No, I do not hate America. Such a feeling would be flat-out wrong–being far too simplistic and in complete ignorance of countless wonderful U.S. citizens and their actions that are ever so commendable both in this country and throughout the world. But I also do not have a ‘rose-colored glasses only’ view of my country. And I certainly understand any anger and resentment that people in some other countries–Iran (see the lovely work of the Shah and his Savak henchmen), El Salvador (see Roberto D’Aubuisson’s death squads and the assassination of Archbishop Romero), Guatemala (see the United Fruit Company), Chile (see Pinochet and the assassination of Salvador Allende)–and others feel towards the United States. Argentineans especially still have memories about the involvement of the United States in the affairs of their country. Involvement that condoned and facilitated thousands of deaths.
Not that anything about these actions is ever going to see the light of day in any American school history books but think about this: how would you feel about a foreign country if that country teamed up with our government in causing the torture and deaths of 30,000 United States citizens? Plus, untold resulting kidnappings of children?
I believe former Secretary of State Colin Powell expressed some sort of contrition while he was still in office, and that is a start. But any sort of consciousness in the general population of the United States is missing and this ignorance is sometimes part and parcel of what leads to the misguided and inappropriate ‘my country hasn’t done and could never do anything wrong and I won’t hear of it’ attitude. That’s not patriotism and not suitable in conunction with celebrating our holiday today.
Argentina, 30 Years After Bloody Coup
Newly declassified documents show U.S. role in 1970s Latin American dictatorships
Fernando Marino-Aguirre
04-15-2006
Last Friday, the Argentine people remembered the bloodiest dictatorship in their history, demanding justice and punishment for those guilty of wholesale violations of human rights.
A day before, on March 23, the National Security Archive posted a series of declassified U.S. documents, and, for the first time, secret documents from Southern Cone intelligence agencies detailing evidence of massive atrocities committed by the military junta in Argentina.
Two days after the military coup, on March 26, 1976, Assistant Secretary of State for Latin America, William Rogers, informed Secretary of State Henry Kissinger that “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 in trade unions and their parties.”
That was a clear prediction of what would soon be happening. Nearly 30,000 opponents of the military junta were kidnapped, tortured, and assassinated, the bodies being buried clandestinely or thrown from helicopters into the sea.
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