DATE=2/18/2000
TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP
TITLE=NEW REVELATIONS ABOUT U-S ROLE IN CHILE
NUMBER=6-11690
BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS
TELEPHONE=619-3335
CONTENT=
INTRO: An especially contentious chapter in U-S
relations with Chile is resurfacing. It comes as an
indirect result of the arrest in England, more than a
year ago, of General Augusto Pinochet, the former
Chilean dictator. He is wanted in Spain to stand
trial for crimes against humanity, and the death of
some Spaniards during his authoritarian rule.
As a result of the Pinochet affair, President Clinton
has ordered the opening of long-sealed U-S files.
That has led to the long-suspected disclosure that the
State Department covered up information on possible
U-S involvement in the deaths of two anti-Pinochet
Americans living in Chile.
The case is drawing significant editorial comment in
the U-S press. We get a sampling now from ________ in
today's U-S Opinion Roundup.
TEXT: For 26 years, American officials have
steadfastly denied any role in the unsolved murders of
two young Americans, filmmaker and writer Charles
Horman and his colleague, Frank Teruggi. They were in
Santiago, supporting the leftist government of
Salvador Allende, who was attempting to turn Chile
into a socialist state.
The U-S government was afraid that such a development
might lead other Latin American nations into the
socialist camp and, eventually, to communism. They
applauded the military coup in 1973, led by General
Pinochet, that overthrew the Allende government. It
was during this turbulent time that the two Americans
were picked up by Chilean intelligence agents and
never seen again.
State Department files, now released in full for the
first time, show the U-S Embassy in Chile knew that
both men had been killed by Chilean intelligence,
possibly with Central Intelligence Agency acquiescence
or even approval. The revelations are causing a
series of strongly disapproving editorials, like this
one in The New York Times.
VOICE: It is now clear that the American
government knew far more about the disappearance
and murder ... than it acknowledged at the time.
Indeed, American intelligence and military
officials may have encouraged General Augusto
Pinochet's security forces to round them up even
though it was clear that the two men, like
thousands of Chileans arrested during the same
period, were likely to be mistreated, if not
killed. The truth about clandestine American
activities in the Cold War has been difficult to
unearth and painful to confront. In the name of
opposing communism, Washington sometimes ignored
its own democratic principles and condoned the
kind of brutal conduct it publicly deplored.
The case of the two Americans murdered in Chile
seems to belong in this category. ... It is now
time for the Central Intelligence Agency and the
Pentagon to follow Mr. Clinton's order, and the
example of openness set by Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright.
TEXT: In New England, the Boston Globe is also
horrified at the callous way official Americans in
Chile must have acted.
VOICE: It is never too late to learn the truth
about certain things. Recently-declassified
documents about the C-I-A's shameful role in the
murder of Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi in
Chile, during the repression that followed
General ... Pinochet's ... putsch, ought to be
welcomed by every American who understands how
fragile democracy can be. ... Three years after
[General] Pinochet's security forces murdered
[Mr.] Horman and [Mr.] Teruggi, the State
Department conducted two internal reviews of the
crime and a subsequent coverup. The reviews
were prompted by a former Chilean intelligence
officer who said he was present when [General]
Pinochet's intelligence chief said [Mr.] Horman
knew too much -- presumably about U-S
involvement in the coup -- and had to disappear.
... President Clinton did the right thing when
he ordered the files declassified after
[General] Pinochet was indicted in Spain for
crimes against humanity. ... There should also
be a wider search for the full story of
Washington's complicity in [General] Pinochet's
coup. The terrible truth about those old crimes
is that they disclose a dalliance with fascism
abroad.
TEXT: In Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is
also angry that the State Department hid vital
information about the possible complicity of the U-S
government in the murders.
VOICE: What the censored [State Department]
documents were about was avoiding embarrassment,
and that is not a legal exception to disclosure.
... President Clinton is right to push for full
disclosure about U-S involvement in Chile and in
other Cold War hot spots, and the Pentagon and
C-I-A must also comply.
TEXT: Lastly, in the Pacific Ocean state of Hawaii,
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin weighs in with these
observations.
VOICE: In complying with the Freedom of
Information Act by releasing documents to the
public, the federal government may black out
portions on grounds of national security and
executive privilege. However, those exemptions
can be abused to cover up embarrassing
information. The State Department clearly
engaged in such abuse in denying knowledge of
the circumstances surrounding the killing of two
American men in Chile. ... Their deaths were
dramatized in the 1982 movie, "Missing." ...
Finally, documents released following
[President] Clinton's order, removing the black
lines that had hidden large swaths of
information, have made clear that the State
Department knew from the beginning that the
Pinochet government had killed the two
Americans. Moreover, the documents reveal that
the C-I-A might have played a role.
TEXT: On that disquieting note, we conclude this
sampling of current press opinion on the newly-
disclosed information about the deaths of two U-S
citizens in Chile during the turmoil surrounding the
fall of the Allende government by the coup d'etat led
by General Pinochet.
NEB/ANG/WTW
18-Feb-2000 14:18 PM EDT (18-Feb-2000 1918 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
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