LATIN AMERICA: Chaos?

Carlos Lopez of Chile defends his country's record: "In absolute numbers of people killed or disappeared in the Americas, Chile stands in eleventh place! But what is the first Latin American country to come to mind when discussing human rights: Chile, of course!" I do not know where he gets the "eleventh." The fact remains that a lot of Colombians believe that only a military solution will save Colombia from the threat of chaos which faced Chile.

Few realize that the Colombian chaos is spreading to South America generally. While Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso was hosting in Brasília a meeting of all South American presidents, who swore their commitment to democracy, the landless riots, with links to the Colombian FARC, were spreading all over Brazil. Cardoso has an estate in Minas Gerais, which the landless besieged. To avoid personal involvement, he turned the estate over to his children. That did not help. The governor of Minas, Itamar Franco, a nasty and rather crazy enemy of Cardoso, objected when the government sent federal police to restore order. He said it was his responsibility to keep order in his state, and sent in state police. He called for the impeachment of Cardoso, who thereupon sent in military police, which set up camp a short distance from the estate. How will it finish?

Meanwhile in Peru, following a political scandal, President Fujimori suddenly announced his resignation and said he would not stand for reelection. The opposition crowded the streets. Presidential hopeful Alejandro Toledo rushed back from Europe and was mobbed by the cheering crowds.

These crowds were not nice people. They roamed the streets of Lima proclaiming a strike. Some poor women, selling from their street stalls, refused to close them, whereupon the mob attacked them and scattered their modest goods all over the streets. Poor women. It was a strange way to stand up for the people.

As a footnote, is should be stressed that is a mistake to overlook the fact ht Latin America does vibrate in unison and that Mexicans and Central American really form a group. This was evident when for example in Los Angeles they staged joint celebrations for September 15 and 16, proclaiming that they stood together with all of Latin America in the fight for liberty (from the gringos). Men staged a military parade, while women proclaimed impassionately that they were Mexicans or whatever. When Mexican Americans boast about "la raza" (the race), it sounds as though they mean the Latin American race.

Ronald Hilton - 9/18/00