General Eduardo Bellido and the 98 Percent Torture Rate in Tarapoto
Secrets kept for over three decades reveal how the U.S. viewed the systematic brutality of Peruvian commanders used to clear the Huallaga Valley.
By Harlan Pryce ·
Human Rights
Carlos Castaño and the Prior Assurances of the Mapiripán Massacre
The 1997 slaughter of civilians was facilitated by a military that looked the other way—a partnership the CIA tracked in a report kept secret for decades.
By Harlan Pryce ·
Rosalynn Carter and the CIA’s Effort to Scrub the Assassination Files
A 1977 briefing sought to "reassure" the First Lady about the agency's illegal acts while the U.S. looked away from state terror in the Southern Cone.
By Harlan Pryce ·
General Hermoza and the Reward for the La Cantuta Massacre
A DIA report from 1994 details how the Peruvian High Command traded justice for loyalty, rewarding death squad members with European postings while exiling those who exposed narcotrafficking.
By Theo Marchetti ·
Four Dead Students and the DIA's Log of 'Blatant Violations' in Jakarta
The Indonesian army slaughtered students at Trisakti University in 1998; a classified cable proves the US knew the killings were unprovoked while the world was told otherwise.
By Harlan Pryce ·
Patricia Derian and the Garbage Heaps of Buenos Aires
Notes kept from official channels describe how US intelligence agencies signaled to the Argentine junta that human rights mandates were merely cosmetic and could be ignored
By Theo Marchetti ·
General Prabowo and the 1998 List of Disappearances
A confidential telegram kept secret for decades shows the US Embassy tracking a surge in missing persons while playing a high-stakes game with Indonesia's leadership
By Desmond Okafor ·
Marzuki Darusman and the Withheld Record of the Trisakti Shootings
For years, the American government stayed silent about the killings of Indonesian students, using a curated gap in the record to shield the military from the families of the dead.
By Harlan Pryce ·
U.S. Army's 1990 Map of Colombia's Most Notorious Brigades
For years, the U.S. military held a high-resolution map of the Colombian units that tortured and disappeared civilians, keeping the command structure secret while the blood flowed.
By Harlan Pryce ·
100 Dead in Suai and the American "Empty Hand"
Indonesian militias gutted Dili and murdered civilians while the UN retreated, a slaughter recorded in a brief that admitted the U.S. had no cards left to play.
By Harlan Pryce ·
Trapped in Dili and the Open Cooperation of the Indonesian Army
The slaughter of East Timorese civilians and the siege of international observers were documented in a 17-page report that remained a secret of the State Department for years.
By Harlan Pryce ·
30 Dead in Mapiripán and the Secret List of Colombian Army Allies
A 1998 cable kept secret for decades shows the U.S. knew exactly which Colombian officers helped paramilitaries murder civilians while plotting to send them counter-narcotics aid.
By Harlan Pryce ·
Carlos Escobar Pineda and the Army's License to Kill Non-Entities
The U.S. knew the Army slaughtered villagers in the 1988 Cayara massacre but viewed the deaths as a baseline reality, weighing a prosecutor's life against the utility of a military ally.
By Theo Marchetti ·
HABIBIE AND THE ERODING CREDIBILITY OF INDONESIA'S KILLING MACHINE
While state troops continued to kill unarmed civilians in the provinces, a confidential report from 1998 shows the US monitoring the collapse of military credibility in Jakarta.
By Harlan Pryce ·
Huancayo’s Morgue and the US Embassy’s Audit of the Dead
US Embassy political officers visited the Mantaro Valley in 1991 to find a city abandoned by its police but filled with corpses, a reality preserved in a 15-page cable.
By Harlan Pryce ·
General Wiranto and the Secret "Friend" Who Watched East Timor Burn
While Bill Clinton publicly cut off military aid to Indonesia, a secret cable shows the U.S. played the "friend" to a general whose forces were razing East Timor to the ground.
By Desmond Okafor ·