
          The Cold Hard Truth
          By Chestnut, J.L., Jr.J.L. Chestnut, Jr.
          Vol. 9, No. 3, 1987, p. 24
          
          Mine enemies are legion and I can barely remember when that was not
the case. In a somewhat perverse manner, I find that comforting and
suffer no reason to embrace popular, superficial mainstream
conclusions I know to be wrong and misleading.
          There are no American heroes in our relations to South and Central
America, now or ever. The Iran/Contra mess is a foul, dangerous
scandal and international disgrace.
          For centuries, America, for rank, selfish economic reasons, helped
to sustain oppression and misery throughout South and Central
America. The CIA toppled an entire government on behalf of United
Fruit Incorporated. Rich multi-national corporations owning thousands
of acres have opposed every effort at land reform. The result of
systematic exploitation blankets the pitiful people of South and
Central America like a suffocating cloud.
          Unspeakable conditions were maintained by a line of dictatorial
despots as bad as any the world has known. They were kept in power for
almost 150 years primarily by American military might and power. In
turn, powerful American economic interests enjoyed a virtual license
to plunder and exploit.
          As a rule, neither people nor nations turn from true friends to
embrace an unknown--much less to welcome the bloodsucking Russian
Bear; communists are in South and Central America because we created a
perfect opportunity for them.
          A desperate father in South America struggles daily to feed his
hungry children and he has little or no education, health_care or
land. His very existence has been ruled by governments so
opressive they are difficult to describe. That father
really doesn't give a damn about Ronald Reagan or Mikhail
Gorbachev. Would you?
          The current administration in Washington invaded one Latin American
neighbor, whose population is smaller than the City of Birmingham, and
unlawfully mined the harbor and fomented civil war against
another. All to halt the spread of communism and bring Jeffersonian
democracy to that desperate land.
          Hogwash!
          Latin American is a place where the rich always got richer and the
poor systematically poorer until the bottom fell out. Hard-disciplined
work might forestall starvation, but little else. A handful of super
rich owned the continent. American power was always there to back them
up.
          Communism, as distinguished from the governmental mechanisms
through which it is promoted, is an ideology. Guns, tanks, marines and
missiles, by definition are virtually useless in halting the spread of
an idea. One would assume official minds in Washington would
eventually come to recognize that obvious and fundamental
truth. Fortunately, communism consistently proves to be its own worse
enemy. It is a wholly unrealistic and impractical concept weighted
down with enormous bureaucratic burdens and a myriad of imperialist
manipulations in behalf of Mother Russia. Those considerations, more
than anything else, have impeded the spread of communism.
          Every nation in the world seems to understand except America and
possibly England. Not a single Latin nation, including Mexico, favors
the U.S. clandestine-military activity in South and Central
America. Indeed, the U.S. had to ignore the Organization of American
States and the vital mutual security pact to wrangle a bogus
invitation to invade Granada and engage in the "no-win" resurrection
of the Contras in Nicaragua. If we are to stop the spread of communism
we had better get busy with genuine and innovative efforts to stop the
spread of poverty, ignorance and racism. Fidel Castro was intimately
acquainted with all three before he took to the mountains.
          The self-righteous crap we hear in the Iran/Contra hearing about
fighting for freedom and halting communism is in reality a catalogue
of inappropriate, off-base policies which violate international law
and are singularly ineffective. We have even undermined the
Constitutional basis of our own government.
          To date, our efforts in South and Central America are unworthy of a
great nation and a good people.
          Peace.
          
            J. L. Chestnut is an Alabama trial lawyer and writer.
          
        
