Obama honors victims of US-backed Argentina dictators

Buenos Aires : President Barack Obama paid homage Thursday to victims of Argentina's former US-backed dictatorship, admitting the United States was "slow to speak out for human rights" in those dark days.

Obama became the first US president to formally acknowledge the victims of the 1976-1983 military regime, which declassified documents have revealed was supported by top US officials.

"There's been controversy about the policies of the United States early in those dark days,"Obama said in a speech at the Memory Park monument in Buenos Aires.

The United States "has to examine its own policies as well, and its own past," he added. "We've been slow to speak out for human rights, and that was the case here."

Alongside Argentina's President Mauricio Macri, Obama tossed white roses into the River Plate in memory of those executed by the regime by being hurled from airplanes into the water in so-called "death flights."

Obama's visit to Argentina coincided with the 40th anniversary of a right-wing military coup which ushered in the dictatorship.

Victims' groups had been angered by the choice of the date for Obama's visit, given the USsupport for the coup at the time.

But they welcomed his promise to declassify further documents to shed more light on the fates ofvictims of the regime.

Paying tribute to victims' families, Obama reprised a historic phrase from the 1985 trial of Argentina's dictators, that "never again" ("nunca mas") must dictators prevail.

"To those families, your relentlessness, your determination has made a difference. You've driven Argentina's remarkable efforts to hold responsible those who perpetrated these crimes," he said.

"You are the ones who ensure that the past is remembered and the promise of 'nunca mas' is finally fulfilled."