TERRORISM Terrorism organized by in cells is a fact of life At one time it was more effectively and efficiently organized than 'the government of Argentina It had more cash than the government from revenues came khxangh $10 to $60 million ransomgs robberies and simple one to one extortion It is widely believed by Argentines than the forces of international communism also provided vast sums of moeny also through Using the principle universities as bases and recruitment of upper and middle class students the two prinsipie terrorist organizations infiltrated every institution of the society Their strategy was tax use of geurrilla techniques of murder kidnapping bombing coupled with the rhetoric of freedom It manufactured its own weapons hel and help to the poor and underpaid trials widely publicized its ex ecutions their media system was very sophisticated The government reacted with the desired and predictible panic thought of it as war and made the first rnzixnxxax and crucial wrong decision using to fight terrorism as a war gain the techniques of the tercorists In reality As soon as that happens the terrorists are in control It is a war of ideas Government%must not become the terrorists to defeat them - djit must in spite of all difficulties adhere to the rule of law in order to win the support of the people Its short term gains are impressive but in spite of wrecking it the visible operating mechanis it is simply not possible even whenthe government is free to apprehen without notice or any sort of due process any inxdixiduia person withi its borders to torture to hold persons detained forever to kill it is not possible to find them all and the system of lawlessness is established The government is then left in an nearly impossible predi Amcn n - ament In the first phase the government gets the tacit support of the people but there is always an inherent time limit No society will consent to an anti unending state of emergency Hhenxkhexxime eemusxiaxxkhexpaepte Argentina is at this point now there is very little time for the government to produce normalcy and a sense of being in control THE GOVERNMENT The three man junta has just masked its first anniversary It has made some important strides in improving the perilous stateof the economy particularly in its international image It has done so through a variety of means but a E ztexpense of low wage employees They are told to tighten their belts they have had to adjust to concretely lower standards of living And they have ac quiesced in the light of the emergency They are restive Friday the price of gasoline doubled and there was an astounding disappearance ixsmx of traffic in the streets The labor unions have been purged of those thought to be terrorists the university student population the rm armed services and all the arms of governemt- Terrorists publications and public announcements have changed markedly though bombings and assassination continue he Vidella is considered to be a moderate by nearly everyone and his is supported by the Army The Navy and Air Force are thought to be hardli rightists and said to be pushing him very hard It is widely believed that if they push to gard he will simply step aside and be replaced by someone who is a complete tyrant person with whom we spoke said grudgingly that there was simply nobody else on the scene iizt could run the country They deplored military government but saw no alternative to it at this time But uneasiness grows The number of disappearance continues to increase The governme disclaims all knowledge of the whereabouts of these peOple It looks a though they're going after the thinkers professors writers politica inclined people who dare no matter how modestly to dissent a or a magnurn 4 might dissent or are thought to disagree As the numbers grown as more and more parents begin to fear for the safety of their adolescent children as increasing numbers of ordinary citizens are rounded up detained for 24 to 48 hours and abused while in detention the magic number approaches and suddenly the government will find itself without support Then the game is over and Argentina has civil war The junta is in a race with time If it can solidify its financial pos tion and begin to restore a feeling of prosperity and if it can gather its courage and institute the rule of law -there is hope It is time for a bold gesture it must begin to act like a confident government Emu am J 4 HUMAN RIGHTS From the highest level the government knows what it is doing and it is deliberately and systematically violating human rights It believes that it is doing this in the name of human rights It believes there is no alternative It is willing to lie and sax say that it is not policy it concedes plaintively that of course one must expect ex- cesses at lower and policmen have seen their com- rades killed and wounded by terrorists and it is only human that they will not deal gently with savage outlwas The government method is to pick people up and take them to military installations There the detainees are tortured with water electricit and disintegration methods Those thought to be salvageal 'are sent to regular jails and prisons where the process is continued on a more subtle level Those found to be incorrigible are murdered and dumped on garbage heaps or streetcorners but more often are given arms with live ammunition grenades bombs and put into automobiles and sent out of the compound to be killed on the road in what is then reported publicly to be a shootout or response to an attack on some military installation The government has made a few weak gestures toward making things look better The triple h described as an organization of outraged citizen reacting on behalf of society to the actions of the terrorists and itself a terrorist outfit has been diSbanded It is widely believed that these were members of the armed forces and police and not ordinary citizens at all The GOA Human Rights director told me that they head had been removed and it no longer functioned When I as what happened to the head he replied that it had disappeared No person in Argentina is safe The government might pluck anyone from day to day life and agt ncertain future The terrorists might begin a shootout on any street or bomb any place The Catholic Church is torn with dissent among its bishops The Papal Nuncio verges on despair The Permanant Assembly on Human Rights gath- ers more and moss courage as the situation worsens The human rights situation in Argentina is ghastly 1 THE PRESS There are many newspapers They Operate under a system of self censorship They too support the government as the only possible way to get the country back to some state of normalcy But the con- tinuing disappearances chafe Journalists disappear Papers are sometimes siezed and penalized with a few days suspension of publi- cation The B A Herald an English language newspaper is the boldest supporter of human rights though not too bold Opinion is con rsistant in its support of human rights by has paid the price of loss of advertising revenue suspension of publication disappearance of its journalists Its editor and published belaieves that he and the paper are on the brink of government istigated bad troubles WHAT I TOLD THEM That the commitment of the President was the commitment of the American people and its Congress and the podicy of the Government of the United States That it springs from the President s personal and professional principles and the feelings and wishes of the American people I ac knowledge our own imperfections speak of the beginings of the U S the UN Decalration of Human Rights the force of law through interna- tional treaties and the mandates of the Congress I I asknexed acknowledge the lack of grace in some of our announcements Explain the feeling of American citizens who work hard for their money pay high taxes and feel as sense of revulsion when it seems that their money is going to governments which violate the rights of human beings Then how the Congress works so that_they understand how human rights laws come into being Sometimes talk about pending legislation Acknowledge the serious nature of their problems am sympathetic to their problems inhixhxaxa Say that we do not want to tell them what to do Deplore that so little is known about terrorism and that we muct quickly learn more Tell them they're strong enough to institute the rule of law explain the advantages of uniformed agents of the govern- ment arresting peeple with a paper stating the charges writing the name in a book at the police station which is open to all etc etc And say that is a possiblity That they have 2 serious problems one internal and the other with world opinion Wish that more people would come so that there could indeed be a wider understanding of their prob lems promote continued dialouge at all levels Never concede that they are a not violating human rights Impress the serious nature of our concern and the fact that it is here to THE U S MILITARY OUR INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES Through these zgencies the United States government is sending a dangerous and double message If this continues it will subert our entire human rights policy - It is widely believed by our military and intelligence services that the human rights policy emmanates only from the Department of State is a political device and one with a short life due to its wide im- practicality aul he naivete and ignorance of individuals in the Ad- ministration and to the irresponisble headline grabbing of members of Congress This is the ginie signal problem a our government has in human rights The only h0pe we have to gain support for our intiatives and to advance the cause of human rights is to make sure that govern ments understand that we are serious and committed to our human rights policies If they believe and are told by U S government officials that we are not serious and committed they are going to wait us g GE-ek Lt uwt wkt UJQ The intelligence services of the Southern Cone have met and have a clear program of helping each other Exagnyan Secret police roam the world with great freedom rounding up the people they want within the buddy system of co-operation with brother professionals In Latin America the system works with near perfection Iv Hut dl E 10 REPRESENTATIVES OF OTHER GOVERNMENTS After an evening with the Canadian Ambassador and two of his junior staff members the Ambassador said that all of the Canadian Ambassa- dors of Latin America would be meeting this week As a consequence of our talk he wasxpxapaxx had changed his mind about our policy and their policy of private representations only and would carry that message to the meeting where he expected it to have results At a dinner party for middle level officers of several countries the I explained our motives the seriousness of the policy and the hopes we had for growing co-oPeration with other nations The English- officer present called the next day to say that he had completely rewritten his report to London because he now believed that it was human rights for the sake of human rights rather than a gimmick to 'gain advantage over the Soviets ll REC OMMENDATIONS That the President as Commander in Chief sixthexkxmedx sxxes _send a message to the all branches of the armed forces stating unequivocally the human rights policy of the U S government which outlines the duty of the military in this regard That the President instruct the C I A the F B I and all other intelligence agencies on the human rights policy of the U S government That courses in HUman Rights be designed and implemented at once in all service academies military training institutes purely domestic as well as and intelligence schools including all whisk those with internatio participants That those members of the armed forces and intelligence services who cannot comply with U S government policies on human rights be immediately separated from their services 12- RECOMMENDATIONS FRO ARGENTINA l- The next Ambassador should be fully briefed on the human rights problems of the country and a staunch supporter of U S policy regarding human rights This person must be exceptionally strong and completely versed in the politics and history of Argentina Rxx X i 2 We must keep a constant flow of visits between the two countries - particularly of administration officials who will incorporate our human rights concerns into all phases of relations