The Nation: What was the most important thing you learned from WikiLeaks about how the United States operates in your countries?
Santiago O’Donnell: The WikiLeaks cables helped us understand a number of things about the US role in Argentina: first, how security arrangements and cooperation on security issues have become the central element in US-Argentine relations. But the cables also illuminate the economic relationship. They contain the rather extraordinary details of which US companies use the US Embassy for lobbying to advance their corporate interests, what issues those companies push and how, behind the scenes, they go about pushing them. Finally, the cables also reveal how Argentine public figures act and talk once they are inside the walls of the embassy—who defends Argentine interests and who sucks up to the US ambassador.
via Latin America After Cablegate: What Changed? | The Nation.
