Newly-declassified
documents reveal that former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger
hampered efforts to stop mass killings of dissidents by Argentina’s
1976-83 military dictatorship.
The State
Department files show that Kissinger’s close relationship to
Argentina’s military dictatorship jeopardized attempts by the
administration of Jimmy Carter to influence the brutal regime.
Kissinger
hailed the military rulers for the country’s "campaign against
terrorism," which included the imprisonment, torture, and
killings of tens of thousands of leftist activists and students.
Kissinger
told a private meeting of the Argentinian Council of International
Relations (CARI), a conservative diplomat group, at the time that "in
his opinion the government of Argentina had done an outstanding job
in wiping out terrorist forces."
Even though
Kissinger was no longer in office, US diplomats feared his praise for
the junta's crackdown would encourage more violence.
Full
report:
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