Death squad

I have eight aunties and they all left through the Civil War period as well.

So some of the context of the Civil War was, you know, growing up in the United States, I learned mostly about how the United States was funding the Escuadrones de Muerte or the death squads in El Salvador in an attempt to squash out communist insurrection in Central America.

Some people might be familiar with the FSLN.

The FMLN, the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, was the leftist insurrectionist group that was comprised mostly of public intellectuals, campesinos, or people who were working land and were becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the hoarding of wealth within the oligarchic families.

And this kind of like call to take down industrial society.

And this leads to a split within the American Indian movement over the question of Nicaragua, which we cover in the story, you know, where Churchill's faction with Russell Means and others, Glenn Morris, et cetera, this Colorado group begins to take an anti-imperialist stance, meaning that it's fascinating because Ward Churchill writes this famous piece called Death Squads in the United States, where he compares the repression of the American Indian movement to death squads in Central America.

I find that really ironic given the fact that he was meeting, at least he was In the orbit of Elliott Abrams, because Russell Means actually met with Elliott Abrams to request assistance, military and training assistance to anti-Sandinista forces within Nicaragua, specifically indigenous forces, you know, allegedly.

And, you know, Ward Churchill kind of backed up this claim to like fight this anti-indigenous repressive socialist government.

So his views weren't just like in the realm of theory.

He was actually enacting them.

And I just find it fascinating that he wrote that death squads.

in the United States piece in comparing the U.S.-backed and CIA-backed death squads, while also advocating for arming anti-communist factions within Central American governments.

Here's a headline: Caracas Is Eerily Safe.

Death Squads Saw to It.

Okay.

Here's another front-page article that should have our attention because it affirms something th-that the Times has no clue they're affirming.

Now, what they are doing, what they're saying, is that the homicide rate, uh, in Caracas, Venezuela, and other basic, uh... well, other nations, other cities in Venezuela, yes, but also other cities in Central and South America, that the rate of violent crime has been going down, and it is not because of the effectiveness of courts and police and all the rest, but rather that there is basically a criminal enforcement system now on the streets.

As they say here, death squads saw to it.

Now, sometimes, uh, the article in The Times makes the assertion that on the part of some countries, the government is complicit in the death squads.

But you also have other situations in which it's militias, uh, families of organized crime.

And this has been a technique the CIA has used in Nicaragua, in Thailand, in Vietnam, in Laos, in the Congo, in Iran-Iraq with the Kurds in different parts of the world.

We created, trained, and funded death squads like the Treasury Police in El Salvador.

And we've assassinated world leaders, including the United States president in 1963.

And I'll get to that in more detail in just a moment.

And in the '80s, he, he helps Russell Means, um, pen this kind of really divisive speech, uh, that's really calling out, um, communism and socialism as constructs of, you know, U-- uh, Western European imperialism, um, which are no better than capitalism, right? Um, and this kind of like call to take down industrial society, and this leads to a split within the American Indian Movement, um, over the question of Nicaragua, which we cover in the story.

You know, Ward Churchill's faction with Russell Means and others, Glenn Morris, et cetera, um, this Colorado group, uh, begins to take an anti, anti-imperialist stance, um, meaning that they-- It's, it's fascinating, um, because Ward Churchill writes this, this famous piece called, um, "Death Squads in the United States," where he compares the repression of the American Indian Movement to death squads in Central America.

Um, I find that really ironic given the fact that he was meeting, uh, he w- at least, uh, he was in the orbit of Elliot Abrams because Russell Means actually met with Elliot Abrams to request assistance, um, uh, military and training assistance, uh, to, um, anti-Sandinista forces within Nicaragua, specifically Indigenous forces, uh, you know, allegedly.

[lip smack] And, you know, Ward Churchill kind of backed up this claim to, like, fight this anti-Indigenous, repressive, uh, socialist government.

Um, so his views weren't just, like, in the realm of theory.

He was actually enacting them, and I just find it fascinating that he wrote that "Death Squads in, in the United States," um, piece in comparing the des- the US-backed and CIA-backed death squads, while also, like, advocating for arming, um, anti-communist factions within Central American governments.

Um, but then also he, uh, really denounces, you know, the Vietnamese resistance, um, for its, uh, you know, alleged anti-communi- or anti-Indigenous views, uh, towards minorities.

And, you know, he go-- he-- so he has this long kind of track record.