NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE DAILY TUESDAY MARCH 8, 1977[SANITIZED] - 1977/03/08

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Argentina Declassification Project - The "Dirty War" (1976-83)
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02986680
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: April 3, 2019
• Document Release Date: April 12, 2019
• Publication Date: March 8, 1977

Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 002986680
The
National Intelligence
Daily
Published by the Director of Central Intelligence for Named Principals Only
NR
TUESDAY MARCH 8, 1977
3.5(c)
'
Copy No. 261
VOLUME 4, NUMBER 054
3.5(c)
3.5(c) 3:12D�SECirei
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THE NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE DAILY
3.5(c)
TUESDAY MARCH 8, 1977 3
WESTERN HEMISPHERE
Latin America: The Human Rights Question
fl
The vigorous actions o military
governments in South America against
real or perceived threats from subversive
groups has led to numerous human rights
violations in recent years. The abrogation
of constitutional guarantees protecting in-
dividual freedoms has also focused the
attention of church groups, international
agencies, and the international press on
human rights practices in that region.
Chile has been the main target of this
criticism, but heavy, attention has also
been directed at other authoritarian
regimes in the southern cone. The bloody
struggle between the left and right in
Argentina, resulting in over 1,200 deaths
in 1976 alone, is subjecting the govern-
ment of President Videla to increasingly
adverse criticism.
The Uruguayan government has been
widely criticized for its mistreatment of
political prisoners. The Stroessner dic-
tatorship in Paraguay has ruled with an
iron hand for more than 20 years, and its
internal security practices have long been
a subject of criticism. Less attention has
been paid to Brazil in recent months, even
though human rights violations still occur
there.
As a whole, however, there has
probably been a slight improvement
in the human rights situation in these
countries during the past year. The
prospects for further progress are en-
couraging as long as the full weight of in-
ternational opinion is brought to bear on
the problem. Any US action construed as
a threat or reprisal, however, could lead to
some backsliding and surely would
stimulate more charges that the US is in-
tervening in the domestic affairs of these
countries.
Argentina
Human rights violations both by the
left and the right remain serious in Argen-
tina, but the frequency and scale of abuses
by the security forces and by rightist
vigilantes has diminished noticeably since
the peak last summer. The government
now at least issues public lists of those it
detains, although the completeness and
accuracy of the lists are �Pen to question.
It is difficult to judge how many
prisoners have now been released or at
least accounted for, since the total
number of those arrested is not known.
International criticism and investigations
of the human rights situation in Argentina
have generated considerable irritation
among Argentine officials, particularly
those charged with putting an end to
leftist guerrilla warfare.
Although the armed forces have had
marked success against the terrorists, the
job is still far from complete. If the
guerrillas stage renewed provocations,
those in charge of counterterrorist ac-
tivities will probably push for a return to
the brutal roundups of suspected leftists
that were relatively common last year.
President Videla reportedly has indicated
that he expects some worsening of
relations with the US over the human
rights issue but apparently finds his hands
tied by political constraints imposed by
hard-line factions within the armed
forces.
Presidents Pinochet (L) and Videla
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RET
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