ADRIENNE PINE
Pine is assistant professor of anthropology at American University specializing in Latin America. She said today: “Cables released by WikiLeaks have painted a stark picture of State Department activities throughout the Americas. These include collecting biometric data on Paraguayan presidential candidates; covertly orchestrating an anti-Chavez propaganda campaign in Venezuela; working with Brazilian authorities to illegally monitor citizens of Arab descent and jail suspected terrorists on trumped-up drug charges and supporting a Honduran coup government that the State Department knew beyond a shadow of a doubt to have been illegal.

“The State Department cables come on the heels of revelations that the U.S. Military Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) has been engaged in an alliance with Florida International University (FIU). At FIU’s Applied Research Center, SOUTHCOM has convened academics, members of right-wing think tanks and military officials to create so-called ‘strategic culture’ reports for most Latin American and Caribbean countries, to be used in planning U.S. military operations throughout the hemisphere.” See Pine’s blog at quotha.net — where she links to individual cables from WikiLeaks and has been putting out information on SOUTHCOM.

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167