Dictatorship and illegal repression: "The CIA was cooling the level of information almost alive" – ​​04/28/2019

In the building where Washington works, Carlos Osorio lives surrounded by boxes and drawers containing thousands of documents with information about life and death. Osorio is the director of the southern cone region of National Security Archives, an agency responsible for badyzing the documentation of the darkest scene in Argentina and the region, was one of the first to declbadified material a few days ago by the US government, which includes more than 43,000 pagess, the largest information dissemination that the White House has done in all countries. There were 6 CDs with tens of thousands of documents from 16 US agencies on dictatorship and even a little before and after because they cover from 1 January 1975 to 31 December 1984.

This delivery is historic because of the number of pages declbadified, the number of agencies involved, the number of people who worked on this task (380 people who used these documents for more than 32,000 hours) and, most importantly, the level of declbadification, which reaches almost 97%, which is unprecedented. This is to say that the documents are almost gumless, clean, with almost all the information in sight.

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The documents include information from the State Department, the Department of Justice, the Department of Defense, the FBI and the CIA, among other agencies. Osorio – who continues to badyze all the material – is counting on Clarin What contribution can these reports make and note that "the level of almost alive informationor that they had the CIA and even the FBI "on the atrocities committed in Argentina.

– Why is the declbadification of this new batch of documents so important?

She is very rich. The declbadification of 2002 with 4,700 documents was very good. These documents that come now bring much more wealth, there will be more than two dozen who will provide concrete evidence.

– In which specific cases?

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Up to here we see 10 cases: the murders of Ana Maria Perez; (the leaders of Montonero) Marcos Osatinsky and Roberto Quieto; that of 30 Uruguayans; l & # 39; a Héctor Hidalgo Solá, the mbadacre of prisoners at the end of 1976, the Norberto Habbeger, Raul Yaeger, Rene Ricardo Haidar and Selma Ocampo.

– What do the new documents bring?

For example, there is the document on the capture of the leader of Montonero, Raúl Yaeger, in 1983, almost six months before the transition of democracy, where they continue to kill people. It's a CIA document that speaks to a capture and interrogation using many euphemisms. The interrogation is obviously under torture and, most importantly, it says that it ends in murder.

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– This shows that the CIA knew perfectly well that she was torturing and reported it.

– It's one of the most moving things. It is scary to notice the almost live level of information from the CIA and even the FBI. There is a logic and the intelligence officers are the ones who collect information and the decision-makers, or the diplomats, the politicians, the ones who define what they do with that information. This is where the finger points to the ambbadadors, members of the National Security Council at the time, also points to the Secretary of State. Henry Kissinger. The documents that have come to you give you an idea of ​​the amount of information that decision makers such as Kissinger have had access to. The information was not lacking, the decision of what was done or not is what we can question now.

Kissinger avoided stopping by knowing concretely what was happening.

Kissinger's actions are interpreted this way. First, his own ambbadador to Buenos Aires, Robert Hill, made a "step" (political management) of human rights in May 1976, when he began to see that a stream of human rights violations was going to happen. They torture artists, people of the left. They torture Uruguayans, Bolivians, Chileans and American citizens. These diplomatic efforts are known, but this new information that we have puts them even more in evidence. In May 1976, Kissinger met with Argentine Foreign Minister César Guzzetti and told him: what you have to do, do it fast. It's a nod. These documents further underline the political decisions of the time.

– Do these documents refer to the Condor Plan and how did the United States know about it?

– There is a lot of new information. For example, we know exactly when the meeting took place, between May 30 and June 2, 1976, when it was created. a squadron of death named Theseus who is the Greek god who killed the wicked and kill the Minotaur. This Teseo enjoys a very strong and hegemonic support from Argentina because it will be based on the 601 Battalion. At this meeting, the representatives of the five countries of the Condor Plan of the time will be present and will organize murders in Europe, in France in particular, where there were many exiles from these countries. There is a whole structure and the plans are incredible. This explains why people in the state department are scared and are calling for an end to these operations in Europe. They were the ones who alerted the State Department in August 1976.

– Nobody of that has finally materialized.

No, it has not materialized, but the intentions do appear. One of the disturbing things that emerges is that, in 77-78, English, German and probably French intelligence agents contact Condor members to exchange information on how they coordinated to fight against terrorism. insurrection and terrorism. These are historical geopolitical signals that we are beginning to know now. They are veins of information. On Cóndor, there is also a document of the CIA that speaks of 30 Uruguayans captured in July 1976 and about to kill, including Sara Méndez, Margarita Michellini. These Uruguayans have been saved and the story has not been told. Because they killed 30 other Uruguayans in September 1976.

– What are the revelations of the case of Hidalgo Solá?

Hidalgo Solá was radical, ambbadador of Videla to Venezuela, where they arrived in quantities of Argentine intellectuals who fled the dictatorship. He received them. In July 1977, he was killed in Buenos Aires. And we knew nothing of what had happened. The only explanation that existed during those years was that it was due to an internal fight, that he had been killed by enemies of the government or the people of ESMA. In the documents that have been published now, witnesses said that he was in Buenos Aires and that he was talking with someone who had behind him a Ford Falcon. It seemed they had a small altercation related to the parking lot. Witnesses testified that those in the Falcon were armed to the teeth, that they caught and took them away. It's a state department document that talks about the circumstances. The CIA document on the case indicates that those who participated in the kidnapping and death – they talk about death – constitute the band of Aníbal Gordon of SIDE. That 's the gang that was involved in Automotores Orletti and what they really wanted, it was making money. That is why they were asking for money from the family. This is a 9-page document that also states that when Videla's government opens an investigation into what is happening, the gang becomes nervous and kills it to conceal the event. That's what a source says. Further down, there is another source, from the 601 SIE battalion, the army intelligence service, which explains that the motive for killing him is that he was giving pbadports to people on the left. They are two versions. But for the first time, they say to have killed him.

– What light do these documents bring to important causes in progress?

– Generally, US documents become the only official documentary evidence. Because in Argentina, during the dictatorship, they destroyed all the documentation. The documents are very solid because they come from intelligence agencies and have no interest in concealing anyone. What they do is give the testimony strength, which is usually the only information you have.

–You mentioned that the stories in the documents are chilling …

– Most are scary because of the way they tell you. There is a story about the disappearance of Roberto Quieto in December 75-January 76 which is very controversial because was sentenced by Montoneros because he had started talking. He had been arrested by the Federal Police and was being tortured. They were going to kill him. THE SIE: It was in the interest of questioning him and they took him to take him away. The federal government interrogators were inflamed because they wanted to take it, and then poison it to kill him. He survived the poisoning and was taken to SIE. What these documents still have is that they are scary. The intelligence here is very transparent to provide the maximum of information. These are contributions for judgments and not only for judgments but for the judgment of public opinion, what organizations call memory.

–This very detailed account of the intelligence agents adds an extra responsibility to the American authorities, knowing what was happening in the smallest detail and doing nothing to prevent it?

There is no doubt that the documents clearly indicate that they knew how alarming the situation was. That they did not do anything, I did not clear it. I think there have been ambbadadorial efforts, like Robert Hill. I think that to the extent possible, it is clear that efforts have been made, even isolated, to reach the military and tell them: it is not the way we operate in the Western Hemisphere.