From: harelb@math.cornell.edu (Harel Barzilai)
Subject: RE: HISTORY LESSON: Footnote: Who is Gramajo?
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: ?
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 07:02:29 GMT



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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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