As Negroponte prepares for his Senate confirmation hearing today for the new post of director of national intelligence, hundreds of previously secret cables and telegrams have become available that shed new light on the most controversial episode in his four-decade diplomatic career. The documents, drawn from Negroponte’s personal records as ambassador to Honduras from 1981 to 1985, were released by the State Department in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from The Washington Post.
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Overall, Negroponte comes across as an exceptionally energetic, action-oriented ambassador whose anti-communist convictions led him to play down human rights abuses in Honduras, the most reliable U.S. ally in the region. There is little in the documents the State Department has released so far to support his assertion that he used “quiet diplomacy” to persuade the Honduran authorities to investigate the most egregious violations, including the mysterious disappearance of dozens of government opponents.
The contrast with his immediate predecessor, Jack R. Binns, who was recalled to Washington in the fall of 1981 to make way for Negroponte, is striking. Before departing, Binns sent several cables to Washington warning of possible “death squad” activity linked to Honduran strongman Gen. Gustavo Alvarez. Negroponte dismissed the talk of death squads and, in an October 1983 cable to Washington, emphasized Alvarez’s “dedication to democracy.”
Two videos you need to watch
At DNext, they call him “one-take Georgie.” Remarkable footage of glorious leader. And then there’s this inexplicable music video which everyone else has linked to already, but just in case you missed it…
Prototypes
Coming soon: resin maquettes of your favorite angry penguin and very nice dog duo, with real protesting action! Sparky stands about a foot tall. His wing moves up and down, and the sign is removable. And Blinky has real wire whiskers.
…we’re also considering having it so you can swap out slogans on the sign. I’m feeling a little too close to the forest to see the penguins right now, so I’m going to throw this one out to all of you — what other Sparky-ish phrases would you like to see?
Note to Des Moines readers
The paper that runs my cartoon in Des Moines, City View, has apparently just been bought by another company. I was contacted by them last week — they wanted to keep running the cartoon, asked what they needed to do. Seemed very concerned about missing a single week’s installment, very eager to keep running the cartoon. Today, however, with no explanation other than that “decisions were made regarding content,” I’ve been informed that City View will no longer be running This Modern World after all.
I’m not posting an email address or phone number here, because I’m not interested in astroturfing them. But if you live in Des Moines and would like to register your disapproval of this decision with the new owners of City View, you should certainly pick up a copy of the paper and look up the contact info and let them know how you feel.
(editing)
Question authority
It may be a banal bumper sticker slogan, but it’s also pretty good advice, given how often power breeds duplicity.
Dennis Kyne put up such a fight at a political protest last summer, the arresting officer recalled, it took four police officers to haul him down the steps of the New York Public Library and across Fifth Avenue.
“We picked him up and we carried him while he squirmed and screamed,” the officer, Matthew Wohl, testified in December. “I had one of his legs because he was kicking and refusing to walk on his own.”
Accused of inciting a riot and resisting arrest, Mr. Kyne was the first of the 1,806 people arrested in New York last summer during the Republican National Convention to take his case to a jury. But one day after Officer Wohl testified, and before the defense called a single witness, the prosecutor abruptly dropped all charges.
During a recess, the defense had brought new information to the prosecutor. A videotape shot by a documentary filmmaker showed Mr. Kyne agitated but plainly walking under his own power down the library steps, contradicting the vivid account of Officer Wohl, who was nowhere to be seen in the pictures. Nor was the officer seen taking part in the arrests of four other people at the library against whom he signed complaints.
A sprawling body of visual evidence, made possible by inexpensive, lightweight cameras in the hands of private citizens, volunteer observers and the police themselves, has shifted the debate over precisely what happened on the streets during the week of the convention.
For Mr. Kyne and 400 others arrested that week, video recordings provided evidence that they had not committed a crime or that the charges against them could not be proved, according to defense lawyers and prosecutors.