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also!he Big Brother that assumes responsibility for systematically pointing out !hose states which do not duly comply with !he dispositions in this document In the las! decade, greater emphasis has been given to this policy of denunciaiion. Nevertheless, !he supportof dictatorial regimes in Chile,Argentina, Guatemala and El Salvador, hostilities towards Cuba and Nicaragua, in addition to the recen! invasion of Panama, have all damaged !he "champion of liberty" image that the U.S. government has been promoting for more !han thirteen years. This controversia! topic is the subject of the most recen! book writtenby Gregorio Selser, journalist and researcher for theCenter of Latín American Studies (CELA) of the Political and Social Sciences Facultyof the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). LaViolación de los Derechos Humanosen los Estados Unidos (The Violationof Human Aightsin the United States) analyzes the performance of severa! U.S. administrations (bolh Democratic and Republican) that alternatad their declarations on !he rigorous defense of human rights with the daily, premeditated violation of these same rights. Basad on an exhaustiva collection of data, it reveals '1he dark side" of the U.S. political discourse and demonstrates that the U.S. ignores infractions of ''friendly evidently even including false thought of the Carter democracias" and on !heother crimes, and who have been administration as the beginning of hand, points with an accusatory judgad and condemnad by a new political era of true respect finger to similar illicit acts prejudiced, partial courts. Aeading for individual rights. Aefutations whenever they are committedby this book makes the reader infer a were not long in the wailing. Eastem European countries or by more serious conclusion: in !he Ultra-conservativagroups leftistregimens in Latín America U.S. ali men are equal before !he considerad the campaign In his research, Gregorio Selser law, although sometimes sorne detrimental to lhe high priority gives specificexamples of are more equal !han others. interests of nationalsecurity, while profoundcontradictions in U.S. The renewed concern for leftistgroups blamad the THE domestic and foreign policy, human rights in Washington was campaign for ignoring violations of beginning with !he blatant U.S. due in partto !he increasing rights that occurradin its own SPECK IN d isregardfor !he decision of !he unpopularity of the Vietnam war, terrilory. Presiden! James Carter lntemational Court of the Hague the Watergate scandal and !he had to admil that"America also that obligad the U.S. to indemnify discovery of plans to assassinate had human rights problems". 11 ANOTHER'S Nicaragua for economic damage leadérs opposing statepolicy, was the firstofficial declaralion causad by mining its ports, damaging theimage of Moral that confirmad what !hewhole EYE imposing trade sanctions and Guide that the U.S. had world knew: the espionage financingcounter-revolutionary maintained since World War 11. servicesof the FBI and the CIA groups. Later he comments on !he The only possible way to remady abusad lheir authority. Aeports awkward situatíon of hundrads of this situation was the activationcf were made known on unjustifiad activists fromgroups opposing !he a campaign in favor of detentions, wire-taps and government when they had !he humanilarianprincipies that did authorities dedicatad to "insolence" to demand their rights. not evolve solely in the field of intimidating organizations and Above ali, Selser destroys the discourse, but also in the realm of ind ividualswhose only crime was concrete events. The interruplion Since the 1948 promulgation of myth of freedom of lhought and of to be in dissent with the state's association in a country where of militaryaid to Uruguay and polilics. Those suspected of !he Universal Human Rights political prisoners and prisoners of Argentina, as well as measures of "subversion" included pacifist Declaration, !he U.S. government conscience do exis� who have economic pressure against Chile, organizations, religious groups has becomenot only one of its been detained through legal tricks countries accused of genocide, and workers' unions. most enthusiastic promoters, but for crimes still unproven and renewed hopes among !hose who Any person who did not agree 61 BOOKS with the opinion disseminatedby U.S. territorywere reportad. In the government in the mass spite of the Unitad Nations' mediawas a potentialcriminal. condemnation of "military The paranoic activitiesof theU.S. interventionin Panama", the U.S. govemment formore than a govemment continues to assault decadeservad as a context for Cuba How many more such the researchpresentad by condemnationsremain? GregorioSelser in his book. The majorttyof LaViolación de los DerechosHumanoe en LaViolación de los Derechos los Es1adoeUnidos contains a Humanoeen los Estados detailedaccount of the treabnent Unidos that leadersof NativaAmerican (TheViolation of Human Rights in organizations, PuertoRican the UnitedStates) independencesupporters, Gregorio Selser Hispanic minorities,workers' Publisher: Mestiza, Mexico 1989. unions and anti-racialsupporters havereceived on the part oflhe Republican governmentsof Ronald Reagan and curren! Jorge Arturo Borja president George Bush, administrations thathave been characterizad by a retrogression from theintemational level of human rights policies. The invasion of Granada, lhe bombing of Libya, the harassment of Nicaragua and lheinvasion of Panama demostratethis. On a domesticlevel, its procedures have not variad either.Cases such asthat of Vietnam vetaran BryanWilson, intentionally run over by a trainloaded with munitions when he participatad in a civil protest that triad to block the convoy's passage, or thecase of lheNativa American leader Leonard Peltier, unjustly accusad of murder and condemnad to lite imprisonment, illustrate unequivocallythe type of relation thatthe govemment reservesfor those who actively opposethe state's cause, even when peaceful protest and civil disobedicence are rights guaranteed by the U.S. ConstiMion. Selser's bookcalls attention to an aspect ofter. ignorad by apologists of the U.S. system who criticize "totalitarian" regimes at length for exercising methods of control and socialrepression, perhaps less effective, evidently, than !hose appliad by their own govem.nent. Despite the effortsof institutions such as Freedom Now! thattry to unmask this policy of simulation, the judicial power continues to fabricatecrimes of political prisoners. In spite of the rise of the black movemen� the egalitarian dream of MartinLuther King vanishesbefore the racist nighbnare ofthe system. In splte of the supposedly good relations betweenMexico and the U.S., in one year more than 380 violations of the human rights of Mexicans in 62