Latin America and the Chilean tragedy

(The following appeared in the December 5, 1973, edition of Izvestia and has been translated and condensed from the Russian.)

The events in Chile with new urgency have raised the question of the role of armed forces in the Latin America of today.

At the present time there are two types of military regimes in Latin America. There are the dictatorships that are in power thanks to the support of outside imperialist forces and the local oligarchy, whose interests and privileges they defend with a violence that takes on ever crueler forms with each passing day. But in recent years a new type of military regime has arisen that enters into conflict with imperialism since it throws off the latter's demeaning domination and institutes far-reaching socioeconomic reforms. These are predominately the regimes in Peru, Panama and Ecuador.

The traditional conservatism of Latin American armies, or, more precisely, of their officer corps, is explained primarily by the latter's social origin. Representatives of old aristocratic families, Latin American officers diligently served their own class, despised the "rabble," dealt cruelly with anyone who demanded radical changes and gradually degenerated into a caste that fiercely defends its privileges. The Pentagon has played a large role in reinforcing the conservative outlook of Latin American officerdom, never skimping on funds for the "military and political advanced training" of officers of Latin American armies in the halls of its own educational institutions.

The events in Chile speak with particular eloquence about how strongly the enemies of Latin America's independence are banking on militarism. Nevertheless, time makes its own significant adjustments in their calculations. Whereas 15 to 20 years ago the majority of officers in Latin American armed forces, as was pointed out earlier, were scions of well-to-do families, now the officer corps is being replenished to a considerable degree with representatives of the petty bourgeoisie and technical intelligentsia, government officials and teachers, prosperous peasants and, less commonly, skilled workers. An ideological demarcation is in progress among the officers. Alongside the supporters of the old oligarchic orders and the openly pro-imperialist alignments, various types of nationalist currents are making an appearance. Some nationalist officers dream only of a certain equality with the Pentagon and argue for preservation of the "national personality" of Latin American armies; other representatives of the nationalist currents go further, believing that the armed forces have an obligation to lead a national revolution as their colleagues did in Peru and some other countries of Africa and Asia.

The military government of President Gen. Velasco Alvarado, which came to power in Peru in October 1968, set out immediately on a path of independent domestic and foreign policy. Let us recall that one of this government's first and most important actions was to nationalize the holdings of the American monopoly International Petroleum.

All progressive forces in Peru view the process of the fundamental socioeconomic reforms being implemented by the country's patriotically oriented military leaders as an anti-imperialist and anti-oligarchic revolution directed toward the achievement of national independence and the surmounting of economic backwardness. The strength of the Peruvian revolution lies in the strong alliance between the armed forces and the people.

If even a country so dependent on the U.S.A. as Panama used to be resolutely refuses to acknowledge the legitimacy of the United States' occupying part of its territory and makes important moves to achieve full independence, the political climate in Latin America has definitely changed.

In February 1972, a government came to power in Ecuador that was headed by Gen. Guillermo Rodriguez Lara, commander of the armed forces. The new government adopted a policy of using the native natural resources in the interests of its own country, improving the lives of the working people, restricting the privileges of the exploitive oligarchy and developing relations with all countries of the world including socialist countries.

The development of events in Latin America in recent years convincingly shows that the reactionary military dictatorships existing in a number of countries of the continent have no future. It is impossible not to see that the liberation movement in Latin America is continually expanding through the inclusion of new social and political forces and the intensification of the activities of the proletariat.

Voices in countries of the continent are calling with ever increasing resolve for the creation of an inter-American organization of a new type based on the principle of equality to replace the Organization of American States. The outlines of such an organization already are appearing with ever increasing clarity. A front of Latin American states against U.S. monopolies is a characteristic of all recent inter-American conferences. The ruling circles of many Latin American countries are demanding a radical revision of economic and political relations with the United States. This is evidenced by the numerous regional conferences that have taken place without the participation of U.S. representatives. Resistance to attempts of the United States to force its foreign policy on the countries of Latin America and on the Organization of American States itself is building in intensity. The resumption of normal relations with Cuba, for one thing, is an issue whose time has come for the Latin American countries. The positions of a number of Latin American governments on the most important issues are converging, and ties with the countries of the world socialist system -- the decisive force of the anti-imperialist struggle -- are developing and strengthening.