Key points that the mainstream U.S. media knew all along but didn't report as such. Not without code words anyways, as we'll soon see in contrast: In El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras the task was carried out by U.S. mercenary forces, trained, supplied, and directed by U.S. agents and advisers. "The same 'control mentality' that dictated broader U.S. policy in the region, manifested itself in the micro-management of the Contra war," Peter Kornbluh observes. The supervisors were especially concerned with countering the region's liberation theology clergy. The belief was that "preaching Good News to the Poor was dangerous": What U.S. elites term "democracy" could not be established as long as popular organizations still existed: Turning to the revolutionary alternative: The corporate media was complicit in all this, as we'll see here. Most of the above information is generally re-stated but in coded language. Imperial Culture in Corporate Media A.M. Rosenthal, executive editor of the New York Times. Using the terminology of Henry Kissinger, Boston Globe editor Randolph Ryan writes that in 1980-81 "there was an impression that the revolutionary left was on a roll in Central America. The administration correctly saw that infectious spirit as a ‘virus’ that had to be stopped." In the New York Times Magazine, New Republic literary editor Leon Wieseltier assures readers (12/07/86) that "It would be hard to exaggerate the purity of heart that the Reagan Administration feels" as representatives of "a great and good power." "The pure hearts dream of democracy in Nicaragua". We must support the "elected governments in the region," the editors of the New York Times demanded, bolstering the "democratic regimes in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala" and their "elected presidents," and defending them against the plundering of the "Sandinistas." Times reporter Elaine Sciolino informs us (05/14/87) that Guatemala has decided not to get involved militarily against Nicaragua but "favors re-establishment of a democratic system there," implying that it was a democracy under Somoza. The Washington Post explains that that U.S. "is working through the contras to restore democracy to Nicaragua" and that Washington's role is "to help contain the spread of the Sandinista revolution beyond Nicaragua." Clifford Krauss: veteran presstitute reporter. "Fortunately for the neighbors," a Wall Street Journal reporter exulted, "leftist groups have been declining throughout the isthmus since 1983." The editors of the New Republic then, surveying the carnage, declared El Salvador "the real model for supporting democracy in our sphere", and advised "Reagan & Co" that military aid must continue to be sent to "Latin-style fascists regardless of how many are murdered", because "there are higher American priorities than Salvadoran human rights." The Post's editors advised that Nicaragua be restored to the "Central American mode" and forced to adhere to the "regional standards" that prevailed in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. New York Times chief propagandist James LeMoyne. Meanwhile, Times bureau chief James LeMoyne concludes (02/07/88) U.S. support for these "elected governments" has been "a relative success." Meaning they remain safely within "the Central American mode." LeMoyne did some dirty work of his own for good measure. In a letter to the Times (09/18/88), Ines Murillo, a Honduran victim of torture, responds to James LeMoyne’s reporting of the interview with her, noting a series of distortions and falsehoods, which "have caused great damage to me and my family" and "could be used to justify the kidnapping, disappearance and assassination of hundreds of people." LeMoyne's response doesn't challenge any of her specific points.
Look how successful the US takeover of Central America was. Countries like Belize and Costa Rica are tourist magnets and their citizens couldn't be happier about it now.
Except that Belize and Costa Rica were the only countries in Central America where there was never any direct U.S. intervention.
Nicaragua "Sometimes terror is very productive. This is the policy, keep putting pressure until the people cry 'uncle'". (Video: 1:50). —Edgar Chamorro, former Contra leader, 1987 Key points that the mainstream U.S. media knew all along but didn't report as such. Not without code words anyways: The wider Central American conflict pits "the Marxist regime" in Nicaragua against "the elected government of El Salvador" and "the Nicaraguan resistance," and we must help "friendly governments in the region cope with the overflow of Sandinista power" while assigning to "Nicaragua's fellow Latins the burden of moving it along a democratic path." (Washington Post, 06/16/87). Times reporter Shirley Christian informs us (08/18/85) that the Sandinistas approached the Central American countries—specifically, El Salvador—with an offer that "would address some of the concerns of each of them, asking, in tum, that the other country abandon its demand for democratization in Nicaragua." The war critics cautioned that our efforts "to force the Sandinista revolution into the American democratic mold" may not be worth "the risk" (John Oakes, New York Times, 02/10/87) and that Nicaragua may be "beyond the reach of our good intentions" (Jefferson Morley, New York Times, 04/12/87). Times commentator Tom Wicker, another liberal dove, condemned the application of the Reagan Doctrine to Nicaragua because "the United States has no historic or God-given right to bring democracy to other nations." New Republic editor Michael Kinsley argued that human rights advocates should not simply dismiss State Department justifications for contra attacks on "soft targets" because "a guerrilla struggle can't be won by attacking only card-carrying Sandinistas": Kinsley later observed that these goals had been met: "impoverishing the people of Nicaragua was precisely the point of the contra war and the parallel policy of economic embargo and veto of international development loans," which "wreck[ed] the economy" and "creat[ed] the economic disaster [that] was probably the victorious opposition's best election issue." He then praised the "triumph of democracy" in the "free election" of 1990.
Terrorists are coming in from Central America? We should build a wall!! Oh wait somebody already thought of that. We call him The Donald.
El Salvador US Ambassador to El Salvador Deane R Hinton (center) and U.S. Military Advisory Group Commander, Colonel John D. Waghelstein, San Salvador, 1983.
El Salvador: Dirty Hands The facts on the ground: Explaining the U.S. military's role, General Wallace H. Nutting, Commander in Chief, United States Southern Command (USCINCSOUTH): They were the overseers: The official propaganda was that the U.S. was supporting a "weak, centrist government…beset by implacable extremes" of the left and right. (New York Times editorial, 04/28/80): Note the context of the question and answer: The U.S. media did their part as well: ^^ That is very bad. Continued...
Why isn't CNN reporting this do they hate Central Americans for some reason? Did all this start since Trump was inaugurated or was it going on under Obama as well?
El Salvador: Dirty Hands The Enablers As is usually the case, people who got their news from alternative media were generally better informed than others: In 1981, the year political violence peaked, the New York Times reported that "assassinations by government forces appear to be declining," signs of President Duarte's success in curbing "extreme rightists" who are "losing influence" within the military. "Much of the problem has been that neither the junta nor high military commanders have had much control over local security forces," the reporter, Edward Schumacher, contended. Meanwhile, Duarte hailed the armed forces for their "valiant service alongside the people against subversion", while conceding that "the masses were with the guerrillas." Also in 1981, the Washington Post, in direct contradiction to a complaint on the part of Jeane Kirkpatrick, who would later become Ambassador to the United Nations, that reports condemning the Salvadoran regime were "terribly unjust", responded that "there is no real argument that most of the estimated 10,000 political fatalities in El Salvador in 1980 were victims of government forces or irregulars associated with them". But as Aryeh Neier, the executive director of Americas Watch, pointed out in 1985: The popular organizations, "the only social force capable of resolving the crisis", in the words assassinated archbishop, had been exterminated by 1983: U.S assistance and intelligence: Newsweek's cynical question had already been answered 2 months earlier: In short, as one study of these matters had concluded: Continued...
El Salvador: Dirty Hands On Charlie Rose, Elliot Abrams provides apologetics for the Government and the military of El Salvador and adamantly denies that U.S. agencies have shared personal information on individuals with Salvadoran authorities. Also on the program is a Salvadoran woman, who had fled for her life to the U.S. after being targeted by the military for her church work with Christian base communities. The CIA's involvement with death squads was whitewashed in 1984 by the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee, which released a report on the subject, generally concluding that the agency didn't violate any laws. The committee also systematically covered-up the FBI's collaboration with the Salvadoran National Guard. "We did back the guys who went after the bad guys," admits Lawrence Korb, Assistant Secretary of Defense from 1981 to 1985. "And [we] defined 'bad guys' pretty broadly." National Guard S-2 Unit (Intelligence) The following FBI document reflects an exchange between the CIA and the FBI, in which they discuss arranging for the arrest of a Salvadoran refugee by El Salvador's security forces. The CIA had already passed on her information to the Salvadoran authorities: Discussing the Senate Intelligence Committee report, Allan Nairn, one of 2 investigative journalists, who's reporting sparked the 1984 investigation: Next: Supervising torture...
El Salvador: Dirty Hands While the CIA supplied intelligence for Army death lists, U.S. instructors had been training Salvadoran agents to do the same: As detailed in U.S. Army manuals: And applied in El Salvador:
El Salvador: Dirty Hands U.S. advisers also supervised the interrogations: "Clearly, such a situation was not uncommon," says Sister Dianna Ortiz, executive director of TASSC International, a human rights advocacy group. "What was rare was the survival of the prisoner": Another death squad member, when asked about the types of tortures used, replied: "Dr. Juan Romagoza was one of those victims," Matthew Rothschild noted. "Detained for two months at the end of 1980 and the beginning of 1981, Romagoza says he was tortured in the presence of U.S. advisers": In 1983, the human rights delegation, the Faculty for Human Rights in El Salvador (FHRES), after touring one of the prisons, reported their findings to a Congressional panel: And another: And another: The chief of the National Police, Col. Carlos Lopez Nuila, was described by the Christian Science Monitor as "trusted by, and close to, the US Embassy".
Lost in all this is the fact that, very often, the victims of these CIA financed atrocities were Native Americans who were merely demanding their rights under the law. For this they were labelled as "communist" or some other such nonsense and exterminated with the blessings of USA right wing pols.
El Salvador: Dirty Hands Draining the Sea: Vietnam Goes Latin (2:57) "something other than innocent civilian bystanders".
In an apparent Code Red to U.S. and Central American elites in 1985, NEWLY ACTIVE UNIONS A CHALLENGE FOR EL SALVADOR - The New York Times: "Hundreds" were killed during this period reports Stephen Kinzer in the Times. More like tens of thousands; 40,000 actually, not including the additional 8,000 "disappeared," the vast majority of whom can be presumed dead. The war against the left also extended to the U.S. territory. Beginning in 1981, the CIA and the FBI, together with the Salvadoran National Guard, commanded by Col. Vides Casanova, whom, The New York Times described as "a soft-spoken, amiable man who has a reputation as an excellent administrator," carried out, as one FBI teletype reads: U.S. Embassy, San Salvador cables show that the administration targeted CISPES because they were supporting the "newly active unions" bemoaned by the Times, which U.S. officials there were seeking to "destroy." Particularly those unions associated with the labor umbrella organization, the National Union of Salvadoran Workers (U.N.T.S.): Meanwhile, at the other end, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) were deporting 94% of Salvadoran refugees back to El Salvador, as many of them faced certain death at the hands of the U.S.-run security forces, who had been alerted to their arrival by the CIA and the FBI. The New York Times reports: Other Salvadorans were intimidated and attacked by Salvadoran death squads inside the United States. On July 7, 1987, Yanira Corea was kidnapped, raped, and tortured by a Salvadoran security unit reportedly linked to the CIA. The three men in civilian clothes interrogated her about CISPES and about her brother, who was a union activist in El Salvador. Ross Gelbspan is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who covered these events extensively for the Boston Globe. Gelbspan notes that the mainstream U.S. media totally ignored this issue in his book. In the end he reminds us:
You people are acting like this is something new. The US has pretty much done what it liked in Central America. Check out the history of Texas. Google William Walker Nicaragua. Google United Fruit. Google US invasion Haiti 1915.