While Latin America largely took a back seat to the rest of the world through the Obama years, some of his administration’s most monumental late additions to his legacy occurred in the region. Obama decided to bring the Cold War to a formal (and long overdue) end this year. He re-established diplomatic relationships with Cuba and visited the island; he sent an official envoy to Havana to back the peace negotiations between Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). As part of the same attempt at closure, in March, on the 42nd anniversary of the military coup that gave birth to the cruelest of the several dictatorships Argentina suffered through in the 20th century, Obama visited a memorial to the “disappeared,” the thousands kidnapped, tortured, and killed by the military in Buenos Aires during the 1976-1983 dictatorship, which seized power thanks, in part, to the support of the United States. “Democracies have to have the courage to acknowledge when we don’t live up to the ideals that we stand for,” he said, falling short of a full apology. “And we’ve been slow to speak out for human rights, and that was the case here.”

Days before Obama’s trip, his administration announced the declassification of U.S. diplomatic, intelligence, and defense documents containing information about Argentina’s years under military dictatorship. Last August, Secretary of State John Kerry handed over the first batch during a meeting with President Mauricio Macri. The documents were, in fact, part of the Carter Library’s collection, and contained few revelations—the intelligence and defense documents which might, or might not, offer new insight about the U.S. role in the coup are still under declassification review. However, three of the diplomatic cables provided by Kerry brought Kissinger’s role back to the fore.

In a memo from 1976, we learned of a meeting only two days after the coup, in which Assistant Secretary of State for Latin America William Rogers warned then-Secretary of State Kissinger “to expect a fair amount of repression, probably a good deal of blood, in Argentina before too long.” The new dictatorship of Jorge Rafael Videla, Rogers warned, would “have to come down very hard not only on the terrorists but on the dissidents of trade unions and their parties.” Kissinger replied, “Whatever chance they have, they will need a little encouragement ... because I do want to encourage them. I don't want to give the sense that [the dictatorship is being] harassed by the United States.” The next day, the International Monetary Fund released $127 million in credit for Argentina’s new government. Gerald Ford, under whom Kissinger would also serve, also approved $49 million in security aid for the new government. In another document from June of that year, Kissinger urged the junta to act faster to establish government authority, before U.S. opposition to its human rights violations gained momentum. “If there are things that have to be done, you should do them quickly,” he advised.