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Edited on Wed Sep-07-11 02:04 PM by ocpagu
...installed in Latin America in the 1960s and on.
Their support for the coups and the military juntas had the same importance of the support given by mass media and business conglomerates. We often remember the role of generals and top-officials of the juntas and ask for their punishment, but it's important to remember there is a large number of individuals and institutions directly linked to the junta's crimes which had not even faced public criticism, much less being investigated.
In Brazil, our most renowned jurist and judge, Pontes de Miranda, said, after the coup in 1964, that "in order to save the Constitution, the military had to tear it apart". That phrase, although clearly ridiculous, became a "consensus" among Brazilian judges.
Even more obscure to the public, however, is the role of private companies and multinationals in financing the dictactorship repression aparatus. In Brazil, this was done through the "Operação Bandeirante". Operação Bandeirante was, officially, an information and investigation center set by the Brazilian Army. In fact, it was the unofficial coordination center of death squads, responsible for torturing and killing hundreds of civilians.
Institutions and companies responsible for financing Operação Bandeirantes include Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Camargo Corrêa, Grupo Objetivo, Ultragás and Bank Bradesco. Among the individuals funding Operação Bandeirantes are the banker Amador Aguiar and the Danish businessman Henning Albert Boilesen. Boilesen even took part in torture sections of leftists himself. He invented a torture-device named after him, the "Pianola de Boilesen" a kind of keyboard which emits electrical shocks.
Thanks Judi. Recommended.
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