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Prof. Michel Chossudovsky ( more about the author> )

March 15, 2013

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In this capacity he was Bergoglio highest ranking Jesuit in Argentina during the military dictatorship led by General Jorge Videla (1976-1983) (historically validated repeatedly influence and equate the Catholic Church and fascism is truly remarkable – pp)

He later became a bishop and archbishop of Buenos Aires. Pope John Paul II elevated him and granted him the title of cardinal in 2001.

When the military junta gave up power in 1983, duly elected president Raul Alfonsin created the Truth Commission dealing with the crimes forming the basis for “Dirty War” (La Guerra Sucia).

The military junta was secretly supported by Washington.

U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger worked in a military coup in 1976 for his curtain.

Kissinger’s chief representative for Latin America, William Rogers, his two days after the coup, said that “we have in Argentina expect quite a lot of repression, probably a lot of blood for a long time.” … ( National Security Archive , March 23, 2006).

Photo: Henry Kissinger and General Jorge Videla (70s)

“Operation Condor”

It is ironic that in Buenos Aires was the 5th March 2013, a week before the grant of the papal title Cardinal Bergoglio, launched a large trial .Ongoing court in Buenos Aires has ” assess the total number of crimes committed in Operation Condor, a coordinated campaign of various US-backed Latin American dictatorships in the 70s and 80 years, the aim was to catch, torture and kill tens of thousands of opponents of these regimes . ”

For more details, see Operation Condor: Court proceedings on the Latin American program of secret detentions and killings , Carlos Osorio, and Peter Kornbluh, 10 March 2013.

The military junta led by General Jorge Videla (photo below) was responsible for numerous murders, including the murders of priests and nuns, opposing the military government after a coup organized by the CIA of 24 March 1976, in which the government was overthrown Isabel Peron:

“Belonged to generals Videla convicted of crimes against humanity, including” disappearances “, torture, murder and kidnapping. In 1985, Videla was sentenced to life in military prison Magdalena. ”

Wall Street and the neoliberal economic agenda

One of the key appointment of a military junta was the appointment (at the direction of Wall Street) Minister of Economy Jose Alfredo Martinez de Hoz, a member of the Argentine business elites and close friend of David Rockefeller.

Neoliberal macroeconomic package adopted for Martinez de Hoz was “kopírákovou copies” package imposed in October 1973 Pinochet dictatorship in Chile, on the advice of “Chicago boys”, after the state coup of 11September 1973 and the assassination of President Salvador Allende.

Were immediately, by decree, frozen wages. The real purchasing power after the military coup of 24 March 1976 fell within three months by more than 30%. (Author’s estimate, Cordoba, Argentina, July 1976). The inhabitants of Argentina were impoverished (Czechs after the “color” coup in 89 more – pp).

Under the leadership of the Minister of Economy Jose Alfredo Martinez de Hoz was the central bank’s monetary policy is largely determined by Wall Street and the IMF. The exchange market was manipulated. Was deliberately overvalued peso, which led to nezdolatelnému external debt. The entire national economy was plunged into bankruptcy.

Wall Street and the hierarchy of the Catholic Church

Wall Street stood firmly behind the military junta, which led on behalf of a “dirty war”. The Catholic Church and its hierarchy, then played a central role in maintaining the legitimacy of the military junta.

Society of Jesus – which was a conservative but influential faction in the Catholic Church, is closely connected to the Argentine economic elite – stood firmly behind the military junta against so-called “lefties” in the Peronist movement.

“Dirty War”: The charges against Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio

In 2005, a lawyer dealing with human rights, Myriam Bregman, appealed to Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, when he was accused of conspiring with the military junta in the kidnapping of two Jesuit priests in 1976.

Bergoglio, who at the time was “provincial” Society of Jesus, ordered two “leftist” Jesuit priests to “leave their pastoral work” (ie got fired), after there was a split in the Society of Jesus concerning the role of the Catholic Church and its relations with the military junta.

Condemnation of the military dictatorship (including human rights) has been taboo in the Catholic Church. While the top cadres of the Church supported the military junta, the ordinary members were strongly against the establishment of military rule.

In 2010, the surviving “Dirty War” Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio accused of involvement and complicity in the kidnapping of two members of the Society of Jesus, Francisco Jalics Yorio and Orlando ( El Mundo , November 8, 2010).

The process set up in the year 2005 “Bergoglio twice invoked his rights guaranteed by Argentine law to refuse to stand publicly in court, and when he testified in 2010, his answers were evasive”:

“Bergoglio was involved in at least two cases. One case concerned the torture of two Jesuit priests – Orlando Yorio and Francisco Jalicsa – who were kidnapped in 1976 from the slums, where preached liberation theology. Yorio Bergoglia accused of being a practically gave the death squads … that the regime refused to say that it has approved their work. Jalics refused to discuss it, after he went into seclusion in the German monastery. “( Los Angeles Times, April 1, 2005 ).

Charges against Bergoglio regarding kidnapping of two Jesuit priests are just the tip of the iceberg. A military junta was the entire Catholic hierarchy. According to the lawyer Myriam Bregman: ” Self Bergogliovy statements prove that church officials knew from the beginning that the junta torturing and murdering citizens, and yet publicly supported dictators. Dictatorship without their key support could not work that way . “( Los Angeles Times, April 1, 2005 ).

The Catholic hierarchy is implicitly participated in the torture and mass murder, when only in the years 1976 to 1978 is estimated to have disappeared or been killed 22,000 people . Thousands … other victims were killed in the years 1978-1983, when the army was forced to relinquish power. ( National Security Archive , March 23, 2006).

The Catholic Church: Chile versus Argentina

It is worth noting that immediately after the military coup in Chile 11th September 1973 Santiago de Chile, Cardinal Raul Silva Henriquez, openly criticized the military junta led by General Augusto Pinochet. As a stark contrast in comparison with Argentina this attitude has helped the Catholic Church to limit the wave of political killings and human rights violations against Salvador Allende supporters and opponents of the military regime.

If Jorge Mario Bergoglio took a similar position as Cardinal Raul Henriquez Sivla, they would have saved thousands of lives.

“Operation Condor” and the Catholic Church

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