Articolo Su HK e Pinochet (anche se del '99)

["Martinerrico" <martinerrico@libero.it>]

THE NATION - USA
March 29, 1999 

Kissinger and Pinochet 



In the United States, as you know, we are sympathetic with what you are
trying to do here.

 --Henry Kissinger to Augusto Pinochet, June 8, 1976



Henry Kissinger, realpolitiker nonpareil, never gave a damn about human
rights. "Cut out the political science lectures," he once scrawled on a
cable from the US Ambassador to Chile reporting on atrocities. Now, his
proclivity for getting into bed with the most vicious of violators is
exposed in a recently declassified secret memorandum of a private
conversation with Gen. Augusto Pinochet that took place in Santiago, Chile,
in June 1976.

The release of the "memcon" (first obtained by journalist Lucy Komisar)
could not come at a worse time for Kissinger. With Pinochet still under
house arrest in England for crimes against humanity, the transcript reveals
Kissinger's expressions of "friendship," "sympathetic" understanding and
wishes for success to Pinochet at the height of his repression, when many of
those crimes--torture, disappearances, international terrorism--were being
committed. The document also shows that Pinochet raised the name of former
Chilean Ambassador to the United States Orlando Letelier twice, accusing him
of giving "false information" to Congress. In response, Kissinger said
nothing, forgoing the opportunity to defend free speech and dissent in the
United States--comments that might have deterred the car-bomb assassination
of Letelier and his associate Ronni Moffitt in Washington, DC, three months
later.

Finally, the third installment of Kissinger's memoirs, 1,151 pages on the
Years of Renewal, hits the bookstores soon. It contains an account of the
Pinochet meeting, which took place the day before Kissinger, his arm twisted
by his staff, gave a speech on human rights at an OAS conference in
Santiago. But Kissinger's account of his meeting with the dictator is
considerably less candid than the memo of their conversation reveals.
Kissinger portrays himself as pushing the issue of democracy and human
rights while the transcript makes it clear that he is briefing Pinochet, in
advance, that the speech is intended to appease the US Congress, and the
Chileans should all but ignore it. During the meeting the Secretary of State
does not even utter the word "democracy." Consider this comparison:

The Memoir: "A considerable amount of time in my dialogue with Pinochet was
devoted to human rights, which were, in fact, the principal obstacle to
close United States relations with Chile. I outlined the main points of my
speech to the OAS which I would deliver the next day. Pinochet made no
comment."

The Memcon: "I will treat human rights in general terms, and human rights in
a world context. I will refer in two paragraphs to the report on Chile of
the OAS Human Rights Commission. I will say that the human rights issue has
impaired relations between the U.S. and Chile. This is partly the result of
Congressional actions. I will add that I hope you will shortly remove those
obstacles.... I can do no less, without producing a reaction in the U.S.
which would lead to legislative restrictions. The speech is not aimed at
Chile. I wanted to tell you about this. My evaluation is that you are a
victim of all left-wing groups around the world and that your greatest sin
was that you overthrew a government that was going Communist." [Emphasis
added.]

Pinochet does, in fact respond: "We are returning to institutionalization
step-by-step. But we are constantly being attacked by the Christian
Democrats. They have a strong voice in Washington.... they do get through to
Congress. Gabriel Valdez has access. Also Letelier."

The Memoir: "As Secretary of State, I felt I had the responsibility to
encourage the Chilean government in the direction of greater democracy
through a policy of understanding Pinochet's concerns.... Pinochet reminded
me that 'Russia supports their people 100 percent. We are behind you. You
are the leader. But you have a punitive system for your friends.' I returned
to my underlying theme that any major help from us would realistically
depend on progress on human rights."

The Memcon: "There is merit in what you say. It is a curious time in the
U.S.... It is unfortunate. We have been through Viet-Nam and Watergate. We
have to wait until the [1976] elections. We welcomed the overthrow of the
Communist-inclined government here. We are not out to weaken your position."

In Years of Renewal, Kissinger concludes his section on Chile by implying
that his "moral persuasion" worked: "Within Chile, human rights abuses
subsided, especially after Pinochet disbanded the counterterrorist
intelligence agency responsible for most of them in 1978." He conveniently
omits all reference to the most heinous act of international terrorism ever
to take place in the US capital, the Letelier-Moffitt murders--committed by
Chile's terrorist secret police on Kissinger's watch.

Perhaps the Chileans thought that Washington would overlook this atrocity,
as Kissinger appeared to do with the thousands of other barbarous acts. At
the end of his meeting with Pinochet, Kissinger concludes with an Orwellian
compliment--giving the general credit for advancing the cause of human
rights. "I want to see our relations and friendship improve," Kissinger says
in a passage not found in the memoir: "We want to help, not undermine you.
You did a great service to the West in overthrowing Allende. Otherwise Chile
would have followed Cuba. Then there would have been no human rights."

Peter Kornbluh



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Peter Kornbluh writes on Chile and Cuba for The Nation.