A REPORT ON THE 'LEFT' IN LATIN AMERICA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000300490001-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 17, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 21, 2000
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: March 1, 1966
• Content Type: OPEN

TIM, INDEPII3DENT
0;R) : -RDP75
FOIAb3b
aero?r2 on The "Loft" In Latin America
CPYRGHT
sentatives to the 40th anniversary-celebrations of the founding of t e
begs of the Chilean delegation invited t'-iael uastro To seuu aviiC ~Gph-
o f 1' 1?rlehir, mmnntr the neonles of Asia, Africa and Latin America, mem-
,
anua
n
, f tl ' C b-n Revolution and the holding of the Tricontinental Congress
(The /ollowing is a chtcr "rom a book in progress. TI
coinciding witil e
ry in IIavana
J
I
1111:16 aoaa v -- ---------- -
I?idel. "I'll personally come when you celebrate some anniversary in power."
-Board-of National Estimates-of the CIA;
off'--overthrowing any regime or to influ-
ence them strongly and have proven large-
sense that it fails to find the kind of aan-
ver drummed up in public speeches by
thenic pronouncements of the Organiza-
~ie.sclvcs in their own peculiar ghost.
(mostly Latin American military) , dedi-
dent Kennedy's Administration, and con-
-Pi- -1;t;-1 .1~monfq that. offer the tinued by Mr. Thomas C. Mann while he
imes, being of the traditionalist or pro-
iifficultics and those of their countries on
elves Communist or Castroites, but those
teport, "are not those that call them-
Matthias
Nonetheless, Carlos Angulo Rueda, one
!rs and native political adventurers."
,an-and the landowners, military lead-
vhat they believe is an alliance between
advocate a radical change in the Latin
Joes not matter whether the elements that
writer the following guideline: "To us, it
-nittee of the OAS, expressed to this
)f the original lights in the Security Com-
thorities and our Christian way of life.
der. All of them threaten constituted au-
left, or any other label they militate un-
Communists, Marxists, nationalists of the
American structures call themselves
All of them must be dealt with vigorously
"Thos _, orce5,- (saY.s, t)~C,'E:N>,,`rel?oxt),
are"represented,for instance, by the Per-
tradition in Argentina and Brizola
group in Brazil; their program is strong-
ly anti-US, leftist in its ideology and
demagogic in method."
To any one following the development
of the "hemispheric defenses against the
Communist threat," it appears that, no
matter the origin or character of the
threat, if it is a threat, it is labeled "Com-
under the assumption that it will
give the existing regimes a free hand to'.
suppress it by any conceivable means, and
have their consciences at ease.
Their rationalization is not very differ-'
ent from that of certain segregationists
who mark as "Communist inspired" or
"Communist dupes" anyone and any meas-'
ure taken to change the status quo in the
U.S. South.
Juan Bautista de Lavalle, the chairman
of the so-called "Lavalle Committee" that
as Communists. The bitter attacks on the "nationalists created the Special Security Committee
th Left" were started as I recall dur- of the OAS, recommended a series of
Ap~rove n t e~aMhM f "10/ik.ndIAI articles for a draft Inter.,
- F IISt?d10& RGO030?49{ 004 -1
 0
C
C
ustifted in that document by stating: itlillionairess Odette Mntarazzo, of the and Argentina. What it does have is a re-
"TO Rk"311.V1) the government that, it Matarazzo industrial empire, once told -me markable tradition of revolts and coups
should pact ~ ~tr R1
opi r i
to Uhl. I aAe l d fie, f I'at~t Mf dS~`C`C,`E ?!~i ab4tiE~tl?iy nothing but
nion tl f .c c k~ o~~d Vc r ~Is ~J yl g tag on now is
ontmended herewith to he adopted against "but Prestes (Luis Carlos Prestes, the old the incubation-by pure ecological proc-
Conumunist infiltration, imply a minimum Communist party chief), is more afraid ess, as heavy and as imperturbable as the
of sacrifices to the civic, political and hu- of that happening than I am." turning of an age-of one all-encompass-
mail rights of their citizens." This writer, for one, has found during ing Revolution.
That there is a danger to the status quo his recent travels that, the orthodox Com- The CIA report notes that, "The prom-
in Latin America nobody can deny. In munist leadership in Latin America is as ise of a quick victory through force and
fact, the VS has encouraged that danger, theoretical and ineffective as ever and terror has proven to hold more attrac-
to a degree (Kennedy Administration), more concerned with "theological" argu- tion than the more rational and deliber-
in order to help canalize it. What's more, mentations than with practical politics. ate course adopted by the Communists,"
the danger is increasing, if by no other It struck him that they, together with thus pointing out a difference in approach
means than the phenomenal population other groups that call themselves Marx- between those inspired by traditional Lat-
growth. ists, were very deft in pyramiding con- in American methods and the trained
You cannot have butter and cakes for cepts upon concepts in brilliant exposi-,Communists." At the same time, it shows
a few and virtually nothing for the rest, tions. But they lack practicality. That is, that one does not have to be a Communist
indefinitely. And, as things stand, it is they seem unable to draw concepts from; to desire and do something in the direc-
more likely that the status quo will col- reality that would lead to the logical pur-!tion of a forceful change in the archaic
lapse under the weight of hundreds of pose of any political movement or party: Latin American structure.
millions of empty stomachs (estimate to attain power. Strange as it might The Left chrysalis is being spawned by
population for Latin America in 44 years: sound, not in a single instance did I de- many fathers into the volcanic womb of
600 million), than by any other fashion, tect among them a trace of power appe- Latin America- Christianity and what
including? the dreaded "Communist take- tite in the real political sense, that is, a some call, "a Christian heresy," Marxism,
over." The Soviet Union and other So- concerted determination to gain power. being the strongest progenitors. Confront-
c?ialist countries would be out of their Were they, on the other hand, being re- ed with a death struggle by vexing and
minds to he foster parents to that kind alistic? obdurate foes, the chrysalis is further de-
of a problem. And they do not seem to Gomulka, the Polish Communist leader,'veloping the ire and viciousness of the
be in that mental stage should one take' once said that, "the intellectual is an 'ace' persecuted.
Chile as an example. in finding excellent reasons for not act-
Whether , this is "Monday morning ing." That might be the plight of the , The Matthias Report makes the follow-
Socialist side of the FRAP (Socialist-'
Conimunist popular front), blamed the
Communists for their joint defeat in the
September 1961 elections at the hands of
President Frei's Christian Democrats.
According to them, the Communists pur-
posely scared the voters, mainly the wom-
en voters, with their wild campaign prop-
aganda directed to a large extent against
the Catholic Church, and their promises
to convert Chile into another Cuba.
Juanita Castro, Fidel's sister, who had
recently left Cuba under clouded circum-
stances, showed up describing life in her
homeland in the most tragic colors. Some
Socialist and even some Christian Demo-
cratic leaders (Salvador Allende and
President Frei) privately are reported to
have said that the Communists were in-
ership in Latin America. Recent events V and counter lots political
plots,
plots in Brazil. Uruguay and Argentina, seen
and terrorism. Some of the leftist st warfare
nation-
to prove it. alist force may, in some cases, reach
In Brazil, the Left was given a God power; military leaders of marked tradi-
sent opportunity for action when the Mili tional character will try to thwart the
tary staged their uprising against Presi leftist nationalist and Castroite groups
dent Goulart. It floundered, and in the by setting up military regimes; in conse-
case of Prestes, it just froze. Prestes, not quence the moderate revolutionaries could
too surprisingly, has sought, and appar? be compelled to the radical camp."
ently got, a modus vivendi with the Cas? This projection is being proven in ex-
telo Branco dictatorship: a "you don 'l tre?
rtis. In Brazil a movement among work-
bother me, I don't bother you," sort of ers is being fostered by the "Catholic
understanding. Bolshevism" of the Dominican Friars and
in Uruguay, a frightening total strike some Jesuits. A Priest, Father Laje, was
paralyzed the country early this year. It'expelled from the country as a "Commu-
had all the "objective" conditions for a nist agitator."
revolutionary strike. The brains of the en- In Argentina Father Roberto of the
tire Left concluded it was not so and heldBeriso working district, is considered a
back. R
d"
d
"
"
e
an
an
irresponsible
by the
structed to defeat their own chances, In Argentina, while a massive revolu- Rightist press, together with Fr. Benitez
"because the Soviet Union and the Social- tionary-type of strike was going on in the and others. In Peru, Fr. Bolo is jailed as
ist countries do not want to see another Province of Tucuman at the end of the an "extremist." In Chile Fr. Vekemans
Cuba in the Western Hemisphere at this sugar cutting season (they had not been accuses Christie Democrat Frei of having
time." paid in four months), the leaders reached "sold out to the reactionaries." In Pana-
The thesis seems to be not without; the same conclusion: "objective condi- ma, Fr. Carlos Perez Herrera is marked
foundation, hearing a Communist diplo-'tions are not present," and went about1by the oligarchy as a "crypto-Commu-
mat here in Washington explain it to this' .,.
:
V__--'_
d__ _
-
holi
and
very deep and far-reaching economic re-
organization. In fifteen or twenty years
we expect to be able to face up commit-
ments we cannot now afford. One Cuba is
enough for the time being."
If that is the case with Chile (popula-
tion, 8.5 million), with one of the most
enlightened, well organized and strongest
Communist and Socialist parties in Latin
America-and with two very desirable
exports: copper and nitrates-one can un-
derstand the behavior of other parties
"under Moscow-oriented leaders."
More graphially still, if according to
the Bureau of Intelligence and Research
of the State Department (Intelligence Re-
port No. 4489 R-15), Chile's party has an
estimated 20,000 to 25,000 members, what
kind of a threat is it to Brazil (popula-
tion upwards 80 million), that the Com-
munists have 25,000 to 35,000 party mem-
bers? Add the 1,000 dissidents of the pro-
The Peronist leadership was the only one
to show up in Tucuman, but they too, are
in no revolutionary mood. Peronism is
nist." In Columbia, Fr. Camilo Torres,
until he was killed in an ambush last
month, was a "Moscow agent" to the
still seeking power through elections, not In the Dominican Republic, the words
by revolution. "COMMUNIST the time being at least, it appears COMMUNIST Embassy" are scrawled
on the walls of the Apostolic Nunciature
that only in three Latin American coun- of Mnsirr. Clarizzlo.
tries could conceivable mass revolutions
take place, and none of them, Marxist
propelled. These are: Peru, Bolivia and
Argentina. In Peru, by the APRA move-
ment: an impossibility under its present
morally and physically decrepit leader-
ship; in Bolivia, by the MNR, (Movimiento
Nacionalista Revolucionario) : unlikely in
the face of its fractured and corrupt
state; and, in Argentina, by the Peron-
ist.s: a very bourgeois party.
Contrary to belief, Latin America does
not have it significant revolutionary tra-
dition-Mexico and Cuba being the nota-
ble exceptions, and, to an extent, Bolivia
ove or a ease
CPYRGHT