Punto Final
On June 14, 2005, Argentine newspapers had on their covers the longest-awaited news, that which we had dreamed of so many times, and for which many Argentines had worked and had demonstrated since democracy was reinstituted: the news that the Supreme Court had finally found unconstitutional the laws of “due obedience” and “punto final.”
Here in Boston, inside the American bubble, obviously nobody knew anything about it. The NY Times didn’t cover the event and only the most progressive human rights websites were following the events in Argentina.
I printed the article and stuck it on my office door. Almost nobody noticed and those who did didn’t know anything about the years of struggle behind the news.
A few days later, the NY Times published an article that told how psychiatrists and psychologists in the Guantanamo Bay prison have been developing a new interrogation methodology for prisoners, seeking to increase their levels of stress and to take advantage of their fears and terrors in order to get more information. The goal is through psychological abuse to force prisoners to be more “collaborative.”
The news generated controversy about the ethical limits of those practices. Apparently the American Association of Psychiatry condemned the practices, calling on its members not to participate in such treatment, but the B.S.C.T. (Behavioral Science Consultation Team) is anonymous and is protected by the Army which is not willing to reveal who belongs to the group. Considering that, I doubt the Army is putting up any obstacles to these practices.
This news again made me think about the struggle for democracy and human rights in Argentina, about the many things that happened before the final declaration of unconstitutionality of the unfair laws that protected those who abused prisoners during the dirty war.
Didn’t people all over the globe want to punish those who physically and psychologically abused prisoners and excused their conduct as being designed to make the prisoners more collaborative?
Today the same abhorrent practices are being implemented in Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib in the name of the “war on terror.” Hundreds of people from diverse nationalities and ages are detainees in a legal limbo without access to any kind of court or lawyer or family.
Isn’t it time establish a stopping point — a “punto final” — for such treatment?
Here in Boston, inside the American bubble, obviously nobody knew anything about it. The NY Times didn’t cover the event and only the most progressive human rights websites were following the events in Argentina.
I printed the article and stuck it on my office door. Almost nobody noticed and those who did didn’t know anything about the years of struggle behind the news.
A few days later, the NY Times published an article that told how psychiatrists and psychologists in the Guantanamo Bay prison have been developing a new interrogation methodology for prisoners, seeking to increase their levels of stress and to take advantage of their fears and terrors in order to get more information. The goal is through psychological abuse to force prisoners to be more “collaborative.”
The news generated controversy about the ethical limits of those practices. Apparently the American Association of Psychiatry condemned the practices, calling on its members not to participate in such treatment, but the B.S.C.T. (Behavioral Science Consultation Team) is anonymous and is protected by the Army which is not willing to reveal who belongs to the group. Considering that, I doubt the Army is putting up any obstacles to these practices.
This news again made me think about the struggle for democracy and human rights in Argentina, about the many things that happened before the final declaration of unconstitutionality of the unfair laws that protected those who abused prisoners during the dirty war.
Didn’t people all over the globe want to punish those who physically and psychologically abused prisoners and excused their conduct as being designed to make the prisoners more collaborative?
Today the same abhorrent practices are being implemented in Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib in the name of the “war on terror.” Hundreds of people from diverse nationalities and ages are detainees in a legal limbo without access to any kind of court or lawyer or family.
Isn’t it time establish a stopping point — a “punto final” — for such treatment?
previously there was Unglued destiny
afterwards you have London commuting
El Senado aprobó 55 reformas a la Carta Magna de Pinochet. Facultando al presidente a destituir a comandantes de las FF.AA. [submitted on 14 Jul 05]
ESTO ME HIZO RECORDAR A LOS CONOCIDOS Y TRISTEMENTE RECORDADOS CCD´S DE ARGENTINA ( CENTROS CLANDESTINOS DE DETENCIONES ), DONDE SE TORTURABA ABUSABA Y ASESINABA IMPUNEMENTE VIOLANDOSE TODOS LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS DE LOS DETENIDOS POR CAUSAS POLÍTICAS, MUCHAS VECES INOCENTES O DETENIDOS POR RUMORES O SER “PORTADORES DE ROSTROS” DURANTE LA DICTADURA.
ESTE SISTEMA ESNCUBIERTO Y NO RECONOCIDO DURANTE NUESTRA DICTADURA POR LOS EJECUTORES DE LAS FUERZAS ARMADAS HOY SE SABE QUE FUERON ORGANIZADOS CON RECURSOS DE INTELIGENCIA PROPORCIONADOS POR LA CIA.
NO ES EXTRAÑO PARA NADA QUE ESTO ESTE PASANDO EN LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ELLOS SON LOS PADRES DE ESTAS ABERRACIONES.
AFORTUNADAMENTE ARGENTINA SE DESPIERTA, NO OLVIDA Y REIVINDICA LOS DERECHOS DE SUS VÍCTIMAS.
QUÉ VAMOS A HACER LOS ARGENTINOS?:
EN ESTA CUMBRE DE LAS AMERICAS DE NOVIEMBRE TODOS NOS UNIREMOS EN LA OTRA CUMBRE, LA DE LOS PUEBLOS PARA REPUDIAR ESTAS POLITICAS DE ABUSO DE LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS Y DE AUTODETERMINACION DE LOS PUEBLOS. [submitted on 03 Nov 05]