GUARDIAN/ Forty years ago, President Nixon urged Uruguayan leaders to threaten to kill leftist prisoners to save the life of a kidnapped U.S. agent. FBI agent Daniel Mitrione was kidnapped and eventually killed after training Uruguayan officials about interrogation techniques. Secretary of State William Rogers wrote in a cable to the U.S.ambassador there that “we have assumed that the Government of Uruguay has considered use of threat to kill” jailed rebel leader Raul Sendic and other key Tupamaros members. Later Nixon himself, in a separate cable, urged Uruguayan President Jorge Pacheco to use “every means available” to secure Mitrione’s release while publicly calling for an amnesty and offering ransom money.
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