Talk:Office of Public Safety

POV tag
I've added a POV tag, although the Uruguayan senate reported in 1970 that the Uruguayan police have used torture, there is little or no factual evidence that the OPS was involved, including Mitrione. Intangible2.0 17:17, 4 July 2007 (UTC)


 * There is, for example, this: "In an interview to a Brazilian newspaper in 1970, the former Uruguayan Chief of Police Intelligence, Alejandro Otero, declared that US officers, in particular Mitrione, had instituted torture as a systemic method". As the article states, if Otero made these revelations, it is in part because a member of the Tupamaros (who had followers in the middle and upper classes), who happened to be a friend of his, had been tortured in presence of Mitrione. Tazmaniacs 17:30, 4 July 2007 (UTC)
 * See my comment at Talk:Dan Mitrione. Intangible2.0 17:43, 4 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Also, Otero earlier in that year said no torture had happened (NY Times, Apr 1970). I think he was already fired by then, and there is already some doubts about how that Brazilian publication came about. Intangible2.0 02:15, 6 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Your citation in Talk:Dan Mitrione concerning the NYT does not state this. Furthermore, have you got any sources about these "doubts"? And there is the Clarin article. Latin American sources are advisable in a Latin American context, the NYT has written a lot of good & lesser stuff over the time, which have been later contradicted (and you are aware of recent examples of such articles). Concerning South America, there are many NYT articles which have been proved to the least erroneous after a while. Regards, Tazmaniacs 18:10, 6 July 2007 (UTC)
 * This is from Ernest W. Lefever (reviewing State of Siege, entered into the U.S. Congressional record): Costa-Gavras and Solinas apparently base their torture charge on a headline story that appeared first in the Jornal do Brasil in mid-August 1970, allegedly quoting Captain Alejandro Otero, a Montevideo police official, as confirming that "Mitrione used methods of repression, violence, and torture." Independent research, however, discloses that the story was surreptitiously inserted in the paper without the knowledge of any of its three Montevideo correspondents, let alone Otero...Subsequent denials by Otero and the three correspondents that any such interview took place were later run in a disavowal by Jornal do Brasil.
 * I think you are running out of sources to put blaim to Mitrione. If you want to check a possible torture connection, you might do research into Hugo Campos Hermida instead. Intangible2.0 20:13, 6 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the advice. However, I'm not sure it was "independent research" which "discloses that the story was surreptitiously inserted..." According to William Blum's Killing Hope (chapter on Uruguay), who himself quotes Langguth's book, Byron Eagle, chief of the OPS, was the one to have stated that. Still according to Langguth (quoted by Blum), CIA officer William Cantrell, based in Montevideo as OPS agent, also played a key part in the creation of the Uruguayan DDI, and provided to it funds and material, among which torture material. Langguth claims that Mitrione transported such material in his diplomatic luggage. Tazmaniacs 14:25, 10 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Note that Lefever also stated that Jornal do Brasil published a retraction. That William Cantrell was a CIA officer, came from "statements" made by one Nélson Bardecio, who was held at that time (1972) by the Tupamaros. I'm not certain if any other evidence has been presented for Cantrell being a CIA man, and he worked for the U.S. Department of State, not OPS if I'm correct. Intangible2.0 21:32, 11 July 2007 (UTC)
 * And what is Langguth doing in a Francovich movie? Small world. Maybe he is family of Oswald LeWinter. Intangible2.0 21:37, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

The item needs correction. The head of the OPS was not Byron Eagle, but Byron Engle. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 171.66.115.44 (talk) 17:36, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

CIA
what is meant with being "close to the CIA"? If there are noteworth relationships, they should be expanded on first, "close" can mean anything. Intangible2.0 02:11, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

The CIA has sponsored the OPS as the USAID. See for instance the Family jewels (CIA) where they speak of the course in explosives. Tazmaniacs 18:05, 6 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Okay, this is the same info that was already published in 1974 newspapers, talking about the International Police Academy. Intangible2.0 21:33, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

Uruguay section
The article's section on Uruguay is mostly on Dan Mitrione, and has only a few lines devoted to OPS. There are multiple, lengthy articles on Mitrione's murder by the Tupamaros guerillas; the Mitrione material should be trimmed back and focus returned to OPS. Rgr09 (talk) 23:39, 5 July 2019 (UTC)
 * I removed paragraph on Raul Sendlic's post prison statements, this is already in the Dan Mitrione article and is not relevant to OPS. Rgr09 (talk) 15:32, 24 July 2019 (UTC)
 * I removed paragraph claiming William Cantrell worked as a CIA officer in OPS Uruguay and supplied torture equipment. This was cited to a National Security Archive article neither cited nor mentioned any such claims. Rgr09 (talk) 15:58, 24 July 2019 (UTC)
 * I removed paragraph on Mitrione kidnapping. This was from non RS Spartacus page, is discussed in the Dan Mitrione article, and is not relevant to OPS per se. Rgr09 (talk)
 * I removed the entire discussion of the Otero 'interview' from the article. I spent much time looking for sources on this subject, and had very little luck. Particularly surprising to me was the fact that the article does not appear in the standard Bell & Howell microfilm copy of Jornal do Brasil for the period; this is a very serious problem in using it in Wikipedia. Before any of this is reinserted, the date and page of the issue of Jornal do Brasil where the interview appeared should be given, along with a reliable source for the content of the article. Finding that what would almost certainly require original research. Rgr09 (talk) 19:54, 26 July 2019 (UTC)

Another badly sourced incoherent article
This article was largely put together in 2006-2007 by one editor using two pages on Uruguay from William Blum's book Killing Hope (KH) as his primary source. KH is a patch-work of often badly-sourced claims of "CIA intervention" in other countries. It deals with OPS in only a handful of passages, the main one being the section on Uruguay, which is mostly a discussion of Dan Mitrione's murder using very problematic material. This should be handled primarily in the Dan Mitrione article.

KH has almost nothing on the origins and history of OPS, and scrupulously avoids all government sources on OPS funding and programs, sticking strictly to ancient, incomplete, and sometimes inaccurate articles in sources such as NACLA. The whole article needs a rewrite with RS material. Rgr09 (talk) 14:10, 27 July 2019 (UTC)