Pan-Americanism from Monroe to the Present. A View from the Other Side

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Americanism from Monroe to Present ,r

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A View from the Other Side by Alonso A g u i l a r translated by Asa Zatz I\

New York and London

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First published in Mexico under the title of

El Panamericanismo de la Doctrine Monroe a Za Doctrine Iohrzson © 1965 by Cuadernos Amcricanos Revised English edition © 1968 by Monthly Review Press 116 West 14th Street, New York, N.Y. 10011 33/37 Moreland Street, London, E.C. 1, England Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 68-13659 All Rights Reserved FoUrth Punting I

To Stella

The United States seems destined by Providence to plague America with misery in the name of Iibelty. -Simon Bolivar Among nations, as among individuals, peace is respect for the rights of others. --Benito Juarez

Spanish America was able to save itself from the tyranny of Spain; and now . . . it must be said, because it is the truth, that the time has come for Spanish America to declare its second independence. -José Marti

Introduction to the English Edition

The inter-.American system has lived through many critical moments in the course of its turbulent history. The suspicious sinking of the "Maine" in Havana harbor in 1898 and the

illegal seizure of the Panama Canal Zone in 1903 were dangerously threatening incidents. There were difficult times when United States Marines attacked the Mexican port city of Veracruz and occupied, de facto, country after country in Central America and the Caribbean. John Foster Dulles' "glorious victory" over the Guatemalan Revolution represented another grave moment for the system, as did the mercenary Bay of Pigs attack launched under the illusion of ousting the revolutionary government of Cuba. But perhaps the gravest crisis yet suffered by Pan-Americanisnl was that initiated by the unexpected United States aggression against

the Dominican Republic in April, 1965. The landing of thousands of United States soldiers in Santo

Domingo and the raw and, in the end, clumsy attempt to transform unilateral aggression into a "collective intervention" and United States troops into an "inter-American military force"-under the pretext that the restoration of constitutional government in the Dominican Republic constituted a serious threat to the security of America-not only exposed the true nature of the Organization of American States (OAS) but very nearly brought about its demise. For a number of weeks, it seemed impossible that the OAS would ever manage to survive, and that it would be exceedingly difficult to repair the

damage to the battered principle of self-deterrnination of nations resulting from the aggression upon Santo Domingo. In the last two years, however, Washington, as well as the 9

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Panantericanism: From Monroe to the Present

nations below the Rio Grande, have devoted themselves assiduously to the task of surmounting the crisis and of setting Pan-Arnericanisrn on its feet again and fortifying it. They have sought to accomplish this by laboriously trying to convince the peoples of Latin America that it is within the framework of

the OAS, the Alliance for Progress [ALPRO], "representative democracy," economic integration, relentless struggle against international Communism, and the common market that our countries can develop most rapidly and raise their living standards. But while the most attractive watchwords of Pan-

Arnericanism are repeated over and over again and the smooth and euphoric slogans which do credit to the professional skill of the ALPRO advertising men re-echo through the land, the stubborn facts remain, Poverty and underdevelopment persist, "gorillarchies" proliferate, violence and repression spread, and representative democracy shines by its absence. From Guatemala to Bolivia, the people are beginning to distrust the old and worn-out formulas that have not yet lifted them out of their backwardness and neglect and to seek other routes. In order to cover, at least partially, the course run by Pan~

Arnericanisrn since the Spanish edition of this book was published in 1965, a new chapter has been added to the English version. This covers such important events as the ominous

House Resolution 560, the second Extraordinary Conference of the OAS, held in Rio de Janeiro at the end of 1965, the Tricontinental Conference of Havana in which representatives of the peoples of Latin America, Asia, and Africa net for the list time, and the special meeting in Panama early in 1966 at which it was proposed to renovate the OAS charter and provide the inter-American system with more effective instruments of action. All that has taken place during this interval could not possibly be summed up in the scope of a few paragraphs. What can be said in brief, however, is that the Latin-American picture today is not what it was two years or even one year ago.

Things -have changed in more than one aspect. In the Erst

Introduction to the English Edition

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place, United States strategy appears to be different from what it was in the time of President Kennedy. Following the aggression against Santo Domingo, there was a period in which the blindest kind of irrationality seemed to have irrevocably taken possession of United States officials. All they were interested in was bringing pressure to bear for the immediate establishment of the so-called Inter-American Peace Force. This was to he a permanent military body, not provided for in the Rio de Janeiro Treaty, which would have the thankless and sinister task of overriding the principle of nonintervention whenever and wherever the- estab-liShed order might be threatened. But when it was realized that such an attitude would serve no purpose other than to further undermine the OAS and reveal the imperialistic character of United States foreign policy, tactics began to change. New watchwords came in after the second Extraordinary Conference: forget the uncomfortable Santo

Domingo episode; re-establish unity and mutual trust within the Organization; put aside the Inter»Arnerican Peace Force plan for the time being; and revise the OAS Charter to include the economic and social principles of the Alliance tor Progress. Accordingly, the third Extraordinary Conference and the eleventh Consultative Meeting of Foreign Ministers were held in Buenos Aires in February, 1967. The latter was also prepara-

tion for the Summit Meeting held the following April at Punta del Este. Despite the fact that certain inevitable dis-

crepancies among the American governments came to the fore in the last two meetings mentioned, it was nevertheless agreed to amend the Bogota Charter and to make economic integration and the establishment of a Latin»Arnerican cornmon market the hub of joint and hemispheric eiiort. This emphasis upon the integration scheme, which came as a surprise to some observers, seemed to indicate that the United States was adopting a new policy and that, in the future, instead of insisting on military and security questions, it would finally cooperate in the grand task of promoting Latin-American economic development. However, the actual

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Panamericanism: From Monroe to the Present

facts provide no grounds for such optimism. On the one hand, the United States conception of integration is a far cry from what it should be in order to contribute effectively to the genuine industrialization of Latin America. The integration

Washington talks about, which receives the unconditional backing even of Wall Street, is hardly the means that would help Latin America to resist the incursions of the great foreign monopolies. Quite the contrary. This integration is a mechanism for enabling precisely those foreign monopolies to expand at will in the Latin-American subcontinent in search of economies of scale within the framework of a free trade policy, of tax grants, and of generous financial backing from international organizations. On the other hand, while it was agreed until recently, even in oilicial circles, that there could be no integration without economic planning, now nobody, or hardly anybody, is interested even in the moderate institutional reforms mentioned so much in the program of the Alliance for Progress launched a few years ago by John F. Kennedy-an alliance which, it is apparent, has become an alliance for the preservation of the status quo. To think that regional integration alone will open new horizons for the economies of our countries i t o fail to understand the basic problems that must be faced today. Actually,

regional integration is fundamentally a policy by which Latin America's governments, instead of granting facilities to their national enterprises, allow the great foreign monopolies to "export" a small portion of their productive installations and processes to Latin-American countries. Achievement of the most modest economic integration on a national scale, to say nothing of the international, presupposes a considerable measure of planning. At the same time, the most modest attempts at planning require the overcoming of Latin-American structural obstacles which block the rapid

increase of the productive potential or its even moderately rational utilization. Actually, none of this is feasible unless a

break is made with the stifling dependence upon imperialism

Introduction to the English Edition

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whose principal expression today in the legal, economic, political, and even cultural spheres is Pan-Arnericanisin. Nor does that imperialism relax the pressures it brings to bear inside and outside the system through the police and other means of repression. As The New York Times accurately reported recently, "In the countries of practically all United States allies, CIA agents have made themselves known to the friendly government and work in close collaboration with its members, . local espionage, and the police."* It will not be difficult for the reader to catch the change

in tone of inter-American relations. Outwardly, stress is placed on the need for integration. Yet instead of raising aloft the banner of "peaceful revolution" which was unfurled not long ago in answer to the Cuban model of "violent revolution," universities are now being taken over by force, the international espionage network is being extended, and the protests of the youth and the most genuine expressions of popular dissatisfaction are smothered as though they were the gravest crimes deserving the most severe punishment. The truth of the matter is that the inter-American system is facing a decisive test. The people feel that their problems are becoming more acute than ever and that the announcement of reforms that are never forthcoming or the making of never-fuliilled promises leads nowhere. Enough talk! Enough windy speeches about democracy in places where the most elementary human rights are disregarded! To speak of democracy and freedom when only repression and violence exist is a searing irony and in as bad taste as talking of rope in the house of the hanged. The facade of peace in Latin America is cracking. Armed struggle is being discussed in many countries and foci of rebellion are beginning to crop up. Guerrillas operate in Guatemala, Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia. Not long ago, the magazine VisiOn wrote: "There is evidently nothing more artificial than these guerrillas." What a profound lack of understanding

* El Die, Mexico, February 24, 1967.

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Panamerfcanism: From Monroe to the Present

of the state of affairs in Latin America is revealed in these words!

Of course, popular discontent, growing disagreement, the spreading conviction that the violence of the oligarchies in power must be answered by violence on the part of the people, the deep disillusionment with pseudo-democratic forms, and Finally, the turn to guerrilla warfare where the routes of civic action have been completely blocked are not at all artificial. Rather, what is artificial, shallow, and even grotesque is to consider that the struggle for a profound social transformation, which arises as a genuine historical imperative and begins to consolidate in various forms, is a foreign conspiracy which can be halted and, in the long run, liquidated through "intelligent" police ac ` increased use of other repressive measures. These indeed, violent and contrary to human rights and revive inquiSitorial .practiCcs and fascist methods such as the burning. otlaoo-l