LATIN AMERICAN POLICE GET SOME POINTERS FROM WASHINGTON

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000403790044-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 27, 2012
• Sequence Number: 44
• Publication Date: February 16, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

? Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/28: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403790044-4
ARTICLEAPPED NEW YORK TIMES
ON PAGE _ 16 February 1986
~,atin American Police Get Some
Pointers From Washington.
By JAMES L.MOYNE
SAN SALVADOR - Concern about human rights
abuses by foreign police forces in the 1Y70's prompted
Congress to prohibit United States training for such or-
ganisations. Cdngresa later made some exceptions for
? programs to combat terrorism, and the Reagan Adminis-
tration seems intent on making the most of them. "Our
support for democratic development in Latin America
must be highlighted by our support to counterterror-
ism," James H. Michel, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of
`State, said in November. -
cwt'^te*terroL
advisers have worked with militar ( police
ism units* In
isted,
rucular re have
units of Govern- t scurlty form In_ H mduraa_ who
were said to have ed suspected leftists.
In arguing for the training, the Administration says
the police must be helped to combat terrorism by leftist
rebels determined to undermine fragile elected govern-
ments. American officials concede that many of the Cen-
tral American security forces have unsavory records.
But, they argue, it is in the interest of the United States to
try to improve their performance, even If Americans
dirty their hands to do so. So the Administration has
asked Congress for $54 million for counterterrorism aid
for every Central American country except Nicaragua.
with El Salvador scheduled to receive almost half the
. 'money. "At a time when the guerrillas are returning to
the cities, it is idiocy not to be training the police here," a
"senior Western diplomat said in El Salvador.
Human rights advocates vigorously oppose the re-
quest, arguing that, in Central America, police and army
units have killed and tortured tens of thousands of civil-
ians in recent yearn They insist that the United States
does )ot have the ability to change the methods of these
police forces and thus should not assist them. "The
United States has a lot to lose by training police," said
Aryeh Neier, vice-chairman of America's Watch, a New
York-based human rights group. "We sably train
police when governments have demonstrat the will to
control them, which they havetf't in Central erica."
From 1962 to 1974, the United States Agency for In-
ternational Development trained thousands of police offi-
cials. accusations of
C.I.A. involvement and tiq p policemen were rt=Soonsible for torture and kill-
ngs. notably in Brazil. Gua male and Uruauav. Pat M.
Holt, who investigated these charges as an aide of the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the early 1970's,
said in a recent telephone interview that he had been un-
able to substantiate the accusations but had found that
they were widely accepted in Latin America as true.
There was evidence that police forces were abusive. The
public belief that Americans were involved, even if un-
true, was highly damaging to the United States, Mr. Holt
contends. "We transferred a lot of equipment and train-
ing to police forces in Latin America with no judicial re-
straint," he said. "That carried a very high political
price for us because we were associated with police who
had a record of brutality and cruelty."
Prisoner Complaints
Reagan Administration officials say their new train-
ing program will aim to stop human rights abuses by pro-
fessionalizing the police. That could be a lengthy and
complicated task in a region where only the Costa Rican.
police can claim a relatively irreproachable record.
In Guatemala. l'
have killed hundreds and per ays thousands of civilians
in recent years ? torture is common, El Salvador's se-
curity forces have shown improvement, but released
prisoners still complain they have been deprived of sleep
and that their families have been threatened. In addition,
military officers identified by American diplomats as re-
sponsible for past abuses have not been punished and
been promoted, although two enlisted men were con-
victed last week in the 1981 killing of two American land-
reform experts and a Salvadoran colleague.
The police and army in Honduras have a better
record, but they are nevertheless strongly suspected of '
involvement in the killing and disappearance of 200 or
more leftists. In Panama, the public security forces have
deposed the last three presidents, and they are believed
to have recently beheaded a leading opposition politician
and to be deeply involved in cocaine trafficking.
Nevertheless, Congress seems disposed to consider
favorably further assistance for police training in Cen-
tral Atperica, several Congressional aides say. But, they
add, t-lie program is likely to be heatedly debated.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/28: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403790044-4