Argentina on the front lines of Guatemala's Cold War

Jo-Marie Burt continues to provide updates on the Molina Theissen Trial in Guatemala. In her latest installment, Jo-Marie recounts the testimony of Julieta Carla Rostica, an Argentine sociologist who specializes in Central America. In her court testimony, Rostica provides some fascinating details about the involvement of the Argentine military in supporting the Guatemalan regime's reign of terror.

The expert testified that Argentina’s involvement in military affairs in Guatemala began after U.S. President Jimmy Carter ceased military and other forms of assistance to countries accused of serious human rights violations. In 1979, Otto Spiegeler Noriega, the minister of defense under former Guatemalan President Romeo Lucas García (1978-1982), arrived in Argentina and a year later was appointed ambassador to that country. This provided the opportunity for the creation of a scientific-technical collaboration agreement, which was finalized when the former Guatemalan director of military intelligence, Manuel Callejas y Callejas, visited Argentina in August 1980. The agreement included scholarships for training in military intelligence.

At least 14 Guatemalan military personnel received this training, the expert testified, including retired General José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez, the head of military intelligence during the government of Efraín Ríos Montt, both of whom are is currently on trial for genocide in the Ixil region, though in separate proceedings, and Byron Humberto Barrientos, who is awaiting trial on charges of enforced disappearance and crimes against humanity in the CREOMPAZ case. Of the foreign military officials trained by “Battalion 601” of the Argentine military intelligence system, 15 percent were Guatemalan.

The Argentines recognized that they had a responsibility to eradicate the cancer of communism wherever it had spread. They were on the front lines of Western Christianity's battle against godless communism in the Western Hemisphere and, unlike the Americans, had no qualms about doing what was necessary. They helped train the Guatemalan military. They trained Nicaraguans after the fall of Somoza. These individuals would go on to form the Contras and carry out their war against the Sandinistas. They also developed strong ties with the Salvadorans.

As far as I know, Ariel Armony has carried out the most detailed English-language research on Argentina's role in Central America but that was from 20 years ago.