I don't get it. I went to the Museo de Memorias showcasing the years of the Uruguayan dictatorship and was told (by the director) that the USA has been involved in a school that trains future dictators and torturers. What??? I am having difficulties with grasping this idea. I don't know who or what to believe (while hoping for the best). I read this, I read that. I hear this, then hear something else.Any ideas, feedback, quality sites would be sincerely appreciated.
I love my country America (along with my other country of Uruguay now!). I love the fact that we have helped out many nations in our short history. But I also realize that all we have done is not on the positive spectrum. I hear too many times about cover-ups or scandals or covert operations or attacks that put America into a category that I don't like. Just looking for more info...continually.
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9 comments:
Hi :)
I'm a Uruguayan living in Australia who subscribes to your RSS feed. I love your blog and enjoy hearing about your experiences in Uruguay. I'm afraid the SOA information provided to you by the director of the museum is true. All part of a very dark period of Uruguay (and America's) history. I left Uruguay when I was 15 because of the repression of the dictatorship. It was a very scary place then...people disappearing, violence, a miasma of fear over everything and everyone. I think all countries have periods in their history they are not proud of. It is not a reflection on the people or the spirit of that country. (I am married to a Bostonian and have lived in the States and love many things about the US :). Let's hope we can all remember the past and learn from it, and come to terms with it and never let is happen again.
Hey Silvia,
Thanks so much for your post. So appreciated!
I am hoping with you.
Please say hello to the Aussies for me. Fantastic land and people.
Dominic
Hola Dominic: hacía tiempo que no entraba al blog, ahora leo este post y me pasa lo mismo siempre que leo tus opiniones sobre ese período y te diría que hablaras con gente que estuvo "en el otro bando" si solo oís una campana, como me parece que está pasando, se te van a escapar muchos detalles. Y ojo que no justifico la dictadura, pero tampoco la violencia, venga de derecha o de izquierda.
(este comentario no es para publicar, solo algo que hace tiempo tengo ganas de decirte)
Saludos de Rosana
Ask yourself if any of that 'information' about the SOA actually can show a cause-effect relationship between attendance and later acts. The campaign against the school is fraudulent, and you can demonstrate it using the SOAW website alone. Just look at the people they accuse of bad deeds, then go to their database to see when they attended and what they studied. What's more, Pres. Clinton and the Congress closed the school almost nine years ago, replacing it with the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, which you can visit to see for yourself what we do. Come on down! (or at least check out our web site and Facebook page)
Lee A. Rials
Public Affairs Officer
WHINSEC
Read Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine". Take the style of it with a pinch of salt (dramatic effect always sells books) but the cases are well documented and proven.
America has many great things going for it, but they do have an atrocious record of meddling in the affairs of developing countries for their own benefit.
Many thanks to you guys for the information. Now time to delve into it.
Chau!
Dominic
Yep, true, as the other readers have already indicated. And it's just one of many, many strategies/institutions the US has used--to my great dismay and shame--to subjugate Latin America for decades. For others, check out John Perkins' excellent book, Confessions of an Economic Hitman.
Try Reading "Americas Back yard"
The United States & Latin America from the Monroe Doctrine to the War on Terror
Author: Grace Livingstone
Although not Uruguay specific it does detail everything that has happened in Latin America.
http://www.latamrob.com/?p=858
Truth Hurts, isn't it?
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