| Asuncion April 7, 1997 Mr. Bill Clinton President of the United States of America The White House Washington D.C. Dear Sir: We are hereby very pleased to address this letter to you, in order to request the cooperation of the Human Rights Commitee of the Senate, to make a compilation of the admitted evidences in the international legislation, in the public international rights and in the international rights meetings, in order to start with the respective legal step, to obtain from the United States of America an indemnization for an amount of US$ 4,412,850,000.000 in regard to more than 400 prisoners of conscience, which together spent 1,209 years in jail, victims of tortures, among others, of Mr. Robert L. Brown (Decree-Law # 22449/10.10.1956), Mr. Stanley B. Potter (Decree-Law # 29746/10.8.1957) and mainly, of the Lieutenant Col. Robert K. Thierry, appointed by the State Department in October of 1956 as 'advisor' to the National Agency of Technical Affairs, in order to teach torture's technichs to the represive police of the Dictator Alfredo Stroessner. For your information only, the District Attorney, Dr. Anibal Cabrera Veron, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Ruben Melgarejo Lanzoni, the President of Paraguay, Engineer Juan Carlos Wasmosy, the Center for Constitutional Rights (New York/USA), the Center for Human Rights of the United Nations (Geneva/Switzerland) were informed of the direct participation of American citizens, like Col. Robert Thierry, in the violation of human rights in Paraguay. In regard to the information sent to the national authorities and the above mentioned organizations, we have considered appropriate that the International Rights Institute (Santiago de Compostela, on date September 13 of 1989) established that: "The Human Rights are the direct expression of the human person's dignity. The duty of each State to guarantee they will be respected, are implied by the own recognition of said dignity, acclaimed by the Letter of the United Nations and by the Universal Statement of Human Rights. This international constraint is according to a formula used by the International Court of Justice, an 'erga omnes' constraint; it's incumbent to every State in regard to the international community as a whole ...". Also in 1980, the International Law Committee of the United Nations established that "every fact, internationally illicit of a State, gives rise to the international responsability of said State". According to the "Terror's File", the National Agency of Technical Affairs operated with the sponsorship of the American Embassy in Asuncion, since the second half of the 50's decade until December 22 of 1992, date which the Secretary of the Interior, Dr. Hugo Estigarribia closed it. Known by the international public opinion, this repressive Agency, best known as 'The Technical', was operated by tortures which left marks of perdurable physical punishments in its victims; and the 'technicians' of this "Hell's Wailing Room" were among others, the American Col. Robert K. Thierry, Mr. Antonio Campos Alum, and the Secretary of the Interior, at said decade, Mr. Edgar L. Insfran. We also have added that, according to sources of the Defense Department of the United States, and the National Defense Ministry (Decree-Law # 31182; 31183 and 31184 dated 01.03.1968, year in which the American vice-president Richard Nixon visited Paraguay) more than 1,500 paraguayan officers were trained in torture technichs at USACARIB and at FORT GULICK (Panama); also in 1962 Mr. Snow, Ambassador of the United States of America to Paraguay, signed an agreement for cartigraphic relief with the Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr. Raul Sapena Pastor, which was used only and exclusively to annihilate the opposition groups to the dictatorship of General Alfredo Stroessner. With these antecedents and by virtue of Art. 31 #2 of the Vienna Convention regarding the Diplomatic Relationships, it is possible (and it is a must) to request the American Ambassador to Paraguay, Mr. Robert Service, to answer in regard to the responsibility of his country for the violation of human rights in Paraguay. In order to facilitate the complete compilation of evidences to be presented to the Center for Constitutional Rights of New York, we hereby attaching documents which may guide you and which contain, just as an exemple, the names of 150 victims of the National Agency of Technical Affairs, that involve the torturer Robert K. Thierry directly. We also hereby attaching among other documents of evidences, a copy of a letter from the former Foreing Affairs Minister Dr. Raul Sapena Pastor addressed to the former Secretary of the Interior Dr. Edgar L. Insfran (dated September 4, 1957) and one Memorandum of Conversation of the State Department of the United States of America (dated October 6, 1956) when Mr. Arthur Ageton was in charge of the American Embassy in Asuncion, and which copy can be found in the Record of the Foreign Service Post of the Department of State, at the National Archives in Washington. Both documents mention the name of Col. Robert K. Thierry. Therefore Mr. President, we don't think necessary to attach other documents, since as you are already aware of the documents of the Police Secret Archives, which are at present at the Supreme Court of Justice, proof categorically the participation of the United States of America in the violation of the human rights in Paraguay. In addition to the above mentioned, you can consult the non-classified documents of the Record Group 76 (Paraguay), among others at the National Archives in Washington. Due to the briefly stated information, and on behalf of the victims of the violation of the human rights, as a result of the neonazi policy of the government of the USA, we hereby requesting the collaboration of the Human Rights Committee of the Senate, to compil evidences in order to start with the legal steps before the respective authorities, to collect the amount of US$ 4,412,850,000.00 in concept of indemnization to the surviving victims of the unjustifiable cruelty, officially sponsored by the government of the United States of America of that time. We remain faithfully yours Nemecio Barreto Monzon Dr. Joel Filartiga |