Antidote to Isolation

...Little more, it seems, than a politically popular extension of that same Nixon Doctrine of lessening U S involvement In other words, the President has not so much set forth a workable Latin American policy as shrugged his shoulders over the horrendous difficulties confronting our neighbors He has made it clear that the U S is a good, well-meaning friend He has let it be known that the US is no longer completely transfixed by the threat of Communism or wholly enamored of the trappings of democracy He has quite bluntly informed the Latin Americans that they must assume the major burden of their own destiny, to the point of deciding among themselves how a considerably limited amount of U S aid should be distributed and spent To a certain extent, of course, all this is fine Many of us have long realized that Washington's apparent obsession with a spurious Communist threat could only derange the course of hemispheric relations Similarly we have urged that the Latin Americans should bear the major responsibilty for their destiny, and that U S aid should be shifted to a multilateral basis—with the Latin Americans having the major voice But, to use a favored phrase of my New Left friends, one must learn to recognize a cop-out too And Nixon's stance has also assured the Latin American oligarchies that they are free to pursue their avaricious ways without even the moderate protest that once shaped U S policy It has revealed that U S military aid will be forthcoming regardless of the presence or absence of those democratic trappings once so important to U S strategy In effect, the President has told our sister republics what he has been telling the world m general that the earth's richest and most powerful country has troubles of its own, that it is not prepared at this time to extend itself to the downtrodden and impoverished masses of this world, no matter how severe or unjust their plight may be Yet, as Victor Alba so thoroughly establishes "The interests of the United States coincide with the interests of the submerged masses, who, as we have said, want a society fundamentally similar to the American The Umted States, then, should aid a development program for Latin America that is based on popular participation But this participation will not be possible without first awakening in the masses an awareness of their interests " Unhappily, the so-called neo-iso-lationist forces in this country do not agree Instead of extending the hand of the U S to our natural allies in this hemisphere, Nixon has cut that hand off He has chosen to let the Latin Americans stew in then-own juices, snug in the conviction that their troubles, like the troubles of so much of the world, are largely of their own making and therefore of no concern to the American people It is a sad state of affairs, as I have said, and senators like Frank Church (D -Id ) and J William Fulbnght (D-Ark), who have been inveighing against U S involvement in Latin America and the rest of this messy, obstreperous world for so long, can congratulate themselves on a singular victory They and their anti-Vietnam ideologues have induced a conservative President to turn his back on the most critical problems facing mankind—no mean feat given the underlying philosophy of this Administration They have persuaded him unwittingly to act on the New Left view that no U S involvement will more quickly spur the world to a violent Gotterdammerung than actively coping with the real needs of mankind The view reflects the oldest and dumbest of Stalinist tactics, and I am surprised that it has not raised a chorus of outrage from sensible observers long before now Certainly in the case of Latin America, the United States stands to gain nothing from abandoning the "submerged masses" to their fate As Alba writes "The truth is that no one really asks himself whether Latin America is going through a revolutionary phase, or of what this Latin American 'revolution' everyone is talking about consists "But except for [certain Castro-lte] groups these aspirations are really very moderate What most Latin Americans of today mean when they speak of revolution is the destruction of obstacles that have impeded their country's progress toward a way ot life similar to that in the United States What the Latin American who speaks of revolution would like to do is to establish a regime that is fundamentally capitalistic (that is, opposed to the feudal regime of the landholding oligarchy), politically democratic, economically mixed (with both public and private investment, and state planning), and socially capable of integrating the inhabitants of each country into a national entity " Alba goes on to observe that it is the United States which has, in the recent past, stirred the real aspirations of the submerged masses most "The oligarchy," he says, "sees in the United States a factor m the disorganization of its society as the promoter—especially under Kennedy—of revolution, the merchants see it as a competitor, as does the industrialist, who fears that if his industry prospers he will be under pressure to accept Amencan capital The intellectual, though he is interested in American culture, rejects the political and economic influence of the United States and transmits his feelings to students and to his readers Yet everywhere there is imitation of American ways of life and techniques This in itself explains much of the resentment against the United States, for it is well known that one tends to destroy or deprecate the very thing one is imitating " At this point let me make one thing clear Neither Victor Alba nor I believe that the United States can or should be the "savior" of Latin America Only the Latin Americans can save themselves But the United States can and should do something to help It is incredible to think that the Nixon Administration, out of sheer expediency and cynicism about the troubled state of the world, would cave in to those selfish voices of isolationism that have confined U S concerns and preoccupations to its own narrow boundaries Even in the Soviet Union, A D Sakharov, the nuclear physicist, has deplored his country's callous disregard of the plight of the impoverished masses in the Third World How sad that in the United States past gestures of solicitude should now be deplored by our own "intelligentsia" as a "plot" of U S imperialism How shocking that US intellectuals should stand mute as the original principles of the Alliance for Progress are eviscerated before their eyes Perhaps we have become so groggy and disillusioned from a quarter century of world responsibility that we have lost sight of our obligations to the wretched of the earth Alba cites ample cause for such a reaction "The United States is blamed for everything If there is a crisis, it is the fault of the United States, and if prosperity makes it impossible to find a parking space for one's car, that is the fault of the United States too If the United States gives economic aid, it is doing so to serve its own interests, but if it does not, then the poverty of the people is thrown in its face If birth-control methods are not popularized, it is because the United States wants the population explosion to keep Latin America poor, but if the United States supports birth-control programs, then it is accused of 'bedroom imperialism' and of wanting to destroy the revolutionary effects of population pressure If the United States does not break off relations with the dictatorships, it is supporting them, but if it does break off relations, it is intervening in the country's internal affairs " Nevertheless, the United States would do well not to panic and lose sight of its fundamental interests m the face of these contradictory sentiments And Victor Alba, an astute and learned observer of Latin American history and society, offers a judicious, intelligent perspective from which to act A Spaniard by birth and a Mexican by citizenship, Alba is currently teaching at Kent State University in the United States He is justly famous for his devastating study of the Latin American oligarchy, Alliance without Allies In The Latin Americans he has done us an additional service by summing up his years of fruitful digging, sifting and thinking about our sister republics in the hemisphere...

...Antidote to Isolation The Latin Americans By Victor Alba Praeger 392 pp $10 00 Reviewed by William P. Lineberry Former Managing Editor, Foreign Policy Association It is still too early for a truly thoughtful book to have been published on the Nixon Administration's policies toward Latin America, but Victor Alba's latest volume will do just as well With considerable modesty, Alba calls it "an introduction" to Latin America and its people It is that, to be sure?a first-rate introduction to one of the most complex and widely misunderstood regions of the world Like any truly knowledgeable and perceptive study, though, it offers us a gauge to the future and an understanding of the past Thus, while most TJ S diplomats assigned to Latin America are not m need of an introduction to the area—or at least so one hopes—they would be wise to grab a copy of this book and study it carefully It is an admirable guide to their problems For those of us who have been concerned about the drift of our country's Latin American policy, particularly as set forth by the current Administration in Washington, this book comes as a refreshing and restorative tonic It is evident that Richard Nixon has been busy washing his hands of much of the world since taking office 15 months ago One may even note a definite sequence to his "hygienic" habits He has chosen to wash away the most troublesome and intractable foreign issues first, beginning with his "Nixon Doctrine" outlining a gradual U S withdrawal from Asia, proclaimed at Guam last summer, and working his way around the globe to Latin America last fall What did the President, after receiving Governor Nelson Rockefeller's recommendation, come up with as a basis for future U S policy toward our hemisphere neighbors...