Mar 05 2009
New Developments in Argentine Torture Survivor’s Case
Patricia Isasa is a survivor of torture who has been fighting to bring her torturers to justice for decades. Kidnapped in the months following the 1976 coup in her native Argentina at the age of 16, she was tortured and released two years later. Since then, as she pursues her case through the legal system in Argentina, Patricia has received death threats, been the focus of a documentary, and traveled to the US to join the annual demonstrations against the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia, where many of her torturers were trained. Uprising has been covering her story since December 2006. Patricia has returned to the US on a speaking tour in advance of her case going to trial this summer. I caught up with her at KPFK last Friday when she was in town for a speaking event.
GUEST: Patricia Isasa, Argentine torture survivor
2 Responses to “New Developments in Argentine Torture Survivor’s Case”
Dishonesty is not becoming in reporting, so why make a claim such as “… School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia, where many of her torturers were trained?” Can you name one of those torturers? Can you tell whether he had any association with the school? Can you show relevance, if any did attend, between what he studied there and later crimes? I’m the public affairs officer at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, which replaced the Army school more than eight years ago. I have been a contributor to pacifica programs, commenting on the institute. I find it offensive that you blame US personnel for training illegal acts when you have no evidence whatsoever of that.
Sincerely,
Lee A. Rials
Public Affairs Officer
Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation
Lee A. Rials:
Leopoldo Galtieri and Roberto Viola are just two names of the many trainees.
If you want proof, start reading some books (Marguerite Feitlowitz’s “Lexicon of Terror” or Lesley Gill’s The School of the Americas: Military Training and Political Violence in the Americas), go to the National Security Archives and read declassified documents, and talk to former military officers in Argentina who will tell you that they gained higher rankings after attending SOA and learned their torture methods — which are systematic and characteristic.
WAKE UP!