Group says files show US knew of Guatemala abuses

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Miami Herald

Posted on Wednesday, 03.18.09
Group says files show US knew of Guatemala abuses

By JUAN CARLOS LLORCA
Associated Press Writer

GUATEMALA CITY -- The U.S. government knew that top Guatemalan officials it supported with arms and cash were behind the disappearance of thousands of people during a 36-year civil war, declassified documents obtained by a U.S. research institute show.

The National Security Archive, a Washington D.C.-based institute that requests and publishes declassified government documents, obtained diplomatic and intelligence reports from the U.S. State Department under the Freedom of Information Act and posted them on its Web site on Wednesday.

"Government security services have employed assassination to eliminate persons suspected of involvement with the guerrillas or who are otherwise left-wing in orientation," one 1984 State Department report said.

State Department spokesman Fred Lash said he was unaware of the declassified documents and could not immediately comment.

Guatemala's U.S.-backed army battled leftist guerrillas in a 1960-1996 civil war that left more than 200,000 people dead or missing. Most were Mayan Indians.

"The government is obviously rounding up people connected with the extreme left-wing labor movement for interrogation," then-U.S. Ambassador Frederic Chapin said in a 1984 cable.



Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/AP/story/956938.html

[acmavm]

1. KNEW about it? We helped.

The School of Americas trained everybody. We had our fingers in everything. The US government knew what was going on and we lied and covered for the Guatamalan thugs like we did the El Salvadorean thugs, and the Venezualean thugs, and the (insert name here) thugs because they were OUR THUGSS! They towed the Chaquita Banana line. Either do it the CIA way or the dead way.

[dipsydoodle]

3. Goes right back

to those criminals known as the Dulles brothers. x(

see for example :

In the Cold War atmosphere of 1954, the U.S. State Department (under John Foster Dulles) and the C.I.A. (under his brother Allen Dulles) regarded Guatemala’s democratically elected leftist government as a Soviet beachhead in the Western Hemisphere. At the C.I.A.’s direction, the government was overthrown and replaced by a military dictatorship installed by the Agency. This book tells, for the first time, how a disaster-prone operation—marked by bad planning, poor security, and incompetent execution—was raised to legendary status by its almost accidental triumph.

This early C.I.A. covert operation delighted both President Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Dulles brothers, and Allen Dulles concluded that the apparent success in Guatemala, despite a long series of blunders, made the venture a sound model for future operations. This book reveals how the legend of PBSUCCESS grew, and why attempts to imitate it failed so disastrously at the Bay of Pigs in 1961 and in the Contra war in the 1980’s. The Afterword traces the effects of the coup of 1954 on the subsequent unstable politics and often violent history of Guatemala.

http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?id=1031

[Judi Lynn]

5. Corporate media writers are a scream, aren't they? If it hadn't been for all their lies of ommission

we would have all known about ALL these atrocities a very LONG time ago, instead of finding out about it years later. Even then, we've known about what the hell happened in Central America with the backing and direction of the U.S. Government for years.

Of COURSE we knew. We trained the leaders of their death squads at our own School of the Americas, teaching them torture, assassinations, kidnapping, propaganda, etc. All the finer things of life. Their attempts to whitewash this evil are going to fail, and the clean-up is going to be costly.

[L. Coyote]

10. Don't you mean cororate media "readers"? Do they even know who writes it?

I confronted a media person about a broadcast and got the excuse, "I just read it."

[Kolesar]

2. We now have president who does not look like the face of European colonialism

I hope that he can restore our trust with the population of Latin America.

[dipsydoodle]

4. I have every faith

that he will infact do that.

[lsewpershad]

18. I do also

However faith alone cannot do it. Decisive action is necessary. It is very frustrating to know all these atrocities are going on and we, all of us, are complicit Our present govt. must change course. We should all apply appropriate pressure to ensure the change.

[closeupready]

6. Ah, yes. Winning those Latin American hearts and minds.

:sarcasm:

[formercia]

7. "the extreme left-wing labor movement for interrogation"

Anything to do with protecting workers and farmers was extreme-left to them.






http://www.guatemalasolidarity.org.uk/

[a la izquierda]

8. Most obvious article of the year award.

Good lord, we overthrew their democratically elected President because he was too "left".
Ugh, well, at least maybe some people in the general public will read about this now and learn something. My students will get a huge dose of this in the Fall...in a sick way, I almost look forward to the shock on their faces. Most of these kids have been taught that the US does nothing wrong.

[L. Coyote]

9. Another reason to prosecute Bush Sr.

[blm]

13. Bush Sr would have been jailed or disgraced publicly years ago if not for the protection he and his

cronies received from a few powerful Dems throughout the 90s.

[eridani]

11. Indeed. Those abuses were (and may still be) the entire sum of our relations with Latin America

It's official policy, not "bad apples." Hope Obama pays more attention, or hires people to do that.

[pmorlan1]

12. U.S. Did Same Thing in Iraq & Afghanistan

"Many innocent people were wrongly accused of involvement by "vengeful neighbors or others eager to eliminate personal, business or political rivals by proxy," it added."

This reminds me of what the U.S. allowed to happen in Iraq and Afghanistan. And because we offered rewards to turn in other people we made it even more likely that innocent people would be turned in. In fact, Lawrence Wilkerson confirmed yesterday that the administration knew they were holding innocent people but they just didn't care.

[juno jones]

14. I am glad this is hitting the mainstream consciousness.

I have carried this knowledge with me since the Reagan years. I remember weeping while reading descriptions of tortures performed on children in front of their parents and running to the next room to hug my then 2-year-old son in helpless sorrow, burying my face in his halo of innocent toddler hair and praying that he would never know such cruelty.


I hope this awareness grows, I hope this grows into world court, procecutions, sanctions and the whole she-bang. It's time for this story to be told and the victims to come forward. It's time to hound the sadistic perpetrators to the ends of the earth. Many of the principals are dead or quite aged, but there are plenty of their heirs who deserve to have their blood money and misappropriated power stripped from them.

[defendandprotect]

23. Those who believe in crusades/medieval torture are still with us . . .

whether the excuse is introducing Christianity or democracy or simple greed,

their desire for domination has always been satisfied by violence.

We're still in the same gene pool, folks!!

The only way the right can come to power is thru violence --

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[edc]

16. The Boogeyman did it.

I lived in Guatemala during some of this period. First it was the official government under Rios Mott that was responsible for most of the killing. Then the paramilitary death squads were added. The guerrillas took part in some of this, but bandits killed far more people than they did, especially along the Pan American Highway. Thieves took their toll, especially in the cities(I was in Guatemala City one weekend when there were 50 reported homicides). There were also American mercenaries who worked with the Guatemalan Army who put notches in their gun handles too. Finally, there were lots of killings that were just personal, grudge settling and that sort of thing.

So, when you got off a chicken buss and found a body in a ditch or hanging from a bridge, it wasn't possible to know with any certainty which boogeyman was responsible. What was known was that most of the dead, particulary the Mayan campesinos, were basically just convenient terror targets. It was one of those environments where, if you stood up, and you were an Indian, you got cut down.

[Diclotican]

17. Judi Lynn

Judi Lynn

This is maybe news for most of you in the US.. But for the rest of the world this is no new news, all the time this have been reported again and again over the last 20-25 year.. And maybe long before I was old enough to even understand what happened outside my own little world home..

You have the "school of americas" who have changed name, but who in many was is doing exactly the same as it did when they educated tortures and murderers for the dictatorship who was the ordinary thing in Latin America..

And even Ambassador Chapin must have understand that not everyone was "extreme left wing" anyway.. It was in most cases ordinary Guatemalans who was tired about been treated bad and wanted something better... And all this murderers and killing of Mayans, was been doing with the good help of ol' uncle sam in many cases..

No wonder, when Latin America south of Mexico get the chance they elected other leaders than the old elite who have ruled the place since 1900s.. US have a bloody history in Latin America.. Not that many European country have not the same history in Latin America, but then, that is from older times.. And from the early 1800 most old colonies was free.. But not for a long time, after a while the US got the power, and was keeping it for more than 100 year.. Now, then US have more handling in the Middle East than they can swallow for the moment, maybe Latin America can get a Renaissance, where THEY are in power... And where they also can prove for the world that they do not need help from the US to stand on their own.. If they ever got then chance to do that then..

Hopefully the truth about what happened in the cold war in Latin America would came out - and the knowledge also get a hand in the US citizens.. most americans in the US, do not care to much about what happened in their name under the cold war. As long as they was safe..

But as I have read in this tread. Some was reading the information and had the knowledge of what happend... And I can understand their sorow and sadness about the whole thing... This time, maybe the whole truth will came out. And some of the guilty will be put to the stand... Maybe if they ever was given some Justice

Diclotican

[EFerrari]

26. The criminals Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld were horrible

for the people of the Middle East (and for us) but very good for Latin America, that's very true.

[Diclotican]

29. EFerrari

EFerrari

True, I for one hope, and believe that a very hot place are reserved for the like of Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, together with Bush sr and jr.. But they should be hold accountable for what they are doing in this life too if you ask me, but then I am just an ordinary "foot soldier" with no power at all..

I hope the truth about what have been doing in the name of US in Latin America was to be known for most american. It will reveal a lot of your policy against Latin America for at least a 100 year.. Many of the big corporation who until the catastrophe of mr Bush was "voted" into office in 2000 earned a lot of money, and their share of blood from the thousands of latin americans who had been killed to make some bucks..

The last couple of years, maybe the last 5-6 year have been a Renaissance for the people of latin america, they have chosen another path, and will decide for them self what they want to do with their future.. No more power play for US when it came to which country to be targeted as evil.. Even the old coup d'etat who the CIA was famous for manage in Latin America if they got a ruler they could not control are not that easy to muster anymore.. The adventures of mr Cheney, Rumsfeld, Bush and CO have more or less ruined every chance for US to play the one after the other in South America.. US have more than they can shew over in the Middle East, specially Iraq and Afghanistan.. And with the economy in the toilet, I would guess that even Iraq alone would be to much for the US to swallow..

Diclotican

[EFerrari]

30. The current Iraqi government is very close to Iran

and the Taliban refuses to make a unity government until all foreign troops are gone from Afghanistan.

Are you familiar with the term, "karma"? :)

[Diclotican]

32. EFerrari

EFerrari

True, the whole irony about this is that the current Iraqi government have not be more friendly to Iran than it is today in decades.. Under Saddam Hussein Iran and Iraq was more or less at war footing with each other.. Today the connections between Iraq and Iran are better than it have been in many decades.. And Iran have itself get a better footing and connection to the larger middle east than ever before.. Not since 1979 have Iran had the connections and the "power" than it have today...

And the other irony, is that Taliban who was "crushed" by the USAF was not crushed at all, but very alive, and today, rule southern parts of Afghanistan, and also have a great power of influence in Pakistan, to the point that the government had to make a peace treaty with the Taliban, and more or less give up to have influence over the tribal areas in the north of Pakistan..

I for one do not understand why NATO are in Afghanistan at all. I for one would believe that NATO should be more in control in the european theater. It is much to do there too. Not to fiddle around in Afghanistan, where empires have bleed to their death over control... The only man who really got some controll over Afghanistan was Alexander the Great - for more than 2500 years ago. And I would bet that no one approve of the actions HE was using to make it more under his controll..

Yes I know about the term Karma.. AND I have to say.. Karma can be a bitch when she bites.. And BITES have she been doing for a long time in that area of the world...

Diclotican

[PufPuf23]

19. Rios Mott and Gospel Outreach

Rios Mott became an evangelized Christian and then minister in a California-based (Humboldt county, the Lighthouse Ranch and Deliverance Temple of the 70s and 80s) pentecostal sect called Gospel OutReach prior to coming to power in a coup. Mott came to have the backing of Falwell and Robertson and the media exposure of the PTL Club. Meanwhile on the ground in Guatemala, Mayans were slaughtered because they were demon-possessed.

[L. Coyote]

20. George Bush Sr. May Face Charges: Conspiring to Kidnap and Murder Political Activists

Deja DU: George Bush Sr. May Face Charges: Conspiring to Kidnap and Murder Political Activists
Dec-12-07 - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2459135

[JCMach1]

21. Negroponte= war criminal

[EFerrari]

28. Did you know this? Before he left, Death Squads made sure to put his Iran Contra buddy

Callahan in as our ambassador to Nicaragua? It still floors me.

[JCMach1]

31. Yes I did, have been following this butcher since

his crimes in Central America in the 1980's...

This is a hangover from my even 'more' radical left days in the '80s.

[99th_Monkey]

22. A lot of good it does us to find out now ... geesh. not that we didn't know then. ~nt~

[bvar22]

24. The US is currently committing the SAME atrocities in Colombia.

Still going on.
The US is supporting thugs, murderers, election riggers, and right wing extremists in Colombia.....
....and THEN has the NERVE to call Chavez a "dictator".

[EFerrari]

25. And Peru. But CHAVEZ is a dictator who supports terror

and censors the media. :puke:

[EFerrari]

27. Al publico: A good number of those reviled "illegals" come here from Guatemala.

Now you know why.

[Solly Mack]

33. K&R

[burrowowl]

34. My Father was in Guatemala at the time

Some of the Indian villages he used to visit were completely wiped out.

Maybe Raygun was brain dead but Bu$h I knew and perpetuated the crimes. He and the others should be in prison with Bu$hCo.
These peopie are the evil doers and the rest of the world knew about it, why not the USA?

[The abyss]

35. Hell - we (the good ol’ US) perfected it!

In the 20th century, there were two main traditions of clean torture—the kind that doesn't leave marks, as modern torturers prefer. The first is French modern, a combination of water- and electro-torture. The second is Anglo-Saxon modern, a classic list of sleep deprivation, positional and restraint tortures, extremes of temperature, noise, and beatings.


http://www.slate.com/id/2213959/

Don’t it just make you proud to be an American?!?

<>

I am all flushed and twittered!

Thank you Judi for keeping this in the “face” of the readers. They need to read and see it every day. After all they paid for it.