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US/UK trained Brazil military in torture techniques; British were particularly sophisticated

Friday, December 12th 2014 - 21:07 UTC
Full article 31 comments
The CNV says United States trained more than 300 military officers from Brazil at the notorious 'School of the Americas' The CNV says United States trained more than 300 military officers from Brazil at the notorious 'School of the Americas'
However “England was the best place to learn,” due to their expertise in extracting information from individuals, without using brute force. However “England was the best place to learn,” due to their expertise in extracting information from individuals, without using brute force.
Colonel Paulo Malhães, revealed during his testimony his admiration for psychological torture, which he said was known as “the English system.” Colonel Paulo Malhães, revealed during his testimony his admiration for psychological torture, which he said was known as “the English system.”

Officials from the United States and the United Kingdom spent years teaching members of the Brazilian military how to develop and improve their torture techniques during the country’s two-decade long dictatorship (1964/1985), it was confirmed this week by the National Truth Commission, CNV, report.

According to that documenting the Brazilian Armed Forces’ “systematic use of torture,” which concluded that more than 400 individuals, considered to have been “subversives”, were killed or disappeared by the state, received international training to that purpose.

In effect as part of Washington’s support for anti-Communist governments in Latin America, United States trained more than 300 military officers from Brazil at the notorious 'School of the Americas', based in Georgia, the report says. The officers received “theoretical and practical lessons on torture,” it adds, with the intention that they could “replicate” their ideas in Brazil.

Brazil’s O Globo, in an article detailing the CNV’s report, said the “training of military cadets... during the period of the dictatorship and the years before the coup was considered essential to national security.” The CNV publication says the officers learnt the techniques as part of their training for “revolutionary” and “conventional” warfare.

According to US media reports, the School of the Americas still operates today under a different name, the “Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation”, and with a different curriculum, one that places a far greater emphasis on human rights.

The CNV reports also reveals that the UK government shared the anti-communist crusade, and also contributed knowledge on torture techniques in training sessions with Brazilians.

One BBC news correspondent, who trailed through the document’s 4,500 pages, highlighted a section labeled “UK Collaboration,” in which the Brazilian military’s admiration for British interrogation methods was laid bare, especially over the UK’s “discretion” when dealing with detainees and its “clean torture” techniques.

The Truth Commission discovered the link in interviews. One of the most-feared Army officers, Colonel Paulo Malhães, revealed during his testimony his admiration for psychological torture, which he said was known as “the English system.”

Malhães, who admitted in private that he went to the UK to learn interrogation techniques, said “England was the best place to learn,” due to their expertise in extracting information from individuals, without using brute force.

An additional recommendation by British trainers, another general said, was to interrogate prisoners while they were naked, as it leaves them feeling anxious and depressed.

An in-depth BBC report into the dictatorship earlier this year also revealed how British agents went to Brazil to teach officers, with courses on surveillance, phone-tapping and interrogation taught onsite at Rio’s military police headquarters
 

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  • Think

    Ahhhhhh......
    Engrish “Northern Ireland” expertise for the benefit of the Brasilian dictatorship....
    And Engrish loans & weapons for the Argie dictatorship... to kill Engrish soldiers...
    http://jubileedebt.org.uk/press-release/argentina-still-owes-uk-dictator-debt-falklands-arms

    How very Engrish......................

    Dec 12th, 2014 - 09:41 pm 0
  • Brasileiro

    Shame! Barbarians! Western! Bad!

    Dec 12th, 2014 - 09:45 pm 0
  • ilsen

    ”admiration for psychological torture, which he said was known as “the English system.”

    Currently something that Argentina enjoys everyday.
    :-)
    That is why Buenos Aires has the greatest number of psycho-analysts per capita of any city in the world.
    One can see the results on the streets when La Campora has a march, you can see it on every bus and train now with the silly little signs.
    Argentina does not realise it is still being manipulated by the British.

    The UK likes to keep them throughly engaged in their 'malvinas' myth. It keeps them busy spending time and money, and away from the Falklands.
    I wouldn't be surprised to learn that MI6 has actively infiltrated La Campora and is encouraging them.
    Keep them running in circles, the fools.
    lol!
    Everybody please note the 'English system' in which the Brazilian military’s admiration for British interrogation methods was laid bare, especially over the UK’s “discretion” when dealing with detainees and its “clean torture” techniques, due to their expertise in extracting information from individuals, WITHOUT using brute force.

    Decent chaps, the Brits. Keeping it clean. Brains not brawn.

    No wonder the Argies are scared. Intellectual superiority always wins.

    Dec 12th, 2014 - 10:32 pm 0
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