Panetta Down South: The Pentagon’s New Plan to Confront Latin America’s Pink Tide

[NickA327]

5. Re: What exactly did Panetta say?

Hi Kolesar,

That's a reasonable question. I wrote the CounterPunch piece on Panetta, and you can find a Defense Department article reviewing Panetta's remarks here: http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=118136. The Western Hemisphere Defense Policy Statement, which gives a fuller sense of the planned policies, can be read here: http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=118118. (There's a pdf link for the full document at the bottom of the page.)

My point with this piece was to show that the U.S. has trained police forces before, with ugly results-- that's why I spent the bulk of the article looking at the history of the police training program for Uruguay in the '60s-'70s. When Panetta spoke in Punta del Este, he emphasized the fact that Latin American countries should start using the police, rather than the military, to combat drug traffickers and insurgents; back in the '60s, the ostensible targets were urban terrorists and insurgents, but government documents show that U.S. officials were overwhelmingly concerned with striking workers, student demonstrators, and the like. There's no way to know the extent to which these new policies will be implemented, as I explained in my article. But if history is any guide, the results will be brutal if the plans are carried out. If you didn't find my account-- which I tried to keep succinct, for better or worse-- persuasive, then I'd suggest reviewing the chapter on Uruguay in William Blum's Killing Hope; or, if you'd prefer a more academic work, there's Jeffrey J. Ryan's chapter on Uruguay in When States Kill, edited by Cecilia Mejivar and Nestor Rodriguez.

Take care,
Nick Alexandrov