Propaganda Due
Propaganda Due (Masonic lodge, Deep state milieu) | |
---|---|
Abbreviation | P2 |
Formation | 1945 |
Extinction | 1981 |
Interest of | Giovanni Allavena, Sergio Flamigni |
Subpage | •Propaganda Due/Member |
The Masonic lodge most deeply involved in Operation Gladio, apparently used by the CIA to subvert the Italian state. |
The lodge was run by Licio Gelli for many years. It emerged as an integral part of Operation Gladio. Oswald LeWinter describes it as a "wholly owned subsidiary of the company [i.e.the CIA] in Italy". Vincenzo Vinciguerra stated that "It didn't have a military role, but rather a role in internal subversion".[1]
Contents
Exposure
During the years that the lodge was headed by Licio Gelli, P2 was implicated in numerous Italian crimes and mysteries, including the collapse of the Vatican-affiliated Banco Ambrosiano, the murders of journalist Mino Pecorelli and banker Roberto Calvi, and corruption cases within the nationwide bribe scandal Tangentopoli. P2 came to light through the investigations into the collapse of Michele Sindona's financial empire.[2]
When searching Licio Gelli's villa in 1982, the police found a document called the "Plan for Democratic Rebirth", which called for a consolidation of the media, suppression of trade unions, and the rewriting of the Italian Constitution.[3]
Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry
The Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry, headed by Anselmi, concluded that the P2 lodge was a secret criminal organization. Allegations of surreptitious international relationships, mainly with Argentina (Gelli repeatedly suggested that he was a close friend of Juan Perón) and with some people suspected of affiliation with the CIA were also partly confirmed; but soon a political debate overtook the legal level of the analysis.[4] The majority report said that P2 action resulted in "... the pollution of the public life of a nation. It aimed to alter, often in decisive fashion, the correct functioning of the institutions of the country, according to a project which ... intended to undermine our democracy." A minority report by Massimo Teodori concluded that P2 was not just an abnormal outgrowth from an essentially healthy system, as upheld by the majority report, but an inherent part of the system itself.[5]
CIA Support
In mid-1990 Richard Brenneke provided documents to Italian journalists indicating that the CIA supprted the activities of Licio Gelli and Propaganda Due (P2).[6] Brenneke told Rai 1 that he had been involved in CIA payments to P2 of $1–$10m per month or more, with the money used to finance "terrorism" and drug trafficking.
Outside Italy
The lodge was also active outside Italy, specifically in Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina, with Raúl Alberto Lastiri, Argentina's interim president (between 13 July 1973 and 12 October 1973) during the height of the "Dirty War" among its members.
An event carried out
Event | Description |
---|---|
Operation Demagnetize | "The institutional hardening of Gladio", an expansion of Gladio in the late 1940s, early 1950s. |
Related Document
Title | Type | Publication date | Author(s) | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
Document:Gladio - The Secret U.S. War To Subvert Italian Democracy | essay | 23 February 1996 | Arthur E. Rowse |
References
- ↑ Operation Gladio (film), ~77 minutes
- ↑ "Masonic lodge affair leaves Italy shocked". The Times. May 23, 1981.
- ↑ Jones, The Dark Heart of Italy, p. 186
- ↑ Willan, Puppetmasters, p. 50
- ↑ Ginsborg, Italy and Its Discontent, pp.144-148
- ↑ La Repubblica, 4 July 1990, GELLI E L' AGENTE DELLA CIA LA PAROLA E' AI MAGISTRATI