Chile Coup Haunts Wife of Reporter 30 Years Later (Charles Horman case)

[Say_What]

<clips>

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Joyce Horman has spent more than 30 years searching for the killer of her husband, murdered when Augusto Pinochet overthrew the Chilean government. And she wants to know when the U.S. government knew about it and how much it knew.

Her story of her journalist husband, Charles Horman, was turned into the haunting 1982 Costa-Gavras film "Missing" with Jack Lemmon. Sissy Spacek played Joyce Horman, the young, terrified but persistent, politically aware wife.

Chile last month announced the first indictment in connection with the 1973 slaying of Horman, whose bullet-ridden body eventually turned up in a morgue after he was hauled from his Santiago home several days following the coup.

The man indicted, accused of being an accomplice in the killing, was a retired security officer, Rafael Gonzalez, 64.

<http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/01/14/chile_coup_haunts_wife_of_reporter_30_years_later/>

[Judi Lynn]

1. It's a miracle any part of this story has gotten out

It's not like they didn't try to bury it with her husband.

(snip)Gonzales may have the answer as to why Horman was murdered. In the Washington Post interview he said an unidentified man he assumed was a U.S. agent was present when Chilean officials made the decision to kill Horman.(snip)

At some point these people all decided it was going to be just fine if they acted like monsters to their fellow men and women. This was a choice they made. They've lived all these years with the sounds of screams and shameful, evil familiarity with their victems' grief, dispair, and suffering as they took their leave of a world which allows monsters to simply destroy others for their political beliefs, or, in some cases, simply because they "know too much."

It doesn't cheapen the victems, although it seems that way. It turns their torturers into pure filth, and they live on, surrounded by their friends and family, sometimes even, as in the case of Felix Rodriguez, wearing trophies stollen from the victems, for bragging rights for the rest of their evil lives.

~ ~ ~ "Justice comes late but justice comes," Munoz predicted. ~ ~ ~

[Say_What]

2. Horman declassified docs and WP background on Gonzalez case

Have to admire Joyce Horman--she's been at this for more than 30 years. I've read interviews with her on Democracy Now. I hope that she does receive justice along with the thousands of other victim's families who are themselves victims.

<clips>

DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Washington, D.C.

August 25, 1976

TO: ARA - Mr. Shlaudeman

THROUGH: ARA - Ambassador Ryan

FROM: ARA/BC - R.V. Fimbres / R.S. Driscoll / W.V. Robertson

SUBJECT: Charles Horman Case.

This case remains bothersome. The connotations for the Executive are not good. In the Hill, academic community, the press, and the Horman family the intimations are of negligence on our part, or worse, complicity in Horman's death. (While the focus of this memo is on Horman, the same applies to the case of Frank Teruggi.)

We have the responsibility:

-- categorically to refute such innuendos in defense of U.S. officials;

-- to proceed against involved U.S. officials if this is warranted.

Without further thorough investigation we are in a position to do neither. At the moment we do not have a coherent account of what happened (see attached "Gleanings"). That is why we believe we should continue to probe.

Based on what we have, we are persuaded that:

-- The GOC sought Horman and felt threatened enough to order his immediate execution. The GOC might have believed this American could be killed without negative fall-out from the USG {U.S. government}.

There is some circumstantial evidence to suggest:

-- U.S. intelligence may have played an unfortunate part in Horman's death. At best,

http://www.namebase.org/foia/ch04.html

---

Progress in '73 murder in Chile
1st indictment could lead to new information about CIA

...Horman's death has been a mystery, and there were murmurs that a CIA agent was present when the order was given to kill him. On Wednesday, Chilean Judge Jorge Zepeda indicted Rafael Agustin Gonzalez Verdugo, 64, who reportedly made that allegation. Zepeda alleged that Gonzalez has vital information about Horman's execution and had perjured himself in earlier testimony in Chilean and U.S. courts.

Joyce Horman's attorney, Sergio Corvalan, said in an interview Friday in Santiago, that he expects more indictments shortly. He said Gonzalez might be able to identify U.S. Embassy officials at the time of the coup who may have falsely denied knowing anything about Horman's death.

...Peter Kornbluh, author of the recently published book "The Pinochet File," based largely on recently declassified U.S. government documents, devotes much of a chapter to Gonzalez, who retired from the armed forces two years ago. He cites June 1976 reports in The Washington Post and on CBS News in which Gonzalez told the reporters he translated Charles Horman's English into Spanish for the Chilean army intelligence officials who held him. He said an American, most likely a CIA agent, was present during Horman's interrogation and when the order was given to kill Horman, who was snatched from his home Sept. 17, six days into the coup.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/observer/news/7481764.htm

[RainDog]

5. If a CIA officer was present, he should be executed

...and if a CIA officer was present, Kissinger and all the shits who supported Pinochet should be imprisoned w/o parole, their goods should be confiscated and should be distributed to all who lost family members under Pinochet.

It makes me sick that Pinochet gets off on mental deterioration. That hasn't stopped George Bush from executed innocent men in Texas.

[0007]

8. Excellent point!

...and...and the administration had balls to appoint Henry Kissinger to the 911 investigation. Henry heard the early cries and bailed. We all know now that Thomas Kean is top dog shill for the cabal.

"Now you would think that being a business partner of the brother in law and alleged financier of "Enemy No. 1" would be considered a bona fide "conflict of interest", particularly when your mandate --as part of the 9/11 Commission's work-- is to investigate "Enemy No. 1".

http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO212A.html

We have an Iran/Contra convict as ambassador to the Union Nations in John Negroponte.

Take time and read this well written piece on John Negroponte.

http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=John_Negroponte

It is not too long, and it is interesting.

[David Zephyr]

3. Great Post and Graphic, Say_What

Anyone familiar with Kissinger's orchestration of the murder of President Allende and the overthrow of his democratically elected government along with the holocaust that followed in Chile should be pushing for an international trial of this mass murderer and war criminal.

When I was As fate would have it, I showed up at the bus station in Arequipa, Peru to board for my scheduled trek to Santiago, Chile the day of the coup. With no busses allowed to enter Chile, I made a change of travel plans and took the train from Arequipa up over the Andes and then traveled by boat across Lago Titicaca into Bolivia's altiplano. I was 21 years old.

The following year, I made a terrible mistake by traveling from Argentina into Chile. I had shoulder length hair, my guitar and my backpack with leftist books. I naively thought my American Passport would protect me. Fortunately, I was traveling with another American boy and not alone.

From the moment we checked in at Hotel Carrera there on la Plaza de la Constitución across from the Palacio de la Moneda where Allende was murdered, we were followed. Not tailed from a distance, but blatantly followed by pairs of men who would walk so close to us whereever we went that we could at times feel their breaths on our necks. Most foolishly, my friend and I would speak loudly amongst ourselves about Nixon and our hero, Che Guevara knowing we would get a rise out of these men.

Being young and full of piss and vinegar, we had our taxi stop on the way to Vina del Mar from Santiago so that I could take photographs of a prison. Well, that's got to be one of the dumbest things I ever did for just minutes after the poor taxi driver started back up again, we were stopped by a number of police in four police cars. I had to surrender my Rolei 35mm camera. My friend was furious with me and it, shall we say, soured our trip to Vina del Mar.

While in Santiago, we daily witnessed young boys being chased down the streets, snatched and thrown into army trucks by the Carabineros. This was one of the most chiling sites I have ever witnessed. I had a one-way ticket from Santiago to Lima, Peru with Air France and couldn't leave until the prescribed date as there were still limited flights in and out of Chile. I couldn't wait to leave, but that was not the end of it.

My arrival at the airport was terrifying, as I was immediately confronted by a host of security personell who led me into a holding area. My friend and I were separated. After three hours of questioning and having to surrender my books, I was escorted by Chilean government officials to the flight which had been sitting on the tarmac for over an hour with a lot of angry passengers. Words can not express the sense of relief that I had once the plane had lifted.

And one of the things that still sticks the most in my mind is that my interogators were obsessed with Ted Kennedy. Ted Kennedy this and Ted Kennedy that. Their paranoia about Edward Kennedy was bizzare.

Later, the movie "Missing" was released by Costa-Gavras. I must confess that all these years I have resisted seeing this film.

[Say_What]

4. David, that is *some* story. I can understand the resistance to seeing

the film. It is riveting and what you described about the street roundup is portrayed in the film. But to experience something like that personally--yikes--scary.

Not sure if you saw it, but the movie The Revolution Will Not Be Televised was a reminder of Missing for me. On the day after Chavez was taken out of office, the military patroled the streets and man-handled and arrested people--it took me right back to scenes in the movie Missing.

You know first-hand how the hundreds of Middle Eastern men in the US that were rounded up after 9/11 feel--except many of them are still being held without charge, without access to family or legal cousel. One can only imagine what is happening to them.

[David Zephyr]

9. Costa Gavras' "State Of Siege"

I don't think that any of us can know the horror and desperation that so many of these innocent and unfortunate Middle Eastern men and their families must be going through right now. Al Gore addressed this in his last speech to MoveOn.

Who, in a million years, would have ever imagined that we, right here in the good old U.S.A., would have our very own "desparacidos"?

I've never seen the film, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" but will now on your good recommendation. I think it's also high time that I suck it in and watch "Missing".

Here's a film I bet you've already seen, but if not: It's Costa Gavras's great "State of Siege" with Yves Montand.

And, please forgive my spelling and gramatical errors. I really should take advantage of the "check spelling" feature that the DU Administrators have provided---for the lazies like me who think and type and drag down the high level here at the DU.

Say_What, I notice your avatar is the continent of South America. Do you live there now or have you lived there. I lived many years in Argentina (actually Rosario, the home of Che) and Peru as a boy. My dad was in the petrochemical industry.

[Say_What]

16. "Plan Colombia: Cashing in on the Drug War Failure" on FSTV Sunday

I haven't seen State of Siege, but I put it on the list for the next time I go to Blockbuster.

Speaking of films. A great documentary I saw in SF a month or so back is gonna be playing on Free Speech TV this Sunday. Plan Colombia: Cashing in on the Drug War Failure. Here's a clip and a link to the schedule of times:

" 'Plan Colombia' looks at why the US war-on-drugs in the Andes has resulted in a two-fold increase in cocaine imports in the US over the last decade alone. The doc also looks at the impact on the environment and on farming communities the spraying of Monsanto defoliant by the US 'defense contractor' Dyncorp has had, it looks at how and why a plan originally intended to fight cocaine trafficking has evolved into a counter-insurgency plan in the general context of the 'Free Trade Agreement of the Americas' and of increasing Colombian oil production and exports to the US. The doc also gives an insight on the 50-year old Colombian civil war and on the situation of bloody political violence that is actually worsening to this day."

<http://www.freespeech.org/fsitv/fscm2/genx.php?schedule_start=1074409200&name=fstv_schedule>

[David Zephyr]

22. Thanks for the Tip Re: "Cashing in on the Drug War.."

Thanks!

[Erica Cartman]

18. Yes, David,

please please please see the movie "Missing."

One thing that got me was they said the reality had to be toned down a LOT because no one would believe it or be able to take it if they showed how bad it really was.

It is a beautiful movie! The love story; the facing of reality of Charles' father; the political (of course) is all amazing. Please, I don't want to ruin it for you...but, when you see it, note Lemmon's performance with the US officials in Chile as he tells them he doesn't care, he just wants his son back (will break your heart). Also, the short speech an American consular official gives about how we in the US are able to have all our "goods". I'm going to say too much; please rent it ASAP. Okay?

[Say_What]

19. Shortly after the failed coup in Venezuela a huge online petition

circulated basically saying that the undersigned was opposed to what happened in Chile happening in Venezuela. The first many signees were human rights org, etc., but the very first signature of individuals was signed:

Charles Horman !PRESENTE!

When I read it tears jumped into my eyes.

Also interesting in the posted article was Joyce Horman saying that when she went to London to testify that after Pinochet's arrest:

"...Our case was more known because of the movie. But others talked for the first time."

"I have to say I had never been so moved to hear some of these testimonies, given for the first time in a safe place, out loud. There's a body of evidence that needed to be out there."

Welcome to DU, Erica Cartman! :hi:

Photo of Joyce Horman from 2002

[David Zephyr]

23. OK, I'll Do It.

And welcome the DU, Erica. :hi:

[RainDog]

6. I saw that film with a guy who was from Chile

He'd been in America for a few years...he was about eighteen at the time, and he denied that anything in the movie happened.

He was obviously a privledged kid, and much younger when that happened, but we argued over that movie and didn't really see each other after that night.

No doubt that's the way it always is when a govt is repressive and abusive.

People who don't want to see, will not see what is happening in their own country.

[Judi Lynn]

25. There are people right in this country who lost relatives and friends

in any of the several "torture centers" in Chile.

Chile still sails "La Esmeralda," which was used as a torture ship during that time.

The literature available on the subject now, in libraries and through the internet is really substantial.

He won't be able to avoid the truth much longer, it would seem.

Maybe he actually was very ashamed. That would be easy to understand.

Our own Henry Kissinger may still have to answer for his part in it, formally.

[AP]

26. Sounds like some of the people who sometimes post here about how...

...awful Chavez is or how tragic it is that white farmers had to give back their stolen land in Africa.

[Judi Lynn]

7. God only knows how close you came to Horman's fate

That was a bad place to be for an American who didn't seem to fit the super Republican American image.

That hatred still runs deeply whereever right-wing bullies have ever gotten the upper hand. They actually see themselves as the rightful masters of the planet, and everyone else as completely disposable.

"Compassion" is not the word that ever comes to mind when you think of fascists.

Your description of the two thugs following you was vivid. Glad they didn't get the last word.

[David Zephyr]

10. I Was Young and Foolish.

And had a hot head against injustice. It also got me held/detained in NYC at an anti-Vietnam protest in Central Park.

I should have known better than to have gone into Chile, but my friend and I just sort of talked ourselves into after drinking too much vino y soda in Buenos Aires. I learned years later that my friend had committed suicide...he couldn't deal with his homosexuality. Sad, huh?

[Judi Lynn]

12. Very, very sad. Unbearable news, too, it would seem. Qué lastima. n/t

[David Zephyr]

21. Qué Pena...

y qué lastima, también, amiga mia.

Y que la memoria de Ché siga vivente. :hi:

[0007]

11. Very interesting! Che Guevara books I've read and have become

a fan of Che's ideals, only because I was one of the last Americans to leave Cuba in 59. And years later learned that Che Gvevara was Castro's buddy.
At the time I wasn't aware of the real reason behind the Castro revolution. Other than Castro was a man with high ideals that didn't like for his (people) Cubans wanting to be taxis drivers, casino workers, or a whore or pimp. Cuba was the international playground of the world in those days driven by Myron Lansky (sp) and Fulgencio Batista. So he closed down the joints and kicked the Americans and Batista out of his country and changed the life style. I was quiet young (26) and ignorant in those days.

[Judi Lynn]

13. Wanna see a truly scary photo of Meyer Lansky?

http://www.carpenoctem.tv/mafia/lansky.html

I can't transfer it. God, was he vile!

There are 784 entries for Meyer Lansky and Luciano and Cuba:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Meyer+Lansky+%2B+Luciano+%2B+Cuba+&btnG=Google+Search

One of the articles says Lansky was in Cuba by 1936. They would have been very deeply dug in, with hotels, casino, prostitution, drugs.

Bet they didn't care much for getting tossed out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

007, you have startled us. We didn't know you had been there. Cool.

[0007]

14. Thank for the link!

I'm very well aware of what Lansky looks like.

Was there for a little over a year and a half - not exactly proud of what I was doing there. Like I said I was Young and dumb at the time.

[SharonAnn]

20. No, they didn't like getting tossed out. Neither did the wealthy.

That's why they're so anti-Castro, anti-normalization with Cuba, etc. These are the people who want to "take back Cuba" and run it like their person fiefdomm

Disgusting people, all of them!

[David Zephyr]

15. Paco Ignacio Taibo's "Guevara Also Known as Che"

As a life long admirer of Che, may I recommend the best bio I've ever read about this giant of a human being?

Perhaps you have already read this, but just in case, it's "Guevara Also Known as Che" by by Paco Ignacio Taibo. I can't imagine that you'd be dissapointed with this.

[0007]

17. No! I have not read, "Guevara Also Known as Che"

But you can bet I will as soon as I can get it.

The Life and Death of Che Guevara, "Companero" by Jorge G. Castaneda is also excellent. Actually anything about Guevara has gotta be good, 'eh?

Thank you, man.

[David Zephyr]

24. Good Book, Too.

I have this one. There was a tribute to Che here in East Los Angeles last year with a gallery full of photos of Che from Cuba and live performances by Agustin and Patricia. Great evening.