Guatemalan Guinea Pigs

It is well known that the Nazis conducted medical experiments on the Jewish and Gypsy populations during World War II. What has been hidden is that a few years later, the United States, who fought against the Nazis, utilized similar practices in Guatemala. The facts were concealed for over six decades but recently revealed after an investigation led by a professor from Wellesley College.

According to archives and clinical files uncovered by Dr. Susan Reverby, a group of doctors from the U.S. Department of Health infected 696 Guatemalan prisoners and mental patients with the syphilis and gonorrhea viruses. Initially, the doctors attempted to infect the subjects via prostitutes who carried the diseases, but after finding that the infection took too long to occur, the doctors chose to inject agents of the disease into the bodies of the victims. Many of the guinea pigs became ill, and one patient died.

The operation was so shocking that last week, after receiving the news, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a public apology on behalf of her country, and Barack Obama spoke with Alvaro Colom, the Guatemalan president, to offer his apologies. Colom created a special commission to further clarify the case and, if necessary, demand punishment for those responsible, as well as compensation for the victims.

This dark episode allows for the discovery of other, mostly political, abuses committed by the United States in Central America. The famous American investigative journalist Robert Parry denounced the counter-insurgency political experiments put forth by his country in the last half century, which he compared to the venereal disease experiments. Among the most deplorable was the overthrow of the popularly elected government of Jacobo Arbenz in 1954 for acting against the interests of the United Fruit Company, in a coup led by Guatemalan militants but supported by Washington.

Unfortunately, the Frankenstein-like laboratory set up in Guatemala was not unusual. Over the past few years, leaked information has surfaced about experiments by multinational laboratories in Nigeria and India and a crazy gringo medical team that conducted brain transplants in Ukraine. The helplessness and ignorance of the patients was fertile ground for this type of abuse.