Obama visit stirs memories of 'dirty war'
March 23, 2016
US President Barack Obama and his family touched down in the early hours of Wednesday, to be welcomed by Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra.
Obama was set to hold talks later in the day with new market-friendly President Mauricio Macri, who has reached out to Washington after years of confrontation.
The US president was also due to take part in a wreath-laying ceremony to remember the US role in Argentina's dirty war. His visit coincides with the 40th anniversary of the 1976 military coup that saw the rise of a brutal dictatorship.
Kissinger 'approval' for crackdown
Notes from a 1970s meeting between then US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Argentina's then-foreign minister appear to show Kissinger giving his approval for a crackdown on dissidents as part of Cold War efforts to stave off the perceived communist threat.
Obama has promised to declassify CIA and FBI documents related to the regime.
US military academies are said to have trained troops from Argentina and other Latin American regimes in torture techniques.
Left-wing political parties have promised protests in Buenos Aires and Bariloche, an Andean resort town in southern Argentina where Obama is scheduled to spend part of Thursday. They claim that the presence of a US leader at the time of the anniversary is disrespectful to families of the thousands who were murdered or who were disappeared.
Macri seeks to liberalize economy
Argentina's government estimates that some 13,000 people were killed or disappeared during the crackdown. Activists claim the figure was as high as 30,000.
Some leftist groups have vowed to protest the treatment of Argentina by US hedge funds, which Macri's predecessor, Christina Fernandez Kirchner, had branded "vultures." Macri - who took office in December - has now reached a deal with the creditors, also having lifted trade controls and slashed subsidies during his first 100 days in office.
While Fernandez frequently sought to portray the US as an imperialist bully throughout Latin America, Macri has said he wants to build an "intelligent, productive" relationship.
The US president's visit comes after a series of historic, but sometimes awkward, public appearances Obama made with Cuban leader Raul Castro.