottom of my heart) you know quite well the distaste I have for Augusto Pinochet. For sheer brutality, however, I do not think that you can surpass the horrific Argentine junta that was contemporaneous with Pinochet's dictatorship and lasted from 1976 to 1983.
The statistics are staggering: some 30,000 murdered/disappeared. Many of the victims were drugged, flown in planes out over the ocean and thrown alive from the planes. Thousands of others were tortured. Children of the disappeared, some often born in prison were kidnapped by the military to be given to military families and other families to whom they were not related..
Today marks the 30th anniversary of the coup that installed the military dictatorship. Argentina is marking the events accordingly. Some progress has been made in bringing those responsible to justice, but the efforts have had to rely on other countries in some cases due to an amnesty law that was imposed under threat of military revolt in the 1980's. It is worth noting that the leader of the coup, General Jorge Videla, is under arrest for his alleged participation in the kidnappings.
It's also worth noting that recent declassified documents published by the National Security Archive continue to show what a truly monstrous man Henry Kissinger is:
Two days after the military coup, Secretary of State Kissinger convened his weekly staff meeting. In this declassified secret transcript of the first conversation on Argentina, Assistant Secretary for Latin America, William Rogers informs Kissinger that for the Argentine generals' government to succeed, they will make "a considerable effort to involve the United States - particularly in the financial field.". Kissinger responds "Yes, but that is in our interest."
Rogers advises that "we ought not at this moment rush out and embrace this new regime" because he expects significant repression to follow the coup. "I think also 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 of trade unions and their parties." But Kissinger makes his preferences clear: "Whatever chance they have, they will need a little encouragement… because I do want to encourage them. I don't want to give the sense that they're harassed by the United States."
[Note: On March 27, 1976, the IMF released a $127 million credit for the Military Junta]
Warned of the bloodshed, Kissinger still wanted to encourage them. What a bastard.
Kissinger is a war criminal and should be prosecuted as such for his activities in Chile, Argentina, Vietnam, Cambodia and God knows where else. And let's not forget Kissinger's tacit approval, if not direct involvement in the murder, via car bomb, of Chilean Ambassador to the U.S., Orlando Letelier in Wash. D.C. on Sept. 21, 1976.
Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and Condoleeza Rice are but two of the worst examples of brutal pan Americanism, skulduggery and thuggery in the history of this country. They should both be brought to trial for the mass killings that are their responsibility.
Posted by: Oklahoma kiddo | March 25, 2006 at 12:03 PM