Obama: US slow to speak out for human rights in Argentina
Obama: US slow to speak out for human rights in Argentina
By PETER PRENGAMAN and JOSH LEDERMAN
3/24/2016 3:26 PM
President Barack Obama and Argentine President Mauricio Macri toss roses into the river during their visit to Parque de la Memoria (Remembrance Park) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, March 24, 2016. Obama visited the memorial to victims of the country's murderous US-backed dictatorship who were killed or went missing from 1976-1983. Associated Press
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- As many Argentines paused to remember loved ones killed during their country's brutal dictatorship, President Barack Obama said Thursday that America was slow to speak out for human rights during that painful period and promised an honest accounting going forward.
Obama's comments, sure to reverberate in Argentina and beyond, came 40 years to the day that a 1976 coup opened a period of military rule in Argentina that continues to have repercussions today.
Obama paid tribute to the victims of Argentina's "Dirty War" by visiting Remembrance Park and tossing a wreath into the Rio de La Plata river near a memorial bearing thousands of names.
"We've been slow to speak out for human rights and that was the case here," said Obama, standing alongside Argentina's new president, Mauricio Macri.
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