Posted on 03/09/2024 12:56:55 PM PST by nickcarraway
The story begins after World War II, when the U.S. granted the Philippines independence in 1946. Despite this, the Americans remained active in post-war Philippines and its politics. The CIA, adept in covert operations, combined psychological, cultural, and political warfare into one. It was this type of operation that they used as a weapon in the Philippines, using the mythical aswang against the people.
The aswang doesn’t have an exact match in the Western pantheon of monsters. Some people call it a vampire, but it feeds on more than just blood (organs, unborn children, phlegm) and it can take on alternate forms like a giant pig, a nasty dog or even a man-sized vulture. Whatever shape it takes, the aswang is widely believed to be the source of sudden illness, mysterious deaths and other misfortunes in the Philippines.
The CIA’s target was the Hukbalahap (Hukbo ng Bayan Laban sa Hapon), an organization dedicated to fighting the Japanese invaders on Philippine soil. Once allies to U.S. forces during the war, the Huks took up arms once again after the war when they were expelled from Congress by then President Manuel Roxas. The Huks opposed the controversial Bell Trade Act, which gave the U.S. vast control over Philippine industries and economy. Their opposition aggravated Roxas and his American allies, leading to the Huks being outcast and inadvertently leading them to rebel against the Philippine and American governments.
Straying away from conventional search and destroy tactics, the CIA thought of an ingenious strategy—to add folklore, specifically the aswang, to its coterie of propaganda weaponry. This psychological warfare took place from 1950 to 1954 in the provinces of Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, and Tarlac. The CIA operative in the Philippines took advantage of aswang superstitions to scare off communist rebels. And how he did it — puncturing a victim’s neck with two vampire-like holes, hanging them from a tree and draining them of their blood — might have been even scarier than the aswang legend itself.
The CIA’s plan was simple but effective. They would select a Huk sympathizer from a village and kidnap him at night. Then they would puncture his neck with two holes, drain his blood, and hang his body from a tall tree near the village. The next morning, the villagers would find the corpse and assume that it was the work of an aswang. The CIA hoped that this would create fear and panic among the villagers, who would then distrust the Huks and support the government instead.
The CIA also spread rumors and stories about the aswang through leaflets, radio broadcasts, and informants. They even hired a witch doctor to perform rituals and incantations to ward off the aswang. The CIA’s propaganda campaign was so successful that it caused many Huks to desert their ranks and surrender to the authorities. Some Huks even reported hearing strange noises and seeing eerie shadows in the jungle, believing that they were being hunted by the aswang.
The CIA’s use of the aswang in the Philippines is a fascinating example of how cultural beliefs and superstitions can be weaponized in psychological warfare. It’s a chilling reminder of the lengths that intelligence agencies will go to in order to achieve their objectives. As one CIA officer said, “The aswang proved to be a very effective tool in the fight against the Huks. It was a classic case of using the enemy’s own fears against him.”
HOW THE CIA USED A FILIPINO VAMPIRE LEGEND TO FIGHT COMMUNISM
Sounds exactly like the J6 conspiracy. Gee wonder who was behind that. Patriot tax paying gun loving god-fearing citizens or the CIA. Tough choice. I am going to have to think about it.
MAGA election overthrowers from every conservative village and town in the USA. You don’t want to mess with those monsters who promise to jigger elections by only allowing one vote to be cast and counted by a lawful registered legal citizen. Nope. See one of those, run for your life and call the FBI.
Kipling wrote about similar stuff used by the British.
The 1857 mutiny (against the British) in India was started/promoted by the rumor the British were using either pig fat (for Muslim troop's cartridges) or beef fat (for Hindi troop's cartridges).
Sounds like an extra-judicial execution.
No verification of identity, no inditement, no trial by jury.
But that wouldn't bother the CIA.
Wasn’t William Colby station chief in Manila?
5.56mm
looks like our gov’t, under Ike, succumbed in this case into violating every one of God’s commandments simultaneously.
people in authority are capable of great wickedness beyond Christian belief when they are convinced of the ‘right’ in their do-gooding. gov’t is a very dangerous creature indeed. our Founders were right to try to muzzle it.
but it illustrates why, imho, it is far more likely that say, persistent stories of alien abduction and sightings are far more likely to be attributable to the alphabet and their various means of gaslighting, than from real aliens from outer space.
I was thinking the same thing. It sounds like the CIA Color Revolution Business Model that is being used on the US.
They used to show Negrito tribesmen a photo of a particular Huk. A few days later the Negritos would return with a head that matched the photo.
I couldn’t find that, but it would have been much later, right?
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