Assessing the CIA's involvement in Latin-American politics

Assessing the CIA's involvement in Latin-American politics. Where do we begin? How about with the illegal drug trade or the War on Drugs (illegal) drugs mind you. It was never called a war on pharmaceuticals, or cocaine, but on ILLEGAL drugs, the kind that attract the poor because they see it as a way to make money. The kind that the CIA dole out to the dirt poor non-addicted dealers south of the border because its a way for them to make money and feed their children. How has this aspect of the CIA affected Latin-American politics? Well, the kids are eating a little bit more, some are missing dads who have been assassinated though. But, all in and all they are no less oppressed than before the CIA pushed illegal drug profits as a money making opportunity on to the most vulnerable. Of course Nicaragua is still fighting a civil war that we started over our CIA operative turned swelled headed drug lord Noriega and his drug dealings. That fool almost blew the lid off the Iran Contra Affair to the point that Alzheimer's wouldn't have saved Reagan as a legal defense! The CIA made it look good though. Good enough to start a war with them, capture the Tony Montana of Nicaragua and lock him away for good in a cushy federal prison, which took the heat off the Contra affair main suspects who were about to be presidents for the next 20 years. They sacrificed the senile one who was on his way out the white house doors anyway and all was forgotten in the U.S. anyway, but not down South. They still fight.

What else does the CIA do? It has to do something with all that unaccounted for drug money doesn't it? For example in the early 70's it was used to giving military, political and financial support to General Pinochet, the Central Intelligence Agency had already been engaged in a long campaign to defeat democracy in Chile: for instance by distributing money to groups planning the military overthrow of the government, which duly took place in 1973.

Public records suggest that the CIA assisted in the assassination in Washington of former Chilean Foreign Minister Orlando Letelier in 1976, in order to reinforce the rule of General Pinochet, who presided over a period of terror in Chile in which thousands died or disappeared.

These were the policies of a particularly hysterical period of anti-communist sentiment in the USA, but even so, the public were clearly not to be trusted when it came to interfering in the internal affairs of another state like this. Democracy plays no role in this kind of policy-making. But does anyone care? Will anyone try to do anything about it?

Let us remember the case of the School of the Americas. This institution, founded in 1946 and moved from Panama to Fort Benning, Georgia, in 1984, is close to the front line in the U.S. government's attempts to keep the Generals in power in Latin America. Manuel Noriega and Omar Torrijos of Panama, Leopoldo Galtieri of Argentina and Roberto D'Aubuisson of El Salvador were all graduates of the school, and the death and torture squads of half a dozen countries Chile included - were led and organized by U.S.-trained officers.

The dreadful record of the School of the Americas in turning out murderers and gangsters was largely uncovered through the efforts of one man, U.S. Navy officer turned Roman Catholic priest Roy Bourgeois. He had served in Latin America, and was so shocked by what he saw being done there in the name of the United States that he devoted years of effort to making the public aware of some of the worst excesses. In 1998 and 1999 this protest reached the national and international level.

U.S. involvement in Latin America is still significant, although the focus has changed. It is now Drugs and not Communism that are soaking up the tax dollars. The School of the Americas is still doing its gung-ho thing, but we are told that there are no more covert operations connected with the School these days. The CIA has moved with the times too, and runs web pages and information services, and has even recently got involved in peace negotiations in the Middle East.

What is so shocking about the CIA campaign in Chile in particular is that it was completely counter-productive. There was no need to install a military dictatorship in Chile. Soviet Communism did not take over Latin America. It was never going to. We see in retrospect that the trade union and other left-wing movements there prepared the ground for the democracy that is now more generally established. The threat to liberty in Latin America comes from the right and not from the left: from the Noriegas and the D'Aubuissons; from American-trained killers and thieves with braids on their hats and their money in Switzerland.

Why not assess the CIA's involvement with the world including the United States and kill that 50 year old bastard like Kennedy wanted to while it was still in its youth!