LATIN AMERICAN TRENDS: STAFF NOTES JUNE 2, 1976[SANITIZED] - 1976/06/02

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Argentina Declassification Project - The "Dirty War" (1976-83)
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06628543
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: April 3, 2019
• Document Release Date: April 12, 2019
• Publication Date: June 2, 1976

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J.Se-cr0
3.5(c)
CI SNLA 7:67022
No, 070273
June 2, 1976
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LATIN AMERICAN TRENDS
publication is prepared for regional specialitts in the Washington com-
munity, by the Western Hemisphere Division, Office of Current Intelligence,
with occasional contributions from other offices within the Directorate of
IntelliRance. Comments and queries are welcome. They should be directed to
the authors of the individual articIes.
�
ON TENTS,
June 2, 1916
Latin American Terrorism �
The Revolutionary Coordinating Junta (JCR) .
1
Argentina: Censorship Questioned
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Latin American Terrorism, -
The Revolutionary Coordinating Junta (JCR)
, Shortly after the murder last month of the
Bolivian ambassador to France, General Zenteno, we
speculated that a South American guerrilla organiza-
tion known as the Revolutionary Coordinating Junta
(CR) might be responsible for his death. So far the
only leads developed by 'Paris police point to a simi-
lar conclusion--.that- some form of international ter-
rorism was at work. Ballistic tests reportedly con-
firm that the gun used to kill Zenteno was the same
weapon that wounded the Spanish military attache in
Paris last fall.
Speculation abOut,-the-adtivities of the Revolu-
tionary Coordinatin41,t'Ota Iii!#A-ris was also fueled
by an advertisement it placed in the May 9 issue of
Le Monde entitled 'Latin America Fights in Ardentina."
While the manifesto consists largely of the revolu-
tionary cant common to such publications, it is the
junta's first open attack in France. It focuses atten-
tion on the repressive activities of the new
Argentine government and callsfo'r a world-wide mo-
bilization to free Edgardo Enriquez, the founder of
the Chilean Movement of the Revolutionary Left and a
member of the junta's secretariat, who was, arrested
by Argentine security forces on April 10. This may
be the beginning .of an international propaganda ef-
fort to discredit the military government--at least
it serves to arouse the sympathies of the French
left on this issue.
_Information oh.the-Coordinatinq Junta is fraci-
mentarv'.
June 2, 1976
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and arrests of extremists in Paraguay, Chile,
Argentina, and Bolivia confirm that such an organi-
zation does exist,
The junta may have originated during informal
contacts between various South AMerican leftist
movements as early as 1968, but its formal existence
was declared in a joint communique in February 1974
when representatives of guerrilla groups in Bolivia,
Uruguay, Chile, and Argentina announced that they
were uniting under the leadership of Roberto Santucho,
the head of the Peoples Revolutionary Army in
Argentina. In March 1975 a Paraguayan extremist
organization reportedly joined the junta and later
that month a meeting wad held in Lisbon "to unify the
Latin American revolutionary movements."
. The junta is now said to have representatives
in several European countries, including Portugal,
Sweden, and France, but available evidence indicates
that its headquarters are-stillin Argentina and
that most of its funds, and probably its,members,-
come from the Peoples Revolutionary Army.
Until now the 'Revolutionagy-,Coordinating Junta .
has not taken credit for - any tettoriSt operations,
as has been the common .' pra�ctice, of, individual '
tilla:OrganizatIons in $0iltn Afite,kita. This does not 3.30m1
mean that it has. been On the ..0ohtrary, it
'would !appear the organi-
zation takes 2�-s name serioug',Y an. - exists for the
'purpose Of coordinating activities and providing
logistical support to its member groups, These
Despite the lack of hard data on assets or
numbers involved, it would appear that the junta has
:
, June 2, 1976
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,
Already achieved a status and operational capability
that exceeds past efforts by Latin American revolu-
tionaries to form intra-hemisphere or regional or-
ganizations Which existed largely on paper. It will
Play an even more significant role if its member
organizations decide to return to their own countries
and to focus on foreign targets..
' Security conditions in Uruguay, Bolivia, and
Paraguay make it extremely difficult for extremists
to operate effectively within national borders, and
the Argentine military seems to be having some suc-
cess against terrorist activities. Many students of
international terrorism PredgCt that instead of being
destroyed or driVenzUndergrOund4 the sophisticated
guerrillas in, ArgentIna,willWehtUaiXY turn their
attention to,-turope' or perhaps conduct Operations on
a World-wide scale.
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:JUne 2, 1976
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Argentina: Censorship Questioned
� The junta's reticence and its imposition of
media censorship have left the public ignorant of
important matters and are creating potentially serious
prdblems, according to the prestigious Buenos Aires
Herald. In recent articles the paper has commented
that the lack of hard information on the state of
the government and its Plan-0:s fueling 'harmful.
speculation and could eventually lead, to a loss of
confidence in the regime. -
The paper points out that the failure to put
an end to or at least answer charges of human rights
vidlations, for example, in effect confirms the worst
fears of many who make such charges. The relative
silence of the press reinforces the impression that
1-ie situation is indeed grave. y The junta could make
a start toward refuting the charges that it tacitly
condones repressive tactics, Suggests the Herald, by
eating the restrictions on ,the press. If, on the
other hand, the regime continues on its present
path, it will likely be subjected, however unfairly,
to the kind of international criticism that has hurt
the Chilean militarY,gOvernMeht-
The junta's blantiPu.4lic statements also en-
Coutagt speculation that 1141.rY unity Is insufficient
to permit confident action, according to the paper.
This is dangerous, says the Herald, because unless
refuted by strong policy making, the public--and
potential military dissidents--will assume it to be
so.' The end result would be a self-fulfilling proph-
ecy that the Herald and other news organs greatly
fear.
�
President Videla and his, moderate supporters
are: bound to find the Herald's questions unsettling.
� June 2,. 1,976
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,The junta does indeed seem somewhat immobilized by
the enormity of the _problems it confronts and by
questions of military unity.:t _After more than two
months in power, the rffaime has -relatvely little to
show for its effort's.
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