LaRouchians support Seineldin's coup attempts
LaRouche support Seineldin and the carapintadas during their 1991 trial and appeals
Other propaganda for the "nationalist" cause in Argentina, 1991
Support for the imprisoned Seineldin and Argentinian "nationalism," 1992-1999
Support for Seineldin and Argentinian nationalism since 2000
Seineldin's website
Seineldin and the LaRouchians: news reports
LaRouche and Peronism
THE SEINELDIN CONNECTION: BACKGROUND
Seineldin uber LaRouche. Here is the back cover of EIR's The Plot to Annihilate the Armed Forces and the Nations of Ibero-America (1994). A photo of Col. Seineldin appears directly above that of LaRouche, who is clearly thereby associating himself with Seineldin's dream of a new fascist military regime in Argentina. (Indeed, the book includes as an appendix Seineldin's 1991 speech "I Owe Obedience to the Permanent Values of the Nation," delivered before an appeals court after the charismatic colonel's conviction of charges relating to his bloody 1990 coup attempt against Argentina's elected government.) Note the reference in the blurb to "hypocritical campaigns defending human rights." Appearing along with the picture of Seineldin, this phrase is unmistakeably an attack on those who would prosecute military participants in the torture, rape, vuelos de la muerte (death flights), and mass killings of civilians that occurred during Argentina's "dirty war."
"Argentine Officers in Attempted Coup Go on Trial," The New York Times, April 16, 1991. Describes the opening of the trial of "15 Argentine army leaders and almost 500 of their followers who staged a military uprising on Dec. 3, 1990, just before a visit by President Bush." Says Seineldin was charged with "masterminding" the plot. Says that since the return to civilian rule in 1983, a network of junior officers (the carapintadas, or "Painted Ones") have launched four uprisings. Although the first three were basically protest actions against "unfair treatment" of the military (i.e., against criminal prosecutions of human rights violators), the December 1990 one was a real attempt to seize power: "Rebel forces attacked important military buildings in downtown Buenos Aires, one of which was only blocks from the Casa Rosada, the presidential palace, and 21 people were killed and more than 200 wounded." Article predicts the trial will focus on the "mysterious figure" of Seineldin, "who has said he is an admirer of General Alfredo Stroessner, former military leader in Paraguay, and Francisco Franco, former dictator of Spain."
Profiles of human rights violators during Argentina's "Dirty War." These are the people responsible for the murder (often preceded by torture and rape) of an estimated 30,000 civilians during the 1976-1983 junta rule. (Seineldin's LaRouche-supported coup attempts were aimed at winning pardons for many of these thugs and sadists after they had been convicted in Argentine courts.) The colonel himself is profiled: "Seineldin is considered one of the most extreme of the extremists....Frequently seen with a large crucifix adorning his chest, Seineldin is known to be strongly antisemitic. 'It's easier to find a green dog than an honest jew,' he was quoted as saying during the Carapintada's revolt of Villa Martelli in 1988." Anyone reading the profiles of this repulsive crew should be aware that the LaRouchians were doing favors for the junta members well before the regime's collapse (as by supporting the invasion of the Falklands through demonstrations across the U.S. and a public relations effort in Washington that even succeeded in getting U.S. Senator Jesse Helms on the Argentinians' side).
The dark side of LaRouche's favorite Argentinian colonel? This translation from the Desaparecidos website re a woman kidnapped, tortured and murdered in 1976 suggests that Mohamed Ali Seineldin's record during his nation's "dirty war" was sinister indeed.
LAROUCHIANS SUPPORT SEINELDIN'S COUP ATTEMPTS
EIR (Dec. 16, 1988) hails the Dec. 2 uprising led by Seineldin. Claims the "legendary hero of the 1982 Malvinas War took military action…to save his nation's armed forced as an institution capable of resisting the Moscow-inspired communist onslaught plaguing Ibero-America."
LaRouche hails Seineldin's uprising (EIR, Dec. 16, 1988). Compares Seineldin to Douglas MacArthur and Frederick the Great; claims that the colonel is "not only a patriot hero of his own nation, but, as a soldier of Christ, also a soldier-citizen of all humanity."
LAROUCHIANS SUPPORT SEINELDIN AND THE CARAPINTADAS DURING THEIR 1991 TRIAL AND APPEALS
EIR (Jan. 11, 1991) interviews Seineldin's wife. Headline quotes her as saying, "If they execute my husband, he will die with honor, as he lived." But a careful reading of the article suggests that Mrs. Seineldin regarded the death penalty as only a very remote possibility, and had made the statement for its rhetorical effect. Most interesting part of the interview is her comments on her husband's years in Panama, first as military attache and then working directly for Noriega. "My husband went to build a war college, and that's what he did for those two years. Later, they said he was involved with a thousand different things, but you know in life, the truth always comes out." [Emphasis added.]
EIR coverage of Seineldin's trial (April 26, 1991). Says that backers of Seineldin and his co-defendants "have launched a publicity campaign, including 'interviews galore' by the accused to the press, and the plastering of Buenos Aires with posters of Seineldin." Quotes Seineldin: "As a citizen I am prepared to assume the role which circumstances impose upon me, to carry forward a National Salvation Front."
EIR's coverage of Seineldin's trial (Aug. 16, 1991). "In one and a half hours of forceful testimony, the colonel ripped the prosecutor's arguments to shreds. Particularly since 1976, he said, Argentina has been under assault by 'international financial centers'…." Appended to the article are excerpts from Seineldin's testimony, which concluded: "God and Fatherland, or Death."
EIR once again on Seineldin's trial (Aug. 30, 1991). "The resistance to the new world order in Argentina, led by Seineldin…has situated itself to now play a leading role in rallying resistance throughout the continent" (precisely what the LaRouche movement in Latin America would strive to do over the following decade).
EIR interviews Seineldin (Aug. 30, 1991). He claims that international efforts to save the Amazon rain forests are part of a New World Order plot: "The major financial centers are making plans to take [the Amazon region] over….Thus, they will prevent its exploitation by Brazil's citizens, the rightful owners through the legacy of God and their ancestors. They will also install 'ecological units' for its control and care, which is nothing but the covert and 'intelligent' deployment of foreign forces to the country, an assault against national sovereignty. Thus, Brazil, and especially its armed forces, should be very alert...."
EIR (Aug. 30, 1991) interviews Capt. Gustavo Breide Obeid at Caseros prison. This Seineldin co-defendant sounds pretty rational. The carapintada movement apparently was no ideological monolith.
Excerpts from trial testimony of Seineldin co-defendant Maj. Ruben Fernandez (EIR, Aug. 30, 1991). "The entire Argentine nation knows that we have had imposed on us the strangulation of our nuclear development, the dismantling of our tank and submarine factories, as well as the destruction of the Condor [intermediate range missile] project."
OTHER PROPAGANDA FOR THE "NATIONALIST" CAUSE IN ARGENTINA, 1991
EIR (June 14, 1991) attacks Argentina's civilian government for killing the Air Force's Condor II missile project. Says Condor II "is a symbol of the best tradition within Argentina's Armed Forces....It is this tradition which the Anglo-American establishment is determined to annihilate...." Suggests there may be a plot by Chile, backed by the British, to attack Argentina. (No such attack has occurred in the 17 years since then--another LaRouche prediction down the tubes.)
EIR (Feb. 1, 1991) attacks Argentina's "made in U.S.A." civilian government. Says the Defense Minister once attended Oxford University and "hails from social-democratic circles...known for their hatred of the military." Complains that President Carlos Menem is "doing everything possible to prove he is the United States' most loyal ally," as by "making statements attacking Iraq, supporting Israel," etc.
SUPPORT FOR THE IMPRISONED SEINELDIN AND ARGENTINIAN "NATIONALISM," 1992-1999
"Argentina: Will the Armed Forces Be Finally 'De-Malvinized'?" Chap. 8 of The Plot to Annihilate the Armed Forces and the Nations of Ibero-America" (1994). Says that the "Anglo-American establishment and their Argentine allies" are conspiring to root out "nationalism" from the Argentine military and to brainwash the military into become "an instrument of its historical British enemy." Says that references to changing the "cultural guidelines" of the military are code language for attacks on the "military's nationalist faction whose visible leader is Colonel Seineldin" (does not say who the invisible leader is supposed to be, but we can guess). Says one aim is to eliminate the "military institution's spiritual identification with the principle of nationhood or fatherland." Quotes Seineldin that the plotters would destroy the army's role "as protector of the 'highest interests of the nation.'" Opposes trials of military leaders for human rights violations. Opposes allowing torture victims to sue the Argentine military in U.S. courts. Criticizes the Argentine government's decision to halt development of the Condor II missile, which was being developed in collaboration with Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Says this is an example of the U.S. imposing "technological apartheid."
Seineldin's preface to The Plot (1994). Says the Conquistadores "brought God's wonderful message of conversion and salvation" to the continent. Says they proposed "an order of human life" that would further salvation--and enforced it "[w]ith their sword, hard and true" (thus showing they were worthy heirs to the "political-military order of the Romans, the religious order of the Crusades," etc.). Claims the "history of the Ibero-American military is, in every case, the backbone of the lives of each and every one of our peoples." Calls for the realization of the Bolivarian dream of a united continent to fight back against the New World Order.
EIR (1997) publishes text of open letter from the imprisoned Seineldin to the Chief of Staff of the Argentine Army. Attacks Henry Kissinger for allegedly using "the terms 'democracy' and 'human rights' to undermine the [Argentine military's] prestige…because of the mistakes or illegal actions of some of its members." Sees the plot as region-wide. Hails the political resistance against U.S. and British pressure led by three other LaRouche-linked retired military officers: General Harold Bedoya Pizarro of Colombia, Brazilian General Tasso Villar de Aquino, and Brazilian Admiral Sergio Tasso Vasquez de Aquino.
SUPPORT FOR SEINELDIN AND ARGENTINIAN "NATIONALISM" SINCE 2000
Seineldin letter published in EIR (2001). Says that "it wasn't until 1988, when, from the events in Panama, I learned of the change in the political model to be imposed on all Ibero-American nations, that I dedicated myself fully to analyzing this issue." [Note that he says 1988--not 1989, when the U.S. invasion occurred. The sentence is an apparent reference to when Seineldin first began to listen seriously to the LaRouchians--or at least to pick and choose from their writings for his own purposes.] Decided then that a plot was afoot to replace "the Republic and the nation-state with a block of nations dependent on the United States--the reality we know today as 'globalization' or the 'New World Order.'" [Note that he is using the terms "Republic" and "nation-state" in the LaRouchians manner.] Became convinced he had no alternative but to "resort to the Dec. 3, 1990 military uprising" (the one that got him thrown in the slammer for over a decade). Says "I want my freedom! Freedom for the Resistance."
EIR on Argentina's financial collapse (2001). This article blames the crisis on the IMF, urges that Colonel Seineldin be freed from prison to take matters in hand, reports on a demonstration in Buenos Aires (allegedly attended by thousands) demanding the same. Says that "Argentina can't tolerate another Carlos Menem" (the president from 1989-1999 whom Seineldin attempted to overthrow via the Dec. 1990 military uprising). The man-on-horseback implications of this article should be clear to most readers.
Seineldin addresses by telephone (from prison) a LaRouche-sponsored conference in Guadalajara, Mexico (2002). Says that "hope blossoms for the Possible America, the dream made mission by the Ibero-American Solidarity Movement, under the strategic conception of the worthy gentleman and patriarch of humanity, Dr. Lyndon LaRouche." Urges swift action: "There is no time to wait....[T]he predator is inside our houses." (According to EIR, the conference was addressed in person by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Brazilian Adm. Sergio Tasso Vasquez de Aquino (Ret.) and Argentinian Major Adrian Romero Mundani (Ret.). LaRouche participated electronically, supposedly for security reasons. A speech was read on behalf of former Mexican President Jose Lopez Portillo, who also could not attend.)
LaRouche discusses Seineldin's future on Argentine radio (2002). Asked if he would be willing "to support a movement to bring Seineldin to power," LaRouche responds that he has no such "plan" but thinks Seineldin "should play a key role as a hero of his country....My concern...is to suddenly create new parties which represent the best people of [each] nation...." [I interpret this answer as a "yes."--DK]
Col. Seineldin addresses a far-right conclave held in Sao Paulo, Brazil during LaRouche's 2002 visit. Speaking by telephone from the Campo de Mayo military prison in Argentina, the colonel hails "Dearest sir and humanity's thinker, Don Lyndon LaRouche; Distinguished lady, Mrs. Helga Zepp-LaRouche; My dear brothers in struggle, Dennis Small, Silvia and Lorenzo Carrasco, Gerardo Teran [LaRouche followers] and all the others, for we are many...." Declares that "we Brazilians and Argentines, without hesitating or wasting a minute, have already begun to work under the marvelous conception of Dr. Lyndon LaRouche....The world is in a total debacle, and we are all relying on the worthy patriarch and humanity's gentleman, Don Lyndon LaRouche...." Seineldin also sent greetings by name to three high-level Brazilian military officers, saying to all the above: "I pray to God and Mary of Mercy...that we may be helped in this marvelous, if hard, path that we have chosen."
Seineldin addresses LaRouche conference in Washington D.C. by phone (2002). His remarks, published as "Greetings From a Malvinas War Hero," begin with a salute to "[my] great brother, friend of humanity, my good friend, Lyndon LaRouche." In the course of his remarks he notes that "either we hang together or we will be hung together." At the end he proclaims, "For God and the great Ibero-American Fatherland!" (Applause from the LaRouchians.) LaRouche aide Debra Hanania Freeman, chair of the proceedings, summed up the mood in the room: "That was certainly a treat."
LaRouche speaks to Patagonia (transcript of 2003 TV interview). This document suggests that LaRouche can often sound quite reasonable to people with little knowledge of American politics and no access to the real facts about his movement (which have appeared for the most part only in the U.S. media). Note that LaRouche's claims to be a major U.S. political figure went entirely unchallenged by the interviewer. Nor did the interviewer challenge LaRouche's comment that "[t]here is a solution [to Argentina's financial problems], but it's going to take an international conspiracy by people who care about the principle of maintaining the community of sovereign nation-states." Given LaRouche's relationship with serial coup-plotter Seineldin, the word "conspiracy" has a suggestive ring. As to LaRouche's reference to maintaining "sovereign nation-states," this can be interpreted as a call for a united struggle by LaRouche, Seineldin and their allies against the supposed enemies of "Ibero-American" nationalism: Felix Rohatyn, Henry Kissinger, George Soros, the Goldsmith brothers and other members of the so-called "British" (a.k.a. "Venetian" a.k.a. "synarchist") oligarchy.
LaRouchians celebrate the blessed event (2003). LaRouche's Guadalajara Forum holds a series of events in Buenos Aires to celebrate the freeing "of the longest-serving political prisoner in the history of Argentina, Col. Mohamed Ali Seineldin." (Alas, the targets of the "dirty war" conducted by Seineldin and other Argentine military bravos in the 1970s didn't get to be long-serving political prisoners--they just got tortured and then dumped out of helicopters into the ocean during vuelos de la muerte (death flights).)
LaRouche in the Argentine magazine Veintitres. In this 2004 interview he slams "New York bankers, who are part of the Venetian tradition." (Never assume that Argentinian ultrarightists don't know their Shakespeare.)
LaRouche appears (2004) in Argentine documentary film on the country's international debt problems. In transcript of interview he urges economic and political measures that would "break the power of the international financial agencies, typified by their representatives, Felix Rohatyn, and George Soros, and so forth. These powerful financier agencies [emphasis added--note the subtle change in wording] which were behind Hitler, are the enemy today." Orwellian language of this type is used repeatedly in the interview, with Jewish surnamed bankers being blamed not only for Hitler's rise but also for the alleged "fascist" (neoconservative) policies in the United States today. From such scrambled semantics, the casual reader would never know that LaRouche had been working mightily to build support for a real fascist and would-be dictator, Col. Seineldin.
SEINELDIN'S WEBSITE
"Dialogo Seineldin-LaRouche en Seminario Brasil-Argentina." Transcript in Spanish of interchange (2002) between the two fascist leaders (with Seineldin speaking by phone from prison) at an event in Sao Paulo, Brazil jointly sponsored by their respective followers.
Article by V. Com. Horacio Ricciardelli (2003) attacks "Mr. Edward Teddy Goldsmith" (a London cousin of the Rothschilds whom LaRouche once blamed for causing 9/11). Also slams the Rothschilds themselves, the Bronfmans, George Soros, other Jews as well as "el Principe consorte Felipe de Edimburgo, titular del WWF (World Wildlife Fund)." Tirade is pure LaRouchism and was apparently inspired by "Teddy Goldsmith: Portrait of an Eco-Fascist," EIR, Feb. 9, 2001, and/or similar EIR articles. Ricchardelli is identified as being from the Movimiento Condor Nacional--a name reminiscent both of Operation Condor (a campaign of thousands of assassinations conducted by the Chilean DINA and Argentina's SIDE--with cooperation from the secret police in several other countries--between 1975 and 1983) and of the Argentinian intermediate-range Condor ballistic missile program that was canceled after the fall of the junta.
SEINELDIN AND THE LAROUCHIANS: NEWS REPORTS
LaRouche, Seineldin and Hugo Chavis. Martin Edwin Andersen of the Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies reports: "In the early 1990s, LaRouche's publications touted as heroes two Latin Americans of special interest. One was ultraright Argentine Col. Mohamed Ali Seineldin, a rabid anti-Semite of the 'Painted Faces' death squad responsible for two rebellions against the elected governments of Menem and his civilian predecessor. The other was Venezuelan army officer Hugo Chavis...."
More on LaRouche, Seineldin and Hugo Chavez in the 1990s. Martin Edwin Andersen reports: "A former Argentine left-wing guerrilla supporter and Painted Faces apologist, Norberto Ceresole, claims to be Mr. Chavez's ideological guru. Those with long memories will recall that in the early 1990s, both Col. Seineldin and Mr. Chavez were poster boys for...Lyndon LaRouche's publications. Almost all of these radical forces, on the left and on the right, maintain links to radical Middle Eastern regimes and reject liberal democracy as being controlled by 'the Jews.'"
"Mohamed Ali Seineldin y el fascismo o conspirinoico." 2002 La Fogata article (Spanish only) discusses the Seineldin-LaRouche alliance, compares the duo to characters in Foucault's Pendulum.
LAROUCHE AND PERONISM
Viva the legacy of General Juan Domingo Peron. EIR (1987) interviews a leading member of the Peronist movement's right wing regarding the founding of a Juan Peron Museum (no "monetarists" allowed) to fight against the influence of the "synarchists," the international "oligarchy," etc. Attacks Argentine President Raul Alfonsin, whom Col. Seineldin would attempt to overthrow the following year. (Of course Seineldin would also attempt in 1990 to overthrow Alfonsin's Peronist successor, Carlos Menem.)
Other propaganda for the "nationalist" cause in Argentina, 1991
Support for the imprisoned Seineldin and Argentinian "nationalism," 1992-1999
Support for Seineldin and Argentinian nationalism since 2000
Seineldin's website
Seineldin and the LaRouchians: news reports
LaRouche and Peronism
THE SEINELDIN CONNECTION: BACKGROUND
Seineldin uber LaRouche. Here is the back cover of EIR's The Plot to Annihilate the Armed Forces and the Nations of Ibero-America (1994). A photo of Col. Seineldin appears directly above that of LaRouche, who is clearly thereby associating himself with Seineldin's dream of a new fascist military regime in Argentina. (Indeed, the book includes as an appendix Seineldin's 1991 speech "I Owe Obedience to the Permanent Values of the Nation," delivered before an appeals court after the charismatic colonel's conviction of charges relating to his bloody 1990 coup attempt against Argentina's elected government.) Note the reference in the blurb to "hypocritical campaigns defending human rights." Appearing along with the picture of Seineldin, this phrase is unmistakeably an attack on those who would prosecute military participants in the torture, rape, vuelos de la muerte (death flights), and mass killings of civilians that occurred during Argentina's "dirty war."
"Argentine Officers in Attempted Coup Go on Trial," The New York Times, April 16, 1991. Describes the opening of the trial of "15 Argentine army leaders and almost 500 of their followers who staged a military uprising on Dec. 3, 1990, just before a visit by President Bush." Says Seineldin was charged with "masterminding" the plot. Says that since the return to civilian rule in 1983, a network of junior officers (the carapintadas, or "Painted Ones") have launched four uprisings. Although the first three were basically protest actions against "unfair treatment" of the military (i.e., against criminal prosecutions of human rights violators), the December 1990 one was a real attempt to seize power: "Rebel forces attacked important military buildings in downtown Buenos Aires, one of which was only blocks from the Casa Rosada, the presidential palace, and 21 people were killed and more than 200 wounded." Article predicts the trial will focus on the "mysterious figure" of Seineldin, "who has said he is an admirer of General Alfredo Stroessner, former military leader in Paraguay, and Francisco Franco, former dictator of Spain."
Profiles of human rights violators during Argentina's "Dirty War." These are the people responsible for the murder (often preceded by torture and rape) of an estimated 30,000 civilians during the 1976-1983 junta rule. (Seineldin's LaRouche-supported coup attempts were aimed at winning pardons for many of these thugs and sadists after they had been convicted in Argentine courts.) The colonel himself is profiled: "Seineldin is considered one of the most extreme of the extremists....Frequently seen with a large crucifix adorning his chest, Seineldin is known to be strongly antisemitic. 'It's easier to find a green dog than an honest jew,' he was quoted as saying during the Carapintada's revolt of Villa Martelli in 1988." Anyone reading the profiles of this repulsive crew should be aware that the LaRouchians were doing favors for the junta members well before the regime's collapse (as by supporting the invasion of the Falklands through demonstrations across the U.S. and a public relations effort in Washington that even succeeded in getting U.S. Senator Jesse Helms on the Argentinians' side).
The dark side of LaRouche's favorite Argentinian colonel? This translation from the Desaparecidos website re a woman kidnapped, tortured and murdered in 1976 suggests that Mohamed Ali Seineldin's record during his nation's "dirty war" was sinister indeed.
LAROUCHIANS SUPPORT SEINELDIN'S COUP ATTEMPTS
EIR (Dec. 16, 1988) hails the Dec. 2 uprising led by Seineldin. Claims the "legendary hero of the 1982 Malvinas War took military action…to save his nation's armed forced as an institution capable of resisting the Moscow-inspired communist onslaught plaguing Ibero-America."
LaRouche hails Seineldin's uprising (EIR, Dec. 16, 1988). Compares Seineldin to Douglas MacArthur and Frederick the Great; claims that the colonel is "not only a patriot hero of his own nation, but, as a soldier of Christ, also a soldier-citizen of all humanity."
LAROUCHIANS SUPPORT SEINELDIN AND THE CARAPINTADAS DURING THEIR 1991 TRIAL AND APPEALS
EIR (Jan. 11, 1991) interviews Seineldin's wife. Headline quotes her as saying, "If they execute my husband, he will die with honor, as he lived." But a careful reading of the article suggests that Mrs. Seineldin regarded the death penalty as only a very remote possibility, and had made the statement for its rhetorical effect. Most interesting part of the interview is her comments on her husband's years in Panama, first as military attache and then working directly for Noriega. "My husband went to build a war college, and that's what he did for those two years. Later, they said he was involved with a thousand different things, but you know in life, the truth always comes out." [Emphasis added.]
EIR coverage of Seineldin's trial (April 26, 1991). Says that backers of Seineldin and his co-defendants "have launched a publicity campaign, including 'interviews galore' by the accused to the press, and the plastering of Buenos Aires with posters of Seineldin." Quotes Seineldin: "As a citizen I am prepared to assume the role which circumstances impose upon me, to carry forward a National Salvation Front."
EIR's coverage of Seineldin's trial (Aug. 16, 1991). "In one and a half hours of forceful testimony, the colonel ripped the prosecutor's arguments to shreds. Particularly since 1976, he said, Argentina has been under assault by 'international financial centers'…." Appended to the article are excerpts from Seineldin's testimony, which concluded: "God and Fatherland, or Death."
EIR once again on Seineldin's trial (Aug. 30, 1991). "The resistance to the new world order in Argentina, led by Seineldin…has situated itself to now play a leading role in rallying resistance throughout the continent" (precisely what the LaRouche movement in Latin America would strive to do over the following decade).
EIR interviews Seineldin (Aug. 30, 1991). He claims that international efforts to save the Amazon rain forests are part of a New World Order plot: "The major financial centers are making plans to take [the Amazon region] over….Thus, they will prevent its exploitation by Brazil's citizens, the rightful owners through the legacy of God and their ancestors. They will also install 'ecological units' for its control and care, which is nothing but the covert and 'intelligent' deployment of foreign forces to the country, an assault against national sovereignty. Thus, Brazil, and especially its armed forces, should be very alert...."
EIR (Aug. 30, 1991) interviews Capt. Gustavo Breide Obeid at Caseros prison. This Seineldin co-defendant sounds pretty rational. The carapintada movement apparently was no ideological monolith.
Excerpts from trial testimony of Seineldin co-defendant Maj. Ruben Fernandez (EIR, Aug. 30, 1991). "The entire Argentine nation knows that we have had imposed on us the strangulation of our nuclear development, the dismantling of our tank and submarine factories, as well as the destruction of the Condor [intermediate range missile] project."
OTHER PROPAGANDA FOR THE "NATIONALIST" CAUSE IN ARGENTINA, 1991
EIR (June 14, 1991) attacks Argentina's civilian government for killing the Air Force's Condor II missile project. Says Condor II "is a symbol of the best tradition within Argentina's Armed Forces....It is this tradition which the Anglo-American establishment is determined to annihilate...." Suggests there may be a plot by Chile, backed by the British, to attack Argentina. (No such attack has occurred in the 17 years since then--another LaRouche prediction down the tubes.)
EIR (Feb. 1, 1991) attacks Argentina's "made in U.S.A." civilian government. Says the Defense Minister once attended Oxford University and "hails from social-democratic circles...known for their hatred of the military." Complains that President Carlos Menem is "doing everything possible to prove he is the United States' most loyal ally," as by "making statements attacking Iraq, supporting Israel," etc.
SUPPORT FOR THE IMPRISONED SEINELDIN AND ARGENTINIAN "NATIONALISM," 1992-1999
"Argentina: Will the Armed Forces Be Finally 'De-Malvinized'?" Chap. 8 of The Plot to Annihilate the Armed Forces and the Nations of Ibero-America" (1994). Says that the "Anglo-American establishment and their Argentine allies" are conspiring to root out "nationalism" from the Argentine military and to brainwash the military into become "an instrument of its historical British enemy." Says that references to changing the "cultural guidelines" of the military are code language for attacks on the "military's nationalist faction whose visible leader is Colonel Seineldin" (does not say who the invisible leader is supposed to be, but we can guess). Says one aim is to eliminate the "military institution's spiritual identification with the principle of nationhood or fatherland." Quotes Seineldin that the plotters would destroy the army's role "as protector of the 'highest interests of the nation.'" Opposes trials of military leaders for human rights violations. Opposes allowing torture victims to sue the Argentine military in U.S. courts. Criticizes the Argentine government's decision to halt development of the Condor II missile, which was being developed in collaboration with Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Says this is an example of the U.S. imposing "technological apartheid."
Seineldin's preface to The Plot (1994). Says the Conquistadores "brought God's wonderful message of conversion and salvation" to the continent. Says they proposed "an order of human life" that would further salvation--and enforced it "[w]ith their sword, hard and true" (thus showing they were worthy heirs to the "political-military order of the Romans, the religious order of the Crusades," etc.). Claims the "history of the Ibero-American military is, in every case, the backbone of the lives of each and every one of our peoples." Calls for the realization of the Bolivarian dream of a united continent to fight back against the New World Order.
EIR (1997) publishes text of open letter from the imprisoned Seineldin to the Chief of Staff of the Argentine Army. Attacks Henry Kissinger for allegedly using "the terms 'democracy' and 'human rights' to undermine the [Argentine military's] prestige…because of the mistakes or illegal actions of some of its members." Sees the plot as region-wide. Hails the political resistance against U.S. and British pressure led by three other LaRouche-linked retired military officers: General Harold Bedoya Pizarro of Colombia, Brazilian General Tasso Villar de Aquino, and Brazilian Admiral Sergio Tasso Vasquez de Aquino.
SUPPORT FOR SEINELDIN AND ARGENTINIAN "NATIONALISM" SINCE 2000
Seineldin letter published in EIR (2001). Says that "it wasn't until 1988, when, from the events in Panama, I learned of the change in the political model to be imposed on all Ibero-American nations, that I dedicated myself fully to analyzing this issue." [Note that he says 1988--not 1989, when the U.S. invasion occurred. The sentence is an apparent reference to when Seineldin first began to listen seriously to the LaRouchians--or at least to pick and choose from their writings for his own purposes.] Decided then that a plot was afoot to replace "the Republic and the nation-state with a block of nations dependent on the United States--the reality we know today as 'globalization' or the 'New World Order.'" [Note that he is using the terms "Republic" and "nation-state" in the LaRouchians manner.] Became convinced he had no alternative but to "resort to the Dec. 3, 1990 military uprising" (the one that got him thrown in the slammer for over a decade). Says "I want my freedom! Freedom for the Resistance."
EIR on Argentina's financial collapse (2001). This article blames the crisis on the IMF, urges that Colonel Seineldin be freed from prison to take matters in hand, reports on a demonstration in Buenos Aires (allegedly attended by thousands) demanding the same. Says that "Argentina can't tolerate another Carlos Menem" (the president from 1989-1999 whom Seineldin attempted to overthrow via the Dec. 1990 military uprising). The man-on-horseback implications of this article should be clear to most readers.
Seineldin addresses by telephone (from prison) a LaRouche-sponsored conference in Guadalajara, Mexico (2002). Says that "hope blossoms for the Possible America, the dream made mission by the Ibero-American Solidarity Movement, under the strategic conception of the worthy gentleman and patriarch of humanity, Dr. Lyndon LaRouche." Urges swift action: "There is no time to wait....[T]he predator is inside our houses." (According to EIR, the conference was addressed in person by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Brazilian Adm. Sergio Tasso Vasquez de Aquino (Ret.) and Argentinian Major Adrian Romero Mundani (Ret.). LaRouche participated electronically, supposedly for security reasons. A speech was read on behalf of former Mexican President Jose Lopez Portillo, who also could not attend.)
LaRouche discusses Seineldin's future on Argentine radio (2002). Asked if he would be willing "to support a movement to bring Seineldin to power," LaRouche responds that he has no such "plan" but thinks Seineldin "should play a key role as a hero of his country....My concern...is to suddenly create new parties which represent the best people of [each] nation...." [I interpret this answer as a "yes."--DK]
Col. Seineldin addresses a far-right conclave held in Sao Paulo, Brazil during LaRouche's 2002 visit. Speaking by telephone from the Campo de Mayo military prison in Argentina, the colonel hails "Dearest sir and humanity's thinker, Don Lyndon LaRouche; Distinguished lady, Mrs. Helga Zepp-LaRouche; My dear brothers in struggle, Dennis Small, Silvia and Lorenzo Carrasco, Gerardo Teran [LaRouche followers] and all the others, for we are many...." Declares that "we Brazilians and Argentines, without hesitating or wasting a minute, have already begun to work under the marvelous conception of Dr. Lyndon LaRouche....The world is in a total debacle, and we are all relying on the worthy patriarch and humanity's gentleman, Don Lyndon LaRouche...." Seineldin also sent greetings by name to three high-level Brazilian military officers, saying to all the above: "I pray to God and Mary of Mercy...that we may be helped in this marvelous, if hard, path that we have chosen."
Seineldin addresses LaRouche conference in Washington D.C. by phone (2002). His remarks, published as "Greetings From a Malvinas War Hero," begin with a salute to "[my] great brother, friend of humanity, my good friend, Lyndon LaRouche." In the course of his remarks he notes that "either we hang together or we will be hung together." At the end he proclaims, "For God and the great Ibero-American Fatherland!" (Applause from the LaRouchians.) LaRouche aide Debra Hanania Freeman, chair of the proceedings, summed up the mood in the room: "That was certainly a treat."
LaRouche speaks to Patagonia (transcript of 2003 TV interview). This document suggests that LaRouche can often sound quite reasonable to people with little knowledge of American politics and no access to the real facts about his movement (which have appeared for the most part only in the U.S. media). Note that LaRouche's claims to be a major U.S. political figure went entirely unchallenged by the interviewer. Nor did the interviewer challenge LaRouche's comment that "[t]here is a solution [to Argentina's financial problems], but it's going to take an international conspiracy by people who care about the principle of maintaining the community of sovereign nation-states." Given LaRouche's relationship with serial coup-plotter Seineldin, the word "conspiracy" has a suggestive ring. As to LaRouche's reference to maintaining "sovereign nation-states," this can be interpreted as a call for a united struggle by LaRouche, Seineldin and their allies against the supposed enemies of "Ibero-American" nationalism: Felix Rohatyn, Henry Kissinger, George Soros, the Goldsmith brothers and other members of the so-called "British" (a.k.a. "Venetian" a.k.a. "synarchist") oligarchy.
LaRouchians celebrate the blessed event (2003). LaRouche's Guadalajara Forum holds a series of events in Buenos Aires to celebrate the freeing "of the longest-serving political prisoner in the history of Argentina, Col. Mohamed Ali Seineldin." (Alas, the targets of the "dirty war" conducted by Seineldin and other Argentine military bravos in the 1970s didn't get to be long-serving political prisoners--they just got tortured and then dumped out of helicopters into the ocean during vuelos de la muerte (death flights).)
LaRouche in the Argentine magazine Veintitres. In this 2004 interview he slams "New York bankers, who are part of the Venetian tradition." (Never assume that Argentinian ultrarightists don't know their Shakespeare.)
LaRouche appears (2004) in Argentine documentary film on the country's international debt problems. In transcript of interview he urges economic and political measures that would "break the power of the international financial agencies, typified by their representatives, Felix Rohatyn, and George Soros, and so forth. These powerful financier agencies [emphasis added--note the subtle change in wording] which were behind Hitler, are the enemy today." Orwellian language of this type is used repeatedly in the interview, with Jewish surnamed bankers being blamed not only for Hitler's rise but also for the alleged "fascist" (neoconservative) policies in the United States today. From such scrambled semantics, the casual reader would never know that LaRouche had been working mightily to build support for a real fascist and would-be dictator, Col. Seineldin.
SEINELDIN'S WEBSITE
"Dialogo Seineldin-LaRouche en Seminario Brasil-Argentina." Transcript in Spanish of interchange (2002) between the two fascist leaders (with Seineldin speaking by phone from prison) at an event in Sao Paulo, Brazil jointly sponsored by their respective followers.
Article by V. Com. Horacio Ricciardelli (2003) attacks "Mr. Edward Teddy Goldsmith" (a London cousin of the Rothschilds whom LaRouche once blamed for causing 9/11). Also slams the Rothschilds themselves, the Bronfmans, George Soros, other Jews as well as "el Principe consorte Felipe de Edimburgo, titular del WWF (World Wildlife Fund)." Tirade is pure LaRouchism and was apparently inspired by "Teddy Goldsmith: Portrait of an Eco-Fascist," EIR, Feb. 9, 2001, and/or similar EIR articles. Ricchardelli is identified as being from the Movimiento Condor Nacional--a name reminiscent both of Operation Condor (a campaign of thousands of assassinations conducted by the Chilean DINA and Argentina's SIDE--with cooperation from the secret police in several other countries--between 1975 and 1983) and of the Argentinian intermediate-range Condor ballistic missile program that was canceled after the fall of the junta.
SEINELDIN AND THE LAROUCHIANS: NEWS REPORTS
LaRouche, Seineldin and Hugo Chavis. Martin Edwin Andersen of the Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies reports: "In the early 1990s, LaRouche's publications touted as heroes two Latin Americans of special interest. One was ultraright Argentine Col. Mohamed Ali Seineldin, a rabid anti-Semite of the 'Painted Faces' death squad responsible for two rebellions against the elected governments of Menem and his civilian predecessor. The other was Venezuelan army officer Hugo Chavis...."
More on LaRouche, Seineldin and Hugo Chavez in the 1990s. Martin Edwin Andersen reports: "A former Argentine left-wing guerrilla supporter and Painted Faces apologist, Norberto Ceresole, claims to be Mr. Chavez's ideological guru. Those with long memories will recall that in the early 1990s, both Col. Seineldin and Mr. Chavez were poster boys for...Lyndon LaRouche's publications. Almost all of these radical forces, on the left and on the right, maintain links to radical Middle Eastern regimes and reject liberal democracy as being controlled by 'the Jews.'"
"Mohamed Ali Seineldin y el fascismo o conspirinoico." 2002 La Fogata article (Spanish only) discusses the Seineldin-LaRouche alliance, compares the duo to characters in Foucault's Pendulum.
LAROUCHE AND PERONISM
Viva the legacy of General Juan Domingo Peron. EIR (1987) interviews a leading member of the Peronist movement's right wing regarding the founding of a Juan Peron Museum (no "monetarists" allowed) to fight against the influence of the "synarchists," the international "oligarchy," etc. Attacks Argentine President Raul Alfonsin, whom Col. Seineldin would attempt to overthrow the following year. (Of course Seineldin would also attempt in 1990 to overthrow Alfonsin's Peronist successor, Carlos Menem.)
Support for Seineldin and Argentinian nationalism since 2000
Seineldin's website
Seineldin and the LaRouchians: news reports
LaRouche and Peronism
THE SEINELDIN CONNECTION: BACKGROUND
Seineldin uber LaRouche. Here is the back cover of EIR's The Plot to Annihilate the Armed Forces and the Nations of Ibero-America (1994). A photo of Col. Seineldin appears directly above that of LaRouche, who is clearly thereby associating himself with Seineldin's dream of a new fascist military regime in Argentina. (Indeed, the book includes as an appendix Seineldin's 1991 speech "I Owe Obedience to the Permanent Values of the Nation," delivered before an appeals court after the charismatic colonel's conviction of charges relating to his bloody 1990 coup attempt against Argentina's elected government.) Note the reference in the blurb to "hypocritical campaigns defending human rights." Appearing along with the picture of Seineldin, this phrase is unmistakeably an attack on those who would prosecute military participants in the torture, rape, vuelos de la muerte (death flights), and mass killings of civilians that occurred during Argentina's "dirty war."
"Argentine Officers in Attempted Coup Go on Trial," The New York Times, April 16, 1991. Describes the opening of the trial of "15 Argentine army leaders and almost 500 of their followers who staged a military uprising on Dec. 3, 1990, just before a visit by President Bush." Says Seineldin was charged with "masterminding" the plot. Says that since the return to civilian rule in 1983, a network of junior officers (the carapintadas, or "Painted Ones") have launched four uprisings. Although the first three were basically protest actions against "unfair treatment" of the military (i.e., against criminal prosecutions of human rights violators), the December 1990 one was a real attempt to seize power: "Rebel forces attacked important military buildings in downtown Buenos Aires, one of which was only blocks from the Casa Rosada, the presidential palace, and 21 people were killed and more than 200 wounded." Article predicts the trial will focus on the "mysterious figure" of Seineldin, "who has said he is an admirer of General Alfredo Stroessner, former military leader in Paraguay, and Francisco Franco, former dictator of Spain."
Profiles of human rights violators during Argentina's "Dirty War." These are the people responsible for the murder (often preceded by torture and rape) of an estimated 30,000 civilians during the 1976-1983 junta rule. (Seineldin's LaRouche-supported coup attempts were aimed at winning pardons for many of these thugs and sadists after they had been convicted in Argentine courts.) The colonel himself is profiled: "Seineldin is considered one of the most extreme of the extremists....Frequently seen with a large crucifix adorning his chest, Seineldin is known to be strongly antisemitic. 'It's easier to find a green dog than an honest jew,' he was quoted as saying during the Carapintada's revolt of Villa Martelli in 1988." Anyone reading the profiles of this repulsive crew should be aware that the LaRouchians were doing favors for the junta members well before the regime's collapse (as by supporting the invasion of the Falklands through demonstrations across the U.S. and a public relations effort in Washington that even succeeded in getting U.S. Senator Jesse Helms on the Argentinians' side).
The dark side of LaRouche's favorite Argentinian colonel? This translation from the Desaparecidos website re a woman kidnapped, tortured and murdered in 1976 suggests that Mohamed Ali Seineldin's record during his nation's "dirty war" was sinister indeed.
LAROUCHIANS SUPPORT SEINELDIN'S COUP ATTEMPTS
EIR (Dec. 16, 1988) hails the Dec. 2 uprising led by Seineldin. Claims the "legendary hero of the 1982 Malvinas War took military action…to save his nation's armed forced as an institution capable of resisting the Moscow-inspired communist onslaught plaguing Ibero-America."
LaRouche hails Seineldin's uprising (EIR, Dec. 16, 1988). Compares Seineldin to Douglas MacArthur and Frederick the Great; claims that the colonel is "not only a patriot hero of his own nation, but, as a soldier of Christ, also a soldier-citizen of all humanity."
LAROUCHIANS SUPPORT SEINELDIN AND THE CARAPINTADAS DURING THEIR 1991 TRIAL AND APPEALS
EIR (Jan. 11, 1991) interviews Seineldin's wife. Headline quotes her as saying, "If they execute my husband, he will die with honor, as he lived." But a careful reading of the article suggests that Mrs. Seineldin regarded the death penalty as only a very remote possibility, and had made the statement for its rhetorical effect. Most interesting part of the interview is her comments on her husband's years in Panama, first as military attache and then working directly for Noriega. "My husband went to build a war college, and that's what he did for those two years. Later, they said he was involved with a thousand different things, but you know in life, the truth always comes out." [Emphasis added.]
EIR coverage of Seineldin's trial (April 26, 1991). Says that backers of Seineldin and his co-defendants "have launched a publicity campaign, including 'interviews galore' by the accused to the press, and the plastering of Buenos Aires with posters of Seineldin." Quotes Seineldin: "As a citizen I am prepared to assume the role which circumstances impose upon me, to carry forward a National Salvation Front."
EIR's coverage of Seineldin's trial (Aug. 16, 1991). "In one and a half hours of forceful testimony, the colonel ripped the prosecutor's arguments to shreds. Particularly since 1976, he said, Argentina has been under assault by 'international financial centers'…." Appended to the article are excerpts from Seineldin's testimony, which concluded: "God and Fatherland, or Death."
EIR once again on Seineldin's trial (Aug. 30, 1991). "The resistance to the new world order in Argentina, led by Seineldin…has situated itself to now play a leading role in rallying resistance throughout the continent" (precisely what the LaRouche movement in Latin America would strive to do over the following decade).
EIR interviews Seineldin (Aug. 30, 1991). He claims that international efforts to save the Amazon rain forests are part of a New World Order plot: "The major financial centers are making plans to take [the Amazon region] over….Thus, they will prevent its exploitation by Brazil's citizens, the rightful owners through the legacy of God and their ancestors. They will also install 'ecological units' for its control and care, which is nothing but the covert and 'intelligent' deployment of foreign forces to the country, an assault against national sovereignty. Thus, Brazil, and especially its armed forces, should be very alert...."
EIR (Aug. 30, 1991) interviews Capt. Gustavo Breide Obeid at Caseros prison. This Seineldin co-defendant sounds pretty rational. The carapintada movement apparently was no ideological monolith.
Excerpts from trial testimony of Seineldin co-defendant Maj. Ruben Fernandez (EIR, Aug. 30, 1991). "The entire Argentine nation knows that we have had imposed on us the strangulation of our nuclear development, the dismantling of our tank and submarine factories, as well as the destruction of the Condor [intermediate range missile] project."
OTHER PROPAGANDA FOR THE "NATIONALIST" CAUSE IN ARGENTINA, 1991
EIR (June 14, 1991) attacks Argentina's civilian government for killing the Air Force's Condor II missile project. Says Condor II "is a symbol of the best tradition within Argentina's Armed Forces....It is this tradition which the Anglo-American establishment is determined to annihilate...." Suggests there may be a plot by Chile, backed by the British, to attack Argentina. (No such attack has occurred in the 17 years since then--another LaRouche prediction down the tubes.)
EIR (Feb. 1, 1991) attacks Argentina's "made in U.S.A." civilian government. Says the Defense Minister once attended Oxford University and "hails from social-democratic circles...known for their hatred of the military." Complains that President Carlos Menem is "doing everything possible to prove he is the United States' most loyal ally," as by "making statements attacking Iraq, supporting Israel," etc.
SUPPORT FOR THE IMPRISONED SEINELDIN AND ARGENTINIAN "NATIONALISM," 1992-1999
"Argentina: Will the Armed Forces Be Finally 'De-Malvinized'?" Chap. 8 of The Plot to Annihilate the Armed Forces and the Nations of Ibero-America" (1994). Says that the "Anglo-American establishment and their Argentine allies" are conspiring to root out "nationalism" from the Argentine military and to brainwash the military into become "an instrument of its historical British enemy." Says that references to changing the "cultural guidelines" of the military are code language for attacks on the "military's nationalist faction whose visible leader is Colonel Seineldin" (does not say who the invisible leader is supposed to be, but we can guess). Says one aim is to eliminate the "military institution's spiritual identification with the principle of nationhood or fatherland." Quotes Seineldin that the plotters would destroy the army's role "as protector of the 'highest interests of the nation.'" Opposes trials of military leaders for human rights violations. Opposes allowing torture victims to sue the Argentine military in U.S. courts. Criticizes the Argentine government's decision to halt development of the Condor II missile, which was being developed in collaboration with Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Says this is an example of the U.S. imposing "technological apartheid."
Seineldin's preface to The Plot (1994). Says the Conquistadores "brought God's wonderful message of conversion and salvation" to the continent. Says they proposed "an order of human life" that would further salvation--and enforced it "[w]ith their sword, hard and true" (thus showing they were worthy heirs to the "political-military order of the Romans, the religious order of the Crusades," etc.). Claims the "history of the Ibero-American military is, in every case, the backbone of the lives of each and every one of our peoples." Calls for the realization of the Bolivarian dream of a united continent to fight back against the New World Order.
EIR (1997) publishes text of open letter from the imprisoned Seineldin to the Chief of Staff of the Argentine Army. Attacks Henry Kissinger for allegedly using "the terms 'democracy' and 'human rights' to undermine the [Argentine military's] prestige…because of the mistakes or illegal actions of some of its members." Sees the plot as region-wide. Hails the political resistance against U.S. and British pressure led by three other LaRouche-linked retired military officers: General Harold Bedoya Pizarro of Colombia, Brazilian General Tasso Villar de Aquino, and Brazilian Admiral Sergio Tasso Vasquez de Aquino.
SUPPORT FOR SEINELDIN AND ARGENTINIAN "NATIONALISM" SINCE 2000
Seineldin letter published in EIR (2001). Says that "it wasn't until 1988, when, from the events in Panama, I learned of the change in the political model to be imposed on all Ibero-American nations, that I dedicated myself fully to analyzing this issue." [Note that he says 1988--not 1989, when the U.S. invasion occurred. The sentence is an apparent reference to when Seineldin first began to listen seriously to the LaRouchians--or at least to pick and choose from their writings for his own purposes.] Decided then that a plot was afoot to replace "the Republic and the nation-state with a block of nations dependent on the United States--the reality we know today as 'globalization' or the 'New World Order.'" [Note that he is using the terms "Republic" and "nation-state" in the LaRouchians manner.] Became convinced he had no alternative but to "resort to the Dec. 3, 1990 military uprising" (the one that got him thrown in the slammer for over a decade). Says "I want my freedom! Freedom for the Resistance."
EIR on Argentina's financial collapse (2001). This article blames the crisis on the IMF, urges that Colonel Seineldin be freed from prison to take matters in hand, reports on a demonstration in Buenos Aires (allegedly attended by thousands) demanding the same. Says that "Argentina can't tolerate another Carlos Menem" (the president from 1989-1999 whom Seineldin attempted to overthrow via the Dec. 1990 military uprising). The man-on-horseback implications of this article should be clear to most readers.
Seineldin addresses by telephone (from prison) a LaRouche-sponsored conference in Guadalajara, Mexico (2002). Says that "hope blossoms for the Possible America, the dream made mission by the Ibero-American Solidarity Movement, under the strategic conception of the worthy gentleman and patriarch of humanity, Dr. Lyndon LaRouche." Urges swift action: "There is no time to wait....[T]he predator is inside our houses." (According to EIR, the conference was addressed in person by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Brazilian Adm. Sergio Tasso Vasquez de Aquino (Ret.) and Argentinian Major Adrian Romero Mundani (Ret.). LaRouche participated electronically, supposedly for security reasons. A speech was read on behalf of former Mexican President Jose Lopez Portillo, who also could not attend.)
LaRouche discusses Seineldin's future on Argentine radio (2002). Asked if he would be willing "to support a movement to bring Seineldin to power," LaRouche responds that he has no such "plan" but thinks Seineldin "should play a key role as a hero of his country....My concern...is to suddenly create new parties which represent the best people of [each] nation...." [I interpret this answer as a "yes."--DK]
Col. Seineldin addresses a far-right conclave held in Sao Paulo, Brazil during LaRouche's 2002 visit. Speaking by telephone from the Campo de Mayo military prison in Argentina, the colonel hails "Dearest sir and humanity's thinker, Don Lyndon LaRouche; Distinguished lady, Mrs. Helga Zepp-LaRouche; My dear brothers in struggle, Dennis Small, Silvia and Lorenzo Carrasco, Gerardo Teran [LaRouche followers] and all the others, for we are many...." Declares that "we Brazilians and Argentines, without hesitating or wasting a minute, have already begun to work under the marvelous conception of Dr. Lyndon LaRouche....The world is in a total debacle, and we are all relying on the worthy patriarch and humanity's gentleman, Don Lyndon LaRouche...." Seineldin also sent greetings by name to three high-level Brazilian military officers, saying to all the above: "I pray to God and Mary of Mercy...that we may be helped in this marvelous, if hard, path that we have chosen."
Seineldin addresses LaRouche conference in Washington D.C. by phone (2002). His remarks, published as "Greetings From a Malvinas War Hero," begin with a salute to "[my] great brother, friend of humanity, my good friend, Lyndon LaRouche." In the course of his remarks he notes that "either we hang together or we will be hung together." At the end he proclaims, "For God and the great Ibero-American Fatherland!" (Applause from the LaRouchians.) LaRouche aide Debra Hanania Freeman, chair of the proceedings, summed up the mood in the room: "That was certainly a treat."
LaRouche speaks to Patagonia (transcript of 2003 TV interview). This document suggests that LaRouche can often sound quite reasonable to people with little knowledge of American politics and no access to the real facts about his movement (which have appeared for the most part only in the U.S. media). Note that LaRouche's claims to be a major U.S. political figure went entirely unchallenged by the interviewer. Nor did the interviewer challenge LaRouche's comment that "[t]here is a solution [to Argentina's financial problems], but it's going to take an international conspiracy by people who care about the principle of maintaining the community of sovereign nation-states." Given LaRouche's relationship with serial coup-plotter Seineldin, the word "conspiracy" has a suggestive ring. As to LaRouche's reference to maintaining "sovereign nation-states," this can be interpreted as a call for a united struggle by LaRouche, Seineldin and their allies against the supposed enemies of "Ibero-American" nationalism: Felix Rohatyn, Henry Kissinger, George Soros, the Goldsmith brothers and other members of the so-called "British" (a.k.a. "Venetian" a.k.a. "synarchist") oligarchy.
LaRouchians celebrate the blessed event (2003). LaRouche's Guadalajara Forum holds a series of events in Buenos Aires to celebrate the freeing "of the longest-serving political prisoner in the history of Argentina, Col. Mohamed Ali Seineldin." (Alas, the targets of the "dirty war" conducted by Seineldin and other Argentine military bravos in the 1970s didn't get to be long-serving political prisoners--they just got tortured and then dumped out of helicopters into the ocean during vuelos de la muerte (death flights).)
LaRouche in the Argentine magazine Veintitres. In this 2004 interview he slams "New York bankers, who are part of the Venetian tradition." (Never assume that Argentinian ultrarightists don't know their Shakespeare.)
LaRouche appears (2004) in Argentine documentary film on the country's international debt problems. In transcript of interview he urges economic and political measures that would "break the power of the international financial agencies, typified by their representatives, Felix Rohatyn, and George Soros, and so forth. These powerful financier agencies [emphasis added--note the subtle change in wording] which were behind Hitler, are the enemy today." Orwellian language of this type is used repeatedly in the interview, with Jewish surnamed bankers being blamed not only for Hitler's rise but also for the alleged "fascist" (neoconservative) policies in the United States today. From such scrambled semantics, the casual reader would never know that LaRouche had been working mightily to build support for a real fascist and would-be dictator, Col. Seineldin.
SEINELDIN'S WEBSITE
"Dialogo Seineldin-LaRouche en Seminario Brasil-Argentina." Transcript in Spanish of interchange (2002) between the two fascist leaders (with Seineldin speaking by phone from prison) at an event in Sao Paulo, Brazil jointly sponsored by their respective followers.
Article by V. Com. Horacio Ricciardelli (2003) attacks "Mr. Edward Teddy Goldsmith" (a London cousin of the Rothschilds whom LaRouche once blamed for causing 9/11). Also slams the Rothschilds themselves, the Bronfmans, George Soros, other Jews as well as "el Principe consorte Felipe de Edimburgo, titular del WWF (World Wildlife Fund)." Tirade is pure LaRouchism and was apparently inspired by "Teddy Goldsmith: Portrait of an Eco-Fascist," EIR, Feb. 9, 2001, and/or similar EIR articles. Ricchardelli is identified as being from the Movimiento Condor Nacional--a name reminiscent both of Operation Condor (a campaign of thousands of assassinations conducted by the Chilean DINA and Argentina's SIDE--with cooperation from the secret police in several other countries--between 1975 and 1983) and of the Argentinian intermediate-range Condor ballistic missile program that was canceled after the fall of the junta.
SEINELDIN AND THE LAROUCHIANS: NEWS REPORTS
LaRouche, Seineldin and Hugo Chavis. Martin Edwin Andersen of the Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies reports: "In the early 1990s, LaRouche's publications touted as heroes two Latin Americans of special interest. One was ultraright Argentine Col. Mohamed Ali Seineldin, a rabid anti-Semite of the 'Painted Faces' death squad responsible for two rebellions against the elected governments of Menem and his civilian predecessor. The other was Venezuelan army officer Hugo Chavis...."
More on LaRouche, Seineldin and Hugo Chavez in the 1990s. Martin Edwin Andersen reports: "A former Argentine left-wing guerrilla supporter and Painted Faces apologist, Norberto Ceresole, claims to be Mr. Chavez's ideological guru. Those with long memories will recall that in the early 1990s, both Col. Seineldin and Mr. Chavez were poster boys for...Lyndon LaRouche's publications. Almost all of these radical forces, on the left and on the right, maintain links to radical Middle Eastern regimes and reject liberal democracy as being controlled by 'the Jews.'"
"Mohamed Ali Seineldin y el fascismo o conspirinoico." 2002 La Fogata article (Spanish only) discusses the Seineldin-LaRouche alliance, compares the duo to characters in Foucault's Pendulum.
LAROUCHE AND PERONISM
Viva the legacy of General Juan Domingo Peron. EIR (1987) interviews a leading member of the Peronist movement's right wing regarding the founding of a Juan Peron Museum (no "monetarists" allowed) to fight against the influence of the "synarchists," the international "oligarchy," etc. Attacks Argentine President Raul Alfonsin, whom Col. Seineldin would attempt to overthrow the following year. (Of course Seineldin would also attempt in 1990 to overthrow Alfonsin's Peronist successor, Carlos Menem.)
Seineldin and the LaRouchians: news reports
LaRouche and Peronism
THE SEINELDIN CONNECTION: BACKGROUND
Seineldin uber LaRouche. Here is the back cover of EIR's The Plot to Annihilate the Armed Forces and the Nations of Ibero-America (1994). A photo of Col. Seineldin appears directly above that of LaRouche, who is clearly thereby associating himself with Seineldin's dream of a new fascist military regime in Argentina. (Indeed, the book includes as an appendix Seineldin's 1991 speech "I Owe Obedience to the Permanent Values of the Nation," delivered before an appeals court after the charismatic colonel's conviction of charges relating to his bloody 1990 coup attempt against Argentina's elected government.) Note the reference in the blurb to "hypocritical campaigns defending human rights." Appearing along with the picture of Seineldin, this phrase is unmistakeably an attack on those who would prosecute military participants in the torture, rape, vuelos de la muerte (death flights), and mass killings of civilians that occurred during Argentina's "dirty war."
"Argentine Officers in Attempted Coup Go on Trial," The New York Times, April 16, 1991. Describes the opening of the trial of "15 Argentine army leaders and almost 500 of their followers who staged a military uprising on Dec. 3, 1990, just before a visit by President Bush." Says Seineldin was charged with "masterminding" the plot. Says that since the return to civilian rule in 1983, a network of junior officers (the carapintadas, or "Painted Ones") have launched four uprisings. Although the first three were basically protest actions against "unfair treatment" of the military (i.e., against criminal prosecutions of human rights violators), the December 1990 one was a real attempt to seize power: "Rebel forces attacked important military buildings in downtown Buenos Aires, one of which was only blocks from the Casa Rosada, the presidential palace, and 21 people were killed and more than 200 wounded." Article predicts the trial will focus on the "mysterious figure" of Seineldin, "who has said he is an admirer of General Alfredo Stroessner, former military leader in Paraguay, and Francisco Franco, former dictator of Spain."
Profiles of human rights violators during Argentina's "Dirty War." These are the people responsible for the murder (often preceded by torture and rape) of an estimated 30,000 civilians during the 1976-1983 junta rule. (Seineldin's LaRouche-supported coup attempts were aimed at winning pardons for many of these thugs and sadists after they had been convicted in Argentine courts.) The colonel himself is profiled: "Seineldin is considered one of the most extreme of the extremists....Frequently seen with a large crucifix adorning his chest, Seineldin is known to be strongly antisemitic. 'It's easier to find a green dog than an honest jew,' he was quoted as saying during the Carapintada's revolt of Villa Martelli in 1988." Anyone reading the profiles of this repulsive crew should be aware that the LaRouchians were doing favors for the junta members well before the regime's collapse (as by supporting the invasion of the Falklands through demonstrations across the U.S. and a public relations effort in Washington that even succeeded in getting U.S. Senator Jesse Helms on the Argentinians' side).
The dark side of LaRouche's favorite Argentinian colonel? This translation from the Desaparecidos website re a woman kidnapped, tortured and murdered in 1976 suggests that Mohamed Ali Seineldin's record during his nation's "dirty war" was sinister indeed.
LAROUCHIANS SUPPORT SEINELDIN'S COUP ATTEMPTS
EIR (Dec. 16, 1988) hails the Dec. 2 uprising led by Seineldin. Claims the "legendary hero of the 1982 Malvinas War took military action…to save his nation's armed forced as an institution capable of resisting the Moscow-inspired communist onslaught plaguing Ibero-America."
LaRouche hails Seineldin's uprising (EIR, Dec. 16, 1988). Compares Seineldin to Douglas MacArthur and Frederick the Great; claims that the colonel is "not only a patriot hero of his own nation, but, as a soldier of Christ, also a soldier-citizen of all humanity."
LAROUCHIANS SUPPORT SEINELDIN AND THE CARAPINTADAS DURING THEIR 1991 TRIAL AND APPEALS
EIR (Jan. 11, 1991) interviews Seineldin's wife. Headline quotes her as saying, "If they execute my husband, he will die with honor, as he lived." But a careful reading of the article suggests that Mrs. Seineldin regarded the death penalty as only a very remote possibility, and had made the statement for its rhetorical effect. Most interesting part of the interview is her comments on her husband's years in Panama, first as military attache and then working directly for Noriega. "My husband went to build a war college, and that's what he did for those two years. Later, they said he was involved with a thousand different things, but you know in life, the truth always comes out." [Emphasis added.]
EIR coverage of Seineldin's trial (April 26, 1991). Says that backers of Seineldin and his co-defendants "have launched a publicity campaign, including 'interviews galore' by the accused to the press, and the plastering of Buenos Aires with posters of Seineldin." Quotes Seineldin: "As a citizen I am prepared to assume the role which circumstances impose upon me, to carry forward a National Salvation Front."
EIR's coverage of Seineldin's trial (Aug. 16, 1991). "In one and a half hours of forceful testimony, the colonel ripped the prosecutor's arguments to shreds. Particularly since 1976, he said, Argentina has been under assault by 'international financial centers'…." Appended to the article are excerpts from Seineldin's testimony, which concluded: "God and Fatherland, or Death."
EIR once again on Seineldin's trial (Aug. 30, 1991). "The resistance to the new world order in Argentina, led by Seineldin…has situated itself to now play a leading role in rallying resistance throughout the continent" (precisely what the LaRouche movement in Latin America would strive to do over the following decade).
EIR interviews Seineldin (Aug. 30, 1991). He claims that international efforts to save the Amazon rain forests are part of a New World Order plot: "The major financial centers are making plans to take [the Amazon region] over….Thus, they will prevent its exploitation by Brazil's citizens, the rightful owners through the legacy of God and their ancestors. They will also install 'ecological units' for its control and care, which is nothing but the covert and 'intelligent' deployment of foreign forces to the country, an assault against national sovereignty. Thus, Brazil, and especially its armed forces, should be very alert...."
EIR (Aug. 30, 1991) interviews Capt. Gustavo Breide Obeid at Caseros prison. This Seineldin co-defendant sounds pretty rational. The carapintada movement apparently was no ideological monolith.
Excerpts from trial testimony of Seineldin co-defendant Maj. Ruben Fernandez (EIR, Aug. 30, 1991). "The entire Argentine nation knows that we have had imposed on us the strangulation of our nuclear development, the dismantling of our tank and submarine factories, as well as the destruction of the Condor [intermediate range missile] project."
OTHER PROPAGANDA FOR THE "NATIONALIST" CAUSE IN ARGENTINA, 1991
EIR (June 14, 1991) attacks Argentina's civilian government for killing the Air Force's Condor II missile project. Says Condor II "is a symbol of the best tradition within Argentina's Armed Forces....It is this tradition which the Anglo-American establishment is determined to annihilate...." Suggests there may be a plot by Chile, backed by the British, to attack Argentina. (No such attack has occurred in the 17 years since then--another LaRouche prediction down the tubes.)
EIR (Feb. 1, 1991) attacks Argentina's "made in U.S.A." civilian government. Says the Defense Minister once attended Oxford University and "hails from social-democratic circles...known for their hatred of the military." Complains that President Carlos Menem is "doing everything possible to prove he is the United States' most loyal ally," as by "making statements attacking Iraq, supporting Israel," etc.
SUPPORT FOR THE IMPRISONED SEINELDIN AND ARGENTINIAN "NATIONALISM," 1992-1999
"Argentina: Will the Armed Forces Be Finally 'De-Malvinized'?" Chap. 8 of The Plot to Annihilate the Armed Forces and the Nations of Ibero-America" (1994). Says that the "Anglo-American establishment and their Argentine allies" are conspiring to root out "nationalism" from the Argentine military and to brainwash the military into become "an instrument of its historical British enemy." Says that references to changing the "cultural guidelines" of the military are code language for attacks on the "military's nationalist faction whose visible leader is Colonel Seineldin" (does not say who the invisible leader is supposed to be, but we can guess). Says one aim is to eliminate the "military institution's spiritual identification with the principle of nationhood or fatherland." Quotes Seineldin that the plotters would destroy the army's role "as protector of the 'highest interests of the nation.'" Opposes trials of military leaders for human rights violations. Opposes allowing torture victims to sue the Argentine military in U.S. courts. Criticizes the Argentine government's decision to halt development of the Condor II missile, which was being developed in collaboration with Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Says this is an example of the U.S. imposing "technological apartheid."
Seineldin's preface to The Plot (1994). Says the Conquistadores "brought God's wonderful message of conversion and salvation" to the continent. Says they proposed "an order of human life" that would further salvation--and enforced it "[w]ith their sword, hard and true" (thus showing they were worthy heirs to the "political-military order of the Romans, the religious order of the Crusades," etc.). Claims the "history of the Ibero-American military is, in every case, the backbone of the lives of each and every one of our peoples." Calls for the realization of the Bolivarian dream of a united continent to fight back against the New World Order.
EIR (1997) publishes text of open letter from the imprisoned Seineldin to the Chief of Staff of the Argentine Army. Attacks Henry Kissinger for allegedly using "the terms 'democracy' and 'human rights' to undermine the [Argentine military's] prestige…because of the mistakes or illegal actions of some of its members." Sees the plot as region-wide. Hails the political resistance against U.S. and British pressure led by three other LaRouche-linked retired military officers: General Harold Bedoya Pizarro of Colombia, Brazilian General Tasso Villar de Aquino, and Brazilian Admiral Sergio Tasso Vasquez de Aquino.
SUPPORT FOR SEINELDIN AND ARGENTINIAN "NATIONALISM" SINCE 2000
Seineldin letter published in EIR (2001). Says that "it wasn't until 1988, when, from the events in Panama, I learned of the change in the political model to be imposed on all Ibero-American nations, that I dedicated myself fully to analyzing this issue." [Note that he says 1988--not 1989, when the U.S. invasion occurred. The sentence is an apparent reference to when Seineldin first began to listen seriously to the LaRouchians--or at least to pick and choose from their writings for his own purposes.] Decided then that a plot was afoot to replace "the Republic and the nation-state with a block of nations dependent on the United States--the reality we know today as 'globalization' or the 'New World Order.'" [Note that he is using the terms "Republic" and "nation-state" in the LaRouchians manner.] Became convinced he had no alternative but to "resort to the Dec. 3, 1990 military uprising" (the one that got him thrown in the slammer for over a decade). Says "I want my freedom! Freedom for the Resistance."
EIR on Argentina's financial collapse (2001). This article blames the crisis on the IMF, urges that Colonel Seineldin be freed from prison to take matters in hand, reports on a demonstration in Buenos Aires (allegedly attended by thousands) demanding the same. Says that "Argentina can't tolerate another Carlos Menem" (the president from 1989-1999 whom Seineldin attempted to overthrow via the Dec. 1990 military uprising). The man-on-horseback implications of this article should be clear to most readers.
Seineldin addresses by telephone (from prison) a LaRouche-sponsored conference in Guadalajara, Mexico (2002). Says that "hope blossoms for the Possible America, the dream made mission by the Ibero-American Solidarity Movement, under the strategic conception of the worthy gentleman and patriarch of humanity, Dr. Lyndon LaRouche." Urges swift action: "There is no time to wait....[T]he predator is inside our houses." (According to EIR, the conference was addressed in person by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Brazilian Adm. Sergio Tasso Vasquez de Aquino (Ret.) and Argentinian Major Adrian Romero Mundani (Ret.). LaRouche participated electronically, supposedly for security reasons. A speech was read on behalf of former Mexican President Jose Lopez Portillo, who also could not attend.)
LaRouche discusses Seineldin's future on Argentine radio (2002). Asked if he would be willing "to support a movement to bring Seineldin to power," LaRouche responds that he has no such "plan" but thinks Seineldin "should play a key role as a hero of his country....My concern...is to suddenly create new parties which represent the best people of [each] nation...." [I interpret this answer as a "yes."--DK]
Col. Seineldin addresses a far-right conclave held in Sao Paulo, Brazil during LaRouche's 2002 visit. Speaking by telephone from the Campo de Mayo military prison in Argentina, the colonel hails "Dearest sir and humanity's thinker, Don Lyndon LaRouche; Distinguished lady, Mrs. Helga Zepp-LaRouche; My dear brothers in struggle, Dennis Small, Silvia and Lorenzo Carrasco, Gerardo Teran [LaRouche followers] and all the others, for we are many...." Declares that "we Brazilians and Argentines, without hesitating or wasting a minute, have already begun to work under the marvelous conception of Dr. Lyndon LaRouche....The world is in a total debacle, and we are all relying on the worthy patriarch and humanity's gentleman, Don Lyndon LaRouche...." Seineldin also sent greetings by name to three high-level Brazilian military officers, saying to all the above: "I pray to God and Mary of Mercy...that we may be helped in this marvelous, if hard, path that we have chosen."
Seineldin addresses LaRouche conference in Washington D.C. by phone (2002). His remarks, published as "Greetings From a Malvinas War Hero," begin with a salute to "[my] great brother, friend of humanity, my good friend, Lyndon LaRouche." In the course of his remarks he notes that "either we hang together or we will be hung together." At the end he proclaims, "For God and the great Ibero-American Fatherland!" (Applause from the LaRouchians.) LaRouche aide Debra Hanania Freeman, chair of the proceedings, summed up the mood in the room: "That was certainly a treat."
LaRouche speaks to Patagonia (transcript of 2003 TV interview). This document suggests that LaRouche can often sound quite reasonable to people with little knowledge of American politics and no access to the real facts about his movement (which have appeared for the most part only in the U.S. media). Note that LaRouche's claims to be a major U.S. political figure went entirely unchallenged by the interviewer. Nor did the interviewer challenge LaRouche's comment that "[t]here is a solution [to Argentina's financial problems], but it's going to take an international conspiracy by people who care about the principle of maintaining the community of sovereign nation-states." Given LaRouche's relationship with serial coup-plotter Seineldin, the word "conspiracy" has a suggestive ring. As to LaRouche's reference to maintaining "sovereign nation-states," this can be interpreted as a call for a united struggle by LaRouche, Seineldin and their allies against the supposed enemies of "Ibero-American" nationalism: Felix Rohatyn, Henry Kissinger, George Soros, the Goldsmith brothers and other members of the so-called "British" (a.k.a. "Venetian" a.k.a. "synarchist") oligarchy.
LaRouchians celebrate the blessed event (2003). LaRouche's Guadalajara Forum holds a series of events in Buenos Aires to celebrate the freeing "of the longest-serving political prisoner in the history of Argentina, Col. Mohamed Ali Seineldin." (Alas, the targets of the "dirty war" conducted by Seineldin and other Argentine military bravos in the 1970s didn't get to be long-serving political prisoners--they just got tortured and then dumped out of helicopters into the ocean during vuelos de la muerte (death flights).)
LaRouche in the Argentine magazine Veintitres. In this 2004 interview he slams "New York bankers, who are part of the Venetian tradition." (Never assume that Argentinian ultrarightists don't know their Shakespeare.)
LaRouche appears (2004) in Argentine documentary film on the country's international debt problems. In transcript of interview he urges economic and political measures that would "break the power of the international financial agencies, typified by their representatives, Felix Rohatyn, and George Soros, and so forth. These powerful financier agencies [emphasis added--note the subtle change in wording] which were behind Hitler, are the enemy today." Orwellian language of this type is used repeatedly in the interview, with Jewish surnamed bankers being blamed not only for Hitler's rise but also for the alleged "fascist" (neoconservative) policies in the United States today. From such scrambled semantics, the casual reader would never know that LaRouche had been working mightily to build support for a real fascist and would-be dictator, Col. Seineldin.
SEINELDIN'S WEBSITE
"Dialogo Seineldin-LaRouche en Seminario Brasil-Argentina." Transcript in Spanish of interchange (2002) between the two fascist leaders (with Seineldin speaking by phone from prison) at an event in Sao Paulo, Brazil jointly sponsored by their respective followers.
Article by V. Com. Horacio Ricciardelli (2003) attacks "Mr. Edward Teddy Goldsmith" (a London cousin of the Rothschilds whom LaRouche once blamed for causing 9/11). Also slams the Rothschilds themselves, the Bronfmans, George Soros, other Jews as well as "el Principe consorte Felipe de Edimburgo, titular del WWF (World Wildlife Fund)." Tirade is pure LaRouchism and was apparently inspired by "Teddy Goldsmith: Portrait of an Eco-Fascist," EIR, Feb. 9, 2001, and/or similar EIR articles. Ricchardelli is identified as being from the Movimiento Condor Nacional--a name reminiscent both of Operation Condor (a campaign of thousands of assassinations conducted by the Chilean DINA and Argentina's SIDE--with cooperation from the secret police in several other countries--between 1975 and 1983) and of the Argentinian intermediate-range Condor ballistic missile program that was canceled after the fall of the junta.
SEINELDIN AND THE LAROUCHIANS: NEWS REPORTS
LaRouche, Seineldin and Hugo Chavis. Martin Edwin Andersen of the Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies reports: "In the early 1990s, LaRouche's publications touted as heroes two Latin Americans of special interest. One was ultraright Argentine Col. Mohamed Ali Seineldin, a rabid anti-Semite of the 'Painted Faces' death squad responsible for two rebellions against the elected governments of Menem and his civilian predecessor. The other was Venezuelan army officer Hugo Chavis...."
More on LaRouche, Seineldin and Hugo Chavez in the 1990s. Martin Edwin Andersen reports: "A former Argentine left-wing guerrilla supporter and Painted Faces apologist, Norberto Ceresole, claims to be Mr. Chavez's ideological guru. Those with long memories will recall that in the early 1990s, both Col. Seineldin and Mr. Chavez were poster boys for...Lyndon LaRouche's publications. Almost all of these radical forces, on the left and on the right, maintain links to radical Middle Eastern regimes and reject liberal democracy as being controlled by 'the Jews.'"
"Mohamed Ali Seineldin y el fascismo o conspirinoico." 2002 La Fogata article (Spanish only) discusses the Seineldin-LaRouche alliance, compares the duo to characters in Foucault's Pendulum.
LAROUCHE AND PERONISM
Viva the legacy of General Juan Domingo Peron. EIR (1987) interviews a leading member of the Peronist movement's right wing regarding the founding of a Juan Peron Museum (no "monetarists" allowed) to fight against the influence of the "synarchists," the international "oligarchy," etc. Attacks Argentine President Raul Alfonsin, whom Col. Seineldin would attempt to overthrow the following year. (Of course Seineldin would also attempt in 1990 to overthrow Alfonsin's Peronist successor, Carlos Menem.)
THE SEINELDIN CONNECTION: BACKGROUND