Kissinger’s unwavering support for brutal regimes still haunts Latin America

By DANIEL POLITI and PATRICIA LUNA
Associated Press

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Leftists in Chile were tortured, tossed from helicopters and forced to watch relatives be raped during the military dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet. In Argentina, many were “disappeared” by members of the brutal military dictatorship that held detainees in concentration camps. It all happened with the endorsement of Henry Kissinger, the former U.S. secretary of state who died Wednesday at age 100. As tributes poured in for the top diplomat under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, the mood was decidedly different in South America, where many countries were scarred deeply during the Cold War by human rights abuses inflicted in the name of anti-communism and where many still harbor a deep distrust of their powerful neighbor to the north.