Former United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger considered a key figure of the American diplomacy in the era after Second war World, He died on Wednesday at the age of 100., reported his association. His life was marked by his role in the War of Vietnam, the impulse to hit of State in Chili and war crimes in Cambodia.
“Dr. Henry Kissinger, a respected American scholar and statesman, died today at his residence in Connecticut”announced Wednesday night Kissinger Associates it’s a statement.
From the Nobel Prize for Vietnam to promoting the coup d’état in Chile
Kissinger, who turned 100 last May, was a skilled diplomat who negotiated the end of the prolonged war of Vietnam, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973.
Much later his impetus for the coup that overthrew the president would be revealed. Salvador Allende in Chili and gave rise to the prolonged dictatorship led by General Augusto Pinochet (1973-90).
Documents declassified by White House recorded a conversation between Pinochet and Kissinger in Santiago, Chile, in 1976, and demonstrated that the American pressured since 1971 in favor of the coup Allende.
When Pinochet was arrested in London in 1998, Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón asked to interrogate Kissinger for his alleged responsibility in the Condor Planthe coordination of the South American dictatorships of the late 70s and early 80s to arrest and kill opponents, but the United Kingdom He denied that possibility.
Who was Herny Kissinger?
Heinz Alfred Kissinger was born on May 27, 1923 in Fuerth, Germany, within a Jewish family that emigrated to the United States in 1938 escaping the Nazi regime.
His first job was in a shaving brush factory in New York. After becoming a United States citizen in 1943, he served in the Army of that country during World War II.
He then won a scholarship to study at the University of Harvard, where he earned a master’s degree and a doctorate.
In 1969, President Richard Nixon appointed Kissinger as National Security Advisor. His philosophical guideline was that foreign policy should serve national interests pragmatically.
Cold War, Yom Kippur and Cambodian war crimes
Thus, in the midst of the Cold War, Kissinger arranged two summit visits, to China and the Soviet Union, in 1972 to defuse war tensions. with the communist powers.
In 1973, Nixon appointed him Secretary of Statea position he held until January 1977, when his term ended Gerald Ford -successor of Nixon in 1974-, and until January 1975 he did so simultaneously with that of director of National security.
As Secretary of State, Kissinger practiced the so-called “shuttle diplomacy” that eased tensions in Middle East, following the Yom Kippur War in 1973, between Israel and Egypt.
In this context, the agreements of the Sinai, by which both sides agreed to renounce the war despite their differences.
In addition, Kissinger was accused of committing war crimes for the bombing of USA to the neutral Cambodia during the conflict in Vietnam.
In 1977, Kissinger went to work at the Georgetown University, but he later returned to the US Government in 1985 as foreign intelligence advisor of President Ronald Reagan.
The late president appointed Kissinger president of the Commission mixed bipartisan that would define the interests of the White House in Central America.
Despite certain diplomatic achievements, Kissinger’s role was lackluster in Latin America after supporting General Pinochet’s military coup against the constitutional government of Allende in Chili, according to a series of documents declassified by the White House.
With a hunched silhouette but still recognizable by his thick-framed black glasses, Kissinger remained active practically until his last moments.
A few days before turning 100, last May, he participated in a tribute at the very select Economic Club of NY, where he blew out the candles on a chocolate cake.
His public appearances became rarer over the years but more frequent via videoconference, as he did in the World Economic Forum of Davos last January.
He maintained from his offices in New York and his consulting firm Kissinger Associates a relative aura among the elite of Washington and from abroad, even among Democrats like former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who one day said she trusted the “advice” of her “friend.”
Kissinger is survived by his wife of nearly 50 years, Nancytwo children from his first marriage -David and Elizabeth- and five grandchildren.
His remains will be buried in a “private family service” and “later there will be a memorial service in New York City,” said his company’s statement, reproduced by the PRNewswire site and cited by Fox News and The Washington Post, among other American media.
Source: Ambito
