LATIN AMERICA: Argentina and the military

Argentine anger at the role of the military is expressed in the messages I receive. I delete the most violent expressions. Liliana Quintanar says: ·"I cannot believe that anyone could think that what happened in Argentina and Chile was a "fair war". That was not a war, it was the prosecution, oppression and torture of civilians performed by a military group, which of course was very well armed and trained. Remember that the military that participated in these activities were often people who received training here in the US, at the School of the Americas. However much this school claimed that individuals were trained on human rights, it is obvious that its graduates had absolutely no idea about what human rights meant! Several dictators of Latin America have received training there, and only now, after many years of activism and protest, Congress has closed down this horrible institution. Although another one of similar sort has been opened at the same time, with a different name".

Rosa de Pena says the military pushed live rats into women's vaginas, because they were fighting Communists.

My comment: It is certain that the Argentine military behaved in barbarous ways, which even the German Army would not have thought of. The Nazis left the killings to the party apparatus. However, the allegation about rats is new to me, and I would need some verification. As for the School of the Americas, I am well aware of the charges against it. Certainly the Pentagon's aim is to have friends in the military establishments of the world. This is a good thing, since, if these establishments know each other, they are less likely to welcome a war. As for the inhuman behavior of some of the school's Latin American graduates, I think they would have been worse if they had not gone to it. After all, some graduates of our elite universities like Stanford are scarcely a credit to them. It is inevitable.

Ronald Hilton - 2/23/02