Former DINA torturer working at Pentagon-linked center

[rabs]

Well, let's see what Robert Gates has to say about this former general under Pinochet.

Garcia Covarrubias is under investigation in Chile for crimes against humanity during the dictatorship.

He is accused in the execution of six leftists in Nov.1973, of forcing prisoners to perform sexual aberrations, of cruel and inhumane treatment of prisoners and other evil deeds. In September he was summoned to Chile to face accusers in the city of Temuco.



Story in Spanish

Un militar chileno que trabaja en el Pentágono, acusado de torturar prisioneros

http://es.noticias.yahoo.com/9/20101213/foto/pwl-photo-1-un-militar-chil-285bf9210031.html

-------------------------
Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies

Founded in 1997, CHDS' mission is to educate civilians in planning and management of security and defense issues, and decision making processes. In its fourth year of operations CHDS has graduated over 800 fellows from its resident programs. All the nations of the hemisphere (except Cuba) have been represented among its alumni.

--------------------

http://es.noticias.yahoo.com/9/20101213/foto/pwl-photo-1-un-militar-chil-285bf9210031.html

JAIME GARCIA COVARRUBIAS,

Professor of National Security Affairs

M.A., Universidad de Chile;

Ph.D., Universidad de Salamanca;

Graduate of the Center of Diplomatic and Strategy Studies of Paris;

Military Science and Staff Course, Academia de Guerra de Chile

---------------------

http://www.ndu.edu/chds/index.cfm?secID=15&pageID=91&lang=en&type=section

[Judi Lynn]

1. EFE, google translation: Deputies asked to remove the repressive Chilean who works at the Pentagon

Deputies asked to remove the repressive Chilean who works at the Pentagon
By Agencia EFE - 14 hours ago

Santiago de Chile, Dec 13 (EFE) .- Two Chilean deputies announced today that it will ask the U.S. government to remove a retired army brigadier who is accused of torturing political prisoners during the dictatorship and that since 2001 works Washington, assigned to the Pentagon.

Speaking to EFE, Hugo Gutierrez, president of the Human Rights Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, called as a fact "extremely serious" than the retired brigadier Jaime García Covarrubias remain in that institution.

García Covarrubias, based on the evidence of an open trial in the southern city of Temuco, which has had access Efe, has been accused of having forced detainees to commit sexual aberrations.

Former brigadier is a professor of National Security Affairs at the Center for Hemispheric Defense for the United States.

More:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/epa/article/ALeqM5jDh8tGDjnixRoMqFGm0WoTnst2WA?docId=1424936

~~~~~
(Google translation)
TeleSUR ago: 03 hours
Accused Chilean who works for the CIA for crimes during the dictatorship of Pinochet

Chile's government on Monday accused of torturing former Chilean retired army brigadier, Jaime García Covarrubias, who was part of the secret police of the South American nation during the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).

Covaburrias Garcia, who has worked since 2001 for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA, for its acronym in English) United States, is accused by his country's judicial authorities have tortured people during the Pinochet regime, and forcing their victims to commit and submit to sexual aberrations.

The Chilean, who is professor of National Security Affairs at the Center for Hemispheric Defense for the United States, was accused by former prisoners and former junior military of "cruel and inhuman treatment" of political prisoners of the dictatorship, during a trial hearings held in the city of Temuco, southern Chile.

Among the crimes he is accused of being the killing of six soldiers Communists in November 1973 disguised as a false attack Tucapel headquarters, where Garcia served as a lieutenant.

Given this, members from Human Rights Commission of the Chamber of Deputies indicated they will ask to withdraw the Chilean Brigadier American institution.

More:
http://www.telesurtv.net/secciones/noticias/85749-NN/acusan-a-chileno-que-trabaja-para-la-cia-por-crimenes-durante-la-dictadura-de-pinochet/

~~~~~
NOT ONE WORD OF THIS STORY in English, rabs. Not one bleeping word. So it means people not fluent in Spanish are simply up the crik without a paddle on this story. How unexpected it is that it contains explosive, wholly unacceptble, unconscionable material. Probably just an oversight our corporate liars forgot to include it for US readers.


From El Mundo, in Spain:

Chilean military who works at the Pentagon, accused of torturing prisoners
Efe | Santiago de Chile
Updated Monday 13/12/2010 6:24 hours

A retired Chilean army brigadier, who joined the secret police of dictator Augusto Pinochet and since 2001 he worked in Washington, assigned to the Pentagon, has been charged in Chile have been a torturer forced his victims to commit sexual aberrations. This was pointed out sources from the trial involving former brigadier Jaime García Covarrubias, who works as a professor of National Security Affairs at the Center for Hemispheric Defense for the United States.

In the process, ex-prisoners and ex-soldiers who were his subordinates accused acted with Garcia Covarrubias "Cruel and inhuman treatment" against detainees and soldiers of the regiment's own 'Tucapel' in the southern city of Temuco.

~snip~
Members of the Human Rights Commission of the Chilean Chamber of Deputies asked this week by the U.S. Embassy in Santiago that the Defense Department in your country García Covarrubias cessation of their functions.

~snip~
Last September, Garcia had to travel to Chile in order of Justice for questioning and subjected to face to face with former prisoners and military. During the proceeding, Herman Carrasco former detainee accused him of torturing him with other prisoners. "The officer Jaime García Covarrubias began to beat us and forced us to perform naked sodomitical actsWithout success, "Carrasco said. Garcia denied the accusation.

More:
http://www.elmundo.es/america/2010/12/13/noticias/1292239440.html

Rabs, this story HAS to get to LBN, one way or another. It concerns the Pentagon, CIA, the US government and most clearly SHOULD be available for US Americans, not hidden, and covered up by our filthy corporate liars.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Google: Chilean military who works at the Pentagon, accused of torturing prisoners

Chilean military who works at the Pentagon, accused of torturing prisoners
EFE NewsJorge Escalante

Santiago de Chile, Dec 13 (EFE) .- A retired Chilean army brigadier, who joined the secret police of dictator Augusto Pinochet and since 2001 he worked in Washington, assigned to the Pentagon, has been charged in Chile have been a torturer who forced his victims to commit sexual aberrations. This was stated today to Efe trial involving former brigadier Jaime García Covarrubias, who works as a professor of National Security Affairs at the Center for Hemispheric Defense for the United States.

In the process, ex-prisoners and ex-soldiers who were his subordinates accused García Covarrubias had acted with "cruel and inhuman treatment" of detainees and soldiers of the regiment's own "Tucapel" in the southern city of Temuco.

García Covarrubias, who in late 1974 became instructor of agents in interrogation techniques and repression in recent years of military rule joined the narrow circle of Pinochet on charges of two ministries, is listed as "defendant" in the process which is instructed in Temuco for crimes against humanity.

~snip~
Last September, Garcia had to travel to Chile in order of Justice for questioning and subjected to face to face with former prisoners and military. During the proceeding, Herman Carrasco former detainee accused him of torturing him with other prisoners. "The officer Jaime García Covarrubias started to beat us naked and forced to perform acts sodomitical, without success," said Carrasco. Garcia denied the accusation.

More:
http://www.eldiariomontanes.es/agencias/20101213/mas-actualidad/internacional/militar-chileno-trabaja-pentagono-acusado_201012131208.html

{Google translation of a newspaper published in Spain.)

[Judi Lynn]

3. Couldn't contain myself, rabs. Had to take off and post one of these articles in LBN with link here

to your thread.

This story is much too important for just the sane ones who come here for discussion together, and the visitors.

http://images.sodahead.com.nyud.net:8090/polls/000301150/polls_nudge_nudge_monty_python_105_3840_697865_answer_6_xlarge.jpeg

On edit, the LBN link:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4658081

[Peace Patriot]

4. rabs, is Covarrubias one of the accused in the French trial as well?

I couldn't tell from the article about the French trial that Judi Lynn posted here
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4658081
from
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/europe/in-paris-pinochets-victims-seek-a-kind-of-justice/article1836492/

-----

Do you have any idea why France and Chile don't have an extradition treaty? Seems odd in this day and age.

-----

And, finally, can you make any sense of these articles as to who, exactly, Covarrubias is currently working for in the U.S. (Pentagon, Strategic Defense center, CIA, all variously mentioned)? Perhaps he's switched U.S. payrolls since 2001? Or the reporters didn't get it right?

Wiki and Google turn up exactly nothing, as to bio. All I could find is that he's written some books
http://openlibrary.org/authors/OL4166796A/Jaime_Garcia_Covarrubias

I think it's quite intriguing how such a high-profile U.S. operative from Latin America now finds himself facing charges on his old war crimes. Others have been indicted, yes, but NOT someone openly working for the Pentagon since 2001! In the U.S. In an office. Officially on the payroll. And/or CIA, depending on who exactly he is working for. How did this happen? --I mean, with the CIA scrambling around to keep Junior's little mafioso out of jail. Couldn't they head this off? Do they have it "covered"? (Indictment soon to go away?) Or, is Covarrubias a remnant of the Bush Junta that the CIA or somebody wants to be rid of?

If my thesis about Rumsfeld/Cheney and their war on the CIA is correct (that that "war" was one of the main reasons Daddy Bush intervened with his Iraq Study Group in 2006, i.e., Junior in big trouble with the CIA; Daddy Bush ousted Rumsfeld, then put his man, Leon Panetta (who was a member of the ISG) at CIA to protect Bush 'legacy' & clean up after Junior, and overall to heal wounds of Pentagon vs CIA "war"), Covarrubias might have some connection to a number of puzzling developments, related to the Pentagon vs CIA "war" spilling over into Latin America. His allegiance to one or the other (or his switching from one to the other) and his fate now (as to the trial) could be important clues to certain events in recent history and also to current U.S. policy trends.

I've wondered about the ineptness, crudeness and failure of certain U.S. ops in Latin America that smell of Rumsfeld's "Office of Special Plans." Was Rumsfeld stomping around with big boots, stepping on CIA toes in Latin America? One incident stands out as a possibility: The treachery around Chavez-negotiated hostage releases, late '07. There is reason to believe that, a) Rumsfeld was involved, and b) Pentagon/CIA (or others) were working at cross-purposes on that series of events. Possibly this: That the CIA was aimed at actually getting hostages released vs the Rumsfeld plan aimed at getting hostages killed to embarrass/discredit Chavez, and ultimately aimed at the Ecuador bombing and the "miracle laptop." The "miracle laptop" itself also seemed Rumsfeldian (crude, like the obvious forgery of Iraq/Niger nuke docs.)

I picked up a grammar mistake in Rumsfeld's op-ed about the Chavez hostage thing, that--with my editorial experience--led me to suspect a last-minute edit in the first paragraph, where Rumsfeld says that Chavez's help "is not welcome in Colombia." This would mean Rumsfeld was watching those events closely, maybe even micro-managing. Remember, Uribe abruptly "fired" Chavez, at the last minute, after Chavez called somebody in the Colombian military--that was Uribe's odd excuse--then the Colombian military fired at, but missed, the first 2 hostages. If the whole thing had been designed to set Chavez up (likely), Chavez was instead turning it into a success, aimed at a peace agreement for Colombia's civil war. If the plot had succeeded (dead hostages), Rumsfeld's op-ed would have said something like, "Chavez's tight relationship with FARC terrorists inevitably led to the deaths of hostages, and it is now clear why Chavez's help is not welcome in Colombia." (This Rumsfeldian plan failed and so of course the next thing is mass carnage in Ecuador and the "miracle laptop," to "get" Chavez in another way and, above all, stop the peace effort.)

Rumsfeld's Pentagon shop and CIA were clearly at odds over the Iraq War and were likely also at odds over nuking Iran (which Daddy Bush/CIA/dissident military brass likely stopped Rumsfeld from doing.) So it makes sense that they were at odds on Latin American ops and their goals as well. People don't like to believe anything good about the CIA, but I think that it did evolve, post-Vietnam, into an organization that primarily saw its job as preventing war, not manufacturing it. This is why Oliver North & brethren got into trouble with their war on Nicaragua, having to use non-CIA or outdated CIA operatives and networks. This CIA evolution occurred in fits and starts, but projects like WMD counter-proliferation took prominence, and some of the more brutal activities (assassinations, torture) withered away. Enter the Bush Junta, determined to manufacture war and restore all the wonderful horrors of the past. They tried to bludgeon the CIA into being their lackey for cooking up false intelligence with which to manipulate the media war narrative--as with the crude Niger/Iraq nuke forgeries, which the CIA immediately identified as forgeries. The CIA resisted inventing a war. And I think there was also a lot of resistance to using torture, as there was in the military.

Were they doing the same thing in Latin America? And where would Covarrubias fit into this theory? You see how who he was/is working for, in 2001 and thereafter, might be important. It may even be important as to why Covarrubias has been prosecuted now--say if he is a corrosive element within the CIA (that Panetta is trying to purge in favor of a subtler, more long term plan for Latin America), or if he was on Rumsfeld's side of the Pentagon/CIA "war" and still is. The CIA jettisoned other people from prior eras, whose brutality, crudeness and unreliability they wanted to distance themselves from. Manucher Gorbanifar--the Iran/Contra arms dealer who showed up with this pal Michael Ladeen at the Rome 2001 meeting where the Iraq/Niger nuke forgeries were likely cooked up--is a good example. Gorbanifar had become 'persona non grata' at the CIA--yet here he was again, engaged in manufacturing war and dirty ops. The Bush Junta bringing back Covarrubias may have been similarly insulting and symptomatic. Did he become some kind of Rumsfeld OSP point man for Latin America? And now he's being indicted--how so? Or maybe, as an operative of the "dirty wars" CIA, the Bushwhacks brought him in to sabotage the "mainstream" CIA whom they had declared "war" upon?

Daddy Bush's CIA offed JFK, so I don't mean anything good by "old CIA." They aren't good either, but they are different. Panetta may be an intermediary among these different CIA factions--working with very powerful people like Daddy Bush (who don't care whom they kill, but want to look clean, and who may, in fact, have a steadier view of the global chess game than, say, Rumsfeld--nixing his war on Iran because of China and Russia), the new professionals like Valerie Plame, into preventing war (i.e., developing reliable intel on WMD movements around the world), lucrative criminal networks (drug trafficking--long suspected as one CIA funding source) and vestiges of the Reagan era and other crude, brutal operatives biding their time for torture and war to return. Rumsfeld-Cheney may have been using the latter to stir up trouble within the CIA. (There is evidence that Ghorbanifar was used to try to confuse/misdirect the CIA, after the Iraq invasion, possibly in a plot to "find" nukes in Iraq that were connected to Iran.) That would be one way a Covarrubias could be used in Latin America--to sow confusion with regard to something the CIA supported (say, hostages releases, a peace effort) in opposition to a Rumsfeld/Pentagon death and mayhem scheme. They were clearly having such disputes on Iraq/Iran. Were they having them on Venezuela/Colombia? And was Covarrubias a planner or operative for the Pentagon--still sitting there, planning and operating, maybe scheming with these malicious Miami fascists in Congress who are itching for war against the Leftist countries?

One particular goal he might have been useful for was influencing/manipulating things in Chile, to get the immensely popular Michelet Batchelet (whose father was tortured to death by Pinochet) out of power. She was a key to stopping the U.S./Bushwhack coup in Bolivia, and amazingly got Colombia to agree. The rightwing billionaire, Pinera, who has succeeded her, is already starting to undo one of her related projects (settling an old Chile/Bolivia dispute, by granting Bolivia sovereign access to the Pacific). Defeating the socialists and getting a U.S.-friendly government in Chile has likely been a VERY important U.S. goal. However, if Covarrubias was a Bushwhack skulduggery planner for Chile, maybe there was something worse in the works (a new "War of the Pacific"? hit squad against Evo?), that Panetta didn't agree with, and that is how Covarrubias found himself indicted. We'll have to wait and see if he has protected status like Uribe, as the trial proceeds.

I don't mean to demean or marginalize the difficult human rights and legal work that has gone into this and other "war crimes" trials, nor the integrity of any country's justice system. Far from it. But after what has happened with the U.S. removing Uribe witnesses from Colombia--out of the reach of Colombian prosecutors and over their objections--we have to realize what kind of power the U.S. can exercise--and has exercised--to botch up investigations and prosecutions of those whom the U.S. chooses to protect. The justice system may be working quite well--and, indeed, with great courage and fortitude--and then we find that the judge has been "tainted" by a sting operation (as happened in the Chevron-Texaco case in Ecuador) or Pinera stops the trial and grants a blanket pardon to Covarrubias "for national security reasons" who then also gets asylum in Panama (or Miami)--or whatever. It can happen. It has happened--to even the best of cases.

Panetta seems to be a Bush I-style CIA methodologist--more into subtle, invisible work, not so obviously U.S. ops. He without doubt would want a U.S. friendly president of Chile, but he wouldn't want another "War of the Pacific" that would rouse all the Indigenous tribes from Oaxaca to the Straits of Magellan. He may want to use Colombia as a check on Venezuela, but he doesn't want Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay, Paraguay, Nicaragua and the entire Global South up in arms, ready to defend Latin American sovereignty. He may even want a war but he is realistic about what they would be up against and knows that he needs to do a lot of well-hidden "divide and conquer" first.

I guess my question is, basically, what is the relationship between Covarrubias and the current regime in Washington (--putting aside the question of who the regime in Washington really is)? Is there any evidence that he is CIA, or still CIA (or was that just a reporter's error)? (Perhaps nobody knows, but, if it wasn't just an error, what was it based on?) And there he sat, at the Pentagon or in an ancillary office, getting a big paycheck from us taxpayers and great health care and a fat pension plan--and has been doing so since the Bush Junta hit town like an Evil Wind. What was a Chilean war criminal still doing there? How did he get cemented into place? And is he in any real peril--this person in an official position in Washington--of being sentenced to prison in Chile? Has he been "cut loose" or what?

[rabs]

5. Some thoughts on your queries

Extradition: There is an extradition treaty signed by Chile and France that dates back to 1860. See the pdf file on link below. There may be a mistake in the story, or perhaps the treaty was rescinded during the dictatorship. Will try to find out with my friends in Chile.


http://www.leychile.cl/Navegar?idNorma=400022&idParte=&idVersion=1860-11-28

-------------------

Don't think that Covarrubias was associated in the death of Georges Klein because Covarrubias at the time was stationed in the city of Temuco, several hundred kilometers south of Santiago. Klein was in the La Moneda with Allende and was taken prisoner there on the day of the coup. (I think Judi has a photo of the Moneda prisoners lined up on the sidewalk that day, Klein was among them.)

-----------------

The prosecution of Covarrubias is part of the efforts by Chile's judicial system to bring the war criminals to trial. That began in the 20 years the Concertacion was in power and accelerated during Bachelet's term. Don't know yet how the Pinera government will react to this and other trials.

-------------

Covarrubias is working at the Fort McNair army base just outside Washington. So yes, he is probably getting paid with U.S. taxpayer funds that come from the Pentagon. Glad you noticed his date of employment -- 2001 -- when Rumsfeld was SecDef. Was Covarrubias working for the CIA? Don't know but somehow, someone pulled strings to get him the job at Fort Mcnair. One would think that he would have been vetted and given his background (which should have been known in Washington) he would have been rejected. It strikes me that having someone like Covarrubias teaching "national security" is almost like having Josef Mengele teaching "genetic science" at the CDS in Atlanta.

Will be watching the development of this case in Temuco and for any reaction from the Pentagon. Do not know yet whether any MSM has picked up on the story. It would be good fodder from KO or Rachel. After all, how many accused war criminals are working for the Pentagon?

Oh, checked whether Covarrubias was a graduate of the SOA. He is not on the list, but thought you would be interested in glancing at it, it's interesting. Note Fernandez Larios (of the Letelier assassination in Washington); he has been living in Miami for years under the Witness Protection plan.

http://soaw.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=234