PSL WikiBrief: Spain facilitates CIA torture
Monday, January 10, 2011
Working together to maim and brutalize
A communication from the U.S. embassy in Madrid exposes the Spanish government’s complicity in torture carried out by the CIA. As a part of the “extraordinary rendition” policy, flights carrying prisoners to be tortured at “black sites” in U.S. client states routinely stopped in Spain with the full consent of its government.
Because this abuse is conducted outside of the borders of the Untied States, Washington considers it less damaging to its international image. Although a scandal erupted in Spain in 2005 over this issue, the embassy cable released by WikiLeaks is from 2006. It was released by the Spanish newspaper El Pais. The cable mentions discussions in which Spanish officials ask the United States to act more discreetly and minimize the political fallout.
Torture is one of the most horrifying byproducts of imperialism. To protect the ability of western capital to exploit workers in every corner of the world, imperialist states will resort to the most brutal methods in an attempt to crush resistance to their dominance.
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