A word from our president: In the fall of 1974, I was kidnapped by the Brazilian army in Recife, Brazil and held in their torture chambers for 17 days. After the US government, through the person of the US Consul in Recife, Richard Brown, supported by the US Ambassador in Brasilia, John Crimmins, made strenous protests over the mistreatment of a US citizen, I was eventually released and expelled from Brazil and told never to return. I was never charged with any crimes, I was simply "disappeared" into the Brazilian gulag, where I was tortured by men who bragged to me that they had been trained at the School of the Americas, then in Panama, today at Fort Benning, Georgia. The reason for my kidnapping--I was not "arrested"--was my close association with the then-Archbishop of Recife and Olinda, Dom Helder Camara. He was regarded by the Brazilian military as their number one enemy in Brazil because of his constant denunciations of their use of torture and murder as a way of staying in power. The security forces of the military government regularly kidnapped and tortured people who worked closely with Dom Helder. When I returned to the US in October of 1974, I published a two-page article in Time magazine (November 18, 1974) and then on December 11, I testified before the US Congress (Don Fraser’s Committee on International Organizations and Movements of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs) on December 11, 1974. I think some of my remarks in that testimony are quite pertinent at this moment in our history when our own government has been defending the use of torture in our struggle with terrorism. I said:
“Torture brutalizes and dehumanizes not only those who are tortured but those who torture, those who are intimidated by the torture of others, and those who try to ignore the fact that torture exists.
“It dehumanizes those who are tortured by treating them as less than human and, in many cases, by forcing them into less-than-human feelings and often into less-than-human acts. If one is forced to betray friends, companions and family through torture, as many are, the psychological and spiritual damage may be irreparable, quite apart from the permanent physical damage that often results.
“It dehumanizes those who torture. In addition to the psychopathology induced and encouraged in those who practice torture, persons and governments who resort to torture, for whatever motives, betray their social contract with their fellow humans and effectively secede from the human community.
“It dehumanizes those who are intimidated. Churchmen who cease to proclaim the gospel in its fullness out of fear; students who cease to make the search for truth their vocation out of fear; journalists who give the public less than the truth for fear of reprisal; workers who, through fear of repression, are not allowed to organize to defend their interests; politicians who can only rubber-stamp authoritarian proposals from dictatorial regimes, for fear of the consequences of more independent, conscience-led actions—all these and in fact the whole community of man share in the dehumanization caused by torture.
“Torture dehumanizes those who try to ignore it, saying it is an “internal affair” or a passing phase. Such indifference dries up the wellsprings of human sympathy and compassion and breaks the social contract of the world community to be concerned for the whole family of man. Civilization and freedom are not built, and cannot be maintained, by those who assume the posture of indifference.” Human rights have long been considered part of the central "value system" of the people of the United States. This value has been one of the most-admired characteristics of the United States for more than two centuries. Today, perhaps more than at any time in our history, it is crucial that the people of the United States make it clear to our government, and to the peoples of the world, that we do not believe in torture and we do not accept it in any form."
In this section we highlight problems in the area of human rights in the hemisphere as reported by respected human rights organizations such as Amnesty International [AI], the Washington Office on Latin America [WOLA], the Latin America Working Group [LAWG], the School of the Americas Watch [SOAW], etc. We will also offer commentary from time to time, such as the Op-Ed piece written by our president last spring on torture. New Book Traces Ground-breaking Human Rights Case: UN Denounces Situation of Prisoners at Guantanomo Bay: (See UN Press Release Feb. 4, 2005) We will make every effort to keep this section updated every week and hope you will find it worth returning to regularly. We will appreciate suggestions for links to places that support solidarity in the Americas. |