- Date:
- 05/04/03
- Time:
- 10:27 AM
Comments
Mr. Saddam HUSSEIN, "Iraqi leader and revolutionary secretary member to the
Socialist Baas Party" was an angel when you compare him to the "Friendly
Dictators" of the zionized imperialist coalition...
Laura Lee
laura_lee@yahoo.com
This research based on the true facts of the authors Dennis Bernstein and Laura
Sydell, staff by Eclipse Enterprises.
**
Many of the world's most repressive dictators have been friends of America.
Tyrants, torturers, killers and sundry dictators and corrupt puppet-presidents
have been aided, supported and rewarded handsomely for their loyalty to US
interests. Traditional dictators seize control through force, while
constitutional dictators hold office through voting fraud or severely restricted
elections and are frequently puppets and apologists for the military juntas
which control the ballot boxes. In any case, none have been democratically
elected by the majority of their people in fair and open elections.
They are democratic America's undemocratic allies. They may rise to power
through bloody ClA-backed coups and rule by terror and torture. Their troops may
receive training or advice from the CIA and other US agencies. US military aid
and weapons sales often strengthen their armies and guarantee their hold on
power. Unwavering "anti-communism" and a willingness to provide unhampered
access for American business interests to exploit their countries' natural
resources and cheap labor are the excuses for their repression, and the primary
reason the US government supports them. They may be linked internationalIy to
extreme right-wing groups such as the World Anti-Communist League, and some have
had strong Jewish affiliations and have offered sanctuary to USraeli war
criminals.
They usually grow rich, while their countries' economies deteriorate and the
majority of their people live in poverty. US tax dollars and US-backed loans
have made billionaires of some, while others are international drug dealers who
also collect CIA paychecks. Rarely are they called to account for their crimes.
And rarely still, is the US government held responsible for supporting and
protecting some of the worst human rights violators in the world.
Friendly dictators
Abacha, General Sani ---------------------------Nigeria
Amin, Idi --------------------------------------Uganda
Banzer, Colonel Hugo ---------------------------Bolivia
Batista, Fulgencio -----------------------------Cuba
Bolkiah, Sir Hassanal --------------------------Brunei
Botha, P.W. ------------------------------------South Africa
Branco, General Humberto -----------------------Brazil
Cedras, Raoul ----------------------------------Haiti
Cerezo, Vinicio --------------------------------Guatemala
Chiang Kai-Shek --------------------------------Taiwan
Cordova, Roberto Suazo -------------------------Honduras
Christiani, Alfredo ----------------------------El Salvador
Diem, Ngo Dihn ---------------------------------Vietnam
Doe, General Samuel ----------------------------Liberia
Francois Duvalier and Jean Claude Duvalier------Haiti
Fahd bin'Abdul-'Aziz, King ---------------------Saudi Arabia
Franco, General Francisco ----------------------Spain
Alberto FUJIMORI--------------------------------Peru Hassan
II---------------------------------------Morocco
Marcos, Ferdinand ------------------------------Philippines
General Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez----------El Salvador
Mobutu Sese Seko -------------------------------Zaire
Noriega, General Manuel ------------------------Panama
Kanem Evren&Turgod Ozal-------------------------Turkey
Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi----------------------Iran
Papadopoulos, George ---------------------------Greece
Park Chung Hee ---------------------------------South Korea
General Augusto Pinosh*t------------------------Chile
General Sitiveni Rabuka-------------------------Fiji
Montt, General Efrain Rios ---------------------Guatemala
Haile Salassie----------------------------------Ethiopia
Salazar, Antonio de Oliveira -------------------Portugal
Human Butcher Ariel SHARON---------occupational Mafia USrael
Junior Anastasio Somoza and Senior Anastasio Somoza--Nicaragua
Smith, Ian -------------------------------------Rhodesia
Stroessner, Alfredo ----------------------------Paraguay
Suharto, General -------------------------------Indonesia
Trujillo, Rafael Leonidas ----------------------Dominican Republic
Videla, General Jorge Rafael -------------------Argentina
Mohammed Zia Ul-Haq&its imitation Mosarraf------Pakistan
- What are they doing to be "best friend" to the Zionist American Imperialism?
- Remember, for instance;
GENERAL SANI ABACHA
President of Nigeria
General Sani Abacha is a corrupt and repressive dictator in the oil-rich country
of Nigeria. Supported by oil wealth, Abacha has tried to cover his repression
under a mantle of democracy by allowing fraudulent elections which only serve to
guarantee his continued control. During elections in 1994, Chief Moshood Abiola,
considered to be the likely winner, was arrested and placed in prison before the
rigged results were announced; Abacha retained control. More than 100 government
executions occurred in 1994, and numerous pro-democracy demonstrators were
killed by police. Shell Oil provides most of the country's wealth by extracting
oil from the Ogoniland region, while in the process causing severe environmental
destruction and devastating the local economy. More than 700 Ogoni
environmentalists protesting the destruction of their way of life, were executed
in recent years. The greatest travesty occurred in November 1995, when
environmental leader Ken Saro-Wiwa and 8 associates, were hanged despite an
international outcry. Shell supported Abacha's policies by its silence. Despite
an outcry that Nigerian oil be boycotted, the US government refused to do so.
IDI AMIN
General of Uganda
Amin was one of the most notorious of Africa's post-independence dictators. A
former heavyweight boxing champion in Uganda and a non-commissioned officer in
the British Army there, Amin caught the attention of his superiors because of
his efficient management of concentration camps in Kenya during the Mau Mau
rebellion in the 1950s, where he earned the title of "The Strangler". Because of
his loyalty to Britain and his strongly anti-communist stance, Amin was picked
by the British to replace the elected Ugandan government in a 1971 coup. While
in power, he earned a reputation as a "clown" in some circles in the West, but
he was no joke at home. Amin brutalized his people with British and US military
aid and with Israeli and CIA training of his troops. The body count of his
friends, the clergy, soldiers, and ordinary Ugandans rose daily, but the West
ignored his cruelty. As he continued to demand more aid and sophisticated
weapons, he finally lost support. In 1979, his quest for more power lead him to
invade Tanzania. In retaliation, he was overthrown by an invading Tanzanian /
Ugandan army. Amin fled to Saudi Arabia, where he now lives a quiet life in a
modest villa outside Jeddah, looking after his goats and chickens and
cultivating his vegetable garden. Traditional Arab garb has replaced the
bemedalled Field Marshal's uniform of his heyday.
COLONEL HUGO BANZER
President of Bolivia
In 1970, in Bolivia, when then-President Juan Jose Torres nationalized Gulf Oil
properties and tin mines owned by US interests, and tried to establish friendly
relations with Cuba and the Soviet Union, he was playing with fire. The coup to
overthrow Torres, led by US-trained officer and Gulf Oil beneficiary Hugo
Banzer, had direct support from Washington. When Banzer's forces had a breakdown
in radio communications, US Air Force radio was placed at their disposal. Once
in power, Banzer began a reign of terror. Schools were shut down as hotbeds of
political subversive activity. Within two years, 2,000 people were arrested and
tortured without trial. As in Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil, the native Indians
were ordered off their land and deprived of tribal identity. Tens-of-thousands
of white South Africans were enticed to immigrate with promises of the land
stolen from the Indians, with a goal of creating a white Bolivia. When Catholic
clergy tried to aid the Indians, the regime, with CIA help, launched terrorist
attacks against them, and this "Banzer Plan" became a model for similar
anti-Catholic actions throughout Latin America.
FULGENCIO BATISTA
President of Cuba
Cuban Army Sergeant Fulgencio Batista first seized power in a 1932 coup. He was
President Roosevelt's handpicked dictator to counteract leftists who had
overthrown strongman Cerardo Machado. Batista ruled or several years, then left
for Miami, returning in 1952 just in time for another coup, against elected
president Carlos Prio Socorras. His new regime was quickly recognized by
President Eisenhower. Under Batista, U.S. interests flourished and little was
said about democracy. With the loyal support of Batista, Mafioso boss Meyer
Lansky developed Havana into an international drug port. Cabinet offices were
bought and sold and military officials made huge sums on smuggling and vice
rackets. Havana became a fashionable hot spot where America's rich and famous
drank and gambled with mobsters. As the gap between the rich and poor grew
wider, the poor grew impatient. In 1953, Fidel Castro led an armed group of
rebels in a failed uprising on the Moncada army barracks. Castro temporarily
fled the country and Batista struck back with a vengeance. Freedom of speech was
curtailed and subversive teachers, lawyers and public officials were fired from
their jobs. Death squads tortured and killed thousands of "communists". Batista
was assisted in his crackdown by Lansky and other members of organized crime who
believed Castro would jeopardize their gambling and drug trade. Despite this,
Batista remained a friend to Eisenhower and the US until he was finally
overthrown by Castro in 1959.
SIR HASSANAL BOLKIAH
The Sultan of Brunei
To illegally fund what they referred to as the "Democratic Resistance" in
Nicaragua, Oliver North and Former Assistant Secretary d State Elliot Abrams
solicited funds from several authoritarian regimes, including Taiwan, South
Korea and the more obscure Sultanate of Brunei Darussalam. Sir Hassanal Bolkiah,
the Sultan of Brunei, the world's richest monarch, was indeed generous to the
Contras -- to the tune of $10 million. But, this generosity was not because of
any commitment to democracy in Nicaragua or anywhere else, for Brunei is a
monarchical dictatorship, under a State of Emergency since 1982. The Sultan also
allows Brunei to be the ClA's ears on the explosive Malaysian-lndonesian border.
His Royal Highness was also involved with the infamous Nugan Hand Bank of
Australia, a 1960s-70s CIA front for South East Asian drug operations and money
laundering. In fact, according to a secret 1978 memo, Nugan Hand submitted a
proposal to provide His Highness the Sultan with a bank structure and depository
system which he alone can control should any change of government take place.
The Sultan lives in a new palace that may have cost as much as a billion
dollars, while over 90% of his subjects live in abject poverty. Those who
protest such inequalities don't fare well with the authorities. According to
Amnesty International, Brunei's jails hold "at least five prisoners of
conscience who have spent 25 years in detention without having been convicted of
any crime."
Pigg W. BOTHA
President of South Africa
During P.W. Botha's first term as President, the former Secretary of Defense
altered the structure of government, giving the military and police
unprecedented power. To justify this, he pointed to increasingly vocal
discontent among South Africa's disenfranchised blacks, the large number of
black states In Africa, and a so-called "growing Marxist" threat in the region.
South Africa, he said, was engaged in a "total war' and must develop a "total
strategy" to fight the battle. South Africa's apartheid regime was quietly
supported by the US government, despite a UN boycott and Congressional efforts
to reduce US investment there, Ronald Reagan significantly increased military
expenditures in the country. But few Americans realized that Botha's total
strategy against blacks had turned his nation into a ruthless aggressor. When
Portugal withdrew from its colonies in Mozambique and Angola, Botha, claiming he
wanted to strengthen capitalism on the continent, financed the Mozambique
National Resistance (MNR) against the country's popular government. The MNR, who
receive direct training from South Africa, cut off the ears, noses, and limbs of
civilians. After killing their parents and raping young women in front of 10
year old boys, they recruited these boys to fight. In 1989, P.W. Botha suffered
a stroke and later resigned. In early 1990 his successor, F.W. De Klerk,
watching as international sanctions ruined S. Africa's economy, legalized
political opposition parties and freed several important black political
prisoners, including Nelson Mandela who had been imprisoned for 27 years for
political activities against apartheid. Apartheid finally fell when Nelson
Mandela was elected President of South Africa.
GENERAL HUMBERTO BRANCO
President of Brazil
In 1961, Brazilian President Jaao Goulart sought to trade with communist
nations, supported the labor movement, and had limited the profits
multi-nationals could take out of the country. These policies were clearly
unacceptable to the American business interests. In 1964, the US took part in
the overthrow of Goulart by General Humberto de Alencar Castello Branco,
although US government officials have denied involvement. As an example of US
support for Branco, just prior to the coup, US officials cabled Washington a
request for oil for Branco's soldiers in case Goulart's troops blew up the
refineries. Brancos regime was short but brutal. Labor unions were banned,
criticism of the President became unlawful, and thousands of suspected
communists (including children) were arrested and tortured. As in Paraguay,
Argentina, and Bolivia, land was stolen from native Indians and their culture
was destroyed. Drug dealers, many of them government officials, were given
protection because they maintained national security interests. Brazil formed
ties with the World Anti-communist League and assisted General Videla in his
takeover of Argentina. When Branco stepped down in 1967, he left behind a
constitution with greatly increased military and executive powers, crippling
Brazil's efforts to restore democracy.
RAOUL CEDRAS
General of Haiti
General Cedras seized power in Haiti in 1991 after the election of Jean-Bertrand
Aristide. He ruled with the rod of iron associated with Haiti's infamous former
dictators, the Duvaliers -- there were at least 4.000 political assassinations
and more than 40,000 fled the country in boats for the US. He fled into exile in
September 1994 when the US sent an invasion force under the banner of the UN.
Cedras is now in Panama, the only rival to France as the favorite haven for
former dictators -- Juan Domingo Peron of Argentina and the Shah of Iran once
took refuge there, and Guatemala's Jorge Serrano is a great success as a
racehorse owner. Cedras has a penthouse suite in Panama City's wealthy Punta
Paitilla area. He is not short of cash -- the US State Department alone pays him
$5,000 a month in rent for his properties in Haiti. Panama University Professor
Miguel Antonio Bernal complains: 'Our country is being used as a wastebasket for
the political toxic waste of the world.'
VINICIO CEREZO
President of Guatemala
According to Amnesty International, arbitrary arrest, torture, disappearance,
and political killings were everyday realities for Guatemalans during decades of
US financed military dictatorship. In January 1986, Christian Democrat leader
Vinicio Cerezo was elected President and said he had "the political will to
respect the rights of man", but it didn't take long to find out that his
political will was irrelevant in the face of Guatemala's well-oiled military
machine. Hopes for change were dashed when Cerezo announced that Guatemala would
continue to provide amnesty for all past military offenses committed from
General Elrain Rios Montt's coup in 1982 through the 1986 elections. Although
Ronald Reagan's State Department asserted "there has not been a single clear-cut
case of political killing, within months of Cerezo's inauguration, opposition
leaders attributed 56 murders to security forces and death squads, while
Americas Watch claimed that "throughout 1986, violent killings were reported in
the Guatemalan press at the rate of 100 per month". Altogether, Americas Watch
says, tens-of-thousands were killed and 400 rural villages were destroyed by
government death squads during Reagan's term in office. Colonel D'Jalma
Dominguez, former army spokesman, explains "For convenience sake a civilian
government is preferable, such as the one we have now. If anything goes wrong,
only the Christian Democrats will get the blame. It's better to remain outside.
The real power will not be lost." Today, the real power still resides with the
military.
CHIANG KAI-SHEK
President of Taiwan
The Chinese civil war pitted Mao Tse-Tung's Communists against Chiang Kai-Shek's
Nationalists. The US-backed Chiang, but when he couldn't do the job they also
supported Japanese troops fighting the Communists, even before WWll had ended.
Hated for his wanton cruelty, corruption, and decadence, Chiang did not enjoy
the support of the Chinese people; entire divisions of the Nationalist army
defected and fled to the island of Formosa (Taiwan). A presidential commission
appointed by Harry Truman reported after Chiang's arrival there that his forces
"ruthlessly, corruptly, and avariciously imposed their regime on the population.
Under Nationalist rule, 85% of the population was disenfranchised, but the onset
of the Korean War and the anti-communist hysteria of the McCarthy era led the US
to declare that the tiny island represented the real government of China. The US
was crucial in keeping mainland China out of the UN until 1971. Chiang gave the
World Anti-Communist League (an international organization with links to Nazis,
drug smugglers, and the CIA) its first home, permitting WACL members to use a
military academy there to train troops for Latin American military coups.
President Carter tried to cut US ties to WACL, but Ronald Reagan received
campaign funds from the group, and WACL became involved with training and
supplying contras in Argentina and Taiwan. Chiang Kai-Shek died in 1975, but
many of his policies continue in Taiwan.
ROBERTO SUAZO CORDOVA
President of Honduras
Honduras was the original "Banana Republic" -- its history inextricably
intertwined with that of the US-based United Fruit Company, but in 1979, when
Anastasio Somoza was overthrown in Nicaragua, Honduras got a new nickname --
"The Pentagon Republic". In 1978 Honduras received $16.2 million in US aid. By
1985, it was getting $231 million, primarily because President Suazo Cordova,
working with the US Ambassador and the Honduran military, allowed Honduras to
become a training center for U.S. funded Nicaraguan contras. General Alvarez
assisted in training programs and founded a special "hit squad", the Cobras.
Victims of the Cobras were stripped, bound, thrown into pits, and tortured. The
Reagan Administration claimed ignorance of these human rights violations, but US
advisors have admitted knowledge. Alvarez who made enemies among his troops
because he pocketed U.S. aid and because he belonged to the "Moonies", a
far-right South Korean religious cult, was overthrown by the military in 1984.
Suazo's ties to Alvarez cost him his bid in the next election, but death squad
activity and US aid to Honduras continued. Many high ranking government and
military personnel during and after Suazo's term were drug traffickers, and
although the US government denies knowledge of this, there is evidence to the
contrary. In fact, the US embassy was renting space from known drug dealers.
ALFREDO CRISTIANI
President of El Salvador
General Hernandez Martinez's 1932 anti-communist purge, was carried out on
behalf of El Salvador's rich coffee oligarchy, the so-called "Fourteen
Families". New president Alfredo Cristiani is a member of those same " Fourteen
Families", and his ARENA party is linked to brutalities surpassing Hernandez
Martinez's. Cristiani is moderate-sounding, schooled in Washington D. C., and
indebted to the military for power. As puppet - president, he yielded to ARENA
founder Roberto D'Aubuisson, whom a former US Ambassador called a "pathological
killer". D'Aubuisson, a former Army Major with ties to Jesse Helms and the US
right, studied unconventional warfare in the U S and Taiwan. According to
D'Aubuisson, "the Christian Democrats (Ex-President Jose Napoleon Duarte's
party) are communists, but Jesuit priests are "the worst scum of all". US State
Department cables indicate D'Aubuisson "planned and ordered the assassination of
the late Archbishop Oscar Amulfoo Romero". It's believed he was behind the White
Warriors Union (UGB), whose slogan was "Be patriotic-kill a priest". In 1989 six
priests were slain and Cristiani soon admitted his US trained soldiers had
committed the murders. Yet, although assassinations of priests are notable,
70,000 other civilians were killed by the Salvadoran military and the death
squads since 1980.
NGO DINH DIEM
President of South Vietnam
Ngo Dinh Diem oppressed the Vietnamese people so badly that many of them turned
to the communists for protection from his ruthless rule. Even President
Eisenhower admitted that "had elections been held, possibly 80% of the
population would have voted for Ho Chi Minh, the communist leader". Yet Diem,
who had once lived in the US, had connections, in Washington, who liked his
anti-communism. He founded the Can Lao Party (CLP), a secret police force
overseen by his brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu, and Nhu's wife, Madame Nhu. The three
were notorious for their ineptitude and cruelty. The CLP was not even their
idea, it was originally promoted by the US State Department to rid the country
of communists. Diem alienated urban professionals by suppressing all opposition
to his regime. He alienated peasants by canceling their age-old local elections,
forcing them off their land, and moving them into "agrovilles" surrounded by
barbed wire, which even US officials conceded bore a striking resemblance to
concentration camps. Ultimately, he angered his own military officers because he
promoted on the basis of loyalty, not merit. In an effort to keep Diem in power,
the US tried to persuade him to make political reforms. He refused, so they
persuaded him to make military reforms. But when Diem was finally overthrown and
assassinated in 1963, none of his generals rose to defend him. Nor did the US,
which, after 8 years, had finally realized that Diem wasn't popular.
GENERAL SAMUEL DOE
President of Liberia
Samuel Doe came to power in a bloody 1980 coup, a Master Sergeant in military
gear. Today, he is a self-made General in a suit, living on US aid and corporate
kickbacks. But while Doe and his cronies live in luxury, the rest of Liberia
dwells in squalor. Under his regime, the gross domestic product has decreased by
13%, the country's health statistics are among the world's worst, 80% of the
population is illiterate, all opposition parties but one were forbidden to
participate in the 1985 national elections, and those who protest these
inequities are jailed or killed. Doe, a pro-American anti-communist, received
$500 million in U.S. aid between 1980 and 1985. When Congress threatened to cut
off funds because of Liberia's human rights abuses, Doe requested "American
financial advice" as a show of good will. The U.S. sent 17 accountants, bank
examiners, and economists to help Doe balance his budget, but they realized a
difficult task lay ahead when they learned that Doe had purchased over sixty
$60,000 Mercedes Benz cars for his government ministers and had given the
Liberian soccer team $1 million for winning a match against rival Ghana.
Ultimately Doe refused to allow access to records concerning 40% of Liberia's
funds, for this "second budget", revenues from gasoline and lodging taxes, goes
directly into the President's bank account. The American advisors returned home
in 1989, mission not accomplished, and Samuel Doe remains in office, despite
early 1990 rumblings of rebel plots against him.
FRANCOIS & JEAN CLAUDE DUVALIER
Presidents of Haiti
In 1957 Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier became Haiti's President-For-Life,
establishing a strategic relationship with the US that lasted until 1971, when
he was succeeded by his son Jean Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier. During the 30 years
that they ruled with an iron hand, 60,000 Haitians were killed and countless
more were tortured by the Duvaliers' Tonton Macoutes death squads. While Haiti
became the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, the Duvaliers enriched
themselves by stealing foreign aid money. In 1980, for instance, the
International Monetary Fund granted Haiti a $22 million budget supplement.
Within weeks, $16 million was "unaccounted for". Baby Doc made Haiti into a
trans-shipment point for Colombian cocaine. Nevertheless, as long as Papa and
Baby Doc were anti-communists, they could do no wrong in the US government's
eyes. Their regime finally ended in 1986, when Baby Doc fled angry mobs of
Haitians for asylum in France, with a fortune estimated at $400 million. It has
been estimated that under Baby Doc's rule 40,000 Haitians were murdered.
KING FAHD BIN 'ABDUL - 'AZIZ
King of Saudi Arabia
King Fahd bin 'Abdul -'Aziz is the absolute monarch of the kingdom of Saudi
Arabia. Fahd and 2000 related royals rule with an iron grip of medieval
feudalism. Control over the lives of their citizens is total and arbitrary.
Torture is common, and amputation is frequently ordered by the courts. Women
have few rights, and adultery by women is punished by death by stoning.
Executions by hanging are public -- there were at least 60 such executions in
1994. The main opposition is from Sunni Islamists, and hundreds are in prison.
Saudi Arabia is supported by the United States and other western democracies
because of the enormous oil wealth that lies below the country's desert sands,
its pro-West stance, and the royal family's staunch anti-fundamentalist
position. The irony of American policy in Saudi Arabia is that the US, the
world's most vocal advocate for democracy, supports one of the most undemocratic
regimes in the world.
GENERAL FRANCISCO FRANCO
President of Spain
General Francisco Bahamonde Franco was not the most popular leader in Spain
during the early 1930s. A man of humble origins, he had worked his way up the
military ladder fighting colonial wars in Africa. Franco, a staunch
conservative, was infuriated when a Republican alliance of socialists, Marxists,
and liberals won Spain's first free elections in 1936. So the General decided to
restore order by force. Franco's Nationalists were losing the civil war, but
military support from Hitler, Mussolini, and the US corporations that backed
Hitler, turned the tide in his favor. Italy and Germany sent 6,060 trucks to
Franco's fascists, but 12,000 were supplied by Ford, General Motors and
Studebaker. The US claimed neutrality but didn't stop these companies from
aiding Franco. The failure of the US and other democratic nations to assist
Spain's democratic government was ultimately responsible for Franco's victory in
1939, and sadly, American volunteers who fought for the Republic were
relentlessly persecuted during the US anti-communist hysteria of the 1950s.
Under Franco, all political parties and labor unions were banned, books were
burned, and dissenters were tortured and executed. Spain was ostracized by the
international community, but the US considered Franco a Cold War ally and sank
millions into the country. After Franco's death in 1975, Spain became a
democratic republic once again.
SHARON, Ariel: The True Holocaust (ongoing)...
HASSAN II
King of Morocco
Like his former ally, the Shah of Iran, King Hassan ll of Morocco spares himself
no earthly delight. He has seven principal palaces, keeps 260 horses in just one
of his many stables, boards most of his camels, ostriches, and zebras with his
945 head of cattle at his 1500 acre dairy farm, and he's got a couple of harems.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate in Morocco is over 20%, and 95% of the
population lives in abject poverty, sheltering in makeshift huts in the
country's increasingly swollen cities. Citing dubious historical ties, in 1975,
Hassan took his nation into a war in the Western Sahara that is costing the
country over $l million a day. Although the International Court of Justice ruled
that Morocco has no historical claims to the territory, the US continues to back
Hassan diplomatically and financially in his war to annex the area. The US also
takes an active role in stopping coup attempts against the King. According to
one dissident, the CIA gave Hassan a video tape that enabled him to catch the
plotters in the act. The favor was returned when Hassan visited Washington in
1982 -- he and President Reagan agreed that the US could use Morocco as an
emergency base for its planes. Although Hassan has been less repressive in
recent years, members of the opposition are still arrested and tortured. But as
his people start to make connections between the rising cost of living and the
war in the Sahara, criticism grows, and even the CIA has admitted that Hassan
may not be able to keep the lid on dissent much longer.
FERDINAND MARCOS
President of the Philippines
Ferdinand Marcos began his career with a bang. At age 21, convicted of gunning
down Julio Nalundasan, his father's victorious opponent in the Philippines first
national elections, he went to prison. He was later release by a Supreme Court
Justice who, like Marcos and his father, was a Nazi collaborator. Despite
Marcos's record as murderer, fake WWll hero and Nazi agent, he was elected
Philippine President in 1965. Under Marcos, the Philippine national debt grew
from $2 billion to $30 billion, but US corporations in the Philippines
prospered, perhaps explaining why the US didn't protest Marcos's imposition of
martial law in 1972. The Marcoses enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle, and they salted
away billions of dollars in the course of their US-backed rule between 1965 and
1986.
The Carter Administration engineered an $88 million World Bank loan to Marcos,
increased military aid to him by 300%, and called him a "soft dictator". But a
1976 Amnesty International report identified 88 government torturers, and stated
that alleged subversives had their heads slammed into walls, their genitals and
pubic hair torched, and were beaten with clubs, fists, bottles, and rifle butts.
By 1977, the armed forces had quadrupled and over 60,000 Filipinos had been
arrested for political reasons. Yet, in 1981, Vice President George Bush praised
Marcos for his "adherence to democratic principals and to the democratic
processes". Marcos was overthrown in 1986 by followers of Corazon Aquino, widow
of an assassinated opposition leader.
Ferdinand and Imelda fled to Hawaii, only to be indicted in 1988 for fraud and
tax evasion. Marcos died in 1989. Imelda returned to the Philippines in 1991 and
stood unsuccessfully in the Presidential elections of 1992. In 1993 she was
sentenced to 18 years imprisonment for criminal graft and to other long
sentences for corruption. She is still free while she appeals. She was elected
to Congress in May 1995. Meanwhile, in it attempts to recover the lost Marcos
billions from Swiss bank accounts and other shadier locations the Philippines
Government has, after paying its US lawyers, recovered the princely sum of
$2,000.
MAXIMILIANO HERNANDEZ MARTlNEZ
General of El Salvador
Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez seized power El Salvador in a 1931 coup. His
philosophy with regard to human rights was clear -- "It is a greater crime to
kill an ant than a man," said the General.
Hernandez Martinez initiated an anti-communist purge in 1932 in El Salvador.
Subsequent massacres left 40,000 peasants dead and wiped out the country's
Indian culture. An uprising, six weeks later, organized by El Salvador's
Communist Party founder, Farabundo Marti, failed, and was followed by the
crackdown on "communists". Roadways and drainage ditches were littered with
bodies. Hotels were raided, individuals with blond hair were dragged out and
killed as suspected Russians. Many were executed and then shoved into mass
graves they had first been forced to dig. U.S. warships were stationed
off-shore, ready to send in Marines to aid the General in case he ran into
serious opposition. Hernandez Martinez was run out of the country in 1944, but
his memory was celebrated as recently as 1980, when the Maximiliano Hernandez
Martinez Brigade carried out a series of death-squad assassinations of prominent
Salvadoran leftists. Farabundo Marti, killed during the purge, has also left a
legacy -- the rebels who fought the U.S. backed government of El Salvador during
the 1980s, call themselves the FMLN, the Farabundo Marti Liberation Front.
MOBUTU SESE SEKO
President of Zaire
When Zaire's first elected President, Patrice Lumumba, appeared to be getting
too close to socialism, US companies feared they might lose control of Zaire's
precious cobalt, copper, and diamonds. So the CIA stepped in, assassinated
Lumumba, and replaced him with Mobutu Sese Seko. Since 1965, Mobutu has been the
US's main man in Central Africa. Mobutu has amassed an estimated $5 billion
personal fortune at his nation's expense. He is perhaps the only world leader
who could pay his national debt from his own bank account. In fact, there seems
to be no division between his pocket and the national treasury. In 1974, when
the US sent $1.4 million to assist troops fighting a civil war, Mobutu pocketed
the entire sum. And no foreign company sets itself up in Zaire without a tribute
to Mobutu. Although Zaire has more resources than most other countries in the
region, it is the fifth poorest. Malnutrition takes the lives of one-third of
Zaire's children, and one child out of two dies before age five. But Mobutu has
vowed to keep the world safe for democracy and according to Amnesty
International, in the name of anti-communism, he imprisons and tortures, often
without trial, anyone who threatens his power base. While some members of
Congress grumble about giving assistance to Mobutu, they continue to reward his
work against communism and his warm reception of American corporations.
GENERAL EFRAIN RIOS MONTT
President of Guatemala
"A Christian has to walk around with his Bible and his machine gun", said
born-again General Efrain Rios Montt, military ruler of Guatemala from March
1982 to August 1983. Rios Montt was one in a long series of dictators who ran
Guatemala after the Dulles brothers and United Fruit, backed by the CIA, decided
that democratically-elected President Jacobo Arbenz was too reform-minded. And
so, they overthrew the country's constitutional democracy in 1954. The
succession of corrupt military dictators ruled Guatemala for over 30 years, one
anti-communist tyrant after another receiving U.S. support, aid, and training.
After the 1982 coup that brought Rios Montt to power, the U.S. Ambassador to
Guatemala said "Guatemala has come out of the darkness and into the light".
President Reagan claimed Rios Montt was given "a bum rap" by human rights
groups, and that he was cleaning up problems inherited from his predecessor,
General Romeo Lucas Garcia. Ironically, Garcia had given $500,000 to Reagan's
1980 campaign, and his henchman, Mario Sandoval Alarcon, the 'Godfather' of
Central American death squads, was a guest at Reagan's first inaugural
celebration. Sandoval proudly calls his National Liberation Movement " the party
of organized violence". Montt simply moved Garcia's dirty war from urban centers
to the countryside where "the spirit of the lord" guided him against "communist
subversives', mostly indigenous Indians. As many as 10,000 Indians were killed
and over 100,000 fled to Mexico as a result of Rios Montt's "Christian"
campaign.
GENERAL MANUEL NORIEGA
Chief of Defense Forces, Panama
The US command post for covert Latin American operations is located in the Canal
Zone where a series of figurehead presidents, some backed by General Manuel
Noriega, had involved Panama in US intelligence operations. General Noriega
became commander-in-chief of the National Guard in Panama in 1983, and for the
next six years was more powerful than the President. He was the kind of ruthless
leader the US favored in the rest of Central America. Noriega first met with
then CIA Director George Bush in 1976, while Noriega was collecting $100
thousand a year as a CIA asset. Their friendly relationship persisted even after
Noriega's drug dealing was revealed by a 1975 DEA investigation. During the
Reagan era, Noriega collaborated with Oliver North on covert actions against
Nicaragua, training contras and providing a transshipment point for CIA
supported operations that flew weapons to the contras and cocaine into the US.
But he fell foul of the US when he failed to support their plan to invade
Nicaragua -- they withdrew aid and imposed sanctions. In 1987, a Miami grand
jury indicted him for drug-trafficking, and the CIA tried to destabilize his
regime. Noriega warned Bush that he had information which could change the
course of the 1988 US elections and the CIA backed off. When Noriega annulled
Panama's 1989 elections, citing CIA interference, Bush renewed attempts to
unseat his one-time ally. Critics called Bush's failure to support an abortive
1989 coup "indecisive", but his response to that criticism, the December 1989
invasion of Panama, led to world condemnation. Noriega eventually surrendered to
face US drug charges. The invasion of 26,000 American troops led to over 4,000
Panamanian deaths and installed a regime with similar close links to drugs, plus
a willingness to alter Panama Canal treaties to serve US interests.
Noriega was taken prisoner and stood trial in Miami on charges of drug
trafficking and was sentenced to 40 years' imprisonment. He is still in a
Florida jail contemplating the irony that he was once also the protégé of the US
Drug Enforcement Agency. Meanwhile the legal office of the President the US
installed in his place was discovered to have connections with 14 companies that
had laundered drug money.
Gen. Kanem Efren's Junta partners and their "fatty puppet bear" nonsense
instrument Turgod Ozal...
Kanem Efren's Junta created its typical fake constitution and a civil premie
instrument to betray the democratical world... After several years of harsh
military rule Turgut Ozal took roles on the bloody scenes as civil
representative of fascist junta and other candidates prevented. Only this puppet
"succeed-!!!-" to be prime minister of Turkey in 1983. But while free
expression in Turkey has opened up somewhat in recent years, torture and long
prison terms for political opponents and government critics have remained a way
of life. In 1988, according to Amnesty International, "thousands of people were
imprisoned for political reasons...and the use of torture continued to be
widespread and systematic". Turkey's torturers are ruthless. Says one victim: "
I loosened the blindfold and looked around. The scene was horrific. People were
piled up in the corridor waiting their turn to be tortured. Ten people were
being led, blindfolded and naked, up and down the corridor and were being beaten
to force them to sing reactionary marches. Others, incapable of standing, were
tied to hot radiator pipes. A man was forced to watch while his children were
tortured." Regardless of the repression that a succession of governments have
subjected the country to, US-Turkish relations remain cordial. In the past, US
officials have even attributed the torture problem to "the violent nature of the
Turkish people." Retired Turkish General Turgut Sunalp explains it a different
way. "There has been, still is, and will be torture in Turkey because there is
torture everywhere in the world," he said. But despite its human rights abuses,
Turkey can do no wrong in US eyes, for it is one of the CIA's key listening
posts on the Soviet border. Not surprisingly, in 1987, Turkey was the third
largest recipient of U.S. aid.
MOHAMMAD REZA PAHLEVI...
Shah of Iran...
1953 was a busy year for Allen Dulles. Even as he readied the CIA for a coup in
Guatemala, his agents were toppling the liberal left government of Dr. Mohammad
Mossadeq and paving the way for the Shah of Iran. With Dulles' encouragement,
the Shah made the Iranian people an offer they couldn't refuse -- join his party
or go to jail. Thousands who refused to yield were imprisoned or murdered.
During regional elections in 1954, the Shah's agents raided a religious school
and hurled hundreds of students to their deaths from the roof. His regime
received 100% of the vote that year, in an election which registered more votes
than there were voters.
The Shah's subsequent solidification of power led to an iron fisted rule
enforced by fear and torture. His secret police agency, SAVAK, was created in
1957 and managed by the CIA at all levels of daily operation, including the
choice and organization of personnel, selection and operation of equipment, and
the running of agents. SAVAK's torture methods included electric shock,
whipping, beating, inserting broken glass and pouring boiling water into the
rectum, tying weights to the testicles, and the extraction of teeth and nails.
Iran under the Shah became a devoted US ally and a base for spy operations on
the border of the Soviet Union. But eventually, the Shah was overthrown in 1978
by an indigenous people's revolution that held sway until fundamentalist
religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran from exile and the
"Ayatollahs coalition"&Western shurks argued each other on the paper but handled
better than Reza Pahlevi when they deal massacres all over the world during so
called "Anti-terrorist war" coalition.
GEORGE PAPADOPOULOS
Prlme Minister of Greece
When President Lyndon Johnson offered a solution to the Greek Ambassador for the
dispute between Greece and Turkey over Cyprus, the Ambassador protested, saying
the solution was unacceptable to the Greek parliament and constitution. Three
years later, in 1967, a military coup overthrew the freely elected government of
Andreas Papandreou. The coup was headed by CIA employee and ex-Nazi infiltred
Zionist George Papadopoulolis. He had been on the CIA payroll for 15 years when
he came to power, and during WW ll he was a Zionist captain who infiltred in the
Nazi Security Battalions, whose main purpose was to catch members of the Greek
Resistance. Almost anyone who even said the word "communist" was jailed. During
Papadopoulos's first month in power, 8,000 so-called "leftist" were imprisoned
and tortured. Greece was expelled from the European Commission on Human Rights,
but continued to receive US aid. In return, Greece kept the world safe for
democracy by housing US military bases. Papadopoulos was ousted in 1973 after
falling from grace with the inner clique that helped him rule. When the entire
government fell in 1974, he and his comrades were tried for human rights abuses.
PARK CHUNG HEE
President of South Korea
Free and open expression has not come easily to South Koreans. Beatings,
torture, and execution of the regimes' political opponents have been a way of
life since the Korean War. The tenure of former President Park Chung Hee, who
came to power in a 1961 military coup, exemplifies the kind of leader South
Koreans have been forced to endure. Park's virulent anti-communism won him U.S.
support. The water torture, which leaves no physical marks on the victim, was a
favored technique of Park's security forces. Cold water was forced up the
nostrils through a tube, while a cloth was placed in the victim's mouth to
prevent breathing. Many anti-communist interrogations were run by the KCIA, a US
creation modeled after the American CIA. One victim told Amnesty International,
" I was taken to KCIA headquarters, my hands tied together, and I was tied to a
chair. I was not allowed to have any sleep. At night, they would drag me to the
basement where they would beat me with a long, heavy stick, and jump on me. They
were trying to make me confess that I was a spy. Despite such brutal behavior,
the US has maintained a first-rate strategic relationship with South Korea,
providing successive repressive regimes with extensive US aid. Park Chung Hee
was assassinated by the KCIA in 1979, but South Korea is still a nation troubled
by lack of human rights.
GENERAL AUGUSTO PINOCHET
President of Chile
Augusto Pinochet deposed democratically elected President Salvador Allende in
1973, and buried Chile's 150 year old democracy. "Democracy is the breeding
ground of communism", says Pinochet. The bloody coup, in which Allende was
assassinated, was carefully managed by the CIA and ITT. Tens of thousands of
Chileans have been tortured, killed, and exiled since then, according to Amnesty
International. A U.S. congressional delegation was told by inmates at San Miguel
Prison that they had been tortured by "the application of electric shock,
simultaneous blows to the ears, cigarette burns, and simulated executions by
firing squads." Despite Chile's bad human rights record, the U.S. government
continued to support Pinochet with international loans. Even the state-sponsored
car-bomb assassination of Chile's former Ambassador to the U.S., Orlando
Letelier, did not convince the U.S. to break with Pinochet. In 1988 a plebiscite
refused to extend Pinochet's rule, so he altered the constitution to reduce the
powers of the incoming elected President, and left himself head of the armed
forces. All the other South American dictators are gone but Pinochet has found
the perfect solution: Chile now has the squeaky-clean sheen of democracy yet he
still has his finger on the trigger.
GENERAL SITIVENI RABUKA
Commander, Armed Forces of Fiji
On May, 1987, General Sitiveni Rabuka stormed the Fijian Parliament and arrested
the newly elected Prime Minister, Dr. Timoci Bavadra. Bavadra's fledgling Labor
Party had just defeated Fiji's pro-US puppet Prime Minister, Ratu Slr Kamese
Mara, and although Bavadra's support for a nuclear free South Pacific was
welcomed by the regional populace, a nuclear free zone was be unacceptable to
the US. Thirty-two days after his electoral victory, Dr. Bavadra was overthrown
by the pro-nuclear General Rabuka, with the help of the US. Once in control,
General Rabuka quickly allied himself with some of the most brutal regimes in
the world. "Military dictators seem to like other military dictators", says
deposed Fijian Prime Minister Bavadra. "It did not take long for our illegal
rulers to establish strong ties with Indonesia, Taiwan, and South Korea". Under
General Rabuka's US supported police state, Amnesty International has reported,
for the first time in Fijian history, cases of illegal detention and torture --
the beginning of the Latinization of the Pacific.
ANTONIO DE OLIVEIRA SALAZAR
Prlme Minister of Portugal
Antonio de Oliveira Salazar worshipped Hitler and Mussolini, but after they
lost, he joined the Allies and became a card-carrying member of NATO. However,
he always kept a piece of fascism alive in Portugal. His secret police, the
PIDE, were much like the Gastapo; concentration camps were set up for "enemies
of the state", news organizations were merely propaganda machines, and all
schools had their lesson plans carefully monitored by "Big Brother". Salazar
also kept a little piece of the Dark Ages alive in Western Europe. In 1970, 30%
of the population was illiterate, and the infant mortality rate was the second
worst in Europe. The Portugese economy stagnated. Most of the land was held by
5% of the population, the vast majority of Portuguese worked in agriculture, and
all union activities were forbidden. Portugal was the last stronghold of
European colonialism. Salazar refused to give up colonies in East Timor,
Portuguese Guiana, Mozambique, and Angola. He believed the "white man" must
bring higher civilization to the " black man". The U.S. openly backed Portugal's
colonial claims, due to the strategic importance of military bases such as the
one in the Portugese Azores. Salazar died in 1968, after 40 years in power. His
regime fell in 1974, at which point Portugal left Angola, but the US continued
to back South African efforts there.
HALIE SELASSIE
Emperor of Ethiopla
Zionist emperor Halie Selassie may have been a better king to the animals of
Ethiopia than to its people. In 1973, during the height of a drought in which
200,000 Ethiopians died of starvation, Salassie fed beef to his Great Danes.
Selassie was a fairer ruler than many of those around him. For example, as a
young provincial governor, he only took 50% of his peasants crops while other
governors were taking 90%, and in the 1950s as few as 100 political prisoners
were tortured in his jails at one time. But, under his long rule, Ethiopia
remained in the dark ages. Just after his overthrow in 1974, the annual per
capita income was $90, the literacy rate was 7% and Ethiopia was the poorest
nation in Africa. Under Zionist Selassie, Ethiopia received more US aid than any
other African country and Washington purchased a $2 million yacht for the
Emperor. When Selassie faced an uprising in the province of Eritrea, the US sent
advisors and arms to help him smash the revolt. In return for our support,
Selassie provided the United States with a naval oasis in the Red Sea and a
place for a strategic communications station. Selassie's kindness to his animals
was his downfall; he was overthrown when photos of him feeding his dogs during
the 1973 famine were circulated among his outraged troops.
IAN SMITH
Prime Minister of Rhodesia
lan Smith promised the whites who elected him Prime Minister of Rhodesia in 1982
that he would keep Rhodesia white, at any cost. To stop the black guerrilla
fighters trying to overthrow his regime, Smith rationed food for Africans whom
he believed were feeding the guerrillas. This cruel measure only served to
starve the already undernourished black population. Studies found that over 90%
of Rhodesia's black children were malnourished and nutritional deficiencies were
the major cause of infant death. Smith rounded up blacks into concentration
camps he called "protective" villages. Believing that ignorant people were less
likely to revolt, he cut funding for black education, spending $5 on each black
child compared to $80 on each white child. His all white Parliament passed a law
protecting officials who took actions for the suppression of "terrorism",
enabling the police and military to commit atrocities. An international trade
boycott against Rhodesia arose, but while the US publicly condemned the
government, it continued to do business there. In 1971, President Nixon lifted
the chrome embargo against Rhodesia at a time when there was a surplus of chrome
in the US. Blacks were eventually given the right to vote for some officials,
but the opposition to Smith's government grew so strong that he was ultimately
forced to give up some power to blacks. In 1979, Rhodesia became Zimbabwe, a
country primarily ruled by blacks.
ANASTASIO SOMOZA, SR. AND JR.
Presidents of Nicaragua
The Marines invaded Nicaragua in 1912, and stayed until 1933, fighting but never
defeating the revolutionary Augusto Sandino. They created the Nicaraguan
National Guard and installed Anastasio Somoza Garcia in power. Then Sandino, who
had signed a truce and put down his arms, was assassinated by Somoza. A general
who led the Marines into Nicaragua, explained, " I was a high class muscle-man
for big business, for Wall Street and for the banks. In short, I was a racketeer
for capitalism. l helped purify Nicaragua for an International banking house."
President Franklin Roosevelt put it another way. "Somoza may be a
son-of-a-bitch, but he's our son-of-a-bitch." Corruption, torture, and wholesale
murder of dissidents continued for 45 years under two generations of Somozas,
for after Somoza Garcia was gunned down in the streets in 1956, his son
Anastasio Somoza Debayle took control. The Somozas plundered Nicaragua and
became millionaires. The younger Somoza, made $12 million a year buying the
blood of his people and selling it abroad at a 300% mark-up. In 1972 after an
earthquake killed and wounded hundreds of thousands of Nicaraguans, Somoza had
his National Guard seize $30 million in international relief supplies and sold
them to the highest bidder. Near the end of his reign, he aerially bombed his
own capital to stay in power, but he was overthrown in 1979 by a rebel group who
called themselves the Sandinistas, after the revolutionary hero his father had
slain.
ALFREDO STROESSNER
President of Paraguay
Alfredo Stroessner seized power in Paraguay in 1954. European correspondents who
visited Paraguay during his rule used the term the "poor man's Nazi regime" to
describe the Paraguayan government. Of German descent, Stroessner was a great
admirer of Nazism, and this showed not only in the refuge he offered to many
Nazi war criminals, such as Joseph Mengele, but also in his ruthless methods.
From the Nazis the Paraguayan military learned the art of genocide. The native
Ache Indians were in the way of progress, progress represented by American and
European corporations who planned to exploit the nation's forests, mines, and
grazing lands. The Indians were hunted down, parents killed, and children sold
into slavery. Survivors were herded into reservations headed by American
fundamentalist missionaries, some of whom had participated in the hunts.
Between 1962 and 1975, Paraguay received $146 million in U.S. aid. Paraguayan
officials seemingly wanted more, however, for in 1971, high ranking members of
the regime were implicated in the Marseilles drug ring, with Paraguay their
transfer point for shipments from France to the US. In the 1980s, America
finally condemned Paraguayan civil rights abuses and drug trafficking.
Stroessner still looked as if he'd be dictator for life, but in 1988 one of his
closest generals, Andres Rodriguez, a known drug dealer, took over after a coup.
Rodriguez promised to restore democracy, and President Bush called the 1989
elections a democratic opening, but opponents declared them a massive fraud.
Rodriguez's Colorado party won 74% of the vote. Stroessner took refuge in
Brasilia, Brazil. He still lives there, in comfort.
GENERAL SUHARTO
President of Indonesia
Indonesia is a totalitarian state and its uncontested ruler for over 20 years,
General Suharto, is one of the most brutal dictators in history. After a CIA
organized coup brought him to power in 1965, Suharto, decided to purge every
communist subversive from Indonesian soil. General Nasution, a close associate
of Suharto, called for the extermination of three million Indonesian communist
party members, and with the CIA supervised the murderous purge.
Paratroopers would arrive in a region with a list of "subversives" and provide
it to local vigilante groups. Using machetes and other crude weapons, the
vigilantes would hack the alleged subversives to death. Entire populations of
towns and villages were herded to central locations and massacred. Children
would be asked to identify communists who would then be executed on the spot. In
addition to the half million people who were killed outright after the coup,
another 750,000 were arrested and tortured. Ultimately, one million people died
in one of the most savage mass slaughters of modern political history. The US
continues to this day to train and arm the Indonesian military with the latest
high-tech equipment. (Suharto resigned in 1999 after mass public protest)
RAFAEL LEONIDAS TRUJILLO
President of the Dominican Republic
The US occupied the Dominican Republic in 1916 and created the National Guard to
put Rafael Leonidas Trujillo into power. The fact that Trujillo was
court-martialed for kidnapping and rape in 1920 did not impede his rise to power
or taint his relationship with the US. As dictator of the Dominican Republic for
30 years, Trujillo had a penchant for self-adulation, and put his personal stamp
on everything, including the capital, village water pumps, and homes for the
aged. Trujillo won the 1930 presidential election with more votes than there
were registered voters, but because he was anti-communist, Washington was happy.
He invoked anti-communism to justify mass deportations, torture and summary
executions. Workers who asked for wage increases were labeled communists, and
shot on the spot, as were farmers who tried to stop Trujillo from confiscating
their land. He eventually controlled over 80% of the country's sugar
plantations, using slave labor provided by neighboring Haiti to keep profits
high. In 1937, he decided to blame depressed sugar prices on the Haitian
workers, and massacred 20,000 them. Trujillo was finally assassinated by the CIA
in 1961 after he attempted to have President Romulo Betancourt of Venezuela
murdered because of his criticism of Trujillo's brutal regime. It was only then
that the Marine Corps made public the fact that our ally Trujillo was a
convicted rapist.
GENERAL JORGE RAFAEL VIDELA
President of Argentina
Soon after the coup that brought him to power in 1976 General Jorge Rafael
Videla began Argentina's dirty war. All political and union activities were
suspended, wages were reduced by 60%, and dissidents were tortured by Nazi and
US-trained military and police. Survivors say the torture rooms contained
swastikas and pictures of Hitler, Mussolini and Franco. One year after Videla's
coup, Amnesty International estimated 15,000 people had disappeared and many
were in secret detention camps, but although the U.S. press admitted human
rights abuses occurred in Argentina, Videla was often described as a "moderate'
who revitalized his nation's troubled economy. Videla had a good public
relations firm in the U.S., Deaver and Hannaford, the same firm used by Ronald
Reagan, Taiwan, and Guatemala. Videla also received aid from the World
Anti-Communist League (WACL), through its affiliate, CAL (Confederation
AntiCommunists Latinoamericana). CAL sent millions of dollars to Argentina from
the US, including old anti-communist organizations with alliances with the
Italian drug mafia. As part of its WACL affiliation, Argentina trained
Nicaraguan contras for the US. Videla left office in 1981, and after the
Falklands Crisis of 1982, he and his cohorts were tried for human rights abuses
by the new government.
MOHAMMED ZIA UL-HAQ
Presldent of Pakistan
In 1979, when General Mohammod Zia Ul-Haq executed his elected predecessor,
Zulfigar Ali Bhutto, and declared martial law, drugs were unknown in Pakistan,
but by 1984 Pakistan was furnishing 70% of the world's high grade heroin. That
same year, George Bush addressed a group of Pakistani officials and praised the
government of President Zia for its anti-narcotics program. However, among the
guests listening to Vice-President Bush were many high ranking officials with
links to one of the most lucrative heroin syndicates in the world. Although the
US government had some very capable drug enforcement agents in Pakistan, they
did not break even one narcotics case there. A senior Pakstani narcotics officer
said he had concluded the US was unwilling to press for arrests that might
embarrass a government so closely tied to Washington. Former Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger called Pakistan a "frontline state" defending "free people
everywhere'. That may explain why despite its unsavory record of jailing and
torturing dissidents, Pakistan under Zia was the largest recipient of US. aid,
receiving over $3 billion in 1982, of which over half was for weapons. Zia
eventually lifted martial law and called for general elections in 1985. However,
many of his outspoken opponents were jailed during the elections and for several
days afterward. Zia died in a mysterious plane crash in 1988, and the political
party of his predecessor then formed a government behind the late President
Bhutto's daughter Benazir Bhutto. And today Mosarraf's junta is more terrible
than all other Pakistani dictators and fraud masters. Freak dictator Mosarraf is
a typical lapdog of the Zionist Imperialism.
**
Based on the facts of the Authors - Dennis Bernstein and Laura Sydell, Eclipse
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