MACHETERA: "OBAMA'S THEATRE OF IMPARTIALITY"

[magbana]

"Obama’s theatre of impartiality
July 8, 2009 · Leave a Comment

This has gone completely unreported in the English language press, as far as Machetera can see.

With an exquisite sense of timing and the sure knowledge that few non-Latin Americans would understand the implications (and therefore bother to report on them), directly after pummeling Honduran president Mel Zelaya into a “dialogue” with the people who shoved him out of Honduras at gunpoint, the U.S. Secretary of State went straight to a meeting yesterday afternoon with two of the most repugnant people in Latin America: Alberto Federico Ravell, director of coupmongering Globovision, and Leopoldo Castillo, who has a program on Globovision but is more notorious for his service to rightwing deathsquads during the 1980’s, as Venezuela’s ambassador to El Salvador.

Greg McDonald translated the following report which appeared at Cubadebate, based on information reported by Luigino Bracci Roa at YVKE Mundial, as well as reporting from ABN.

The North American Twin Track: Clinton with the Venezuelan Ultra-Rightwing

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Clinton together with Alberto Federico Ravell and former Venezuelan Ambassador to El Salvador, Leopoldo Castillo – Tuesday, July 7, 2009

It seemed everything was moving smoothly. The United States had given its firm backing to the deposed president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, when President Barack Obama called for his return to power.

Later, Zelaya met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in the U.S. capital. Upon leaving the meeting, Clinton announced her support for the mediation of the President of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias, in the Honduran crisis, after both parties accepted his role.

The United States’ theatre of impartiality went only that far.

Shortly after declaring the mediation of Arias, Clinton met with no less than the Venezuelan ultra-rightwingers Leopoldo Castillo and Alberto Federico Ravell, the highest representatives of Globovision, in an exclusive interview that will air tonight.

How can it be denied that the long arm of imperialism has been involved, even if indirectly, in the recent coup in Honduras, when the high US functionary walks to the street, smiling, to meet with an unequivocally anti-democratic media outlet?

Castillo, nicknamed “Matacuras” (Priest-Killer), has been accused on numerous occasions of having strong ties to the Salvadoran ultra-rightwing during the 1980’s, that, using paramilitary groups and the regular armed forces of that country, assassinated and disappeared hundreds of people, including representatives of the Catholic Church who supported or sympathized with the Sandinistas. The most notorious case is that of Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, assassinated on March 24, 1980, by the government on orders from General Carlos Humberto Romero. It will also be recalled that the following four people (nuns Ita Ford, Maura Clarke, Dorothy Kazel, and layperson Jean Donovan), were raped and killed by various ex-national guardsmen on the night of December 2, 1980.

Leopoldo Castillo has been accused by various sources of passing information to members of Operation Centaur, charged with eliminating clerics and other religious individuals who sympathized with the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN).

Castillo admitted recently that he was Ambassador in El Salvador for seven years, up to 1982. Nonetheless, corroborating this information has not been easy, now that all the documents of that era have disappeared from the embassy, explained Mario Silva, of VTV, basing his information on sources who are unwilling to identify themselves, for obvious reasons. However, the new president of El Salvador, Mauricio Funes, has promised to investigate cases of people who were assassinated during this dark phase of Salvadoran history.

In this photograph, one can see Castillo with Roberto D’Aubuisson, founder of the ARENA party and who is considered intellectual author of the killing of archbishop Romero, precisely during the period during which Castillo was ambassador. One can also see Jose Napolean Duarte, who was later president of El Salvador.

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According to a report from the British news agency Reuters, dated January 31, 1990, Washington, under the byline of correspondent Dan Williams:

“Operation Centaur involved Cuban agents living in Miami and Venezuelan Ambassador to El Salvador, Leopoldo Castillo, of whom it is said–underscoring the communique– was the source of intelligence services who identified six Jesuits in order to kill them.”

This information is part of the investigation organized by the U.S. in January of this year with respect to the nomination of Roger Noriega for Subsecretary of State for Latin America. Noriega was connected with Elliot Abrams, John Negroponte, Roger Maurer, and Oliver North, well known for their interference in the internal affairs of Latin American countries and their sinister plans, like
“Operation Centaur”, which they supervised with the goal of converting these countries into colonies of the United States, utilizing assassination and other criminal acts. Leopoldo Castillo, affirmed correspondent Williams, formed part of the intelligence service of this group.

We continue with the text from Reuters:

January 31. By Dan Williams-Washington (Reuters). The United States Senate is reviewing the nomination of Roger Noriega for Subsecretary of State for Latin America, the same position that until last December was held by Otto Reich. Actually, Mr. Noriega occupied the post of representative of the United States before the OAS.

Noriega is being monitored now because of his relation with Eliot Abrams, John Negroponte, Otto Reich, and Roger Pardo-Maurer, a group related to the sadly celebrated Oliver North and the Iran-Contra affair.

During the war between the FMLN guerrillas and the Salvadoran army, at the beginning of the 1980’s, John Negroponte, who was then US ambassador in Honduras, and the super-agent of the CIA Roger Noriega, were investigated for their involvement with the assassination of Maryknoll missionaries William Woods, Ita Ford, Maura Clarke, and Dorothy Kazel.

“Operation Centaur” was the code name for the plan of physical elimination of religious persons who were under suspicion for collaborating with the Salvadoran guerrillas. The project implicated Cuban agents situated in Miami and the Venezuelan ambassador to El Salvador, Leopoldo Castillo, of whom it is said was the source for the intelligence service which fingered the victims."
http://machetera.wordpress.com/2009/07/08/obamas-theatre-of-impartiality/

[Judi Lynn]

1. There's no difference between this administration and Reagan's, apparently

Only a little bit of history and hundreds of thousands of murders under the belt. My God.

So we get a photo of Hillary Clinton with Ravell and the priest-killer.

Why bother calling themselves Democrats when they have chosen to embrace the people who have exploited and tortured and slaughtered the masses of the Americas.

This will bring moments of spontaneous release for a few trolls but it's savagely ugly for everyone else.