From: harelb@math.cornell.edu (Harel Barzilai)
Newsgroups: alt.activism,talk.politics.misc,soc.culture.latin-america
Subject: RE: HISTORY LESSON: Chomsky on Cuba
Date: 24 Jul 92 07:05:23 GMT
Organization: misc.activism.progressive on UseNet ; ACTIV-L@UMCVMB


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Subject: RE: HISTORY LESSON: Footnote: Who is Gramajo?
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From "Chomsky on Cuba":

    "It is not Castro's crimes that disturb the rulers of the
    hemisphere [Washington], who cheerfully support the Suhartos
    and Saddam Husseins and Gramajos, however grotesque their
    crimes, as long as they perform their service role.  Rather,
    it is the elements of
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
    "The Cuban record demonstrates clearly, once again, that the
    Cold War framework was scarcely more than a pretext to conceal
    the standard US refusal to tolerate Third World independence,
    whatever its political coloration.


Background on one of Washington's dearest beloved:


One of the grandest of the Guatemalan killers, General He'ctor 
Gramajo, was rewarded for his contributions to genocide in the 
highlands with a Mason Fellowship to Harvard's John F. Kennedy 
School of Government -- not unreasonably, given Kennedy's 
decisive contributions to the vocation of counterinsurgency (the 
technical term for international terrorism conducted by the 
powerful).  Cambridge dons will be relieved to learn that Harvard 
is no longer a dangerous center of subversion. 

While earning his degree at Harvard, Gramajo gave an interview to 
the _Harvard International Review_ in which he offered a more 
nuanced view of his own role.  He said that he was personally in 
charge of the commission that drafted the "70%-30% civil affairs 
program, used by the Guatemalan government during the 1980s to 
control people or organizations who disagreed with the 
government" (_Central America Report_ (_CAR_), Guatemala 
City).  He outlined with some pride the doctrinal innovations he 
had introduced: "We have created a more humanitarian, less costly 
strategy, to be more compatible with the democratic system.  We 
instituted civil affairs [in 1982] which provides development for 
70% of the population, while we kill 30%.  Before, the strategy 
was to kill 100%." This is a "more sophisticated means" than the 
previous crude assumption that you must "kill everyone to 
complete the job" of controlling dissent. 

It is unfair, then, for journalist Alan Nairn, who exposed the US 
origins of the Central American death squads, to describe Gramajo 
as "one of the most significant mass-murderers in the Western 
Hemisphere," as Gramajo was sued by the Center for Constitutional 
Rights in New York for damages for murders, disappearances, 
torture, and forced exile of Guatemalan citizens.  We can also 
understand now why former CIA director William Colby sent Gramajo 
a copy of his memoirs with the inscription: "To a colleague in 
the effort to find a strategy of counterinsurgency with decency 
and democracy," Kennedy-style.  We can be assured that Gramajo, 
like Colby, correctly understands what is "compatible with the 
democratic system," as envisioned by the masters. 

Given his understanding of humanitarianism, decency, and 
democracy, it is not surprising that Gramajo appears to be the 
State Department's choice for the 1995 elections, _CAR_ 
reports, citing Americas Watch on the Harvard fellowship as "the 
State Department's way of grooming Gramajo" for the job, and 
quoting a US Senate staffer who says: "He's definitely their boy 
down there." The _Washington Post_ reports that many Guatemalan 
politicians expect Gramajo to win the elections, not an unlikely 
prospect if he's the State Department's boy down there. 
Gramajo's image is also being prettified.  He offered the 
_Post_ a sanitized version of his interview on the 70%-30% 
program: "The effort of the government was to be 70% in 
development and 30% in the war effort.  I was not referring to 
the people, just the effort." Too bad he expressed himself so 
badly -- or better, so honestly -- before the Harvard grooming 
had taken effect. <<<fn: _CAR_, Nov. 22; _Economist_ (London), 
July 20, 1991; Shelley Emling, _WP_, Jan. 6, 1992.  Gramajo 
refused to respond to the Court charges and was found guilty by 
default of massive human rights violations; the plaintiffs were 
awarded more than $10 million in damages.>>> 


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Files available from misc.activism.progressive (MAP) arhiver:
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*
* ===================
* U.S. Foreign Policy
* ===================
*
  CHOMSKY  VICTORS1  Who won Cold War? Encyclopedic survey of domains
  CHOMSKY  VICTORS2  of the Cold-War `victors';why aren't people there
  CHOMSKY  VICTORS3  celebrating? conditions there, incl. vs. EastBloc
  E-EUROPE C-AMERIC  Comparisons and contrasts by Guat. journalist
*
  NESTLE   BOYCOTT   Profits over lives(literally) of 3rd world babies
  EASTIMOR INTRO     Stop US/Aussie support for little-known genocide!
*
  OXFAM    HONDURAS  Oxfam's Bulletin on "Why Farmers Go Hungry"
*
* =============
* Latin America
* =============
*
  LAT-AMER HMNRTS90  A comparison of HR reports ; surprizing results
  AFSC     GUATMALA  _Understanding Guatamala_, an AFSC pamphlet
  AI_REPT  GUATMALA  Amnesty's 1989 comprehensive (~70pp) HRs report
  NUN_TORT GUATMALA  US nun alleges US involvement in Guat. Death Sqd
  HRWATCH  COLOMBIA  HR Watch: "drug war" = repression in Colombia
  JEWS-AND C-AMERIC  "Jews&C.A.: The Need To Act" by New Jewish Agenda
*
* =========
* Nicaragua
* =========
*
  CONTRA   TERROR    Contras' origins; make-up; practices - documented
  FSLN     H-RIGHTS  Documented HRs comparison w/Somoza,Guat,ES,others
  FSLN     MISKITOS  Sandinista treatment of Miskitos;Charges & Realit
  FSLN     NICAJEWS  Debunks charges of Sandinista 'Anti-Semitism'
*
  OXFAM84  NICARAG   Oxfam America's 1984 report on Nicaragua, in full
  FSLN     ACHIEVE   Documented: achievements of the Nica. revolution
*
  NICA-84  ELECTION  Documented: Fair under Sandinistas; US subversion
  FAIRNESS NICA-USA  Flwup:`Is Nicaragua More Democratic than the US?'
  NICRAGUA ELECTION  Study in US subversion of '90 Nicaraguan election
  DEMOCRAT DECLINE   Noam Chomsky,excellent,on the 1990 Nica. election
*
* ===========
* El Salvador
* ===========
  AI_REPT  ELSALV    Amnesty:So-called `death-squads' are run by army!
  JOYA     BACKGRND  Salvadoran `Death Squad' deserter: US involved
  JOYA     MARTINEZ  Followup, incl. US efforts to deport Martinez
  DEATHSQD ES_US     ES Death Squads: a pattern of US complicity
  BEHIND   DEATHSQD  Behind The Death Squads in ES (frm _Progressive_)
  GRNBERET TORTURE   Two accounts of US 'aid' to El Salvador (1980/82)
*
  WITNESS  2WAR      Story of Quaker doctor in El Salvador
  FMLN     BACKGRND  origins, authenticity, support; FMLN/Army abuses
*
  BRENDA   HUBBARD   police terrorize COMADRES(mthrs of pol prisoners)
  COINTPRO CISPES    The FBI's campaign to repress CISPES
  HRCOMM   ELSALV    A. Cockburn on the Salv. Hum. Rights Commission

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Xref: sparky alt.activism:13407 soc.motss:32399 talk.politics.misc:35733 alt.individualism:4531