revolution and subversion in latin america 1947-1987

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    Special Memorandum 31-65Some Thoughts about theLatin American Left

    29 December 1965

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    Special Memorandum 31-65: Some Thoughts about the Latin American Left,29 December 1965

    APPROVED FOR RELEASEDATE: FEB 2008(t) o) B H C L A S S I F I E D

    C E N T R A L I N T E L L I G E N C E A G E N C YOFFIC E OF NATIONAL ESTIMATES

    29 December I965

    SPECIAL MEMORANDUM H O. 31-65SUBJECT: Seme Thoughts about t h e Latin America n Left

    1. She political spectrum i n Latin America/ compared t othat here i n the United States, i s canted t o the left. Generally vhen v e consider politic al orientati on i n Latin Americav e d o not use a n y local standard, t ot instead project our ownfamiliar criteria of what i s right , center or left. When werefer t o liie Latin American lef t i n tiiis w a y, we a r e , o f course,talking about much tie largest part of the political spectrumthere. W e a r e also talking about something th at i s remarkablefor i t s dive rsit y and lacfc of cohesiveness a strange (andsometimes wonde rful ) conglomeration o f disparate, a n d usuallycompeting, groups a n d parties.

    2 . Sh e size of the Latin left i s a natural outgrowth ofthe area's social and economic ineq uities; t h e relatively smallnumber of the wealthy, t h e great mass of have-nots, H as u n enlightened practices historically of most private capitalists,

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    th e B J U J W and inefficient course of governmental reform programs .One elemen t of the yearning I n Latin America for transformationof the status quo and a n element so pervasive a s t o constitute a major factor i n itself has been i i e cceptance of oneor another vers ion of the historical interpretations of KarlMar x .

    3. For large number s, particularly among f b a intelligentsia, Marx's general approach and hi s treatment of the process of economic change make sense because they seem to be i naccord with ioings hat have happened and are happening i nLatin America. Marxist doctrine is emphasized by professorsin most unive rsities, so much so that some o f i t tends t o ru boff on graduates of conservative persuasion as ve il as on thoseof the various hues of the lef t. Same use of Marxist jargonand slogans^ moreover, is made b y almost al l parties of the left,not merely b y the Communist and socialist ones.*

    k , Hor do the labels which Latin American parties carryprovide us with an y sure guide a s to what they stand for or

    * This phenomenon can produce inte resting ti tles for organi- zations. For instance, a branch of the Christ ian Democraticmovem ent in Brazi l cal ls it se lf, Ca-ttiolic Yout h f or Struggl eon Behalf of Marx a nd Qod. '

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    Special Memorandum 31-65: Some Thoughts about the Latin American Left,29 December 1965

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    where they f it in the political spectrum. If a party's namehas the word conservative i n i t, it i s, in most cases, reactionary. If it contains the word liberal, it may be a little lessreactionary. Inclusion of radical means it is probably conservative. Beform i s likely to put it a t or near center. Revolutionary almost always means to the left, but not necessarily tothe far left . Socialist can mean practically anything fromthe far right position of the Socialist Falange of Bolivia tothe fa r l eft position of the Socialist Parties of Chile andUruguay. The parties which call themselves CoEcmnist are definitely on the left but in many Latin American countries are byno means th e most extreme organizations of the lef t.

    The Moderate Left

    5. The moderate (or not-so-far-left) left is usuallyviewed hereabouts as a good thing, the best hope for the future,etc. And (forgive the ter m) rightly so. But this is a generalization ve ought to handle vita care; there i s need to lookhard and critically at the individual parties of the moderateleft and at their leaders. On the one ha nd, ve have organizations lik e the National Liberation Party of FIgueres andOrlich in Costa Rica, the Democratic Action party in Venezuela

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    with such leaders a s Eetancourt and Leoni, and the ChristianDemocrats in Chile with Frei at Hi e helm. But on the other hand ,there have be en those people and parties of the moderate l eftwhom man y observers thought p romising but who t urned sour in onevay or another - e.g., Bosch in the Dominican Republic, Pa sin Bolivia, Arevelo in Guatemala.

    6. The road of the moderate leftist government is a narduous one. It seeks t o brin g about reform without violentrevolution, but usually h as to operate withi n an inhe ritedlegal framework and often ha s t o cope with congressional, j u d i c i a l , and mili tary opposition. Seldom does a government thatseeks t o redistrib ute income ge t much cooperation from thoseminority elements who enjoy most of said income. Thus t ogovern successfully, a leader of the moderate le ft requiresextraordinary a cumen , patienc e, and administrative s k i l l , alongwith the arra y of decent id eas and principles that characterizehi s political thought. Together with the danger that such ama n will einxply f a i l , there is the danger that he will resortto strong and ultimately to extreme means to achieve what h ecannot accomplish otherwise. The lines in Latin America betweenthe moderate a nd extreme lef t are neither fixed nor clearly

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    drawnj this i s one rea son why a leader can move both rapidlyand al most imperceptibly from the one t o the other .

    The Extrem e Left

    7 . The problems of definition become even more difficultas ve approach the extreme left of the political spectrum. Forone thing, there are still active a number of parties left overfrom earlier time s, e.g., the small group of anarchists i nArgentina, t he Trotskyite pa rties in Bolivia, Mex ico, Argentina,and Peru. For another, the Communist movement a s a whole i s n olonger much of a whole. I n terms of number of adherents, th eorthodox (ties-to-Moseow) Communis t parti es are stil l most important. The biggest of them including those in Argent ina,Chile, Brazil, Uruguay have held to tactics of cautious political action rather iha n violence or insurgency.* In Venezuela,the regular Communist party has long been participating in terrorist and guerrilla operations with the Movement of the Revolutionary Lef t ( M I R ) , but a faction i n the party leadership nowwants t o call a halt to t h i s . There are , a t the same tim e, a

    * The C hile an Coffiimmt st Party , for e xa mpl e, ha s not onl y b e-- have d in less extremist fas hion than the Chilean Socialistsbut i s now consideri ng a limited degree of ad hoc cooperation with the Frei admini stration.

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    number of other Commnnist part ies a n d party splinters callingthemselves Communists, which look t o Cuba or Communist Chin afor inspiration an d which take part in , or counsel, violentmethods.

    8. By measure of the turbulence they are now producing and perhaps even b y measure of their long-range potential the most troublesome organizations seem not to be the Communistparties b u t t h e extre me-nationalist, revolutionary leftist movements.* Often these organizations have some members or leaderswho were once Communist party adherents they have h a d particular success i n competing fo r the allegiance of young people.These organizations take assis tance fr om Cub a, Moscow or wherever,b u t , a t least for the most part , r u n their own shows.

    9. W e have already mentioned the insurgency role of theMIR i n Venezuela; so far its coopera tion with the Communist partythere h a s remained close. But the Movement of the RevolutionaryLeft i n Peru undertook insurge ncy o n i t s own; although a fewCommunist party members m a y later have been admitted to theguerrillas 1 ranks, the approval of Communist party leaders came

    * W e sometimes refer t o these organizations a s Castroist, b u tthi s should not b e taken t o imply dependence on the Cubanleader or complete acceptan ce of his political ideas.

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    only after the insurgents had h ad some initial successe s. I nthe Dominican Republic, the larg est and most successful forceof the extreme left has been neither of the t wo small Communistp a r t i e s , but the X k i h of June Movement which contains many n on-Communists among its members and which b oasts a past record ofcourageous opposition to the Trujillo dictatorship. In Bolivia ,Juan Lechin's Nat ional Party of the Revolutionary Left p osesmore potential threat to the government than do the sev eral Communis t organizations there . Indeed, if the International Communist Movement continues in its present disunified state, thesehome-grown revolutionary organizations a re likel y to become m oresignificant. They have shown that they can play the anti-Yankeetheme a s shrilly as the Communists; they generally have moreaudacious leaders with greater freedom of ac tion; they have aparticular attraction for youth; and they can center their appealconvincingly on nationalist goals an d popular aspi rations.

    FOR TH E BOARD OF NATIONAL ESTIMATES:

    SHERMAN KENTChairman

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