E1472 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks July 1, 1999 A TRIBUTE TO THE RECIPIENTS documents to yesterday's release. I applaud that the United States knew during and OF THE 1999 ‘‘TRAIL BLAZING the Administration for releasing yesterday's after the coup about the Chilean military’s FOR CHILDREN’’ AWARDS WEEK- murderous crackdown on leftists. documents but I strongly urge them to con- On Sept. 21, 1973, 10 days after the coup, END AND THE RASHEED A. WAL- tinue to release documents on a timely basis one C.I.A. report said: ‘‘The prevailing mood LACE FOUNDATION from all branches of the Administration, includ- among the Chilean military is to use the cur- ing the CIA. rent opportunity to stamp out all vestiges of The search for the truth is important not Communism in Chile for good. Severe repres- HON. ROBERT A. BRADY sion is planned. The military is rounding up OF PENNSYLVANIA only for the historic case against General Pinochet, but for Americans too who wish to large numbers of people, including students IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES and leftists of all descriptions, and interning know what role their government may have Thursday, July 1, 1999 them.’’ played in a violent period of history and how The report noted that ‘‘300 students were Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I we may avoid playing such a role in the fu- killed in the technical university when they rise today to honor both the Rasheed A. Wal- ture. refused to surrender’’ in Santiago, the cap- lace Foundation, host of the 1999 ``Trail Blaz- The New York Times notes also that not ital, and that the military was considering a ing for Children'' Award, and the recipients of only will the documents help Spain, but that plan to kill ‘‘50 leftists’’ for every leftist sniper still operating. the named award. Both the recipients and the Spain has already helped provide information In a summary of the situation in Chile a Rasheed A. Wallace Foundation have been in- to the United States that might help the Jus- month after the coup, a C.I.A. report dated strumental in improving the lives of children tice Department complete its still open case Oct. 12 found that ‘‘security considerations throughout Philadelphia. In addition, I would against those responsible for the assassina- still have first priority with the junta.’’ also like to extend congratulations to the Po- tion of Chilean exile Orlando Letelier and his ‘‘The line between people killed during at- lice Athletic League of Philadelphia and Mr. American assistant Ronnie Karpen Moffitt in tacks on security forces and those captured and executed immediately has become in- Sonny Hill of the Sonny Hill Basketball League Washington, D.C. in 1976. It is widely be- creasingly blurred,’’ the report continued. It on their outstanding accomplishments to youth lieved, but has not yet been proven, that Gen- said the junta ‘‘has launched a campaign to in the Philadelphia community. eral Pinochet personally ordered Letelier's improve its international image; the regime Central to the focus of the Rasheed A. Wal- execution. shows no sign of relenting in its determina- lace Foundation has been ``Enhancing the The documents released yesterday further tion to deal swiftly and decisively with dis- Quality of Life for All People.'' The commit- demonstrate that the United States was well sidents, however, and the bloodshed goes on.’’ ment of the foundation is seen each year dur- aware of atrocities taking place during and However, a C.I.A. report dated March 21, ing its Annual Coat Drive for the Homeless after the coup and that despite this knowledge 1974, insisted that ‘‘the junta has not been and a series of contributions targeting youth the Nixon Administration sought to maintain bloodthirsty.’’ recreation programs in the area. Such chari- close ties to General Pinochet. ‘‘The Government has been the target of table efforts have been seen throughout his ``U.S. Releases Files on Abuses in Pinochet numerous charges related to alleged viola- professional basketball career. Era,'' The New York Times, July 1, 1999, tions of human rights,’’ it said. ‘‘Many of the Page A11. accusations are merely politically inspired The Rasheed A. Wallace Foundation is truly falsehoods or gross exaggerations.’’ blazing trails for young people and the less ``Documents Show U.S. Knew Pinochet An estimated 5,000 people were killed in fortunate in Philadelphia. I salute Rasheed on Planned Crackdown in '73,'' The Washington the coup, including Chile’s democratically his charitable contributions to our great city Post, July 1, 1999, Page A23. elected President, Salvador Allende, whose and give my best wishes for continued suc- [From the New York Times, July 1, 1999] body was recovered from the bombed re- mains of the Presidential Palace, which had cess to both the foundation and the award re- U.S. RELEASES FILES ON ABUSES IN PINOCHET been attacked by military jets. cipients. ERA Thousands more died or were tortured at f (By Philip Shenon) the hands of the military during General Pinochet’s 17-year rule. Last week, the Chil- NEW REVELATIONS ON GENERAL WASHINGTON, June 30—The C.I.A. and other Government agencies had detailed reports of ean College of Medicine reported that at PINOCHET AND THE UNITED widespread human rights abuses by the Chil- least 200,000 people had been tortured by STATES ean military, including the killings and tor- Government forces at the time. ture of leftist dissidents, almost imme- Under the Nixon Administration, the Cen- HON. GEORGE MILLER diately after a 1973 right-wing coup that the tral Intelligence Agency mounted a full-tilt United States supported, according to once- covert operation to keep Dr. Allende from OF CALIFORNIA secret Government documents released taking office and, when that failed, under- IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES today. took subtler efforts to undermine him. The Thursday, July 1, 1999 The 5,800 documents which the Clinton Ad- C.I.A.’s director of operations at the time, ministration decided last year to declassify Thomas Karamessines, later told Senate in- Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. and make public could provide evidence to vestigators that those efforts ‘‘never really Speaker, as my colleagues will recall, I have support the prosecution of Gen. Augusto ended.’’ worked for several years now, along with Mr. Pinochet, who seized power in the coup and The C.I.A. has never provided a full expla- nation of what it knew about human rights CONYERS of Michigan and others here, to have was arrested in Britain last October. Spain is abuses carried out by the Chilean military the United States declassify documents con- seeking his extradition, charging that his junta had kidnapped, tortured and killed during and after the coup. But internal Gov- cerning Gen. Augusto Pinochet's 1973 military ernment documents released since have coup in Chile and its aftermath and what the Spanish citizens. The documents were released as Clinton shown that the agency’s knowledge of the vi- United States knew about Pinochet's connec- Administration officials confirmed that the olence was extensive. The Clinton Administration announced tion to human rights violations and acts of ter- Justice Department has been conferring with last December that, as a result of the arrest rorism both in Chile and abroad. Spanish authorities, in part to exchange in- of General Pinochet, it would declassify A Spanish court is trying to extradite Gen- formation about General Pinochet, including some of the documents. eral Pinochet to stand trial in Spain for inter- his possible involvement in the 1976 car- The Administration described the move as national human rights violations. The docu- bomb assassination in Washington of the an attempt at Government accountability, ments held by the United States are expected Chilean Ambassador to the United States, and it was the first sign that the United to shed important light on Pinochet's activities Orlando Letelier, and a colleague, Ronni States intended to cooperate in the criminal Moffitt, of the Institute for Policy Studies. case being built against General Pinochet. that will help clarify his personal role in this Because the Justice Department considers bloody period of history. The vast majority of the documents re- the Letelier investigation to be ongoing, the leased today—5,000 of the 5,800—came from Yesterday, the first significant release of Government withheld documents related to the files of the State Department. The C.I.A. documents took place. I commend to my col- the murders, officials said today. released 490 documents, the Federal Bureau leagues the articles below, from the New York Historians and human rights advocates, of Investigation, 100, and the Pentagon, 60. Times and the Washington Post concerning who were busily trying to sort through the Human rights groups said they were sur- the 5,800 documents released at the National nearly 20,000 pages released today by the Na- prised by the paucity of documents declas- Archives. As you will note from the articles tional Archives, agreed that the documents sified by the C.I.A. did not offer startling revelations about ‘‘The C.I.A. has the most to offer but also below, it is suspected that there are still many American ties to the Chilean junta under the most to hide,’’ said Peter Kornbluh of more relevant documents that have not been General Pinochet. the National Security Archive, a public-in- released, particularly from the Central Intel- Instead, they said, the documents provide terest clearing-house for declassified docu- ligence Agency, which only contributed 490 rich new detail to support the long-held view ments. The documents that were released CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks E1473 today, he said, ‘‘show that the C.I.A. was October in London in response to a Spanish against Pinochet. Yet the embassy expressed well-apprised of the vicious nature of the extradition request on charges of alleged irritation over being asked to write ‘‘still an- Chilean regime.’’ human rights violations committed during other human rights report’’ on Chile and The public affairs office at the C.I.A. did his 17-year rule. The extradition trial is noted the ‘‘strong and varied views’’ inside not respond to phone calls early this scheduled for September. the mission. evening. The redacted documents made public yes- In its own report, the embassy military The documents released today date from terday cover the years of the worst excesses group complained: ‘‘We [the United States] 1973 to 1978, ‘‘the period of the most flagrant of the Chilean military government, from do not appear to be visionary enough to see human rights abuses in Chile,’’ said James 1973 to 1978, when at least 3,000 people were the total picture; we focus only upon the rel- Foley, a State Department spokesman. killed or ‘‘disappeared’’ at the hands of gov- atively few violation cases which occur and The White House said in a statement that ernment forces. Additional documents—in- continue to hound the government about ‘‘a limited number of documents have not cluding some from 1968 to 1973 covering the past events while shrugging off dem- been released at this time, primarily because election of Allende, a Marxist, as president onstrated improvements.’’ they relate to an ongoing Justice Depart- and the events leading up to the coup and his f ment investigation’’ of the murder of Mr. death—are scheduled for later release. The documents are primarily status Letelier and Ms. Moffitt. WARTIME VIOLATION OF ITALIAN Administration officials, speaking on con- overviews and intelligence reports on the sit- dition that they not be identified, said that uation inside Chile, and add little of sub- AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES ACT the inquiry was active, in part as a result of stance to scholarly and congressional re- information available to the United States views of the period, as well as investigations HON. RICK LAZIO conducted by the democratically elected from Spanish prosecutors seeking to try OF NEW YORK General Pinochet. Chilean governments that followed Pinochet. In April, they said, a senior criminal pros- Nor are the documents likely to be useful in IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ecutor from the Justice Department, Mark the Pinochet extradition case. Thursday, July 1, 1999 Richard, traveled to Spain to meet with For example, information concerning the Spanish authorities to discuss whether 1976 car bomb assassination in Washington of Mr. LAZIO. Mr. Speaker, late in the night of Washington and Madrid could swap informa- former Chilean diplomat and Pinochet oppo- December 7, 1941, only hours after the Japa- tion in their investigations. Prosecutors here nent Orlando Letelier and his assistant nese attack on Pearl Harbor, Filippo Molinari have long been interested in whether there is Ronni Karpen Moffitt were left out, the heard noises outside his San Jose home. evidence that General Pinochet or his depu- State Department said, because aspects of the case are still being investigated by the When Molinari went to investigate, he found ties ordered the murders in Washington be- Justice Department. three policemen at his front door. They told cause Mr. Letelier was an opponent of the Human rights organizations commended him that by order of President Roosevelt, he Pinochet regime. the Clinton administration for the release must come with them. The killings here are believed to have been but expressed disappointment at its selective part of an orchestrated campaign of violence Molinari had served in the Italian army dur- nature. Peter Kornbluh of the National Secu- known within the Pinochet Government as ing World War I, fighting alongside American rity Archives, who is compiling information troops. He was well-known within his commu- Operation Condor, in which opponents of the for a book about Pinochet, said of the re- junta were targeted for assassination in and leased documents: ‘‘The CIA has much to nity as a door-to-door salesman for the Italian out of Chile. offer here, and much to hide. They clearly language newspaper L'Italia. He was the A State Department document dated Aug. are continuing to hide this history.’’ founding member of the San Francisco Sons 18, 1976, only a month before Mr. Letelier’s Embassy reporting from Santiago reflected of Italy. And now, he was under arrest. Shortly murder, shows that Secretary of State Henry the Nixon administration’s support of the thereafter, Molinari would be shipped to a gov- A. Kissinger and other senior department of- 1973 coup, although the administration con- ficials were warned of ‘‘rumors’’ that Oper- ernment detention center in Fort Missoula, sistently denied helping to plan or carry it Montana. ation Condor might ‘‘include plans for the out. In late September that year, the em- assassination of subversives, politicians and bassy reported, the new Pinochet govern- Filippo Molinari's story is not unique. He prominent figures both within the national ment appealed for American advisers to help was one of hundreds of Italian Americans ar- borders of certain Southern Cone countries to set up detention camps for the thousands rested in the first days of the war and sent to and abroad.’’ of Chileans it had arrested. internment centers or excluded from Cali- Reed Brody of Human Rights Watch, who Worried about the ‘‘obvious political prob- fornia. In 1942 over ten thousand Italian Amer- unearthed the document, said it ‘‘shows the lems’’ such assistance might cause, the em- icans across the nation were forcibly evacu- United States was very aware of the terrorist bassy suggested in a cable to the State De- activities that General Pinochet and his col- partment that it instead ‘‘may wish to con- ated from their homes and relocated away leagues were engaging in there, as well as sider feasibility of material assistance in from coastal areas and military bases. Addi- abroad.’’ form of tents, blankets, etc. which need not tionally, some 600,000 Italian nationals, most be publicly and specifically earmarked for of whom had lived in the United States for [From the Washington Post, July 1, 1999] prisoners.’’ decades, were deemed ``enemy aliens'' and DOCUMENTS SHOW U.S. KNEW PINOCHET Ambassador David H. Popper wrote the subject to strict travel restrictions, curfews, PLANNED CRACKDOWN IN ’73 State Department in early 1974 that in con- and seizures of personal property. versations with the new government ‘‘I have (By Karen DeYoung and Vernon Loeb) invariably taken the line that the U.S. gov- These so-called ``enemy aliens'' were re- Days after the bloody 1973 coup that over- ernment is in sympathy with, and supports, quired to carry photo-bearing ID booklets at all threw Chilean President Salvador Allende, the Government of Chile, but that our abil- times, forbidden to travel beyond a five mile the CIA mission in Chile reported to Wash- ity to be helpful . . . is hampered by [U.S] radius of their homes, and required to turn in ington that the new government of Gen. Congressional and media concerns . . . with any shortwave radios, cameras, flashlights Augusto Pinochet planned ‘‘severe repres- respect to alleged violations of human rights and firearms in their possession. In California sion’’ against its opponents. A month later, here.’’ the agency noted that ‘‘the line between peo- In a December 1974 secret cable, the agency 52,000 Italian residents were subjected to a ple killed during attacks on security forces reported on information it had received con- curfew. In Monterey, Boston, and elsewhere and those captured and executed imme- cerning a briefing in which Chile’s interior Italian American fishermen were grounded. diately has become increasingly blurred.’’ minister and the head of the Directorate of Many fishermen who were naturalized citizens The CIA cables are among nearly 6,000 National Intelligence noted that the junta had their boats impounded by the navyÐall newly declassified government documents had detained 30,568 people, of whom more this while half a million Italian Americans were released yesterday related to human rights than 8,000 still were being held. The two also serving, fighting, and dying in the U.S. armed and political violence in Chile during the agreed that an unspecified number of people forces during World War II. first five years of Pinochet’s rule. were being secretly held because ‘‘they are In addition to indications that the CIA and part of sensitive, ongoing security investiga- It has long been a historical misconception the U.S. Embassy in Santiago had detailed tions.’’ that President Roosevelt's infamous Executive information on the extent of repression and The Pinochet government never publicly Order 9066 applied only to Japanese and Jap- rights abuses there soon after the coup, the acknowledged secret detentions. According anese-Americans living in the western states. documents provide new insights into dis- to Chilean government reports in 1991 and Clearly this was not the case. There is another agreements within President Richard M. 1996, a total of 2,095 extrajudicial executions chapter to this sad story, ``Una Storia Nixon’s administration over policy toward and death under torture took place during Segreta''Ða secret story. The bill I am intro- Pinochet’s Chile. the military regime, and 1,102 people dis- The Clinton administration agreed to re- appeared at the hands of government forces ducing today is an attempt to start setting the view and release selected documents from and are presumed dead. record straight. the State and Defense departments, the CIA By July 1977, U.S. policy under the new The Wartime Violation of Italian American and the FBI after Pinochet was arrested last Carter administration had turned sharply Civil Liberties Act calls on the Department of