Torture Relations - US surreptitious involvement in Uruguay, etc. (U.S. torturer Dan Mitrione)
Last edited Wed Sep 24, 2014, 10:06 PM - Edit history (1)
Torture Relations
By Matt Ford
September 23, 2014
On rare occasions, our present and historical realities entangle to make a story that is better than fiction. One such occasion came in late March 2014 when Uruguayan President Jose “Pepe” Mujica agreed to allow at least five Guantanamo Bay prisoners to “make their nests in Uruguay.” This gesture is quite significant, partly because Mujica himself is a victim of 12 years of U.S.-sponsored torture. He was also among the “key prisoners” that U.S. Secretary of State William Rogers recommended to be murdered early in 1970. By offering his country to Guantanamo Bay prisoners—which are likely also victims of U.S. torture—Mujica has illuminated a history which has been consistently ignored in public discourse. Although Mujica has recently become popular for supporting the legalization of gay marriage and marijuana, the history from which he grew and the role of the United States government has been often overlooked.
While Mujica’s offer gained short-lived publicity in the western media, it has not sparked a wider conversation on the hundreds of Uruguayan victims of U.S.-sponsored assassination and torture. These ranks include the current President and First Lady, as well as the world-famous literary figure Mauricio Rosencof. Unlike other Latin American nations plagued with histories of dictatorships that have made great strides in seeking justice for the victims of dictatorial repression (Argentina, Chile, Guatemala, etc), Uruguay struggles to deal with the crimes of their dictatorship (1973-1985). Although the pursuit of justice continues today, it was unfortunately dealt a huge setback in February 2013 when the Uruguayan Supreme Court reinstated an amnesty for those who carried out the brutality. The eerie silence in the western media in the wake of Mujica’s offer to Guantanamo Bay prisoners reveals a missed opportunity for the construction of an honest and informed collective memory about U.S-Uruguay relations.
Another missed opportunity came with the AP report on USAID’s “Cuban Twitter” program. Many were surprised that USAID, a supposedly humanitarian institution, would be involved in subverting a foreign government. Perhaps this surprise—if it was in fact genuine—is simply another effect of information monopoly or maybe a sign of the narrow scope of collective memory. In any case, the historical record reveals that USAID has a rich legacy of subverting foreign governments and, in fact, training and equipping brutal and torturous police forces. Thus, the apparent surprise of USAID’s Cuban Twitter program itself seems a bit surprising.
By examining newly released U.S. government documents—many obtained through the valiant efforts of the National Security Archive’s Southern Cone Documentation Project—I will trace the involvement of the United States government, through USAID, in the manifestation of the Uruguayan dictatorship.
More:
http://zcomm.org/zmagazine/torture-relations/
