Declassified Documents Are Only One Part of United States Accountability in Latin America by Ramona Wadi!
(2021-01-13 at 02:06:55 )

Declassified Documents Are Only One Part of United States Accountability in Latin America by Ramona Wadi!

Transparency should not be limited to an official apology from the United States. Latin America has not yet come to terms with its recent history, Ramona Wadi writes.

During his electoral campaign, incoming United States President Joe Biden said his administration will "commit to being the most transparent in history, and will declassify documents from past decades related to United States policy in Latin America." In his statement, Mr. Biden made reference to the Barack Obama administration, during which he was vice-president.

In March 2016, during a visit to Argentina, former President Barack Obama had pledged to declassify documents pertaining to United States involvement in propping up dictatorships and human rights abuses. The release of such documents detailing previously concealed details of United States involvement in Argentina, notably the death flights, continued until April 2019, when the final batch of declassified documents was released by the Donald Trump administration.

It is estimated that 30,000 Argentinians were murdered and disappeared during the dictatorship of Jorge Rafael Videla. Declassified documents pertaining to Operation Condor clearly show that the United States was informed of the systematic process of disappearing Argentinians opposed to the dictatorship and it also provided the helicopters used for the death flights.

"A human rights source contact in the medical profession whose reporting has been reliable in the past informed the embassy in late June that terrorists and subversives selected for elimination were now being administered injections of "ketalar"." The substance administered was used to induce rapid loss of consciousness in the victim, facilitating the dictatorships practice of disappearing their opponents by throwing the bodies off helicopters into the ocean. Since the declassification of these documents, it has become known that contrary to what was previously believed, the death flights were not only used to disappear detainees who had already been murdered by the state - some victims were only sedated after torture. The death flights, therefore, were both used as a form of murder and disappearance of dictatorship opponents.

The United States might have altered its previous methods of intervention in the region, although United States President Donald Trump overtly attempted to bring back the era of United States-backed coups. However, it is likely that under Joe Biden, the far right-wing leaders in the region such as Brazils Jair Bolsonaro, will find a less accommodating stance, if only for the United States to maintain its purported democratic stance. On the other hand, centre-left and right-wing governments that have benefited from previous dictatorship legacies, or which are less outspoken about their preference for dictatorships, may prove to be a better alliance for the United States

Latin America does not need United States solutions to its politics. The United States approach is still built upon the earlier foundations, merely altered in an attempt to dissociate from its past interference.

However, the School of the Americas, now known as WHINSEC, still offers training for the regions militaries. In Chile, the special forces who murdered the Mapuche activist Camilo Catrillanca on his own land were jointly trained by the United States and Colombia. The United States still maintains its embargo on Cuba, which was announced in 1960 and extended to all trade with the island since 1962. Guantanamo is still occupied by the United States military, which it has used as a military base and detention centre in its extended "War on Terror". These are just a few examples which indicate the United States grasp and intrusion in the region.

Transparency should not be limited to an official apology from the United States. Latin America has not yet come to terms with its recent history.

The fight for justice spearheaded by civilians and obstructed by governments and law courts indicates that there is a heavy reliance upon earlier legacies for control and surveillance.

Apologising for past violations is just a formality that holds no political or criminal accountability. Declassified documents should not be construed as an apology, and neither governments nor the people should adhere to this intentional discrepancy that seeks to obliterate the difference between rights and diplomatic niceties.

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