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PAGE 6—The Georgia Bulletin, August 18,1983
"Deliberate Distortion"
Media And Church Groups Accused
Argentina
Bishop Was Murdered
Major U.S. church
groups and the news
media are guilty of
“deliberate distortion”
of the Reagan
administration’s Central
America policies, said a
top White House official.
Faith Ryan
Whittlesey, White House
director of public liaison,
said in an interview with
The Washington Post
that churches and the
media are to blame for
public ignorance and
opposition to
administration strategy
in the region.
Church leaders in the
United States “tend to
characterize the
Sandinistas (in
Nicaragua) as Robin
Hoods, essentially
fighting for social
justice,” she said in the
interview, published Aug.
10.
She said the White
House is trying to
counteract the criticism
by emphasizing that the
Sandinista government
has “persecuted Jews,
Protestants and Catholics
(and) booed and heckled
the pope when he was
down there trying to
•offer Mass.”
The White House
offered no immediate
elaboration on her
remarks.
The U.S. Catholic
Conference, public
policy arm of the U.S.
bishops, also had no
immediate comment on
the remarks. Russell
Shaw, USCC director of
public affairs, said the
bishops’ conference was
trying to obtain a fuller
version of Mrs.
Whittlesey’s comments.
The bishops’
conference has been a
major critic of the
Reagan policy. In a
statement issued a little
more than two weeks
before the interview, the
USCC president,
Archbishop John R.
Roach of St. Paul-Minne-
apolis, said current
policy toward Nicaragua
was escalating the
dangers of war in the
region and deepening
that country’s “internal
crises.”
In the interview Mrs.
Whittlesey and an
assistant, Morton C.
Blackwell, described the
White House effort to
build support for the
president’s Central
American policies. The
effort includes a number
of initiatives, such as
briefings at the White
House on Reagan policy
for representatives of a
variety of national
organizations.
Blackwell told The
Post that despite public
opinion polls showing
voter ignorance or
skepticism of Central
America policy, the
White House is in a
“no-lose” situation.
If the president’s
current policy succeeds,
he said, then it will be
approved by a majority
of Americans. And if it
leads to a disaster
because Reagan did not
obtain the support from
Congress that he had
sought, “it seems to me
very reasonable that the
American people will pin
the blame where it
belongs,” Blackwell said,
referring to opponents of
the policy. nc
Actions Of Chilean Troops Denounced
The head of a Catholic
human rights organization
denounced actions Chilean
troops used to quell
protests against the
country’s military rule.
“There is an impression
that they acted with
unnecessary violence,
unrestrained, unmeasured
and with no respect for
people,” said Msgr. Juan
de Castro, head of the
Vicariate of Solidarity.
The vicariate is the
human rights agency of
the Archdiocese of
Santiago.
Msgr. de Castro spoke
after 24 people were killed
Aug. 11-12 in disturbances
the government said were
the work of professional
provacateurs. Witnesses
said at least four deaths,
including that of an
eight-year-old child,
occurred when gunfire
from government forces
hit the victims while they
were in their homes.
The August protests
marked the fourth month
in a row that political and
labor groups seeking
representative government
had organized protests
aginst the government of
P resi dent Augusto
Pinochet. nc
Augusto Pinochet, military president of Chile
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In 1976, Says Prelate
NC NEWS SERVICE
Argentine Bishop
Enrique Angelelli was
murdered, probably by
security forces, in 1976
and did not die in an
automobile accident as
was officially reported at
the time, according to a
statement issued Aug. 4 by
Argentine Bishop Jaime
De Nevares of Neuquen.
The statement was
released on the seventh
anniversary of the death of
Bishop Angelelli, who
headed the rural Diocese
of La Rioja from 1969
until his death. It marked
the first time that an
Argentine church official
said publicly that the
bishop had been
murdered.
(At the Vatican, Father
Pierfranco Pastore, papal
press spokesman, said Aug.
8 that the Vatican would
have no comment on the
case.)
At the time of Bishop
Angelelli’s deatli,
speculation circulated
widely in church circles
that he had been killed as
part of the military
government’s anti-guerrilla
campaign, but no evidence
was produced to support
the allegation and church
officials refused to
comment publicly about
the possibility that he had
been murdered.
Bishop Angelleli was
killed because he was
gathering evidence in the
cases of two priests and a
layman who had been
murdered in his diocese,
said Bishop De Nevares.
The statement added that
Bishop Angelelli had had
numerous confrontations
with the military
authorities in La' Rioja
because of his promotion
of church social action
work among the poor.
The diocese is located in
the Andes Mountains in
northwestern Argentina.
“The official version of
the facts is that Angelelli
had a grave accident which
cost his life,” said Bishop
De Nevares.
“The other version,
which is on the tongues of
everyone in La Rioja
because there were
eyewitnesses to the events,
is that the accident was
provoked. These
eyewitnesses were not
moved to denounce it
because they also feared
they would lose their
lives,” he added.
“These witnesses say
that a white Peugeot
caused the overturning of
Angelelli’s car. Afterward,
while still alive, he was
taken from his car to be
assassinated by blows to
the head,” said Bishop De
Nevares.
“Shortly after the
accident occurred, more
than 50 members of the
military and police arrived
and impeded anyone from
getting close to the bishop,
whose body was left on
the roadside for six hours
because of official orders,”
he added.
Other church sources
said the previous church
silence about the case
resulted from church fear
that a public statement
would result in the
murders of more priests
and lay people in La Rioja.
Bishop De Nevares said
that Bishop Angelelli was
not liked by the
authorities because of his
social programs and
statements in favor of the
poor. He added that the
murders of two La Rioja
priests, Fathers Gabriel
Lonville and Carlos
Muriat, in July 1976,
several weeks before the
death of Bishop Angelelli,
were an effort to
intimidate the bishop.
The two priests “were
taken one night by men
dressed in civilian clothes,
who showed federal police
credentials and asked the
priests to go with them to
identify some people who
had been detained,” said
Bishop De Nevares.
“The following morning
the two priests were found
riddled with bullets, one
of them with clear signs of
torture,” said Bishop De
Nevares.
A week later a layman
was machine-gunned to
death in his home, said
Bishop De Nevares.
Bishop Angelelli began
his own investigations into
the murders and had the
evidence he had collected
with him at the time he
died, added Bishop De
Nevares.
If Bishop De Nevares’
statement is true it would
have tremendous
repercussions in Argentina,
where 90 percent of the
28 million people profess
Catholicism. Catholicism is
the state religion and the
military government
justified its counterin
surgency campaign as a
defense of the nation’s
Christian values against
Marxist infiltration.
Also, since January
1979 Pope John Paul II
has been mediating a
territorial dispute between
Argentina and Chile.
Bishop De Nevares’
statement is part of the
wave of human rights
criticisms that have been
aimed at the military
during 1983 as the
country prepares for
scheduled elections on
Oct. 30 as the first step
toward civilian
government.
4 t