USPresident Barack Obama’s visit aims to bolster the efforts of his Argentinian counterpart to end a decade-and-a-half of global financial isolation of the Latin American nation.
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A memorial ceremony was set up in Parque de la Memoria, or Remembrance Park, a permanent memorial space that faces the river Buenos Aires formed around.
Obama said it takes courage for a society to address “uncomfortable truths” about its past, but that doing so is essential to moving forward.
Nicole Wallace, who served as communications director for President George W. Bush, agreed that Obama’s “policy choice” to continue with everything on his scheduled visits to Cuba and Argentina equaled a “communications” crime.
Obama said the strategy of a U.S.-led air campaign and special operations missions was evolving, but only in response to results on the ground, not GOP rhetoric.
Yet that step, while welcomed by Macri, hasn’t quelled concerns.
“I told President Macri that the United States offers whatever help we can to finally hold these attackers accountable”, Obama said. He also noted that while the USA government has declassified about 4,000 State Department records, last week his administration announced that it would also declassify military and intelligence records related to that period.
Later on Thursday, Obama will switch briefly into vacation mode, traveling with his family to the lakeside town of Bariloche in Patagonia.
Victims’ groups had been angered by the choice of the date for Obama’s visit, given the United States support for the coup at the time. The visit coincides with the 40 anniversary of the Argentine military coup, which ushered in an era of brutal attacks on people perceived as dissidents, including executions, torture, and the abduction of detainees’ babies.
Obama is on his first visit to Argentina, hoping to nurture a new regional ally. He called on one fawning woman who said she was “going to have a heart attack”, adding that “you are my hero”. A large march also was planned Thursday afternoon to commemorate the 40th anniversary. “Every day, somewhere in the world they are jeopardized”.
For his part, Macri has been criticized for de-emphasizing the need for US accountability as he pursues closer ties with Washington. Independent groups estimate up to 30,00 people were victims of the regime.
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The security ministry says police arrested journalist Carlos Alberto Serbali in the office of state-run Radio Nacional in downtown Buenos Aires after he threatened to detonate a bomb inside the radio station on Wednesday.
