Latin America

So much the US public is entitled to know gets pitched into sealed records by classifying them, out of reach of everyone!

I just checked for a link to information on Charles Horman, a US writer who was sending his work around that time to The Nation and also photojournalist Frank Terrugi, who is less known, probably because he didn't have a powerful conservative father who went to Chile and searched for him intensely, while never receiving the truth of his disappearance from the US government, or the Chilean government. You may have seen the film which was banned in Chile called "Missing" which covers that vicious pair of murders.

I just saw this link I missed earlier:

New Information on the Murders
of U.S. Citizens Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi by the
Chilean Military

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 33


Washington, D.C., June 30, 2000 – On Friday, June 30, 2000, the U.S. government released hundreds of formerly secret CIA, Defense, State, Justice Deparment, and National Security Council records relating to the deaths of Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi, both of whom were killed by the Chilean military in the days following the 1973 coup led by General Augusto Pinochet. The murders of Horman and Teruggi were later dramatized in the 1982 film Missing. Documents on another American, Boris Weisfiler, who disappeared in Chile in 1985, were also released.

Below, the National Security Archive has selected ten documents for inclusion in this Electronic Briefing Book.



THE DOCUMENTS
Document 1: Federal Bureau of Investigation, "Frank Teruggi," December 14, 1972
Among the hundreds of newly-released records is an FBI report from late-1972 on Teruggi's attendance of a conference of the Committee of Returned [Peace Corp] Volunteers in 1971, and his membership in the "Chicago Area Group on the Liberation of the Americas." This document makes it clear that Teruggi was, at a minimum, under surveillance while in the United States and raises the question as to whether or not this information was shared with the Chilean military.


Document 2: U.S. Embassy Santiago, "[Deleted] Reports on GOC [Government of Chile] Involvement in Death of Charles Horman, Asks Embassy for Asylum and Aid," April 28, 1987
Nearly fourteen years after the coup, an informant seeking political asylum at the U.S. Embassy in Chile offers an account of Horman's death. Horman was picked up in a routine sweep, the informant suggests, and was found in possession of "extremist" materials. He was then taken the National Stadium where he was interrogated and later executed on the orders of Pedro Espinoza. Embassy officials note that his story "corresponds with what we know about the case and the [Chilean government] attempt to cover up their involvement," suggesting that the informant is probably telling the truth.


Document 3: U.S. Department of State to Embassy Santiago, "[Deleted] Reports on Death of Charles Horman," May 14, 1987
In response to the embassy's previous cable (Document 2), Michael Armacost, the under secretary of state for political affairs, questions the credibility of the informant who provided the account of Horman's death. Even if the new information proves to be accurate, Armacost sees no new prosecutorial advantage in the new information. Nevertheless, the State Deparment maintains a "fundamental interest" in investigating the deaths of American citizens abroad and "would consider it a very serious matter if senior [Chilean government] officials had been aware of the circumstances of Horman's death and attempted to conceal this information from the [U.S. government] and Horman's family." Armacost directs that the informant be interviewed by State Department officials stationed in Uruguay to determine his credibility.


CIA Records
The following seven documents represent the totality of the CIA’s contribution to the declassification of records specifically related to the murder of Charles Horman. All the documents are from the CIA liaison office in Washington, D.C., and the release includes no documents from the CIA station in Chile. All of the documents that have been released have been heavily redacted.

More:
Washington, D.C., June 30, 2000 – On Friday, June 30, 2000, the U.S. government released hundreds of formerly secret CIA, Defense, State, Justice Deparment, and National Security Council records relating to the deaths of Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi, both of whom were killed by the Chilean military in the days following the 1973 coup led by General Augusto Pinochet. The murders of Horman and Teruggi were later dramatized in the 1982 film Missing. Documents on another American, Boris Weisfiler, who disappeared in Chile in 1985, were also released.

Below, the National Security Archive has selected ten documents for inclusion in this Electronic Briefing Book.



THE DOCUMENTS
Document 1: Federal Bureau of Investigation, "Frank Teruggi," December 14, 1972
Among the hundreds of newly-released records is an FBI report from late-1972 on Teruggi's attendance of a conference of the Committee of Returned [Peace Corp] Volunteers in 1971, and his membership in the "Chicago Area Group on the Liberation of the Americas." This document makes it clear that Teruggi was, at a minimum, under surveillance while in the United States and raises the question as to whether or not this information was shared with the Chilean military.


Document 2: U.S. Embassy Santiago, "[Deleted] Reports on GOC [Government of Chile] Involvement in Death of Charles Horman, Asks Embassy for Asylum and Aid," April 28, 1987
Nearly fourteen years after the coup, an informant seeking political asylum at the U.S. Embassy in Chile offers an account of Horman's death. Horman was picked up in a routine sweep, the informant suggests, and was found in possession of "extremist" materials. He was then taken the National Stadium where he was interrogated and later executed on the orders of Pedro Espinoza. Embassy officials note that his story "corresponds with what we know about the case and the [Chilean government] attempt to cover up their involvement," suggesting that the informant is probably telling the truth.


Document 3: U.S. Department of State to Embassy Santiago, "[Deleted] Reports on Death of Charles Horman," May 14, 1987
In response to the embassy's previous cable (Document 2), Michael Armacost, the under secretary of state for political affairs, questions the credibility of the informant who provided the account of Horman's death. Even if the new information proves to be accurate, Armacost sees no new prosecutorial advantage in the new information. Nevertheless, the State Deparment maintains a "fundamental interest" in investigating the deaths of American citizens abroad and "would consider it a very serious matter if senior [Chilean government] officials had been aware of the circumstances of Horman's death and attempted to conceal this information from the [U.S. government] and Horman's family." Armacost directs that the informant be interviewed by State Department officials stationed in Uruguay to determine his credibility.


CIA Records
The following seven documents represent the totality of the CIA’s contribution to the declassification of records specifically related to the murder of Charles Horman. All the documents are from the CIA liaison office in Washington, D.C., and the release includes no documents from the CIA station in Chile. All of the documents that have been released have been heavily redacted.

More:
https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB33/index.html


It just dawned on me that this document release happened during the last year of Bill Clinton's Presidency. I don't think I ever recognized that fact.

It's also good to remember that Bill Clinton made a public acknowledgement and official apology for the fact US research scientists were allowed to experiment on Guatemalan people, giving them syphilis then using various drugs upon them after they were very ill. (It really makes you wonder how the hell that could ever have happened. What makes us different from the 3rd Reich which also did medical experiments on people?) Who can know how much Clinton and Obama could have accomplished during their 8 year presidencies if the right-wing hadn't pounded them psycholtically ever day of their terms!