Argentine Angel of Death get Life

In Argentina on Wednesday, Alfredo Astiz, Argentina's infamous "Blond Angel of Death," and 11 other death squad members from the country's period of military rule received life sentences following a twenty-two month trial.

Astiz, nicknamed for his cherubic looks, stood trial with other former officials accused of horrific crimes at the ESMA Naval Mechanics School, where about 5,000 dissidents were held and tortured during the 1976-1983 "Dirty War" dictatorship. Few of the captives survived.

The AP also has a round up of events in Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile that are related repression under military rule. In Uruguay, the Senate voted to annul the country's amnesty law, while In Chile, forensic investigators recently identified the remains of Georges Klein, Salvador Allende's French doctor. 

—“Look, our basic attitude is that we would like you to succeed. I have an old-fashioned view that friends ought to be supported. What is not understood in the United States is that you have a civil war. We read about human rights problems but not the context. The quicker you succeed the better…The human rights problem is a growing one.  Your Ambassador can apprise you. We want a stable situation. We won't cause you unnecessary difficulties. If you can finish before Congress gets back, the better. Whatever freedoms you could restore would help.” (October 1976)

While you wouldn't expect the AP to rock the boat, I would have like to have seem them follow up on the lack of effort on the part of the United States to come to grips with its frequent support and encouragement of murderous regimes and terrorists in Central and South America.

The two countries [Uruguay and Argentina] are among several Latin American nations still struggling to come to terms with Cold War dictatorships in which regimes routinely tortured, killed or "disappeared" suspected opponents. Most of those dictatorships ended nearly three decades ago.

They are struggling to come to terms with their past. In the United States, on the other hand, the majority of the people are either unaware of what the US did during the Cold War or they justify our government's actions with the all so persuasive, "we won, didn't we?"

In Latin America, the Cold War Never Ends

So many Latin American Cold War-related stories in the past week, it’s hard to keep up. In addition to the indictment of twenty Salvadoran military officials, we have news from Guatemala, Argentina, and Chile.

Stephen Schlesinger, a co-author of Bitter Fruit: The Story of the American Coup in Guatemala, published an Op-ed in this weekend's New York Times.

In it, he rightfully criticizes the US government for its orchestration of the 1954 coup that deposed Jacobo Arbenz and put an end to the Guatemala's "ten years of spring." The years spanning the governments' of Juan Jose Arevalo and Jacobo Arbenz were one of the most progressive period's in Guatemala's history.  

Schlesinger is responding to the recent news in Guatemala where the government stated that it intends to recognize Arbenz's legacy. Schlesinger's written a quite entertaining book on the subject of the coup but I guess I don't agree with everything he writes in the Op-ed. 

Washington feared Arbenz because he tried to institute agrarian reforms that would hand over fallow land to dispossessed peasants, thereby creating a middle class in a country where 2 percent of the population owned 72 percent of the land. Unfortunately for him, most of that territory belonged to the largest landowner and most powerful body in the state: the American-owned United Fruit Company. Though Arbenz was willing to compensate United Fruit for its losses, it tried to persuade Washington that Arbenz was a crypto-communist who must be ousted.

Yes, the US feared Arbenz's agrarian reform. However, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to say that the US feared that it might create a middle class. I guess if you believe that US foreign policy towards Guatemala is and/or was designed to keep the people poor so that they would continue to produce goods cheaply in order to benefit US consumers, then it does make sense.

However from my reading of the time, the US feared that a successful land reform would strengthen the communist party and give them a leg up in the upcoming elections. We didn't think that Arbenz was a communist, but members of his government were and the communist party was going to benefit from the reforms. That was the main reason the US government intervened to remove Arbenz - not to prevent the emergence of a middle class.

But there was no evidence that Arbenz himself was anything more than a European-style democratic socialist. And Arbenz’s land reform program was less generous to peasants than a similar venture pushed by the Reagan administration in El Salvador several decades later.

It's true, the United States has promoted land reform in Latin America, including the 1980 reform in El Salvador. However, I have a difficult time comparing US antagonism towards the 1952 agrarian reform in Guatemala carried out while Eisenhower was president and US support for the the 1980 land reform while Carter was president. The Salvadoran reform was designed to stave off revolution by preventing the communists from coming to power and benefiting the moderate right. 

The Carter administration was also the stronger land reform proponent, not the Reagan administration. The Reagan administration's ambivalence (?) towards the reform as well as the ferocious reaction of the right doomed any chance that the reform had. It's no surprise that the US supports land reform when it suits its interests and calls it communist when it does not. The US isn't against land reform in principle.

The coup and its aftermath were obviously a dark period in Guatemala history. Inside Costa Rica posted a story today about the exhumation of four people killed by the army in 1966 during the presidency of Julio Cesar Mendez. The exhumations were carried out in Chiquimula, a department that borders Honduras and El Salvador, and are the first to occur in eastern Guatemala. 

In Argentina, a court charged three former police officers with killing five women (a French-born nun and four women of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo) during the country's dirty war. They are accused of  taking part in some 20 "death flights" where victims were thrown in the Atlantic alive. The judge ordered the former officers, along with a former military official and lawyer, assets frozen and taken into custody.Human rights trials have been ongoing in Argentina ever since President Nestor Kirchner overturned an amnesty that was protecting those allegedly involved in dirty war era crimes.

Continuing on in Argentina, an appellate court ruled that 

Marcela and Felipe Noble Herrera must submit "blood, saliva, skin, hair or other biological samples ... with or without their consent" for analysis in the National Genetics Databank, which has collected thousands of DNA samples from relatives of people who were killed or "disappeared" during the 1976-83 junta.

Marcela and Felipe Noble Herrera are the adopted children of one of Latin America's largest newspaper publishers, Grupo Clarin. The court seeks to determine if they were stolen as babies during the country's dirty war.

The two Noble Herrera adoptees, now in their 30s, have fiercely defended their adoptive mother and say they have no desire to know their birth families.

Argentina's Supreme Court ruled in 2009 against the forced extraction of blood from such adoptees, but said DNA evidence can still be obtained against their will by searching their homes for clothing and other personal objects.

In the case of the Noble Herreras, a controversial attempt to obtain DNA from their underwear last year failed to produce usable samples.

Finally, in Chile,  a judge ordered an investigation into the death of Nobel laureate, Pablo Neruda. Neruda died shortly after the CIA coup that killed President Salvador Allende and Chilean democracy. According to his family and official reports, Neruda died of natural causes - advanced prostate cancer. 

However, Neruda was also a Communist and a friend of President Salvador Allende who was very critical of General Pinochet and the military government that came to power. Neruda's former driver claims that state security agents poisoned him. The investigation into Neruda's death follows the recent exhumation of Salvador Allende's remains.

The investigations and human rights trials underway in Guatemala, Argentina and Chile give me hope that one day we shall see the same in El Salvador. That is unless President Funes' recent actions put an end to repealing the amnesty law.

Sino-Argentine War of 2021?

Matthew Yglesias had a post on Friday asking Why Is China Buying Latin American Land? According to a story by Alexei Barrionuevo in the New York Times, Brazil, Argentina and several other Latin American countries are passing laws so as to restrict land purchases by foreigners. China is buying up huge tracts of land so as to ensure access to agricultural products needed to feed a one billion and growing population. Yglesias then speculates as to what might happen if some future Latin American government nationalizes the land that China owns.

Indeed, if the Chinese government wants my advice it seems to me that large-scale purchases of foreign land are a uniquely unsound investment since it would be so easy for some future Brazilian or Argentine government to expropriate the land. Indeed, maybe the Sino-American War of 2021 will be specifically sparked by Argentina nationalizing Chinese land-holdings on a large scale, prompting the dispatch of the People’s Liberation Army Navy on its first real blue water mission which, in turn, prompts President Jeb Bush to invoke the Monroe Doctrine and come to Argentina’s defense.

Let's see. Do you think that there's any historical event that might provide us with any insights as to what might happen in 2021? Maybe even a war involving Argentina and a non-hemispheric power. 

Twenty-nine years ago, Argentina of course, launched an invasion to recover the Falkland Malvinas Islands. These islands are located off Argentina's eastern coast but had been in British possession for over 150 years.After a failed mediation attempt, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher sent a British naval task force to recover the islands. Nearly two and one-half months later, the war was over and the Falklands were once again in British hands.

What happened to that 150-year old Monroe Doctrine?

The United States initially tried to mediate an end to the conflict. However, when Argentina refused the U.S. peace overtures, U.S. Secretary of State Alexander Haig announced that the United States would prohibit arms sales to Argentina and provide material support for British operations. Both Houses of the U.S. Congress passed resolutions supporting the U.S. action siding with the United Kingdom. 

The US also supported Britain in the UN in voting for UN resolution 502, a resolution that called for Argentina's retreat from the islands. The US also assisted the the UK with military equipment including submarine detectors and missiles (Wikipedia). So much for that Monroe Doctrine. It's definitely not how Argentina expected us to thank them for helping to train Honduran death squads.

So what would happen one decade from now if Argentina nationalized property owned by the Chinese and the Chinese then sent a military force to recapture that territory? Again the US would probably try to negotiate. We get along with both China and Argentina and would prefer that they settle their differences nonviolently.

Let's say that mediation failed similar to 1982. While some would cry out for the US to invoke the Monroe Doctrine, as long as a Chinese military force was tasked solely with retaking the land that it previously owned, I don't foresee see the US invoking the doctrine. If the US invoked the doctrine, it would have to do something about it or lose credibility. However, getting into a war with the Chinese over Argentina is probably worse than losing credibility.

Argentina? I think that in 1982 Argentina learned that the Monroe Doctrine is not about the United States' absolute commitment to defend the Western Hemisphere against aggression by non-hemispheric powers. It is a doctrine that the US applies selectively to further its own interests. The alliance between the US and UK in 1982 was much stronger than today's US relationship with China. On the other hand, the US and Argentina were probably stronger allies in 1982 than today. The US and Argentina haven't really gotten along for the first two hundred years of Argentina's independence and that probably won't change in the next ten years. If the US wasn't willing to defend our dirty war committing Argentine allies in 1982, we probably wouldn't do it today.

How did other foreign powers react?

France provided political support, voting for UN resolution 502. The French also provided dissimilar aircraft training allowing Harrier pilots to train against French aircraft used by Argentina. French and British intelligence also worked to prevent Argentina from obtaining more Exocets on the international market.

New Zealand sent a frigate to relieve a British ship in the Indian Ocean, thus assisting the Royal Navy to meet its commitments in the South Atlantic.

Chile gave support to Britain in the form of Intelligence about Argentine military and radar early warning.

On the Argentine side, Peru and Venezuela sent aircraft spare parts, Brazil leased two P-95 maritime patrol aircraft and Israeli IAI advisors already in the country continued their work during the conflict. The Soviet Union provided intelligence on British military movements, and facilitated the supply by Libya of strela 2 missiles.

Chile's support for Britain wasn't much of a surprise. Argentina and Chile have had several confrontations over the years and had almost gone to war as recently as 1978 in the Beagle Conflict. However, I would venture to guess that today's Latin America would more rally more strongly behind Argentina than thirty years ago.

In 1982, some Latin American nations sent spare parts and diplomatic support. In ten years, one could envision Latin American naval, air, and land support for Argentina against a more formidable Chinese military. Latin American solidarity and the capabilities to act together against a common external enemy would be one of the most significant in the last thirty-years.

I was surprised to read about Soviet and Libyan support for Argentina given that the US support to that same government was based upon their strict anti-communism and pro-Western and Christian ideology. A recent book by Russian Sergey Brilev makes some interesting claims about Soviet support to Argentina.

Brilev writes that in spite of the risks of a world conflict because of Soviet support in the war involving a NATO member, Moscow handed to the Argentines and their most ‘anti-communist’ leader General Leopolodo Galtieri crucial satellite information which helped with some of the greatest coups of the Argentine forces in sinking Royal navy vessels...

Brilev concludes that in the early eighties the Soviet Union power structure was already under strain. The strategic aid was a decision of the Generals at military command level as a logical support for “the enemy of my enemy”. He then recalls that only two countries did not join the 1979 US sponsored international embargo on the Soviet Union, Argentina and Uruguay and “the military were very thankful for that”. 

The Soviet military acted on its own to support Argentina. They must have kept supporting Argentina because thirteen years later some guys that I was playing ball with in Buenos Aires were all wearing CCCP baseball uniforms. The Israelis? Another US ally during the Cold War who, like Argentina, had no problem selling arms and helping to train murderous regimes (i.e., Guatemala) when the US congress got squeamish some backbone and suspended US assistance.

Here's hoping that a Sino-Argentine war is not on the horizon. If it does come about, however, there's no reason for Argentina to expect the US enforce the Monroe Doctrine. 

 "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me."

Declassify the Documents

An effort to declassify U.S. documents on Argentina's dictatorship failed Friday in the U.S. Congress, disappointing rights activists in the Argentine capital who believe the secret files could help them identify young people stolen as babies by the military junta.

The amendment by Rep. Maurice Hinchey, a Democrat from New York, was rejected by a vote of 214-194. It would have compelled U.S. intelligence agencies to declassify their files on the 1976-1983 dictatorship, which was closely monitored by U.S. security and intelligence forces...

Most of the U.S. files on Argentina still remain secret, and some of those voting against the measure said it's best they stay that way. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers, a Republican from Alabama, said declassifying them would distract U.S. spies from the fight against al-Qaida.

No, the only reason that the US is keeping these records classified is that they contain embarrassing details or evidence of complicity in a criminal conspiracy. Perhaps both.

However, neither is a legitimate reason to deny access to the information.

Poverty in Argentina

Both Argentina's Catholic University (UCA) and the government use the same 2010 census conducted by the Statistics and Census National Institute (INDEC) to analyze the country's social and economic conditions. While they agree that poverty has declined between 2006 and 2010, the university's analyses produce much higher rates of poverty and extreme poverty than do official government figures.

According to government reports, approximately 4 million (9.9%) Argentines are poor. The UCA report, on the other hand, says that approximately 10 million (29.6%) people are poor. The UCA also estimates that 11% of the population lives in extreme poverty compared to the government's 2.5% estimate. Of the country's 10 million poor, 3.5 million are homeless.

The difference between government and UCA's statistics is based primarily upon how each calculates the cost of the basic food basket. The government estimates that by the end of 2010, an average family needed $303 to avoid falling under the poverty line. The UCA estimated the amount to be $436.

Discrepanices between governmental and other organizations' poverty figures is nothing new in Argentina. Here's a 2009 Al Jazeera report on poverty in Argentina.


Argentina is not the only country where official and unofficial poverty figures are in dispute and I wonder whether these differences are playing into the discussion at Two Weeks Notice over what Peruvians want from their government (see here, here, here, and here).

Argentina Disappearance Update

Hemispheric Brief has an update on the suspicious disappearance of Argentina's Victor Oscar Martinez that I mentioned on Wednesday.

Fifty-two year-old Argentine rights activist Victor Oscar Martinez re-appeared late Wednesday after disappearing three days prior. After leaving his home in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Palermo on Monday, Martinez’s lawyer said Thursday that her client was abducted, heavily sedated, and held in an unidentified location. Martinez says his captors threatened him and his family, saying he should leave the country and not testify in a new human rights investigation against a former military official he has long said was involved in the death of Bishop Carlos Horacio Ponce de León over thirty years ago.

 Good reason to be worried.

Missing Dirty War Witness in Argentina

According to the Associated Press

Argentina's president ordered all federal forces Wednesday to search for a key witness against a former military officer in the death of a bishop who tried intervene on behalf of victims of the dictatorship.

Victor Oscar Martinez, 52, disappeared Monday, his wife said in a formal missing person's complaint.

"The fact that we have no details of his whereabouts is highly worrisome for the national government," Justice Minister Julio Alak said.

Martinez was the sole witness to the death of an Argentine bishop who was killed in 1977 while delivering evidence of the military junta's human rights violations to Vatican officials. Martinez survived the "accident" but was then tortured for additional information surrounding the bishop's other activities. The material that they were delivering disappeared after the accident.

While several Argentine Catholic priests were complicit in the military's crimes, it's important to remember that not all of them were giving last rights as unconscious prisoners were thrown out of airplanes and into the Atlantic.  

Unfortunately, there is good reason to suspect foul play in Martinez's disappearance as he was threatened two years ago if he continued "bothering" with the case. Other witnesses have also disappeared or died under mysterious circumstances in recent years.

DNA test IDs Dirty War Victim in Argentina

According to the AP, DNA test IDs 103rd stolen baby in Argentina.

The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo say the young woman was born in 1976 to Cecilia Beatriz Barral, who was nine months pregnant when kidnapped with her partner, Ricardo Horacio Klotzman. The couple were militants in the Revolutionary Workers Party, prime targets for elimination after Argentina's military coup.

A court forced the woman to take a DNA test against her will and released the results to the involved parties Tuesday. The Grandmothers announced the results Wednesday.

The Grandmothers say the woman's half-sister has never stopped looking for her.

It's obviously great for the half-sister and her family to find out what happened in 1976. She has finally found her sister. However, it must be devastating for the woman who did not agree to the DNA test and now is confronted with this life-shattering news.
  
In other Argentina and the disappeared news, I haven't seen the the film yet but I did receive a few promotional emails this week about Peter Sanders' The Disappeared. It looks like it's worth checking out.

Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team

The Economist recently published an interview with Mercedes Doretti, the co-founder of the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team.


See here for an earlier post or check out their website.

A Little Partisanship, Argentine Style

According to the AP

A budget spat erupted into fisticuffs Wednesday when opposition legislator Graciela Camano punched fellow lawmaker Carlos Kunkel in the mouth.

Two television news channels broadcast the melee live as Camano got out of her chair to confront Kunkel during a session of the Upper House's constitutional affairs commission.

The two exchanged words, Kunkel gestured with his arms and Camano socked him then left the chamber.

.

Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team

Marcela Valente highlights the important work of the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team in Reading the Bones. 

The Argentine forensic crew, known by its Spanish acronym EAAF, was established as a non-governmental, not-for-profit scientific organisation in 1984, the year after the dictatorship came to an end. Between 15,000 (the official figure) and 30,000 (the estimate by human rights groups) people fell victim to forced disappearance during Argentina's seven-year de facto military regime.

The EAAF is comprised of anthropologists, archaeologists, DNA experts, physicians, dentists, computer specialists and others.  The team has carried out investigations in forty countries throughout the world.  They have helped to identify the remains of victims of political violence, crime, and natural disasters.  There is also some discussion of the teams work in Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico.