U.S. to declassify dictatorship-era files on Argentina.
In a historic move that could help shine light on one of the darkest chapters of Argentina’s past, President Barack Obama will declassify decades-old intelligence and military documents to help the ongoing investigations into crimes against humanity. The news, announced yesterday by the White House, sends a strong message days before the 40th anniversary of the last military coup and Obama’s arrival to the country on March 22.
A day after officials announced that President Obama wanted to honor the victims of the last military regime, U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice confirmed that Obama will participate in a ceremony at the Memorial Park in Buenos Aires City on March 24 - the day of the anniversary.
President Mauricio Macri will likely join him, as will Buenos Aires Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, said government sources. Human rights activists such as the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo will be meeting today to define whether they will join the ceremony or if they will instead request a private meeting with the U.S. president.
“To underscore our shared commitment to human rights, the President will visit the Memorial Park to honor the victims of Argentina’s dirty war,” Rice announced yesterday. “In addition to more than 4,000 documents that the US has already released from that dark period, President Obama — at the request of the Argentine government — will announce a comprehensive effort to declassify additional documents —including, for the first time, military and intelligence records,” the adviser said, merely hours after the New York Times called in an editorial for the release the files and to help with the investigations in order to acknowledge the role Washington had during the 1970s and 1980s in the region.
“On this anniversary and beyond, we’re determined to do our part as Argentina continues to heal and move forward as one nation,” Rice added.
At: http://buenosairesherald.com/article/210947/us-to-declassify-dictatorshipera-files
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Good for President Obama for doing the right thing. A gentle yet emphatic reminder to Macri that human rights is not "a scam."
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I think it's safe to believe it wasn't Macri at all who requested ANY of this information, not by a long shot, since he has always supported the dictatorship.
Was wondering, as I was reading it, if it might have been in some part empowered by those with the most interest in seeing the information revealed, those whose lives were devastated by the right-wing dictatorship.
From the end of this terrific article:
On Monday, CELS Executive Director Gastón Chillier held a meeting with Kevin Sullivan, deputy chief of the US mission in Buenos Aires, to hand over a request from Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, Relatives of Forcibly Disappeared People for Political Reasons, Mothers of Plaza de Mayo-Founding Line and the organization he heads.
The human rights organizations requested that the US government declassify documents from the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, FBI, CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). They also requested the release of documents issued by the legal attaché of the US embassy between 1975 and 1985.
On Wednesday, Attorney General Alejandra Gils Carbó also filed a petition before Foreign Ministry Susana Malcorra echoing the request of the human rights groups. The office headed by prosecutor Jorge Auat also asked that the US reveal the information that was redacted from the documents released in 2002.
Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, for their part, requested the aid of the Department of Justice in cases of baby-snatching as they are investigating whether some people living in the US are children of forcibly disappeared parents and the group headed by Barnes de Carlotto need the DNA samples before moving forward with that quest.
The groups also demanded that US greenlight the extradition of Roberto Bravo, accused of having an active role in the 1972 massacre in Trelew — when 16 political prisoners were executed in a penitentiary in the southern area of the country.
Now the groups seem to be at a crossroads after Obama agreed to their petition and Macri claimed victory. According to sources, Macri wants his photo-op with human rights leaders, especially with Barnes de Carlotto, who last year called on voters not to support Macri.
How dare he. What a piece of garbage. His comrades, his heroes tortured and murdered the sons, daughters of Las Madres. Yeah, he should get a photo-op, all right: a photo-op of all of them kicking his gnarly butt.
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Come and get me, girls. [/center]