Reviews
Utopia Unarmed: The Latin American Left After the Cold War by Jorge G. Castafieda, Arthur A. Knopf, 498 pp., $27.50 (cloth). Mexican-born, U.S. and Europeaneducated UNAM political...
...and European backers) for refusing to meaningfully redistribute income...
...Castefieda refuses to address this...
...The answer seems: yes, but not as presently constituted...
...He concedes that current democracies are not up to par...
...While he begrudgingly acknowledges the revolution's considerable social and economic achievements, he highlights Cuba's "failures," its negative impact on the development of the Left, and its supposed continental network of spying and intrigue...
...Lastly, NACLA readers would no doubt agree with his depiction of the repression, corruption and injustice now rampant in Latin America...
...He envisions the Left ushering in a "democratized" democracy, in which the have-nots have a meaningful vote...
...Castafieda's conclusion that socialism and armed struggle are dead reflects the anti-Marxism now in fashion...
...the disingenuous hands-off behavior of Colombia's political leadership...
...103 Somerville, MA 02144 (617) 628-1664 Marazul Tours, Inc...
...the response of the Colombian military...
...He says the Left must work politically within the existing system of electoral democracies...
...independent unions organizing women workers at a U.S...
...and Europeaneducated UNAM political scientist Jorge G. Castafieda has written an impressive book whose purpose "is to ascertain whether the relevance of the left in Latin America is intact...
...Hobart Spalding, Jr 56 NACLA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS The Palace of Justice: A Colombian Tragedy by Ana Carrigan, Four Walls Eight Windows, 1993, 304 pp., $22.95 (cloth...
...Castafieda argues that due to its past defeats, the Left must now play in the capitalist ballpark to achieve social change...
...The episode ended with over 100 people-including 11 justices and probably all the guerrillas-killed, scores of people "disappeared," and the venerable Palace reduced to rubble...
...Castefieda speculates that the Cuban intelligence service is systematically linked to drug trafficking, but admits that such a connection has never been substantiated...
...It is unrealistic to think that either international or local capital will freely tilt the playing field back in favor of the exploited and their defenders...
...government restrictions...
...The analysis unravels not because it ignores the impact of dependent capitalist development upon Latin America, but because it denies the very nature of the beast...
...Likewise, few would oppose his castigation of the anti-national bourgeoisie (and its U.S...
...So what should the Left do...
...He is harshly critical of the Cuban revolution...
...Castefieda's development model contains a crucial flaw: who will Third World countries exploit if not their own people...
...She carefully highlights M-19's fatal and tragic mistake: the hostages they took-among them, the most courageous, independent and progressive members of Colombia's judiciary-were completely expendable to the country's clase dirigente, and even more so to the military...
...and most compelling of all, the experience of the scores of hostages-including the futile attempts of the captured Supreme Court justices to reach President Belisario Betancur by telephone...
...But then, someday he may be a ministerial candidate for the PRD or even the PRI...
...But history teaches us that centrist projects prosper only at the expense of the exploitation of millions, either at home or abroad...
...The social and economic problems that Latin America confronts today are not the fault of Left strategy and tactics-however much they may need re-tooling-but of the basic contradiction between capital and labor...
...One-year subscription: $25 Electronic and print editions Free one-month trial subscription Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater NY 339 Lafayette St New York, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499 e-mail: nicanet@blythe.org should adapt the European "social market" economy or apply the export-led growth model of the Asian Tigers...
...This is a first-rate piece of investigative reporting, an illuminating slice of political history, and a compelling personal memoir...
...Most would agree with his assessment that the dismal failure of the import substitution model implemented in the 1960s and 1970s compounded by the current proliferation of neoliberal economic programs severely exacerbated the plight of the poor...
...We are responding to the economic and political crisis in Mexico by providing aid to: "* indigenous coffee growers in Oaxaca...
...Group and Individual throughout the world...
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...In this scenario, the rich-under threat of being voted out of office-will willingly give some power to the poor...
...To make a tax-deductible contribution or for more information contact: Grassroots International 48 Grove St...
...In a brief historical survey of the Latin American Left, the author examines the development of Communist parties and populism from the 1930s to the 1960s, yet inexplicably ignores the preCommunist period dominated by anarchism and anarcho-syndicalism...
...human rights organizations...
...Leftist parties, he asserts, can gain acceptance in the political arena by convincing the elites that a "responsible" Left in power is better than an unchanneled social explosion from below...
...Not only were no serious attempts made to save the hostages, but subsequent investigations showed that most were ultimately killed, not by the guerrillas, but by their military rescuers...
...Focuses on Nicaragua but also covers Central and South America and the Caribbean...
...The author marshalls an impressive display of academic pyrotechnics ranging from long and copious footnotes (but unfortunately no bibliography) to extensive interview material and telling anecdotes...
...On the economic front, the Left GRASSROOTS INTERNATIONAL announces a new direct aid program to the popular movement in SMEXICO Resisting Free Trade and Promoting Democracy and Human Rights Grassroots International is an independent development and information agency...
...Carrigan gives us what seems like a minute-by-minute account of the planning and execution of the guerrilla action...
...The work consists of two parts: an analysis of the Latin American Left's failures, and a blueprint for the future...
...runaway shop...
...VOI XXVII, NO 4 JANI/EB 1994 55 - --- --REVIEWS CONTINUED Weekly News Update on Nicaragua and the Americas Concise news items compiled from a wide variety of sources, including English-, Spanish- and French- language press and electronic and popular media...
...Travel to Cuba is limited due to U.S...
...election monitoring and reform groups...
...First, Castafieda argues, it should accept the reality that capitalism has won...
...Castafieda's proposal seems ideal: social change without class struggle...
...The author also suggests that a leftist government could best position itself in the global economy by playing capitalist blocs off against one another...
...Ana Carrigan, a Colombian-Irish writer, returned to Colombia in 1991 to piece together-and make sense of-the tragic events of November, 1985, when M-19 guerrillas stormed the Colombian Palace of Justice, and seized scores of hostages-among them most of the members of Colombia's Supreme Court-in an attempt to force a public dialogue with the country's political rulers...
Vol. 27 • January 1994 • No. 4
