Merge branch 'master' of https://github.com/dessalines/essays

us_atrocities.md

@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ Notes :
 ### Middle East
 
 - On February 3rd, 2022, US troops [murdered 6 children and 4 women](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/03/us-special-forces-kill-suspected-jihadists-in-north-west-syria-raid) during a raid in Syria.
+- On December 2021, [The New York Times published *the Civilian Casualty Files*](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/civilian-casualty-files.html#credible-reports). [These](https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/12/23/pers-d23.html) [files](https://frontline.thehindu.com/world-affairs/the-civilian-casualty-files-expose-the-pentagon-killing-fields-in-west-asia/article38197303.ece#!) reveal that the US military, under the Obama and Trump administrations, deliberately killed civilians, including children in Iraq and Syria and that the US military systematically covered it up. The Times reported that they uncovered “the deaths of thousands of civilians, many of them children.” The data in the Pentagon reports claimed that children were killed or injured in 27 percent of air strikes that resulted in civilian casualties; The Times' on-the-ground verification found the number was 62 percent. For example, more than 120 civilians were killed in a single airstrike in July 2016 in the hamlet of Tokhar in northern Syria. The US military claimed it was targeting ISIS, but confronted with evidence that the victims were innocent farmers. The military report on the slaughter at Tokhar found “no evidence of negligence or wrongdoing” and that “no further action” was necessary. The reports reveal that the US military deliberately chose to drop bombs on children they saw on camera. In a particularly powerful segment of her article on the “human toll,” Khan describes how the US military knowingly bombed children playing on a roof, killing a family of 11. There was no ISIS presence.
 - On February 25th, 2021, in his first month in office, [Biden bombs Syria](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/u-s-bombs-facilities-syria-used-iran-backed-militia-n1258912), killing at least 22 people. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby called the bombing “proportionate” and “defensive.” [2](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/25/us-airstrike-syria-iran-militia)
 - On November 27th, 2020, Israel [assassinated Iranian nuclear physicist Moshen Fakhrizadeh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohsen_Fakhrizadeh) via a satellite controlled vehicle-mounted machine gun, which then self-detonated after killing him. The attack was likely commited by Israel with US help and foreknowledge.
 - In 2020, former US drone operator [Brandon Bryant revealed the full extent of his work piloting drones in Afghanistan](https://archive.is/K8LF7) from his workspace near Las Vegas, from 2006-2011. He reached his breaking point with the US military after killing a child in Afghanistan that his superiors told him was “a dog.” He recalls the moment: After firing a Hellfire missile at a building containing his target, he saw a child exit the building just as the missile struck. When he alerted his superiors about the situation after reviewing the tape, he was told “it was a f***ing dog, drop it.” During his time in the Air Force, Mr Bryant estimates he contributed directly to killing 13 people himself and says his squadron fired on 1,626 targets including women and children. Mr Bryant quit the military and began speaking out against the drone program, and calls the US worse than nazis.
@@ -106,15 +107,16 @@ Notes :
 - TODO add cuba, twitter stuff. Add additional trump sanctions, can't trade with VZ
 - In March 2020, [the US placed a $15M dollar bounty on the head of the Venezuelan president, Maduro.](https://thegrayzone.com/2020/03/27/trump-bounty-maduro-guaido-plot/) This is the first time the US has publicly put a bounty on a ruling head of state, accusing Maduro and his government of drug trafficking, and harboring terrorists. The US Drug Enforcement agency itself states that less than 7% of drug movement through south america transits from Venezuela: [93% of cocaine comes from Columbia, a staunch US ally, 4% from Peru, and 3% from Unknown.](https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/XgStB403WWFWtTXDj5pLdVCwb9hdcqwbTF5vsOJ8Elnh_GNRcd3ZpoK5RgCw0fTPuOr7SrmMOkv8worNLSPLe08vshLXGrFdJOwPUD56bnb9aOzK7Y-RfKbv4pZ_ir8rRYFLAXTf) [2](https://twitter.com/camilateleSUR/status/1245881372360740867?s=20) The US has historically been closely allied with South American drug traffickers, [like Honduras's US-Backed president Juan Orlando Hernandez](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/03/honduran-president-juan-orlando-hernandez-drug-money), Panamanian President [Manuel Noriega](http://elsiglo.com.pa/panama/muertos-invasion-misterio-aclarar/23829789), [The Contras](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_involvement_in_Contra_cocaine_trafficking), and [many more](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegations_of_CIA_drug_trafficking). The US-appointed "president of Venezuela", Juan Guaido, [is closely connected to the Columbian cartel Los Rastrojos](https://www.codepink.org/the_venezuelan_opposition_s_paramilitary_gambit), a vicious cartel responsible for dozens of kidnappings and murders in Tachira VZ.
 - On Nov 10, 2019, newly re-elected [Bolivian President Evo Morales](https://twitter.com/camilateleSUR/status/1193718218705264641) was forced to resign by the Bolivian military as [part of a US-backed right-wing coup.](https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Bolivia-President-Evo-Morales-Resigns-Amid-Right-Wing-Coup-20191110-0006.html) [Right-wing violence](https://www.telesurenglish.net/opinion/Its-Now-or-Never-Bolivian-Elite-Destroying-the-Country-20191107-0023.html) in the wake of Evo's re-election ( [a landslide victory](https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Evo-Morales-Fraud-Allegations-Are-Pretext-for-Coup-20191105-0011.html) of > 10% the next runner ) included the kidnapping of Evo's brother and sister, [cutting the hair of a leftist mayor, painting her red and parading her down the street, forcing her resignation, burning the town hall](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/bolivia-protests-cut-hair-mayor-patricia-arce-mas-party-red-paint-a9193816.html), the firebombing of several leftist government members' houses, and street clashes in Cochabamba, Potosi, and La paz resulting in deaths and injuries. The Radio Education Network of Bolivia (Erbol) has released [16 recordings](https://www.en24.news/news/2019/11/10/bolivia-audios-leaked-from-opposition-leaders-calling-for-a-coup-against-evo-morales.html), [2](https://erbol.com.bo/nacional/surgen-16-audios-que-vinculan-c%C3%ADvicos-exmilitares-y-eeuu-en-planes-de-agitaci%C3%B3n), which uncover talks between U.S. officials, Bolivian opponents, and former military, [outlining the coup strategy](https://bbackdoors.wordpress.com/2019/10/08/us-hands-against-bolivia-part-i/). In a three-part plan outlined by U.S. officials, former President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada (2002-2003) is mentioned. Lozada had Carlos Mesa (the principal opponent of Morales in the last election) as his vice-president and currently lives in the U.S. U.S. senators Bob Menendez, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio are some of the American officials mentioned in the audios, linked to the Bolivian opposition planning a coup against President Evo Morales. A [Wikileaks cable confirmed](https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/1193650483208052744?s=20) that the [US was using Mesa to undermine Evo for years.](https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/08LAPAZ2311_a.html) The US government (through USAID) spent [over $97M dollars to try to topple Morales and fund separatists in his first 7 years in office.](https://nacla.org/news/usaids-silent-invasion-bolivia) [World leaders have condemned the coup.](https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/World-Leaders-Organizations-Condemn-Coup-Against-Evo-Morales-in-Bolivia-20191110-0008.html) The primary reason for the coup: [a fight over Bolivia's lithium](https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/11/12/after-morales-ousted-coup-lithium-question-looms-large-bolivia), a crucial mineral required for smartphone and electric car batteries. Bolivia is estimated to have over 70% of the world's lithium reserves, and was on the cusp of completing a deal with China and kicking out several French, US, and South Korea mining firms. Over the next few days, [over 68k fake twitter accounts were created](https://orinocotribune.com/non-existent-support-68000-fake-twitter-accounts-supporting-the-coup-in-bolivia) supporting the coup, many coming from [airforce bases in Virginia](https://i.imgur.com/gDOgavC.jpg). [Debunking US propaganda on Bolivia.](https://www.reddit.com/r/communism/comments/dvdsds/effort_post_counter_cia_propaganda_a_guide_to_the/)
+- In 2019, [it was reported that as many as 40,000 people may have died in Venezuela as a result of US sanctions that made it harder for ordinary citizens to access food, medicine and medical equipment](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/venezuela-sanctions-us-excess-death-toll-economy-oil-trump-maduro-juan-guaido-jeffrey-sachs-a8888516.html). Deaths took place following the imposition of sanctions in the summer of 2017. The situation has probably worsened since because of new sanctions.
 - In 2017, [Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Maria#Puerto_Rico), leaving 3.4 million without electricity and fuel, and causing an estimated $50 Billion in damage. 55% of Puerto Ricans have no potable water,  in one of the worst humanitarian crises in decades. In marked contrast to the initial relief efforts for [Hurricane Katrina](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina) and the [2010 Haiti earthquake](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Haiti_earthquake), on September 22 the only signs of relief efforts were beleaguered Puerto Rican government employees. The US response has been dismal, leading many to believe that the US prefers a decapitalized Puerto Rico. On September 29, San Juan Mayor Cruz held a press conference to plead for aid and to highlight failures by FEMA, saying, "This is what we got last night. Four pallets of water, three pallets of meals, and 12 pallets of infant food — which, I gave them to the people of [Comerío](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comer%C3%ADo,_Puerto_Rico), where people are drinking off a creek. So I am done being polite. I am done being politically correct. I am mad as hell." Cruz continued. "So I am asking the members of the press, to send a mayday call all over the world. We are dying here... And if it doesn't stop, and if we don't get the food and the water into people's hands, what we are going to see is something close to a [genocide](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide)." In response [President Donald Trump](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_Donald_Trump) wrote on [Twitter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter): "Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help." [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Maria#Puerto_Rico)
 - Following a series of terrorist attacks against Cuba (such as the bombing of [Cuban commercial flight 455](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubana_Flight_455), that originated from anti-Castro Cuban exile groups in the US, such as  [Alpha 66](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_66), the [F4 Commandos](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=F4_Commandos&action=edit&redlink=1), the [Cuban American National Foundation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_American_National_Foundation), and [Brothers to the Rescue](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brothers_to_the_Rescue)), the Cuban government sent spies to infiltrate these insurgent groups operating in Miami. Afterwards, the Cuban government then provided 175 pages of documents to FBI agents investigating [Posada Carriles's](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Posada_Carriles) (a former CIA operative) role in the [1997 terrorist bombings in Havana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_Cuba_hotel_bombings), but the FBI failed to use the evidence to follow up on Posada. Instead, they used it to uncover and imprison the Cuban spies, known as the [Cuban Five](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Five). [[18\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Five#cite_note-18)[[19\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Five#cite_note-19). The Cuban Five said they were spying on Miami's Cuban exile community, not the US government. They were imprisoned from 1998, until their eventual release via a prisoner swap in 2014. The terrorist bomber Posada Carriles (who admitted to planning 6 bombings of Havana Hotels and Restaurants) lived in Miami and was safeguarded by the US government until his death in 2018. [2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Posada_Carriles)
 - In 2009, [a coup in Honduras](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Honduran_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat) has led to severe repression and death squad murders of political opponents, union organizers and journalists. At the time of the coup, U.S. officials denied any role in the coup and used semantics to avoid cutting off U.S. military aid as required under U.S. law. But two Wikileaks cables revealed that the U.S. Embassy, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was the main power broker in managing the aftermath of the coup and forming a government that is now repressing and murdering its people, including popular leader Berta Cáceres. The two men who killed [Berta Cáceres](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berta_C%C3%A1ceres) were trained in the US. A former soldier with the US-trained special forces units of the Honduran military asserted that Caceres' name was included on a hitlist distributed to them months before her assassination.[[66\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berta_C%C3%A1ceres#cite_note-66) According to a February 2017 investigation by *The Guardian*, court papers purport to show that three of the eight people arrested in connection with the assassination are linked to the US-trained elite troops. Two of them, Maj Mariano Díaz and Lt Douglas Giovanny Bustillo, received military training in the US.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berta_C%C3%A1ceres#cite_note-67),[2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Honduran_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat)
 - In 1996, investigative journalist [Gary Webb](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Webb) exposed a CIA-run business of selling cocaine produced in Nicaragua, to help fund the anti-communist Contras in their fight against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. These drugs were mostly sold to black communities in California, and helped spark the Crack epidemic. Several of the US dealers such as such as [Ross](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%22Freeway%22_Rick_Ross) and [Oscar Danilo Blandon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Danilo_Bland%C3%B3n), were found to have CIA and DEA ties. Webb's reports were suppressed in the news media. In 1997, Webb stated: "If we had met five years ago, you wouldn't have found a more staunch defender of the newspaper industry than me ... And then I wrote some stories that made me realize how sadly misplaced my bliss had been. The reason I'd enjoyed such smooth sailing for so long hadn't been, as I'd assumed, because I was careful and diligent and good at my job ... The truth was that, in all those years, I hadn't written anything important enough to suppress." In 2004, Webb was found dead in his home, shot in the back of the head twice. His death was ruled a suicide.
-- In 1990 in Haiti, Competing against 10 comparatively wealthy white candidates, leftist priest [Jean-Bertrand Aristide](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Bertrand_Aristide) captures 68 percent of the vote. A few months later, the CIA-backed military [deposes him in a coup](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Haitian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat). More military dictators brutalize the country, as thousands of Haitian refugees escape the turmoil in barely seaworthy boats. The CIA "paid key members of the coup regime forces, identified as drug traffickers, for information from the mid-1980s at least until the coup."[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_regime_change#cite_note-Whitney320-66) Coup leaders Cédras and François had received military training in the United States. As popular opinion calls for Aristide’s return, the CIA begins a disinformation campaign painting the courageous priest as mentally unstable.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Haitian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat)
+- In 1990 in Haiti, competing against 10 comparatively wealthy white candidates, leftist priest [Jean-Bertrand Aristide](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Bertrand_Aristide) captures 68 percent of the vote. A few months later, the CIA-backed military [deposes him in a coup](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Haitian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat). More military dictators brutalize the country, as thousands of Haitian refugees escape the turmoil in barely seaworthy boats. The CIA "paid key members of the coup regime forces, identified as drug traffickers, for information from the mid-1980s at least until the coup."[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_regime_change#1991:_Haiti) Coup leaders Cédras and François had received military training in the United States. As popular opinion called for Aristide’s return, the CIA began a disinformation campaign painting the courageous priest as mentally unstable.[2](https://web.archive.org/web/20201015135126/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-10-31-mn-51780-story.html) In 1994, Aristide was allowed to return back to Haiti after being 3 years in forced exile. The US demanded Aristide to drop his leftist programs for social reform, and adopt harsh neoliberal economic reforms instead. The US used "most brutal anti-Aristide elements" to pressure Aristide to abandon his ambitious programs.[3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Uphold_Democracy),[4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front_for_the_Advancement_and_Progress_of_Ha%C3%AFti),[5](https://chomsky.info/200809__/),[6](https://chomsky.info/20090612/),[7](https://chomsky.info/20040731/) In 2004 Aristide was again overthrown by a military coup led by the US.[8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Haitian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat)
 - In 1989, the U.S. invades Panama with 26k troops to overthrow a dictator of its own making, [General Manuel Noriega](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Noriega), with the stated goal of "Defending democracy and human rights in Panama". Noriega had been on the CIA’s payroll since 1966, collecting at least $100,000 per year from the U.S. Treasury. As he rose to be the de facto ruler of Panama, he became even more valuable to the CIA, reporting on meetings with Fidel Castro and Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua and supporting U.S. covert wars in Central America, and had been transporting drugs with the CIA’s knowledge since 1972. By the late 80s, Noriega’s growing independence and intransigence had angered Washington. The UN human rights commission estimates that around 4,000 people were killed by US troops (The US claims only 250 people). [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Noriega) The US military bombed urban neighborhoods, executed hundreds of civilians, and even tested new experimental weapons. The Panama invasion violates both the UN and OAS charter, which prohibits the invasions of a sovereign country or their territorial integrity, as well as the Geneva conventions. All the major US media supported the invasion: the New York Times, Wallstreet Journal, The Washington Post, the LA times, CBS, and NBC. Michael Parenti observes in his observation of media complicity with the invasion: "The media is not *favorable* to corporate america, they **are** corporate america." The UN voted on Dec 29th 1989 overwhelming to condemn the invasion as a "flagrant violation of international law". No US soldier or general has been tried for these war crimes, despite the UN commission, or the dozens of eyewitness accounts by Panamanians. These atrocities are chronicled in the documentary [The Panama Deception.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGIio2qMnto)
 - In the 1980s and 1990s, the U.S. supplied military equipment and substantial aid for the Columbian government in their civil war to fight against [FARC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_Armed_Forces_of_Colombia), known as [Plan Columbia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_Colombia). The weapons, ostensibly delivered for use against narcotics traffickers, was being used by the Colombian military to commit abuses in the name of “counter-insurgency.” One estimate is that 67,000 deaths have occurred from the 1960s to recent years due to support by the U.S. of Colombian state terrorism. Another 1994 Amnesty International report, stated that more than 20,000 people were killed for political reasons in Colombia since 1986, mainly by the military and its paramilitary allies.
 - In 1987, the former CIA Station Chief in Angola in 1976, [John Stockwell](http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4068.htm), testified to Congress and told a grisly tale of US involvement on behalf of business interests in Latin America. He cited covert operations in Nicaragua, Panama, Guatemala, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba. Over the course of his testimony, he estimated that given the bombings of water supplies and other essential infrastructure, the invasions, the coups, that the United States, on its quest for empire, has been responsible for **6,000,000 deaths.** The CIA retaliated by [suing him into bankruptcy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stockwell). [1](http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4068.htm)
-- From 1982-89, The U.S. government attempted to topple the government of Nicaragua by secretly arming, training and funding the [Contras](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras), a terrorist group based in [Honduras](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honduras) that was created to sabotage Nicaragua and to destabilize the Nicaraguan government.As part of the training, the CIA distributed a detailed "terror manual" entitled "Psychological Operations in Guerrilla War," which instructed the Contras, among other things, on how to blow up public buildings, to assassinate judges, to create martyrs, and to blackmail ordinary citizens. In 1986, the Nicaraguan government under the Sandinistas shoots down a C-123 transport plane carrying military supplies to the Contras. The lone survivor, [Eugene Hasenfus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Hasenfus), turns out to be a CIA employee, as are the two dead pilots, contradicting Reagan's claims that the US was not aiding the contras. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Hasenfus)
+- From 1981-90, the U.S. government attempted to topple the government of Nicaragua in so called "Contra war" or ["Nicaraguan Revolution"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaraguan_Revolution). The US [secretly](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_activities_in_Nicaragua) armed, trained and funded the [Contras](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras), a terrorist group based in Honduras that was created to sabotage Nicaragua and to destabilize the Nicaraguan government. As part of the training, the CIA distributed a detailed "terror manual" entitled "Psychological Operations in Guerrilla War," which instructed the Contras, among other things, on how to blow up public buildings, to assassinate judges, to create martyrs, and to blackmail ordinary citizens. In 1986, the Nicaraguan government under the Sandinistas shot down a C-123 transport plane carrying military supplies to the Contras. The lone survivor, [Eugene Hasenfus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Hasenfus), turned out to be a CIA employee, as the two dead pilots, contradicting Reagan's claims that the US was not aiding the contras. [In 1984 Nicaragua responded to the crimes commited by the Contras by taking the matter to the International Court of Justice (ICJ)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaragua_v._United_States). ICJ ruled in favor of Nicaragua. ICJ condemnded the "unlawful use of force" (aka. international terrorism) by the US, ordered the US to terminate the crimes and pay massive reparations to Nicaragua. The US dismissed the ICJ judgement with total contempt and announced that they wont accept the jurisdiction of the court. Shortly after the ICJ ruling, the US directed Contras to attack “soft targets” — undefended civilian targets. Nicaragua then in 1985 went to the UN security counsil, which considered the resolution calling on all states to observe international law, but the US vetoed the resolution. The US now stands as the only state on record which has both been condemned by the ICJ for international terrorism and has vetoed a security counsil resolution calling on all states to observe international law. In 1987 Nicaragua went to UN general assembly, where similar resolution passed like in 1985 security counsil, with only the US with Israel and El Salvador opposing it.[1](https://www.nytimes.com/1986/06/28/world/world-court-supports-nicaragua-after-us-rejected-judges-role.html),[2](https://chomsky.info/200205__02/),[3](https://chomsky.info/200303__/),[4](https://chomsky.info/198803__/) The Contra war ended in 1990, and estimated 30,000 people were killed.
 - In the 1980s the CIA supported [Battalion 316](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battalion_3-16_(Honduras)), a torture/assassination squad in Honduras, which kidnapped, tortured and killed hundreds of its citizens. Battalion 316 used shock and suffocation devices in interrogations , and prisoners often were kept naked and, when no longer useful, killed and buried in unmarked graves. Declassified documents and other sources show that the CIA and the U.S. Embassy knew of numerous crimes, including murder and torture, yet continued to support Battalion 316 and collaborate with its leaders. These constitute war crimes.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battalion_3-16_(Honduras))
 - In 1981, the [CIA assassinated Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos via a plane crash](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_Torrijos#Death), over the [Carter-Torrijos treaty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torrijos%E2%80%93Carter_Treaties), which would return sovereignty of the Panama canal by 1999, and force a closure of all 26 US bases in Panama by 2000, and for his support of the Sandinistas. The US denies the assassination, but refused to allow evidence to be submitted as it would violate the Classified Information Procedures Act. 
 - In 1981, in an act of biological warfare, [the US released a strain of Dengue fever into Cuba](https://archive.org/details/CovertActionInformationBulletinIssue17Summer1982USFakesDataInChemicalWar/page/n27/mode/2up), developed at Fort Dietrich. A total of 320k people were infected, 158 people died, including 101 children under the age of 15.
@@ -141,6 +143,7 @@ Notes :
 - In 1958, The United States supported the [Batista dictatorship](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulgencio_Batista) in Cuba. Batista aligned with the wealthiest landowners who owned the largest sugar plantations, and presided over a stagnating economy that widened the gap between rich and poor Cubans. Eventually most of the sugar industry was in U.S. hands, and foreigners owned 70% of the arable land. As such, Batista's increasingly corrupt and repressive government then began to systematically profit from the exploitation of Cuba's commercial interests, by negotiating lucrative relationships with both the American Mafia, who controlled the drug, gambling, and prostitution businesses in Havana, and with large U.S.-based multinational companies who were awarded lucrative contracts. To quell the growing discontent amongst the populace—which was subsequently displayed through frequent student riots and demonstrations—Batista established tighter censorship of the media, while also utilizing his Bureau for the Repression of Communist Activities secret police to carry out wide-scale violence, torture and public executions; ultimately killing anywhere from hundreds to 20,000 people. After the [Cuban revolution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Revolution), the CIA launched a long campaign of terrorism against Cuba, training Cuban exiles in Florida, Central America and the Dominican Republic to commit assassinations and sabotage in Cuba. These include the [cuban embargo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_embargo_against_Cuba), and [over 638 failed assasination attempts on fidel castro](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_attempts_on_Fidel_Castro). [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulgencio_Batista)
 - In 1954, the CIA overthrows the democratically elected Guatemalen [Jacobo Árbenz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobo_%C3%81rbenz) in a [military coup](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_Guatemalan_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat) in [operation PBSucess](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_PBSuccess). Arbenz threatened to nationalize the Rockefeller-owned United Fruit Company, in which CIA Director Allen Dulles also owns stock. Arbenz is replaced with a series of US-backed right-wing dictators whose bloodthirsty policies will kill over 100,000 Guatemalans in the next 40 years, until 1996. The coup has been described as the definitive deathblow to democracy in Guatemala.[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_Guatemalan_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat)
 - In 1953, A 2011 release of British intelligence files revealed that [US and British MI5 forces overthrew the government of Cheddi Jagan](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/aug/26/mi5-files-coup-british-guiana), the elected leader of British Guyana. They showed how British spies kept up intense scrutiny on Cheddi Jagan and his wife Janet, who together founded the People's Progressive party (PPP) to campaign for workers' rights and independence from British rule for the sugar-producing colony in northern South America. Churchill and the US feared that the Jagans were communists, although MI5 found no foreign ties. Churchill dispatched a warship, HMS Superb, and brought hundreds of troops by air and sea to secure key sites. An outraged Cheddi Jagan appealed by telegram to Britain's opposition Labour party for help. Leader Clement Attlee replied curtly: "Regret impossible to intervene."
+- From 1945-54 [the US waged a war against the Hukbalahaps ("Huks") in the Philippines](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hukbalahap_Rebellion). The Huks were a leftist resistance army consisting largely of peasant farmers. On February 7, 1945, over 100 Huks were massacred and buried in a mass grave by the USAFFE guerrillas (U.S. Army Forces in the Far East). In the late spring and early summer of 1945, the USAFFE guerrillas had conductued a reign of terror against the Huks. Brutality and looting became the norm for anyone suspected of even a remote connection with the Huks. After the WW2, USAFFE was ordered to be demobilized and the US needed alternative instruments for enforcing its rule, so they started to support, train, and fund the Philippine army and officials. For example the Philippine Military Police was in direct control and supervision of the US Army. Between September 1945 and the beginning of May 1946, a conservative estimate placed the number of Huks killed at 660. Philippines managed to became independent on July 4, 1946, but little changed for the peasants, Huks were shelled indiscriminately; villagers were tortured and forcibly evacuated, their homes looted and burned. Just before the independency, on June 30, 1946, the US Army gave to the Philippine Army $100 million worth of arms, equipment and supplies. Between 1946 and 1946 Philipine government and landlords continued their reign of terror against the peasantry. In 1951 an Office of Psychological Warfare was set up and it was shortly after renamed to Civil Affairs Office (CAO). The CAO undertook a massive propaganda effort against the Huks. Within two years more than 13 million leaflets and other literature had been distrubuted, and over 6,000 mettings were held, reaching 1.5 million people. The CAO organized anticommunist forums in universities, patriotic writing contests were set up for high school and college students, and propaganda materials were distrubuted in the grammar schools. In the early 1950s, three major news-papers were American-owned. News of the world outside the Philippines was largely filtered through American-owned wire services. Sixty percent of the films shown in the Philippines were imported from the US. The US also used other propaganda techniques, such as exploiting ethnic differences among Filipinos, covertly formenting mass demonstrations against the Huks etc. Between August 1, 1950, and June 30, 1952, the Philippine Air Force flew 2,600 bombing and strafing sorties, expending over 1 million rounds of .50 caliber ammunition and 250,000 pounds of explosives on Huk targets. At the end of 1951 the US provided napalm for the Philippine officials and it was used against suspected Huk concentrations. Although the Huks did not formally concede defeat until the mid-1950s, they were essentially beaten militarily and psychologically in the first few years of the decade. US policymakers had been willing to use American troops directly in the Philippines if necessary, but they welcomed not having to do so. "Much of the stigma of colonialism can be removed," stated a high-level State and Defense Department mission to Southeast Asia, "if, where necessary, yellow men will be killed by yellow men rather than by white men alone."[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hukbalahap_Rebellion),[2](https://web.archive.org/web/20220311221232/https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzaceb5kcg2xl5lowyu2v6avzmorbpmwddqj54bu5gk6kowsjdnjaevjw?filename=Stephen+R.+Shalom+-+The+United+States+and+the+Philippines_+A+Study+of+Neocolonialism-Institute+for+the+Study+of+Human+Issues+%281981%29.pdf)
 - Between 1946-48, the [US government secretly infected hundreds of test subjects in Guatemala with STDs, without their consent, in order to see the effects of various diseases.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30895754/) US academic institutions also participated in the studies.
 - In 1941, the US used its contacts in the Panama National Guard, which the U.S. had earlier trained, to have the government of Panama overthrown in a bloodless coup. The U.S. had requested that the government of Panama allow it to build over 130 new military installations inside and outside of the [Panama Canal Zone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal_Zone), and the government of Panama refused this request at the price suggested by the U.S.
 - In [Smedley Butler's](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler#The_Banana_Wars) (A former US general and medal of honor recipient) 1935 pamphlet, [War is a Racket](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Is_a_Racket), he recounted his experience as being an agent of American Imperialism: “I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.”[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler#The_Banana_Wars)