Letters from Nuremberg, by Chris Dodd: on Foreign Policy

Chris Dodd: Post-Cold War, focus on Latin America

The big human rights debates of the early 1980s centered on Latin America, where I focused much of my work. I developed relationships with key figures in hot-spot countries--Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua. The US political landscape at the time was charged in a way similar to what would happen years later in relation to Iraq.

Chris Dodd: 1980s: Tied Central American aid to measuring human rights

President Reagan reduced the many volatile political situations in Central America to what he saw as a worldwide Communist plot. In President Reagan's view, it was necessary to back those who stood against Communism, no matter their own record on human rights.

The idea of simply sending unrestricted funding to anyone fighting Communism was, as Senator Edward M. Kennedy said, "giving a blank check to death squads and despotism."

In the case of El Salvador in the early 1980s, it was clear to me that the wisest stance for the US was to send aid to that country's government only if certain conditions were met. And so, as a freshman senator, I introduced an amendment to a foreign appropriations bill that tied such support to measures of human rights.

Ronald Reagan: OpEd: Viewed Latin America in context of worldwide Communism

President Reagan, for example, wanted to send support to the government of El Salvador, led at the time by a civilian/military junta, which was fighting leftist guerillas. The government's notorious death squads also targeted those who opposed its power.