DATE=3/11/99
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
NUMBER=5-42835
TITLE=GUATEMALA/U-S DOCUMENTS
BYLINE=BILL RODGERS
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT: 

INTRO:  NEWLY-DECLASSIFIED U-S INTELLIGENCE DOCUMENTS SHOW THE 
UNITED STATES WAS VERY INVOLVED IN EQUIPPING AND TRAINING 
GUATEMALAN SECURITY FORCES -- WHICH KILLED THOUSANDS OF CIVILIANS
DURING GUATEMALA'S LONG-RUNNING CIVIL WAR.   AS V-O-A'S BILL 
RODGERS REPORTS, THE U-S INVOLVEMENT LASTED SEVERAL DECADES 
THROUGH VARIOUS PRESIDENTIAL ADMINISTRATIONS.

TEXT: THE NEWLY-RELEASED DOCUMENTS REVEAL U-S INTELLIGENCE 
OFFICIALS WERE FULLY AWARE OF THE TACTICS USED BY GUATEMALA'S 
SECURITY FORCES TO STAMP OUT A LEFTIST INSURGENCY DURING THAT 
NATION'S 36-YEAR CIVIL WAR.  THOSE METHODS INCLUDED MASSACRES, 
DISAPPEARANCES AND TORTURE OF ANYONE SUSPECTED OF HAVING TIES TO 
THE GUERRILLAS.  SOME 200-THOUSAND PEOPLE DIED IN THE WAR BY THE 
TIME IT ENDED IN 1996 -- AND MANY OF THE VICTIMS WERE GUATEMALA'S
MAYAN INDIANS.

THE DOCUMENTS SHOW THAT THE U-S CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY 
HELPED TRAIN AND EQUIP GUATEMALAN SECURITY PERSONNEL.  ONE CABLE 
DESCRIBES HOW A U-S OFFICIAL HELPED SET UP A "SAFE HOUSE" IN THE 
PRESIDENTIAL PALACE FOR USE BY GUATEMALAN SECURITY AGENTS AND 
THEIR U-S CONTACTS.  THE SAFE HOUSE WAS THEN TURNED INTO THE 
HEADQUARTERS FOR GUATEMALA'S DIRTY WAR AGAINST THE GUERRILLAS AND
THEIR SUPPORTERS.  

//OPT// OTHER DECLASSIFIED CABLES SHOW U-S EMBASSY OFFICIALS WERE
AWARE OF EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS AND OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
COMMITTED BY GUATEMALAN AUTHORITIES.  ONE CABLE LISTS THE NAMES 
OF SEVERAL PEOPLE WHO WERE EXECUTED IN 1966 AFTER BEING DETAINED 
-- DESCRIBING THEM AS COMMUNISTS AND TERRORISTS. //END// 

U-S INTELLIGENCE INVOLVEMENT IN GUATEMALA BEGAN IN 1954, WHEN THE
C-I-A HELPED OVERTHROW A LEFTIST GOVERNMENT.  THIS INVOLVEMENT 
CONTINUED FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL DECADES -- DURING THE PRESIDENTIAL
ADMINISTRATIONS OF BOTH DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS.  AT THE TIME, 
THE UNITED STATES WAS ENGAGED IN A COLD WAR WITH THE SOVIET UNION
-- AND ITS FOREIGN POLICY OBJECTIVE WAS TO PREVENT -- BY ALMOST 
ANY MEANS NECESSARY -- THE SPREAD OF COMMUNISM IN LATIN AMERICA 
AND ELSEWHERE IN THE WORLD. 

BUT LARRY BIRNS -- A FREQUENT CRITIC OF U-S POLICY WHO HEADS THE 
WASHINGTON-BASED COUNCIL ON HEMISPHERIC AFFAIRS -- SAYS THE 
UNITED STATES WAS WRONG TO SUPPORT GUATEMALA'S RIGHT-WING 
REGIMES.    

                        ///BIRNS ACT////  

         IN GUATEMALA, YOU HAD A LAYER OF OLIGARCHS COMING FROM 
         THE CATTLE AND COTTON-GROWING CLASSES IN ASSOCIATION 
         WITH EXTREME RIGHT-WING POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE 
         COUNTRY.  THESE WERE THE FAVORED INSTRUMENTS OF THE 
         UNITED STATES IN PRESSING ITS POLICY IN GUATEMALA.  AND 
         THESE DOCUMENTS SHOW A KIND OF LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR
         ATTITUDE (SIDING WITH ANY ANTI-COMMUNISTS) ON THE PART 
         OF THE INTELLIGENCE SERVICES AND STATE DEPARTMENT DURING
         THIS PERIOD.  THEY WERE NOT APOSTLES OF AMERICAN 
         DEMOCRACY -- FAR FROM IT.

                         ///END ACT/// 

THE LATEST INTELLIGENCE DOCUMENTS WERE DECLASSIFIED THIS WEEK, 
AND SOME WERE PUBLISHED THURSDAY BY THE WASHINGTON POST 
NEWSPAPER.  THE DOCUMENT RELEASE CAME AS PRESIDENT CLINTON WAS 
VISITING GUATEMALA, WHERE HE ACKNOWLEDGED THE U-S ROLE DURING THE
WAR WAS WRONG AND SHOULD NEVER BE REPEATED. (SIGNED)

NEB/WFR//JO

11-Mar-99 6:05 PM EST (2305 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.