A tall Texan brought victims of Argentina’s “dirty war” to international attention
A tall Texan brought victims of Argentinas dirty war to international attention
Posted on December 18, 2013 | By Stewart Powell
Towering Texan F. Allen Tex Harris says he repeatedly tried to right wrongs during a tumultuous 35-year foreign service career.
The straight-talking, 6-foot-7 former all-state high school basketball star tracked the disappeared during Argentinas dirty war, battled transmission of the HIV virus in South Africa and spoke out on behalf of the atmospheres imperiled ozone layer during Ronald Reagans overhaul of the Environmental Protection Agency.
The 75-year-old retired diplomat, a Dallas native who winters in Galveston, says he has savored every moment of his chosen path as a joyful contrarian.
I made a career out of being a pain, says the graduate of Princeton and University of Texas law school. My mother always said speak out and help people. Its just the way Im wired.
The United Nations Association has honored Harris for the use of diplomacy to advance human rights during his pioneering efforts in the late 1970s to bring the missing victims of Argentinas junta to the attention of the State Department, the White House and the international community.
Harris vivid, first-hand accounts were not always welcomed back in Washington, where many Cold War-era officials turned a blind eye to the military regimes gruesome campaign against left-wing terrorists rather than embracing the Carter administrations emphasis on human rights abuses.
More:
http://blog.chron.com/txpotomac/2013/12/a-tall-texan-brought-victims-of-argentinas-dirty-war-to-international-attention/