Saturday, August 27, 2011

War on Democracy. 2007 John Pilger's documentary on US foreign policy in the Americas

A good documentary (in high definition)  by Australian filmmaker John Pilger on Americas recent history. Focuses on developments in Guatemala, El Salvador, Venezuela, Bolivia and Chile.


Pilger interviews several ex-CIA agents who purportedly took part in secret campaigns against democratic countries . Establishes the role and responsibility of the US-based School of the Americas in training and providing guidance for military forces in such countries as El Salvador, Guatemala, Colombia, Chile and Argentina.
Filmed during a two-year  period on different locations, it relies heavily on historical footage of US presidents, from Nixon to Reagan and ultimately G.W.Bush publicly defending the record of governments involved in dirty war practices and widespread human rights violations against their own populations. Worthy noting the domestic opposition within the US against US involvement in Central American civil wars.

A long interview with president Hugo Chavez and Venezuela's politicdal opposition is also included. Finally, it  tells the story of an American nun, Dianna Ortiz, who tells how she was tortured and gang raped in the late 1980s by a gang reportedly led by a fellow American clearly in league with the U.S.-backed regime, at a time when the Reagan administration was supplying the military regime with planes and guns. Duane Clarridge, former head of CIA operations in South America is also interviewed.



Related materials
  • The Revolution will not be televised. A documentary by Kim Bartley y Donnacha 0'Briain. An Irish TV- crew who found themselves in Caracas during the attempted April 2002 coup d'Etat against Hugo Chavez. Shows how the evolution of events in the three-day period ending up in Chavez return to power.
  • Grassroots Mobilization Against US Military Intervention in El Salvador  by  Héctor Perla Jr. The inception and works of the Central American Peace and Solidarity Movement (CAPSM) a US-based coalition encompassing secular and religious activists and civil society organizations which was critical in putting an end to US assistance to El Salvador's regime and Nicaragua's contras.
  • Torture Abolition and Survivor Support Coalition (TASSC) A human rights NGO founded by Dianna Ortiz, where torture survivors work with and for torture victims to erradicate and punish human rights violations worldwide.
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