Now that the U.S. has admitted to performing deadly syphilis experiments on unknowing Guatemalans, a debate in Guatemala has erupted about why and who in the Guatemalan government might have approved them in the first place. According to this news item from Guatemala’s El Periodico, some Guatemalans suspect that the ‘gringos’ are planning to pin blame for the crime on former Guatemala President Juan Jose Arevalo.
The El Periodico news item says in part:
Government officials and representatives of various sectors of civil society have compared the experiments conducted on 1,500 people in Guatemala by the U.S. Public Health Service between 1946 and 1948 to the genocidal policies of Nazi Germany.
The fact that these human rights violations, committed in collusion with the administration of Juan Jose Arevalo, came to light just as the current government is celebrating the October Revolution (1944) with great fanfare, has became a matter of controversy.
Political analyst and columnist Adrian Zapata expressed incredulity at newly-published findings and said it seems strange to him that “a government with humanist orientation” like that of Arevalo would lend a hand to such actions.
He questioned the authenticity of the documents, saying that it seems strange that they would come to light precisely in the month when the Revolution is being commemorated.
Alfonso Bauer Paiz, former minister of labor and economy in the Jacobo Arbenz government (1951-1954), also expressed disbelief at the alleged collusion of the Arévalo Government in the running of the experiments.
“I don’t recall this [arrangement], but I’m not surprised that the gringos, knowing Arevalo is dead, would try to accuse him of such things,” Paiz said.
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