US Knew about Guatemalan Death Squads During Reagan Administration

Eleven documents released by the US State Department, dating from 1984-1986, show that the Regan administration knew about the kidnapping and murder of anyone suspected of "insurgent connections" in Guatemala. During this time, the US provided aid to Guatemala. It's shameful.

clipped from en.wikinews.org The United States State Department knew that members of Guatemala's military government were responsible for the disappearance of thousands of people during the country's 36-year civil war, according to declassified documents obtained by the Washington D.C.-based National Security Archive, a non-governmental, non-profit research organization. Eleven documents from the State Department and the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala, dating from 1984 to 1986, show that the Reagan administration was aware that the Guatemalan Army and National Police were involved in a systematic effort to "kidnap anyone suspected of insurgent connections" during the military government of President Óscar Humberto Mejía Victores. The Guatemalan Civil War was waged from 1960-1996 between the government, dominated since the 1954 military coup by elements of the army, and leftist guerillas. More than 200,000 people, most belonging to indigenous Mayan tribes, died or went missing during the war.