In Another Historic Visit, Obama Heads To Argentina

Published March 22, 2016 at 1:40 PM EDT

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Argentina's President Mauricio Macri offers an interview to AFP at the Casa Rosada presidential palace in Buenos Aires on February 22, 2016. Macri won elections in November 2015, ending 12 years of leftist and crisis-ridden rule by the late Nestor Kirchner and his wife Cristina. US President Barack Obama will travel to Argentina next month, offering support to Macri's efforts to end a decade-and-a-half of financial isolation and political enmity with Washington. Macri "signaled that he'd like to have closer economic and diplomatic cooperation with the United States," said top Obama foreign policy aide Ben Rhodes, announcing Obama's visit. AFP / JUAN MABROMATA (Juan Mabromata/AFP/Getty Images)

President Barack Obama leaves Cuba and flies to Argentina today. The trip has been billed as an opportunity to expand economic and political relations between the two countries, but it also coincides with the 40th anniversary of the military coup that set off what’s known as Argentina’s Dirty War.

Obama’s schedule in Buenos Aires includes a visit to the memorial for victims of the Dirty War. He is also set to announce the declassification of documents that will shed light on the United States’ role during that period.

Gonzalo Paz, an expert in Argentine politics and a researcher at Georgetown University, speaks with Here & Now‘s Meghna Chakrabarti about the significance of the visit and the anticipated declassification.

Guest

Gonzalo Paz, Ph.D., Argentine politics expert and researcher at Georgetown University.