LATIN AMERICAN DICTATORS: "There is always a justification"

Tim Brown says: "I do not and never have supported military dictatorships anywhere. They usually falsely claim to be saving democracy, which is ridiculous because they are fundamentally anti-democratic. But to allege that therefor all who opposed them with arms were merely misunderstood reformers and none were communist, is equally false. The 26th of July Movement of Cuba, the Sandinista Front of Nicaragua, Faribundo Marti of El Salvador, the various movements in Guatemala, the Tupumaros and Montaneros, and Sendero Luminoso and MRTA of Peru were all communist, albeit Sendero was Maoist. Maybe there were some that were not communist, but I canīt think of any. What I do know is that dozens of former guerrillas and clandestine activists of the very Latin American revolutionary movements still being defended as having been reformers, not communists, are now admitting to me in recorded interviews that yes, of course they were Marxist-Leninists (or Maoists, but at the time felt it tactically useful to deny this publicly.

What I usually say to these former revolutionaries is that the bottom line was not, in fact, their communism. While it has become chic in many circles to pretend that the Cold War never happened, it did happen. And because during the Cold War the bottom line was actually not ideology but national survival, the US fiercely opposed any and all movements in Latin America that publicly and\or privately declared themselves the friends of our enemies in a time of war by their own actions made themselves our enemies. And in time of war sovereign nations defend themselves against such threats, and this and this will not change.

If anything, this principal is stronger today that it has ever been. If you donīt believe me, listen again to President Bushīs UN address, and then count the nations that have radically changed their national policies to conform with his dictum that "those who are not with us are against us." Even countries the likes of Libya, Syria and Yemen are running for cover and trying to change their stripes. You donīt have to like this principal, but you DO have to live with it".

My comment: This morning President Bush spoke to the General Assembly about terrorism. Although it was written by a speech writer, it reflected his ideas, it was excellent and he delivered it forcefully. Some seats were vacant, either because the countries represented were not part of the alliances of which Bush spoke or because the delegates overslept. Delegates were limited to 15 minutes, but a week of very similar speeches is an exercise in tedium. One could go through the speeches looking for differences, especially in speeches from countries like Cuba and Syria.

What Tim says is true, but some sensible people in less developed countries say that global capitalism has failed, and some even say the solution is some form of communism. However, most of the opponents of globalism are an ignorant mob. Violent young men like Spain's ETA are utterly ruthless, and appeals to them have virtually no effect.

Ronald Hilton - 11/10/01