Entrevista de Sendic al New York Times 1987

One day almost 17 years ago, Dan Mitrione, an American police adviser, was kidnapped by Tupamaro guerrillas as he left his house in suburban Carrasco. Ten days later, his body was found in an abandoned car. The kidnapping and killing became the basis for the Costa-Gavras film ''State of Siege,'' which glorified the guerrilla movement and implied that the United States Government, through its public safety assistance program, was helping to train Latin American police forces in methods of torture. Today, the man who led the Tupamaros says the guerrillas had not planned to kill Mr. Mitrione but that it had occurred because of a breakdown in communications after Uruguayan security forces captured the leaders, who were unable to send instructions to those holding him. Bullet Took Off Part of Tongue The former guerrilla chieftain, Raul Sendic, is now 62 years old and has white hair and a beard, which helps to cover the scar where a bullet passed through his cheek and took off part of his tongue the last time he was captured, in 1972. He speaks in a low, sad voice, difficult to understand because of the damaged tongue. Pardoned and released from prison two years ago, after the armed forces turned over power to an elected Government, Mr. Sendic is working with other former guerrillas to find a place for the National Liberation Movement, the formal name of the Tupamaros on the legal political scene. Mr. Sendic, speaking recently about the political crime that thrust Uruguay into the international limelight, said that Mr. Mitrione, a former police chief in Richmond, Ind., had been selected as a target for kidnapping because he was helping to teach riot control procedures to the Uruguayan police. Although not specifically accusing Mr. Mitrione of instructing in torture, as was suggested in ''State of Siege,'' he said student demonstrators had been killed by the Uruguayan police as a result of the anti-riot training. Training to Put Down Protests An American familiar with Mr. Mitrione's work at the time said it was true that Mr. Mitrione was giving anti-riot training but that it had focused on ways to put down demonstrations ''without creating martyrs.'' The United States cut off training for police forces in Uruguay in 1973 and by July 1, 1975 the Congress shut down all such assistance programs. Mr. Sendic said he had not been part of the command that kidnapped Mr. Mitrione and held him in a house in Montevideo for 10 days but was making the decisions from another location in the city, accompanied by other members of the Tupamaro directorate. Intended to Keep Mitrione Alive Mr. Sendic said the Tupamaros demanded the release of about 150 imprisoned guerrillas and threatened to kill Mr. Mitrione if the demand was not met. The Tupamaro leaders decided later, he said, that if the Government continued to refuse the demand they would hold Mr. Mitrione indefinitely instead of killing him. But on Aug. 7, 1970, a week after the kidnapping, the police raided the house where the leadership was staying and captured Mr. Sendic and the others. A short time later, he said, the replacement leadership, which knew of the plan to keep Mr. Mitrione alive, was also captured. ''Those captured lost all contact with the others,'' he said, ''and when the deadline came the group that was left with Mitrione did not know what to do. So they decided to carry out the threat.'' Mr. Sendic, who served a total of 13 1/2 years in prison during two periods, spent a year in Europe, Cuba and Nicaragua after being amnestied, then returned to Uruguay late last year. He said the Tupamaros' efforts to overthrow the Government came only after the constitutional Government, even before the military took power in 1973, had begun to repress leftist groups. ''First came the repression,'' he said, ''then our response.'' A version of this article appears in print on June 21, 1987, Section 1, Page 5 of the National edition with the headline: Uruguayan Clears Up 'State of Siege' Killing. Order Reprints |