- Aginter Press
Aginter Press (
aka "Central Order and Tradition") was a pseudo press agency set up inLisbon ,Portugal in September 1966, underOliveira Salazar 's dictatorship (so-called "Estado Novo"). Directed by CaptainYves Guérin-Sérac , who had taken part in the foundation of the OAS in Madrid, a far-right terrorist group which struggled for "French Algeria" during theAlgerian War (1954-1962), Aginter Press was in reality ananti-communist mercenary organisation with subsidiaries in the whole world. It trained its members in covert action techniques amounting to terrorism, including bombings, silent assassinations, subversion techniques, clandestine communication and infiltration andcounter-insurgency .Strategy of tension
Aginter Press took part in Italy's
strategy of tension , a campaign offalse flag bombings and attempted coup d'état organised by the Italian neo-fascists with support fromPropaganda Due (P2) andGladio , NATO'sstay-behind anti-communist networks during theCold War [ [http://www.resistances.be/tueurs8.html Aginter Press et l'agent Guérin-Sérac au service de l'Occident chrétien] , published on the website of "RésistanceS " (founded by far-right specialistManuel Abramowicz ) ] .This agency carried out work for right-wing authoritarian regimes in the whole world (including Salazar,
Franquist Spain , the GreekRegime of the Colonels after the 1967 putsch, etc.) Its agents worked under the cover of reporters or photographers, which allowed them to travel and investigate.Chairoff, Patrice, 1975. "B... comme barbouzes - Une France parallèle celle des basses-œuvres du pouvoir, ", Editions Alain Moreau. (investigative journalist who also worked on theCivic Action Service - SAC), pp. 253-255]Aginter strategic document
An Aginter Press document, titled "Our Political Activity," was discovered at the end of 1974 and described the use of
pseudo-operation s and the involvement in the strategy of tension:"Our belief is that the first phase of political activity ought to be to create the conditions favouring the installation of chaos in all of the regime's structures. .. In our view the first move we should make is to destroy the structure of the democratic state under the cover of Communist and pro-Chinese activities. .. Moreover, we have people who have infiltrated these groups and obviously we will have to tailor our actions to the ethos of the milieu — propaganda and action of a sort which will seem to have emanated from our Communist adversaries. .. [These operations] will create a feeling of hostility towards those who threaten the peace of each and every nation." [i.e. Communists] " [harv|Ganser|2005|p=118 quotes
Stuart Christie , "Stefano Delle Chiaie ", p.32, as well as "Lobster", October 1989, p.18 ]Italian Senate report
According to the Italian Senate report on Gladio and on the strategy of tension, headed by senator
Giovanni Pellegrino , theCIA has supported Aginter Press in Portugal. The Commission stated that:"Aginter Press was in reality, according to the last obtained documents acquired by the criminal investigation, an information centre directly linked to the CIA and the Portuguese secret service, that specialized in provocative operations." [ Senato della Repubblica. "Commissione parlamentare d'inchiesta sul terrorismo in Italia e sulle cause della mancata individuazione dei responsabili delle stragi: Il terrorismo, le stragi ed il contesto storico politico", Redatta dal presidente della Commissione, Senatore
Giovanni Pellegrino , Rome 1995, pp.204 et 241, quoted by harv|Ganser|2005|p=115]Members
The group was headed by
Yves Guérin-Sérac , a Catholic anti-communist activist, former officer of the French Armed Forces and veteran of the Indochina War (1945-54), theKorean War (1950-1953) and theAlgerian War (1954-1962). The Italian neo-fascist terroristStefano Delle Chiaie was another founding member of Aginter Press. [harv|Ganser|2005|p=117] Hired in June 1962 by Franco, Yves Guérin-Sérac then chose to go to Salazar's Portugal, which was according to him the last stronghold against Communism and atheism. [harv|Ganser|2005|p=117 quotes "Paris Match " of November 1974 ( [http://www.parismatch.com/unes/all_couvertures.php?annee=1974&mois=11 front page] as well asStuart Christie , "Stefano delle Chiaie", London, 1984, p.27 ]Actions
Beside Portugal itself, Aginter Press engaged itself against the independentist movements struggling against the Portuguese empire as well as in Italy (thus the investigations of the Italian commission). It is suspected of having assassinated General
Humberto Delgado (1906-1965), founder of thePortuguese National Liberation Front against Salazar's dictatorship - this is disputed sincePIDE 's officer Rosa Casaco admitted he was involved in Delgado's assassination. According to disputed sources, Aginter Press was also responsible for the assassinations of anti-colonialist leaderAmilcar Cabral (1924-1973), founder of the PAIGC (African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde) andEduardo Mondlane , leader of the liberation movementFRELIMO ("Frente de Libertação de Moçambique"), in 1969. [harv|Ganser|2005|p=119 quotes Joao Paulo Guerra, "Gladio actuou em Portugal", in "O Jornal ", 16 November 1990 andStuart Christie , "Stefano delle Chiaie", London, 1984, p.30 ] [http://www.php.isn.ethz.ch/collections/coll_gladio/chronology.cfm?navinfo=15301 Chronology] , "Parallel History Project on Cooperative Security",ETH Zurich ] According to other versions, both Cabral's and Mondlane's assassinations were the result of struggles for power within the independentist guerrilla movements.1969 Piazza Fontana bombing
Italian magistrate
Guido Salvini , in charge of the investigations concerning the 1969Piazza Fontana bombing , explained to the Italian senators that: [JudgeGuido Salvini hearing before the Italian Parliamentary Commission of investigation on terrorism in Italy, 9th session of 12 February 1997 ( [http://www.parlamento.it/parlam/bicam/terror/stenografici/steno9.htm 9ª SEDUTA - MERCOLEDI 12 FEBBRAIO 1997] , Presidenza del Presidente PELLEGRINO it icon, quoted by harv|Ganser|2005|p=120)]"In these investigations data has emerged which confirmed the links between Aginter Press, "
Ordine Nuovo " and "Avanguardia Nazionale "... It has emerged thatGuido Giannettini [one of the neo-fascist responsible of the bombing] had contacts with Guérin-Sérac in Portugal ever since 1964. It has emerged that instructors of Aginter Press. .. came to Rome between 1967 and 1968 and instructed the militant members of "Avanguardia Nazionale " in the use of explosives."Carnation Revolution: the end
During the April 1974
Carnation Revolution which put an end to Salazar's "Estado Novo", Yves Guérin-Sérac,João Da Silva and others associates quit Lisbon forAlbufereta , Spanish siege ofPaladin Group (founded byex-Nazi Otto Skorzeny ), nearAlicante (Southern Spain). They escaped with forged French passports toCaracas , with "the benediction of the Foccart networks."See also
*
History of Portugal
*History of the Italian Republic
*Portuguese Colonial War s
*History of far-right movements in France References
Bibliography
*
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.